Back to the Mountains!

[Etter1]

#7016

I’m getting up at 3am tomorrow to hit the two hour drive and then the 3.5 mile hike/climb into bear turf. Hopefully they haven’t worn out the white oak Tailfeather found there two weeks ago. I might do it one more time when blackpowder comes in. Love being miles into the hills with nobody around, backpack on my back, and recurve in hand! Will post report and pics tomorrow afternoon.

[Raymond Coffman]

#57364

etter1

My sentiments exactly and good luck! I think you mentioned you were going to a Flintlock for MZ -well done. I hunted many yrs with the flintlock, As trad as you can get with Fire arms.

Scout

[Etter1]

#57392

cyberscout wrote: etter1

My sentiments exactly and good luck! I think you mentioned you were going to a Flintlock for MZ -well done. I hunted many yrs with the flintlock, As trad as you can get with Fire arms.

Scout

Thanks. Killed my first deer with one and am pumped to get back to it

[tailfeather]

#57464

Good luck, Buddy. Get my mojo back for me.8)

[Etter1]

#58161

Wow! What another great morning in the hills! It started out a little hairy. I deal with insomnia quite a bit and last night I never fell asleep. Well, I got dressed at 3am and did the 2 hr drive to our logging road. Well, the dnr decided they wanted to open the gates so that fat, lazy types could drive all the way into our area. I was bummed.

Our area that we hunt is 3.5 miles in and after a quick deliberation, I decided that gate or no, I was walking. It’s not the best road and probably wouldn’t be the same if I could just drive in there.

So, after 1.25 hours of climbing, I stopped on a small bend in the trail to wait out daylight that was coming on very slowly. It was super foggy this morning so daylight was about half an hour late. I was sitting there waiting, when suddenly a bear (directly downwind and 30 yards) coughed like I’ve heard them do when an arrow hits them and then started growling. He sat there growling for ten minutes. All I could think of was that it was the bear I shot in the shoulder two weeks ago and he was not happy to smell me again. Thankfully, he soon moved off.

So, I started slipping along right at daylight. I was moving along the edge of a 3 year old clearcut with some oaks mixed into it, when I started to hear acorns raining from a tree just off the trail. They were not raining like from a squirrel either, so I snuck up and found the bear in the tree. He was a good one too. At least 200-250. He was about 40-50 feet up and was just chowing down on white oak acorns. I slipped up to the tree and found that it was angled towards the trail so I knew when the bear came down, he would be on the backside. It took me about fifteen minutes to slip the 15 yards into the perfect spot for a good shot. I was sitting 6 yards from the base of the tree with a good angle where he would be broadside when he backed down.

I watched him for 20 minutes or so just mesmerized by him. He would reach up and rip a full branch off and eat the acorns off like an ice cream cone. It was fabulous! After a while, I guess he had had his fill and began backing down the tree. It was going to be perfect! I let him get to about 15 feet off the ground when I drew back. And that’s when it all went bad. Half way to full draw, my arrow just fell off the string. I fumbled to grab another and the big boy saw it and droppped straight to the ground. He sat 6 yards from me in the clearcut for several minutes trying to decide what to do and eventually made up his mind to head deeper in.

I tried to get around on him, but he got my wind and blew off the mountain. He looked huge when he crossed the trail in front of me.

I had changed the nocks on my arrows a couple days before and didn’t realize that they were the nocks for my heavier bow which has a thicker string. I tried them all and they just fell right off. I shoot a tab so I don’t really hold the arrow at all and that little oversight cost me a beauty.

Either way, it was just awesome to watch him up in that tree and get a chance to see them climb was all I could ask for.

I found one more bear in a tree on the way out about 2 miles back but by the time I started to get close enough for a stalk, he had come down and left to parts unknown.

But, that’s nine bears I have seen in three hunts, and gotten shots twice now. Not a bad start to this ga bear hunting!

[Stephen Graf]

#58991

Nice Story! Fix your nocks. Changed nocks a “couple of days before” and hadn’t target practiced at all since then???? Better hit the bails more. Saves all kinds of trouble…

[Etter1]

#59039

Steve Graf wrote: Nice Story! Fix your nocks. Changed nocks a “couple of days before” and hadn’t target practiced at all since then???? Better hit the bails more. Saves all kinds of trouble…

Believe me, Ive shot plenty

[Mark Turton]

#59206

Etter, you may not have a bear down but you do have some memories that will last a life time.

Keep at it and I look forward to reading the next installment.

Mark.

[BuckyT]

#59369

Good Story!

I’m sure you’ll have one the ground soon!

[Etter1]

#59861

Going back mid week one more time

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