Group 2 Day 2 - Jim Misiukiewicz Has A Picnic With A Bear

Jim Misiukiewicz - Jim arrived on the hunt on Sunday the 21st. He drove to Atakokan and got his paperwork to hunt black bears. On Monday he set up his stand at the area we call Picnic, baited it and hunted Monday night. No bears showed up. 

Tuesday at 5:00 he settled into his stand and at 6:30 he heard noise and watched the tops of the bushes shake and heard twigs snap as a bear circled the bait ... and him.

It stopped to Jim's right and waited quietly for several minutes. Then it moved to the bait "as quiet as a ghost."

Suddenly the bear stuck its snout up in the air and sniffed. Then it looked right at Jim and froze for several seconds. Jim didn't move a muscle either.

Finally the bear mouthed a piece of bait near the logs and looked back at Jim several times. Then it cleared away several logs with one swipe and put his head in the opening and started eating bait.

As Jim reached for his bow a leaf got caught in his bowstring and made a slight sound. The bear stood up, took two or there steps and bolted into the thigh canadian woods. 

Within a minute he returned and picked up a big chunk of candy and bolted back into the woods again.

Jim stood up and got ready to shoot. When the bear came to the bait for the 3rd time Jim drew. The bear looked at him as he let the arrow go. White fletch disappeared in the bear's chest and the bear bolted over the logs and into the thick brush.

"There was a tremendous amount of noise," said Jim, "and twigs snapping, bushes shaking, and a final loud crash. I waited for the death moan but didn't hear a peep."

Jim waited 10 minutes and walked to his truck. He returned with his backpack, tied his tracking string to a tree and went to look for his bear. When it got dark in the woods and he followed the tracking string back out to the bait. He returned to his truck and drove to meet us at the bridge and told us he had a bear down.

We waited until morning to track the bear. There was one drop of blood, the size of a BB, on a leaf by the bait. There was no more blood.

But Fred followed paw prints and bear scat for 60 yards where the bear lay dead. 

We took some on the spot pictures.

Then we tied two ropes to the bears head and one to each leg and started the drag to the truck. 

Jim's Comments:  Jim is a veteran rifle and shotgun hunter and has hunted in Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois. However this was Jim's very first bowhunt. "The other hunts don't compare to bowhunting. My heart was pounding. It is harder to pull that bow back and hold that sight on it ... and having a big bear looking straight at you. I'm hooked for life."

Advice To Nw Bear Bowhunters: Practice, practice, practice. And listen to Fred's advice because everything he said was exactly what happened. Mike's (Chef Klaus) advice to me was to sit back and watch and let the bear get comfortable at the bait. Ad when you finally get comfortable your heart stops pounding and you are ready to make the shot. I remembered that advice and it "paid off."