The Hunter Or the Hunted? by Scott LaCoe |
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Written by One Shot Charlie
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Wednesday, 03 February 2010 00:54 |
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It was a sunny fall day in northern Minnesota and I had deer archery on the brain. Dad and I had just pulled into the yard when I exploded out of the truck and into the house to get my hunting gear. I threw on my backpack and strapped my bow to the rack on the 4 wheeler. 20 minutes later I was to the end of the trail, I would walk from here. I put on my Ghillie suit and a little camouflage face paint. Since the wind was not favorable for my stand location, I made sure to put on a heavy dose of cover scent and set out on the last half mile of the trek to my hunting stand.
Arriving at my tree stand a couple hours before sun down I had plenty of time to get set up and relax.
After only about 30 minutes I heard something in the trees a few seconds later a Black Bear Boar came into sight, he continued across the clearing about half way when he stopped in his tracks and turned his head my direction. He raised his nose in the air and drew in a deep breath of my "green apple" cover scent. It was at that moment I realized I was in trouble. The boar stared walking toward me and his nose told him right where I was at. As he approached I started waving my arms and yelling to scare him away. When that didn't work, I decided to step it up a notch and tried frantically screaming like a little girl. That didn't work and in an instant the bear was at the bottom of my tree.
My heart was pounding in my ears, my face was numb with adrenaline and I was shaking like leaf. I had an arrow cocked and when the bear stood up on his rear legs I drew back. He was just feet below me, I could almost feel his breath. As I aimed down at him, the arrow slipped off the rest. I caught it with my left index finger and flicked it back on the rest. With the adrenaline, I almost didn't notice that the broadhead had cut my finger. As I held my draw and saw my blood dripping down on him I thought it was the end. He stood on his hind legs and continued to sniff me for what seemed like hours. Eventually he sat down at the base of the tree and after a few minutes, finally lumbered off the same direction he started from.
It took a while to regain my composure to get down from the tree. I removed and packed my Ghillie Suit to try to hide the apple scent. I kept an arrow nocked while I walked back through the woods. When I got back to the 4 wheeler, the panic really started to set in. The ATV was on its side, the seat was torn off and apart, the key with floating foam keychain was not in the ignition and there were bear tracks around it. In my terror induced rage, I was able to right the ATV. Somehow in the waning light I was able to find the key amongst the torn bits of foam from the seat. I got the 4 wheeler started just as the curious bruin came walking out of the trees. I don't think the front wheels touched the ground all the way home. I retired the "green apple" cover scent, picked up a can of bear bomb and returned to that same stand 3 times that fall before I harvested my deer. I never saw that bear again.
Scott is the owner of Ghillie Suit Source and has been hunting and fishing the Dakotas and Canada for over 20 years.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Scott_LaCoe
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