Well, it's been fun... Had a blast hunting and working our butts off and playing in the hills this season. I made a total of 17 trips baiting, hunting, and tearing stuff down on the final run this past weekend. The finale was a HOT one - 98 degrees when I made it to camp on Saturday afternoon. I accompanied Dave on the final sit of the year on Sunday morning.
We got in the stands at about 4:50 AM. At about 5 AM we were shocked to attention by a massive "CRACK"!! Sounded like a tree snapping off. We looked at one another puzzled, but something told me it was all part of the violent bear mating routine. Sure enough, 15 minutes later a sow with a truly giant boar on her tail sauntered toward the bait.
The bears moved closer with the sow in the lead. She circled toward the back-side of the bait and the boar stopped about 25 yards out quartering away. I sensed the sow wasn't going to come in and started to tell Dave he better shoot NOW! As I turned to him, the boar bull rushed the sow and ran her down the mountain with a fury I still don't fully understand. It sounded like a dozen elephants crashing down the hill. It was an exciting and frustrating moment. The bear rut brings the big bears out but they're so unpredictable you just never know if they're going to actually come to the bait or just cruise by trying to pick up the scent of a "woman".
We pulled this set down, pulled the bait, tag, scent bag, trail cameras and did a general tear down of the bait crib and made sure there were no scraps of paper or plastic. We did the same for the other three baits, then tore down camp. It was a tough day in the heat.
Looking forward to doing it again next year!