Normally Fred Lutger and I start out the bear season videoing our hunts. This year it was my turn to man the video camera first. Opening morning was perfect bear hunting weather; 32 degrees, overcast, a steady breeze, and a possibility of rain showers.
After a Chef Klaus breakfast of stuffed french toast we ran baits. Things were looking good, there was bear activity at every bait. When we returned to camp we checked our bows and shot for a while to be sure everything was OK after the trip to Ontario. This year Fred is doing something new, he is hunting with a crossbow (for the first time). It will be interesting to see how that works out in already crowded Double Bull ground blind.
Chef Claus grilled us all T-bone steaks for the day’s main meal at 3:00 in the afternoon. We got ready to hunt but some things came up that made us late getting out. When Fred and I got to our hunting site we carried a bucket of bear bait with us. It was a good thing because the bait logs were tossed around and the bait was eaten.
Surprise … nearby a bear took off like a rocket, crashing loudly through the dense Ontario brush and trees. Minutes after we got inside the blind it started raining. And even with the rain shower the resident mosquito population decided to hang out inside the blind with us. I started my ThermaCELL and very soon the irritating insects moved away from us.
The earlier crash and run bear turned out to be our only encounter with a bear today, but things were gonna change tomorrow.
