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Day #3 -  Bill Federer

Bill is a first time bear hunter. He saw a big bear on Monday and he didn't get him. On Tuesday he zipped. Wednesday, during the afternoon down pour he started his hunt at 4:00pm. At 5:30 he saw a bear poke his head up over the logs of a down fall. It watched Bill's area for 10 minutes and disappeared.

An hour later he poked his head up again, in the same spot. It did not waste any time and zig zagged his way to the bait. He smelled it and stood looking around for a few minutes. He turned from the bait like he wasn't interested, took a few steps and stopped to eat something in a grassy spot. Bill decided to take his shot now.

When the arrow hit, the bear lunged forward and crashed through brush. When the brush quit cracking Bill heard the death moan.

Bill waited in his stand for 15 minutes. With the rain coming down he thought he should see if he could find the bear. There was a nice, clear heavy blood trail. The bear was 35 yards away. He ran a tracker line from the bear to the bait so they could quickly find the bear in the morning. He collected his backpack and bow, put his blaze orange on and and went to the road to wait. It was 7:20 and the job was done.

Bill's Comments: "What a thrill. This is the bomb. When the bear comes out it isn't like killing a whitetail. When a bear is 15 yards away and looking right at you it is awesome."

"I was told about the thick brush but it is far worse than I imagined. All the extra growth from the logging makes it an awful task to walk through."

"A good rain suit is a necessity to stay comfortable. I enjoyed the rain, it gave me cover when the bear was close.
Having guys to hunt with like our group makes it enjoyable and you aren't killing yourself getting the bears out of the woods."

"A cheap bug suit doesn't pay off. The mosquitos were horrible, all over. They are landing on you, buzzing in your ears. My cheaper bug suit helped but they were still getting me. When I lifted up the face mask to shoot they were so bad that I had to let off because of them. When I drew again a mosquito flew right in my eye and messed up my shot."

Advice to New Bear Hunters:
"Any bowhunter who hasn't experienced it outta do it once. Find a reputable camp to go to who will put you on good sites. I recommend Fred to anyone who want to bear hunt."

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