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Unreal experience

3.1K views 19 replies 17 participants last post by  bobk  
#1 ·
Last night I experienced something absolutely amazing. I have to lay the groundwork so you can understand. A friend and I built a ground blind 6x6 and 6 ft tall out of 4 inch thick panels to take our kids hunting. The blind has 2 open windows, 1 in the front approx 5 ft wide by 2.5 ft high, and a small side window about 20 inchs high and 16 inches wide. Tonight I went out solo after my son's baseball... practice was cancelled due to rain, I hadnt seen anything then at 7:05 I hear something walking right behind the blind, I mean right behind the blind. Here I am in the blind with my bow, and it sounds as if it is right beside the blind. All the sudden in the side window a BEAR pokes his snout in the window, luckily his head only fits up to his forehead and nose. I looked at it and it looked at me, literally no more than 1 ft away for about 10 secoonds. It never spooked, maybe cause I had a facenet on, maybe becuase he just didnt care. It then slides down the wall and I back up to the other side of the blind out of my chair and peek out the window to see it walking toward the open woodline. I call my friend, who happens to be very close, he drives down the gas well road and the bear is now beside my truck in the open. He got a picture of it, definetly not a close as the 1ft encounter that the bear and I had but good enough for proof. A one in a lifetime experience I will never ever forget. All right here in Champion. The picture of the blind shows the side window he stuck his head in.
 

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#9 ·
Is this him? This guy has been on the news a few times and was spotted in my hometown of Doylestown, OH. Bears are nomads. They will travel a long way daily. He's looking for love, of food. Be glad you weren't either!!!
 

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#10 · (Edited)
no chit? champion, how close are you to the bike path? I ride it at least once a week and see many deer, squirrels, groundhogs, birds, snakes, frogs toads, I see, well lots of wildlife, never seen a bear. sounds like an awesome experience to me. thanks for sharing. cool blind.
 
#11 ·
I am pretty sure I'd have been the 6'2" 230# guy screaming like a little girl running through the woods!.Honestly though,I do want to go on some bow bear hunts as time permits,but I have no desire to get that close! EVER,unless it's posing for a kill picture.

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#13 ·
I do want to go on some bow bear hunts as time permits,but I have no desire to get that close! EVER,unless it's posing for a kill picture.

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here we disagree, ever eat bear meat? its not that tasty, ive eaten bear and im not a fan at all, I didn't kill it, a little blond chick I know that lives in Michigan did with her bow, i actually still got a claw from it. id never kill a bear unless it was a nuisance or making me feel like its food.:) IDK maybe its because their part of the canine family and I love dogs.
 
#14 ·
I archery hunt as well as riffle hunt for bear, closest anyone in my group ever got to a bear in archery was about 50 yards, a little too far under the circumstances. The key to bear meat is to cool the bear down as soon as possible so the layers of fat don't start to go rancid. We pack the chest cavity with ice as soon as possible. They are hardy little creatures and I'd need to have a perfect shot to take one with my bow...heck, its hard enough to kill em with a riffle.

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#15 ·
Thanks guys, honestly it happenend so fast I couldn't believe it. Once I heard him slide down the building I came out of my chair, backed up against the other side of the blind and peeked out to see him walking toward the woodline. It was then that it started to set in. I didn't sleep that much that night to say the least. It was absolutely surreal. I fixed it so nothing could get that close to the windows with brush and branches. It was very cool but I'd much rather see him coming. Property is my moms where I grew up by baseball fields, I've hunted those woods for 20 years and never imagined I'd have a 1ft encounter with a bear.
 
#17 ·
I have never had a desire to kill a bear. Many, many of my friends that bowhunted for them every year tried to talk me into going with them for many years.

I just never had any desire to shoot a bear at 15 yards eating out of a bait barrel:confused:

I've eaten bear meat multiple times, it was nasty each and every time.
 
#19 ·
before it's cooked it smells like a wet dog. after it's cooked, it smells like a dirty wet dog. once you get it past your nose, it tastes the same.
LOL!!!!!!!
I'm not into shooting something eating garbage next to me either like others have said.

My bud went to canada 2 years ago for a bear bow-hunt and he was successful but he had no idea that spring bears are basically not edible because of all the worms they have in them from hibernation... he ended up making a rug, etc... but he was really bummed about the meat thing... I don't think he'll be hunting them in the spring again, but heck maybe he got off easy not having to eat the wetdog meat! HAHAHA
 
#20 ·
I went bear hunting with a group of 6. I was the only guy out of the 5 that got a bear that cut up the meat. They kept telling me I was nuts for attempting to eat it. They were right it's pretty nasty meat. Just didn't seem right to kill something that I wasn't going to eat. Probably won't go bear hunting again.