Got home early Sunday morning and I'm taking a lunch break here at work now...11pm. Seven of nine were successful, that included 2 gun hunters. I will have some photos and the story tomorrow....

Finally settling in...A great time, great weather, just a fun filled week. Left Sat night and drove all night arriving in New Brunswick Noon on Sunday. Our Wilderness Lodge turned out to be a Ski Resort back in the woods thats used for training Olympic Biatholon competitors. What a place!

I was the only "stickbow" hunter there and the first one the guide ever had. Pressure was on as my gear was scrutinized by everyone. I had my Kempf Stealth and I brought my Stewart Multi Cam as a backup, broke it out of retirement. All my arrows were tipped with 160 grain Snuffers and Zwickey No Mercy heads but the Snuffers got the nod.

Here's a pic of the Chalet....






All baits were being hammered and the guides asked everyone not to shoot the first bear as there were some bigger ones coming in. His trail camera photos verified this....I'll break this down into a diary....

Night 1: Roch had me set up in Ameristep ground blind, 15 yds off the bait, downhill shot. Very tough..my limb tip was hitting the roof and I had to lean way back to draw, raise up, hope for clearance then release. First night, I didn't plan on shooting, I wanted to see what comes in.
Between 5 and 8:30, I had 4 smaller bears come in all skittish. Wouldn't hit the bait, come close then crash off. Bear scat was all around my blind...off to my left a twig snaps and I can see a black form....he decides to run off and crashes into the back of my blind! Almost taking it down! 9:20 a nice bear shows up, feeding, giving me a head on shot. He never moved into a shooting position so I took these pics...





Night 2: Nothing...Real quiet all night. I was forced to hunt with the 56" STewart bow, this gave me a little more room to draw and maneuver.

Night 3: 2 small bears came in, sniffed around and left. 9:00pm here comes the same bear I photographed. He walked right in and stood broadside at 15 yds. As I eased the bow back my Snuffer scraped the front of the blind. He looked right at me but having the headnet on helped...my white face didn't give me away. When he buried his head back to eat, I shifted my weight, drew back and eased up to the opening for my shot...Unfortunately, the bear now moved 4 yds closer, broadside and I struggled to raise high enough to clear the opening. I thought I had clearance as I aim split vision...my perfect shot. The arrow didn't clear the bottom of the opening and like a limb deflection sailed over his back and into a tree.

The bear took off, stopped and started popping his teeth. He was TOO CLOSE when I made the shot. Now the bear comes back and is heading my way. He stops and stares in maybe 8 yds...turns and goes back to the bait. Giving me a no shot. He runs off when the guide came in to pick me up.
Time for a ladder stand....

Night 4: I started feeling queezy in the morning.
The guide was getting over a virus and I think I was coming down with something. My body just didn't feel right. We headed out and put up a 14ft ladder stand 15 yds from the bait. The guide wanted to film me shooting a bear with the recurve but when we got to the bait site, our "Ground Blind" was destroyed! Sorta ripped apart...Around 7:30 that queezy feeling turned to stomach cramps and headache. Since the guide knew I don't like heights, he made me wear a full harness and thank God he did.

The stand was a little noisy so I decided to shoot from a sitting position. That large belt attached to the tree allowed me to lean out for good clearance. With my Stealth back in my hands, I settled in. The woods were deathly quiet from 8pm to 9pm..the only sounds were me vomiting off the stand. I went through my Gatorade and downed some Tylenol hoping to make until 10:30 when he ususally picks me up.

9:30 I see a black form easing in off to my right. The bear came in cautious but I could tell he planned on hitting the bait. If opportunity presented itself, I was shooting. The bear walks into the bait, I came to full draw and waited for him to reach out and remove a log. when his left leg went forward, I released. The arrow passed through him and stuck in the log, the bear snapped the arrow as he sped off. He crashed off about 40 yds...stopped...rolled over and started his death moan. Bear Down in less than one minute!

We got him out of there and were back in camp by midnight. Four bears were taken on the Night 4. Out of our group of 9 hunters, 2 gun hunters scored and 5 bowhunters. The other 2 bowhunters wounded bears and we couldn't find them. We found their arrows and it showed fat and hair...low hits, no vitals. My 13 hr drive back was long...we had to make some extra stops as the "bug" began to make its way "down". I was a hurtin pup on Sunday...popped in Tylenol and forced myself to mow the lawns. More pics to follow.

 getting cold so Please start typing Joe......

Welcome home Joe, cant wait to hear the details.

nice look forward to it!

It's tomorrow already!

I've been wondering how things went.....  

Oh Joe.............tap, tap, tap, tap,.......


David

What a tease.    :p

  waiting patiently Joe.....Is it tommrow yet?  :D

It's tomorrow in Australia, for sure!

Joe, it became tomorrow 1 hour after you break. I was on my break then. so I've been waiting  almost 8 hours all ready....        

JOE!!!!!!  as you can tell, we cant wait. Welcome back my friend.


Paul.

I like stories and pics

Looking forward to the tales Joe!

I edited out the first thread...some pics and the story at the top...More pics from the hunt...

Large 12 ft high wrap around deck allowed daily practice every day.



The end result of a good hit....Snuffer and blood stained Dougherty Natural




My cop friend Bingo and his nice bear....shot at 22 yds, Steelforce broadhead.



How tired were we after a 60 yd drag through some God awful brush?



Roch was so happy that I took my bear with a recurve, he wanted to hold it in the pic...



Roch and Daisy on the trail of a wounded bear..



Three hours of searching, we were all tired...



Finally, I nicknamed this Detective Kojak...shot his bear on Night 2 with a gun...he was our camp cook and believe me, Culinary meals served every night...even baked us 3 cakes....

great Story & pic Joe.

Thanks for the story and all the pics mate, well done.

Regards,

AK.

Well done Joe, happy to hear the happy ending...and glad you survived the bug. Nothing worse than being sick in the bush.

Hope to connect with a blackie myself in a few days.