The black bear jitters are actual amongst novice hunters
“If it ain’t scary, it ain’t enjoyable.” This was a typical chorus from an unforgettable character from Brownville — lengthy departed — with whom I used to hunt, fish and race snowsleds throughout the Ebeemee ponds.
This fellow took loads of possibilities, and he knew the best way to get fun. Surprisingly, he defied the percentages and died from pure causes, not from residing on the sting.
He had a degree, don’t you assume? Isn’t that why some people ski the steepest slopes, hike throughout the Knife Edge, or canoe the spring freshet within the Kenduskeag Canoe Race?
Looking Maine black bears over bait websites will be an adrenaline rush, too, particularly for the novice bear hunters and people with probably the most vivid imaginations.
Image it. You do because the information says and sit nonetheless in that treestand for 3 hours, 30 ft from the bait website. that the bear is coming to this website, for the information has proven you path cam images of the rotund ravenous customer. You keep till darkish, because the information instructs.
No bear exhibits. Time to go.
You unload your rifle and descend the ladder, remembering what the information stated, “Many occasions the bear is aware of you might be there and can stand off away from the location till it’s nearly darkish.”
You pay attention intently and your head is on a swivel as you inch your means down the ladder. OK, to this point.
You flick in your headlamp and, with empty rifle in hand, you’re employed your means by means of the shadowy stillness, following the ribbons or luminous cat-eye tree tacks again to the truck.
Half means out one thing goes bump within the fir thicket off to your left. You step up the tempo.
My spouse Diane, who cherished bear looking over all different kinds of hunts, made this related trek at nighttime after a bear vigil and had the shock of her life. Virtually to her 4 wheeler, she had shut off her headlamp to relish the solitude.
All of a sudden, she sensed a presence. A big cow moose, not six ft away, stood on the highway between her and her escape automobile. Her coronary heart was in her throat. She remembers that the massive animal appeared her over after which casually ambled off into the night time.
Throughout a bear vigil, a tree stand that will get you up off the bottom may give a nervous hunter a sure sense of safety, although bears have been recognized to climb up a tree stand ladder.
Floor blinds close to bait websites can current a distinct psychological problem.
Certainly one of my floor blinds was merely a steel fold-up cafeteria chair perched on a knoll wanting down on the bait website. The chair was camouflaged with branches and different brush.
Upon arriving on the website for the afternoon hunt, I discovered the chair knocked off the knoll and the bottom the place it had been was all torn up. It appeared just like the potential work of one of many baited bears.
This may give you pause, particularly when the solar sinks within the west and the shadows lengthen. That is what Maine bear information Tom Kelly describes to his shoppers as “low-light atmosphere.”
Certainly! A few of his bear hunters encountered black bear jitters. Kelly writes:
“As he sat there at nighttime, he considered each horror story and Cocaine Bear story he had ever heard. In consequence, he thought noise was his buddy. He started to sing as loud as he may and in addition shine his 9 million candle energy flashlight on the bait. We by no means noticed one other bear on that website the remainder of the week.
“Within the meantime, our different first-time bear hunter, who had related issues, was additionally defending himself in a similar way. Ten to fifteen minutes earlier than the top of taking pictures time, he heard footsteps and respiration on the facet of the blind. If he had waited, the bear would have walked by the blind and approached the bait.
“Sadly, our hunter was satisfied the bear was there to do him hurt. He took his flashlight out and ripped open the Velcro closure on the facet window and shined his mild on what he described as a really giant and startled bear about 10 yards from the blind.”
In an try to reassure and calm his nervous novice bear hunters, Kelly tells them {that a} Maine black bear poses no extra bodily risk than a big raccoon.
He could also be proper, that, with regards to black bear jitters, it’s merely a case of thoughts over matter, that “first-time bear hunters from city areas have some very distorted views of black bears. Additional, as a result of their views are distorted by headlines and legend, they are often very nervous.”
So most likely a good suggestion for novice bear hunters to keep away from publicity to Hollywood’s portrayal of bear-human encounters, most particularly Leonardo DeCaprio’s heart-stopping dust-up within the detritus with a drooling, snotty-nosed grizzly bear within the film The Revenant. Ouch.
