Tuesday, June 13, 2006 Rich
Saturday and Sunday Sandi and I hauled bait to the
sites and then sat and watched little bear get fat on our hard work. As we
were leaving the woods late Sunday night, we stopped to check a bait site
we hadn’t sat on for a while and in the glow of the head lamp I found a
respectable pile of bear poop. You know you have been hunting too hard
when a big turd gets you excited!
Last night Sandi and I went back to set this bait and three bears were on it when we got there. They spooked off before we could get organized but returned with us only three feet of the ground in our climbers. They were very bold and the big boar was especially aggressive for a black, too aggressive for his own good as it turned out. With the camera running I heard a “screw this” muttered from the tree next to me and the Pro hunter roared.
When
I skinned him out I discovered he had half his junk missing and several
big tooth marks in his side, speaking for myself I’d probably be fairly
surly in that condition too!
Sandi
of course shot with surgical precision and he practically expired in
sight.
The best news is after all the stalking and filming I finally have a bear show in the can! Watch for all the action to air on the new season of Thompson Center’s Outdoor Quest in 2007.
Here are a couple of pictures out of
the action.
Sandi duck walked her way right down
the oil lease road to with in 70 yards here of these two nice 3 year
olds.
They weren’t sure just what she was and
the fellow on the left spooked while his date had to stand up for a
closer look.
All the action will appear on an
upcoming episode as long as we find a bear big enough to make Sandi pull
the trigger!
After suffering from a bit of cabin fever…well, stuck
in front of the computer fever, it was nice to get out and do some hiking
on Sunday. We saw a great black bear high on a lush alpine slope and then
a little further along, we saw a huge band of sheep on an open slope. Once
I got the Nikon spotting scope on them and the power dialed up, I couldn’t
believe what I was seeing….29 rams, several of which were legal and three
that were definite shooters. It was in an area where I’ve seen rams many
times, both before and during the season, so I’m pretty confident I’ll get
a look at one of these big boys come hunting season. We also saw several
big bodied mule deer bucks along the way and a couple had antlers with
three points on them already. If I wasn’t excited about the up coming
season already, I sure am now. 
Today
I went out to replenish my bait sites again. Sandi mysteriously had a golf
“function” to attend and so I was on my own. The Argo hauls the barrels of
abattoir refuse easily, this barrel was full of beef organ soup shoveled
off the killing floor last December. To say it was ready to
use was an understatement. Organs really pack into a barrel well so this
one weighed in at over 300 pounds. 
I
don’t mind hauling the stuff out there, it is opening the barrel that
scares me. The stench can twist your face off! Now that I think about it,
it was Sandi’s turn to open the barrels on this trip. Do you suppose she
arranged to be busy?