DIY Bear Hunt ( PICS AND STORY PG 3 )

[suburbanirma]

Nice bear! Congrats!!

[Buckeye1977]

That looks like a very good bear! Congrats! Can't wait to hear the story

Way to get ér done, Randy!!!!

Congrats,

Bisch

Way to get ér done, Randy!!!!

Congrats,

Bisch

Way to get ér done, Randy!!!!

Congrats,

Bisch

[Roy Schmidt]

Congrats! Bears were made for stickbows!

Roy

[Sam McMichael]

Good luck! Pick a spot! Post pics.

[Kip]

Good job Randy bears are fun to shoot kinda spooky hearing the death moan though.Kip

[fmscan]

That bear makes you look small and I don't think that is the case... what a great bear. Congratulations...

[Dan Landis]

Congrats Randy, great looking bear!!

[Crittergetter]

Ok guys, now that everything is settled down I'll try to convey the story. I'm not much of a story teller though!
This hunt was a DIY with my brother in the mountains of Wyoming. He could only start baiting about a week before season starts per regulations. He and my nephew and my cousin hauled in bait and stands as soon as they could and got me set up with a perfect 10 yrd shot. So by the time I got here all the hard work was done! Lol   My brother ran more bait and checked cameras a couple times last week and things was looking good!
I flew into billings on Thursday and was picked up by my brother and cousin. We got to Sheridan Wy. And bought license and a quick trip to Walmart to get a few necessities and headed for camp.
Opening day.. ..  my brother and I hauled more bait and got to the bait site at 5:40 in the am. ( it's only about a half mile from camp but it is almost straight down into a horrendous canyon! )
We got the bait placed and in the stand just before legal light.
Around 11:30 a decent bear comes in . It's amazing how quiet these things are. Never seen or heard it until it was 8-10 feet from the barrel. We watched it eat apples and skittles before it grabs a chunck of beef fat and heads of into the woods. A few munites later it comes back and does the same thing. I opt to pass since it's the first day and there are a couple bigger bears on the trail cam pics.

[Crittergetter]

The rest of the day goes slowly by until dusk. I was just about to call it when we hear something coming from my right and it's close!!! Sure enough a bear approaches and goes straight to the barrel. This one looks a little bigger but I can't tell for sure. With it already being so close to dark I whisper to my brother that I'm gonna pass and wait for tomorrow. The bear heard me whisper but it doesn't know what it heard. So it starts to get curious and begins looking around everywhere in our direction trying to find the source of the sound. It eventually looks straight up at us then circles the tree we are in and tries to pic up our scent but we are to high. It then walks right by the legs of my ladder and gets about 3 yrds in front and starts to huff and lay its ears back. It's getting pretty aggravated that it can't locate us. It then turns and looks right up at me again and walks to the ladder and puts its nose on the steps. Then it stands up in its hind feet and stares me in the eye for what seamed like a long time before it evintually walk off into the woods. We startled it a little when we start getting out of the stand to head for camp!  What an awesome first day!!!
We sit for a total of 14.5 hours the fiirst day.

[Crittergetter]

Day 2..... we pack more bait and get to the stand at 5:29 am. When we get into the stand we check the camera cards and realize there was a bear there at 5:28 am.
Day 2 is a little warmer but i was excited and optimistic!!  Around 9:00 a cowboy comes through our area and is hooting and hollering doing a round up of his cows. There is a big valley just to the south of us and he works the whole valley just a hooting and hollering the whole way! We know there isn't going to be any action for a long time.
Around 11:00 my brother has to climb down and head back to town to do a few things at work. So i sit it out the rest of the day by myself. Around 6:30 I'm starting to think it's not going to happen today!! I whisper a little prayer and not 15 seconds later I hear something to my right. I look and Not 10 ft from the stand is a bear coming off the hill behind me and almost straight down wind. I guess the thermals are carrying my scent high enough she couldn't smell me!
She proceeds to the bait and when she clears the tree to the right she stops and turns and looks straight up at me!! ( pretty dang sure it makes the same bear from the night before)
I can tell it's nervous .  Shes perfectly broadside and starts to get a bite and I begin to draw. She hears the slight noise from my jacket and turns and looks at me again and twitches and almost runs off but hunger/gluttony overrides her instincts and she stretches her head back out to grab that bite she's wanting and I get to full draw just as she gets a chunk of fat in her mouth ! To late!!!! The arrow Strikes about a half inch from a piece of grass I was aiming at on her side !!!  She whirls and is off with my string tracker trailing behind! About 5 seconds later it all stops! No noise, no string coming from my tracker, nothing!!
Then I hear two very low groans more like a soft growl and I know it's all over!! I lift my hands to the sky with my bow in my left hand and thank God for what just happened!  Then I began to shake with adrenaline and I'll admit I even got a little emotional!!
I climb down and go to my bear with tons of adrenaline and emotions going thru my body!!
I got to thank my brother, nephew, and cousin for all they did to make this possible!! But more importantly I gotta thank God for the ability, the opportunity, and the privilege to be able to do the things I love in his wonderful creation that he made for us to enjoy!
Now enough blabbing.. here's some pics !!
Sorry for all the links.. I don't have the capability to post pics from my phone.

[Crittergetter]

Day of arrival  https://goo.gl/photos/ofmaLVeTvMuYeDLW8
https://goo.gl/photos/hJqkBe3ePofdJBAg8
https://goo.gl/photos/F4u6fZdeXTQTvSxM7
https://goo.gl/photos/R5BmhHAHqRzGqM7PA

[Crittergetter]

https://goo.gl/photos/Kuhg34DAHMV84i5H9
First sight of my arrow and bear
https://goo.gl/photos/65onjBRPwUnaKQXg7
https://goo.gl/photos/DiC9QBBdYMjWDu9F9
I was by myself so I had to record a video and then take a screen shot for this pic
https://goo.gl/photos/2Z3HN5eJrS14SmMQ9

[Crittergetter]

I then climbed the hill of torment back to camp to get a pack. My bro and my nephew were there when I got there so came back to help! Thank God!!! Lol
https://goo.gl/photos/MuuXPTfMqas14wkFA
Half the meat and hide in the pack  https://goo.gl/photos/BK88ZEGN83V1Q5HB8
https://goo.gl/photos/QFspLm8niW2k5C2J8
Glad my nephew was there to help! Ohh to be young again!!
https://goo.gl/photos/1XpsHC1zh3CLcVP86

[Fattony77]

That is too cool! So freakin' happy for ya, Randy!!! Congratulations, bud!

Congrats again,  bud!!!

Bisch

[CRM_95]

Awesome!! Congrats Randy!!

[Buckeye1977]

That sounds like an awesome hunt and great to be able to do it with family! Congrats!