The setup for this fall was essentially identical to my setup this past spring. Same location and same bait except instead of marshmellows I used jujubes in my mix. The jujubes were left over from a summer camp where my youngest son was a counsellor and the price (free) was right. So the bait mix was as follows:
265 lbs whole corn - $31.80
75 lbs molasses - $22.50
44 lbs jujubes - free
Total bait cost $54.30
A couple of pics from the spring setup (this fall was the same except I forgot my camera on the day I setup):
Loaded up and heading out to bait:
Unloaded:
Filling the barrel:
The setup barrel:
The view up the shooting lane to the ground blind:
The remainder of the pics are from this past weekend. This location is on crown and about a 1 hour paddle from the put in where I camped. The camp (mostly in the box of my truck) - those tent cots are handy and very comfortable. I also brought a tractor to make transport from the lake and loading into the truck a wee bit easier.
I hunted last weekend but did not see anything. I think it was too warm and the bears were hitting the bait during the cooler dark times. I know they were there as there was piles of scat and and a scat trail leading to my blind which had been torn down, hubs turned inside out and several rips in the material. I fixed the blind as best as i could and hunted out of it that weekend and left it standing when i left. When i returned this weekend it was the same drill:
Sunday I set the alarm for 5:00 am and shoved off with the canoe at 5:15 am. The temperature was +1 on my thermometer and there was light fog on the lake. The fog rendered my headlamp totally useless as the light was reflecting and the glare reduced visibility to 2 or 3 feet. Fortunately there was some moonlight and with the fog being light I was able to navigate with the lamp turned off. I was at the torn down blind at 6:20 am but decided not to use it. Instead I sat inside some young maples behind the blind with the tripod and hoped for the best. At 6:40 am (legal shooting start) I loaded the gun and waited.
At 7:00 am my bear came in and almost immediately presented a perfect broadside shot with the bait barrel on his off side. The bear was certainly not big but being as this was going to be my first attempt trying to get one out by canoe I decided to take him. I squeezed one off at his boiler room and my 35 Whelen sent a 250 grain partition his way. He immediately did a somersault and landed such that I could only see his hind quarters. As soon as he landed he snarled for a fraction of second and than switched to the death moan. He did not rise.
I decided to wait 15 or 20 minutes to be sure he was dead (I was fairly certain he was as he made the moan). After 10 minutes or so I notice some movement and thought what the #$%@. I got up thinking I had to put a second round into him and moved forward to get a view of his vitals. While moving forward my line of sight was momentarily blocked and during that time a bear gets up from his position and starts running away. It was about the same size and I thought what the ^*#%, this is not good. I take another 3 steps forward trying to get a line of sight on the fleeing bear and my bear comes back into sight and is laying right where I dropped him. A second bear had snuck in and was checking out the carcass - this was the bear now fleeing. Because my view was mostly blocked I never saw him come in.
The bear:
After passing thru the bullet punctured the bait barrel and then stuck in the offside of the barrel:
Offside deformation:
Loading him into the canoe I narrowly avoided tipping and going for a swim. The loaded bear:
I used a shoreline rock that was slightly higher than the top of the canoe to to get him up and over the gunwale:
I had him loaded by 8:00 am and was back at the put in about 9:00 am. By 11 am I had him dressed and camp broken down and everything loaded and was on the road back home. I stopped about 45 minutes into my ride and got 4 bags of ice to pack his chest cavity to enhance cooling. At the butcher he scaled 101 lbs dressed. Just about the perfect size for one guy and a canoe and probably going to be some fine eating.
I am thinking my next quest will be crossbow whitetail by canoe. I already have a place in mind that is on public land - we will see how much time I have to sort it out. I thought about the crossbow for the bear but than decided nah I'll take the Whelen and make sure there is minimal tracking.
