Bear encounters while bowhunting?

[fishx65]

Went to spruce up one of my bowhunting spots this weekend and found some bear sign. A rather large downed tree was rolled over with some nice big claw marks on it! Also found a rubbing tree all clawed-up. I hunt state land around Cadillac Michigan. Have any of you had any close encounters with bears while hunting from the ground?

[jcurtis]

every bear encounter i have had in michigan has been me walking up on one, and if im lucky just barely seeing a glimpse of it running away as fast as it possibly can.

[bluekim7]

We have had many bear encounters while bow hunting. Granted we hunt bears also on the same property some years, but for the last 2-3 years someone in our bowhunting group usaully sees a bear or more about every other weekend anbd sometimes every weekend. Generally they are sows with cubs, lots of berry's on our property and they seem to hang around. Our cabin has bear claw marks in it, my hunting blind plexi-glass windows get pushed out everyyear by the bears, and they chew up and claw the blinds on the ground. Never seen a bear there until 7-8 years ago, now we see them all the time. This is in Alcona county and I know they have been getting thicker in that area. But We have 2 bear permits this year and will be hopefully thinning them by 2 big boars.

[davidshane]

I have walked up on them multiple times and have had them come to a stand baited for deer. Two years ago I had to climb done from my tree stand with a bear in the carrot pile. I had yelled, threw branches at him, and shook branches to attempt to spook him off - he wouldn't leave. I guess he was use to me since I had had I bear tag that year and had done a lot of baiting earlier on. I didn't want to fling an arrow at him since I knew a guy with a permit and thought he might could come a kill that bear the next day (it was the Oct. season and I had filled my tag).

Ended up climbing down very slowly, paying close attention to his movements and guestures/manerisms. He never made me feel threatened or I would have climbed back up and lanched an arrow at him or his area. I got down and walked away...keeping an eye over my shoulder.

[uptracker]

Good call on not shooting Dave.

I was setting up a treestand once and had a bear being chased by dogs run within 10 ft. of me. Spooky, it happened so quick and I was fumbling with my stuff on the ground , so I didn't hear em' coming. The dogs weren't howling at all. They stopped to say Hi! though. I think one was a bit confused because he hung around for a while....maybe he wanted a bone!

[ArrowFlinger]

Good call on not shooting Dave.

I was setting up a treestand once and had a bear being chased by dogs run within 10 ft. of me. Spooky, it happened so quick and I was fumbling with my stuff on the ground , so I didn't hear em' coming. The dogs weren't howling at all. They stopped to say Hi! though. I think one was a bit confused because he hung around for a while....maybe he wanted a bone!


He was confused because he wanted to know how that bear got dressed up in cammo.

[target-panic]

I had an encounter west of Cadillac a few years ago......... We saw bear sign in the area, but didn't think we'd see them. I was bowhunting one night(for deer), and had a few carrots out in front of me. Before I knew it, two little cubs scampered in and started eating the carrots. I thought to myself "this is cool", but then I realized that they we surely not there alone, and I couldn't see momma! I started scanning the brush trying to figure out where she was.........all of a sudden I saw this bright green color moving through the woods.......When momma popped out of the brush, she had two green ear tags. I was still enjoying the show........until she picked up my scent trail from the carrots to my ladder stand and started to come my way. I was now getting a little nervous thinking about all of those "sow with cubs" stories, and she was now about 8 yards away. So........ I pulled off my face mask & hat and threw it at her, and yelled "Get out of here!!!!" I'll never forget the eye contact from her beadie little eyes as she planted her front paws and Huffed & Barked at me like a big dog:yikes: !!! When the cubs heard momma's huff noise they quickly bolted for cover. Once she realized that they were a safe distance away, she slowly turned while looking back at me over her shoulder and walked away. By this time it was almost dark, and my heart was pumping pretty good........and I'm now realizing that the trail that they left on, leads right back to my truck. I laugh about it now, but I whistled the Star Spangled Banner all the way back to my truck, while banging an arrow against my bow riser :lol: :lol: :lol: !

[SPH]

We bow hunt just South of Cadilac in LeRoy and 2 years ago I had one walk with-in 10 yards of me. I made a ground blind under a pine tree because the wind was swinging me around in my stand and he walked within 10 yards to my back side before I knew what was going on. The only reason I knew he was there is because I had 4 deer in front of me and they got spooked. I climbed the tree (I know that is stupid) and he walked around the tree I was in and right on into my feeder. Fed for about 2-3 minutes and started on up the trail where my quad was parked. Just like someone else posted, I was making as much noise as I could getting back to my quad and needed to clean my shorts a bit when I got back. Would not have been so bad if I were in a stand and I may have gotten to enjoy it a bit.

[trapperjoe576]

I was hunting my property in hillman. I was deer hunting this little clover field that had a tripod stand in it. The tripod stand is kind of noisy to bowhunt out of so i decided to make a ground blind underneath it. At the last minute i decided to sit in the stand. About an hour into the hunt i see a bear coming from where i came from with his nose to the ground. He follows around the stand on my scent trail and comes right to the ladder of the tripod. And is just staring right at me. He finally left and a doe came in but crossed his trail and took off. That wasn't a very fun walk back to my cabin in the dark.

[fishx65]

Good stories!! Do you guys think bear spray is a good idea?

[halstead4448]

Bear Spray....Nah...If ya yell at them and make a bunch of noise; they'll run away. I do alot of october bow hunting in the U.P. and have a couple bear sightings. The closest was a sow & cub two years ago. The cub was at my bait pile, and momma was no where to be seen for almost 5 minutes. Well until she started climbing my tree. She got all 4 feet on the trees and i stood up yelling and screaming like a girl. :SHOCKED: She grunted and blew at me and bolted off. Needless to say, i was on a dead sprint back to the truck. That next month i went out and bought a 357. mag for a back up.Just alittle to close for my comfort with just a bow. Then i've seen them run off in the distance while walking down logging roads. So i was lucky enough to draw a permit last year, and didn't even see a darn bear. Oh well....thats hunting. I'll most likely see on this year when i don't have a tag. ;) :D

[ArrowFlinger]

...Needless to say, i was on a dead sprint back to the truck....

From what I understand about bears...

Could have been the worst decision you made. As most have said, if you make a enough noise to where they know where you are and you don't have to cross their path to get back to the truck, they will take the long route away from you. But if you run, you could trigger the animal instinct to attack. It's best to keep eye contact if you encounter one and go back the way you came or go way around

[stebo]

My buddy's dad was bowhunting from the ground a few years back in Tawas. He's not much of a hunter and was just sitting at the base of a big tree. He claimed that a bear came in and kept getting closer and closer. He said it got to the point where it came right up to him and was sniffing his feet. Now that's close!

[Ferris_StateHunter]

Some interesting stories... I definately would not want to come between a sow and her cubs... I have not had any close encounter in the woods, but as the bears move more and more south, Hopefully one day I will be so lucky

My dad on the other hand, had one climb the base of his tree by St. Helen, Needless to say he was screaming like a little kid to try and get it down..What a lucky guy

[WALLEYEvision]

Yikes...great stories guys. I just hope I never have to "post" in this thread! :lol:

[davidshane]

He was confused because he wanted to know how that bear got dressed up in cammo.

:lol: :lol:

[DRHUNTER]

Several years ago I shot a buck from my treestand and dressed him out about 50 yds from my stand. The next night I was hunting the same stand and just before dark I saw a very large bear come strolling up to the gut pile. He preceeded to claw all the brush within a 20 foot circle right up on top of the gut pile. He then left. I walked out in the dark expecting to become the appetizer. Came back the next weekend and everything was gone. That evening while in the stand I had an erie feeling come over me. For whatever reason I looked straight down under the treestand and there was the bear standing there just looking around. He disappeared just as quietly as he had walked in.:tdo12: