okie archer
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2015
- Messages
- 699
I decided to do wait a little longer to start my baits this year. It's about a three hour drive one way to my baits so instead of starting 3-4 weeks before the season, I started baiting about 18 days before the season. There is a lot of work in bear baits. Last year I accomplished a goal of killing a bear with traditional archery. I liked it so much I wanted to try it again. I was running three baits but didn't find out until about 6 days before opening day the land sold where one of my baits was so that knocked me out of an awesome bait sight. Opening day was October 1st. I couldn't hunt opening day because of pastoral duties and it being on Sunday so I put a guy on that bait and he killed a bear that evening. He had to go in with an ATV to retrieve the bear. That usually buggers a spot so I wasn't sure how my hunt would go. Sure enough it really slowed down my bear activity based on trail cam Intel. Tuesday morning I got a daylight pic of a bear so I decided to head down and hunt the evening especially since it was calling for rain Wednesday and Thursday.
When I got there I freshened yo the bait and climbed in the tree.
I got settled in around 4:30 p.m. and waited. Mosquitos and nats were bad. I wasn't planning on being very picky just looking for an opportunity on a legal bear. With about 30 minutes of legal light left I pulled my shirt up above my face and ears to get some relief from the bugs. I heard something coming from in front and left of the bait. I peeked and a bear was headed straight to my barrel that was placed at 19-20 yards without a care in the world. When I went to reach for my recurve I almost knocked the arrow off of the bow string. Finally gathered myself for a shot. The bear stopped at a sardine can I strategically placed in front of the barrel for a broadside shot. I let the arrow fly and watched my lighted nocks disappear into his black fur. As I watched him run away it seemed as though he wasn't very sure footed as he disappeared into the woods. Once the noise of him running through the brush was over I listened for a death moan but all I could hear was the tree frogs and insects chirping. If I listed real close I probably could have heard the beating of my heart.
I waited until dark and climbed down. I was trying to come up with a plan. Since I didn't hear a death moan and no blood at the point of impact I decided to come off the mountain and come back later. Coming off the mountain I had a flat. I quickly changed the flat on my 1986 Silverado square body
Once I put my spare on I drove off the mountain and got to the pavement. Only made it about 10 miles before having a blowout. Two flats in about 15 miles! Now I have no spare so I called my younger brother who lives about an hour away from where I was at. I could tell by his voice on the phone he wasn't thrilled about getting out of bed and getting dressed to come and help his big brother but he didn't have much choice since the truck he is driving is one he has on loan from me.
We got back to his house but his 13 year old son wanted to go back with me to look for the bear.
We made a trip back to my house and slept for an hour and a half then turned back around to head to the mountain.
We got there about 1/2 hour before daylight. I really wanted to find my red lighted nock in hopes of more clues when tracking. Unfortunately we couldn't find the nock or a blood trail so I just headed in the direction the bear ran. As I headed down the mountain I could smell something. I have a horrible sense of smell so I asked my nephew to come and see if he could smell anything. He said he did as well so with the wind in our face we followed our nose. Sure enough I found the dead bear In a thicket!
I immediately went to field dressing the bear and as I was getting the bear I felt the arrow. I pulled a 8" piece of arrow out and the red light was shining bright! No wonder I couldn't find it.
We took a few pics and walked back to the truck to unload the 4 wheeler. Onx line distance said the bear went 127 yards but the actual tracker said 236 yards. I normally process my own animals but I dropped this bear off at a meat processor very close by. I still had almost three hours home then still had to skin and cut up the meat. I didn't want to chance the meat going bad.
I was happy to fill my Oklahoma bear tag with my Black widow bow. (Thanks @longbow51.)
When I got there I freshened yo the bait and climbed in the tree.
I got settled in around 4:30 p.m. and waited. Mosquitos and nats were bad. I wasn't planning on being very picky just looking for an opportunity on a legal bear. With about 30 minutes of legal light left I pulled my shirt up above my face and ears to get some relief from the bugs. I heard something coming from in front and left of the bait. I peeked and a bear was headed straight to my barrel that was placed at 19-20 yards without a care in the world. When I went to reach for my recurve I almost knocked the arrow off of the bow string. Finally gathered myself for a shot. The bear stopped at a sardine can I strategically placed in front of the barrel for a broadside shot. I let the arrow fly and watched my lighted nocks disappear into his black fur. As I watched him run away it seemed as though he wasn't very sure footed as he disappeared into the woods. Once the noise of him running through the brush was over I listened for a death moan but all I could hear was the tree frogs and insects chirping. If I listed real close I probably could have heard the beating of my heart.
I waited until dark and climbed down. I was trying to come up with a plan. Since I didn't hear a death moan and no blood at the point of impact I decided to come off the mountain and come back later. Coming off the mountain I had a flat. I quickly changed the flat on my 1986 Silverado square body
Once I put my spare on I drove off the mountain and got to the pavement. Only made it about 10 miles before having a blowout. Two flats in about 15 miles! Now I have no spare so I called my younger brother who lives about an hour away from where I was at. I could tell by his voice on the phone he wasn't thrilled about getting out of bed and getting dressed to come and help his big brother but he didn't have much choice since the truck he is driving is one he has on loan from me.
We got back to his house but his 13 year old son wanted to go back with me to look for the bear.
We made a trip back to my house and slept for an hour and a half then turned back around to head to the mountain.
We got there about 1/2 hour before daylight. I really wanted to find my red lighted nock in hopes of more clues when tracking. Unfortunately we couldn't find the nock or a blood trail so I just headed in the direction the bear ran. As I headed down the mountain I could smell something. I have a horrible sense of smell so I asked my nephew to come and see if he could smell anything. He said he did as well so with the wind in our face we followed our nose. Sure enough I found the dead bear In a thicket!
I immediately went to field dressing the bear and as I was getting the bear I felt the arrow. I pulled a 8" piece of arrow out and the red light was shining bright! No wonder I couldn't find it.
We took a few pics and walked back to the truck to unload the 4 wheeler. Onx line distance said the bear went 127 yards but the actual tracker said 236 yards. I normally process my own animals but I dropped this bear off at a meat processor very close by. I still had almost three hours home then still had to skin and cut up the meat. I didn't want to chance the meat going bad.
I was happy to fill my Oklahoma bear tag with my Black widow bow. (Thanks @longbow51.)
