To Home Page For This Hunt...

Day #3 - Dave Lauer

This is Dave's 3rd bear hunt in Fred's camp. He killed one the first trip, passed on one the second and got one on this hunt. 

Dave hunted at the Temporary Bridge stand and on the second hunt he passed on a 10 yard shot on a small bear. The 3rd hunt was windy and raining. The bait was "destroyed". Dave couldn't get his bacon burn to light because of the rain. He rebaited and got in his treestand. Forty-five minutes later, in the pouring rain, he saw a bear coming in his direction. Dave stood up fast and grabbed his bow. The bear went right to the bait.

It tried to get its nose in the bacon burn can. Dave drew. The bear started rolling the can around to get at the bacon and the shot opportunity went away, Dave let down.

Soon the bear returned and immediately gulped down the bacon and went to the logs. Dave drew again and when the bear turned broadside he aimed,. As soon as the pin was right behind his shoulder he squeezed the trigger. The arrow went through the bear and he jumped up and did a back flip to get at whatever had bothered him. Then he ran for 20 yards and stopped. He took a couple of steps and moaned as he fell down dead.

DAVE'S COMMENTS:
"I enjoy coming out here. There is something about being 50 miles from anybody, you are out in the wilderness, there is nothing out there. When we whitetail hunt in Illinois we can hear people, dogs and traffic. Out here when you hear a limb snap it is either a moose or a bear."
"This is a bear camp. Not a lodge and a swimming pool."

Advise for beginning bear hunters: "There are bears on every bait. You have 6 nights to sit out there, it doesn't matter if it is raining or windy the only thing to do is sit in there. You can't kill one at the camp or sitting in the truck. You have to have confidence in your bait."

And that attitude paid off for Dave on this rainy, windy night in Ontario.

TrailTimers: "I wouldn't hunt without them. The first 24 hours the TrailTimer on my bait was tripped 44 times from 10:00 at night to 1:30 the next day. The second hunt it had 24 trips on it from 4:00 in the afternoon until 5:20pm. I got in the stand at 5:26 so I pushed that bear off the bait. The TrailTimer lets you know what time the bears are coming in. On the 3rd night it wasn't tripped at 5:00 when I got there to hunt. I saw the bear at 5:45."

To Home Page For This Hunt...