My decision to dial it down for the rest of the season and next spring is mostly just the need to slow down and relax a little more... work and commute 12 hours a day (run off average 5 hours sleep all week) Friday get home, drive a couple hours, sleep in the jeep for a couple nights, pounding my bear pockets all day, temp changes from freezing to 30C in a few hours, picking up ticks. Even when I'm not hunting, my mind is constantly thinking about hunting... plotting/planning/analyzing/etc. My dreams are no different. I hunt in my sleep too lol ... somehow I managed to turn something pure and wholesome into obsessive "work". This kind of mindset should be for blacktails... not bears. I often start too early and burn myself out. This season I started in two feet of snow. It seems innocent "probably too early, but lets just go camping with a rifle and maybe we will fluke out" ... next thing I know I find a little grass and some tracks and now it's a mission and I'm already burning the candle from both ends... it's silly. Heck even now my neck and shoulder is all messed up... not sure if it's related but I tweaked something.
There's a happy medium here.I just have to get back to that. No need to burn myself out mentally and physically. I think that problem bear really got under my skin just like the ticks. It's hard to describe. If it was just a simple charge, mistaken identity or whatever fine... but to wake up a week later with his face up against mine... I really don't have the words. It's just so creepy. I think of him like a cross between a giant spider and a cougar because that is how he acts, how he moves and that's what made me go all blacktail-hunter on him. He's probably hitting the carcass from our bear right now. I think there's some irony to that. Wish I left a trailcam there. I meant to bring one but forgot. And in hindsight I realized I had a trailcam I left over the winter not too far away. I could have just relocated that. Anyway... here I go all thinking too much again. It's what I do.
Definitely remorse for anything less-than-instant (and sometimes even instant) ... I left this part out but will finish the story I guess... I left it at "we found him" ... well as mentioned we didn't wait long before going after him in the timber. I don't recommend chasing down bears in the timber but in this case it was the right call. Reason is the amount of initial blood and we pound this timber probably 50-60 days out of the year. And reviewing the camera footage of the intial shot, we knew the odds were better running him down. We caught up to him fast. He was sitting there up a hill under a rock ledge. Somewhat dazed he looked over at me. It was then I recognized him. This is not the first time we have stared at each other from a few yards away. It happened last year as well but I passed on him then. Well, then he looked down at caddisgirl, glanced back at over me then down at caddisgirl again while she looked back at him... he's totally calm, obviously dazed/faint. I put him down... 3 yard shot. Being right up against the cliff, the shot blew my right ear out pretty good.
So remorse yes big time. No "regret" though and that doesn't deter me. I had already made the decision to dial things back. Lots of talk about taking next year off or maybe just doing a casual trip or two at the most.
I want to go fishing. I will still take my brother up for a bear trip. Maybe we see the trouble bear, or maybe he will get his first animal. I might go for a little stroll with my bow. Maybe I'll take a poke at something if I feel like it or maybe I'll just film stuff. Next year I'll probably go out a few times to help other people get their bears. Aside from fishing me and caddisgirl are going to be making videos of random stuff. We're going to do another underwater crayfishing video... making a bow drill fire from raw materials, foraging, some gear reviews and stuff like that (she made a whole list lol) ... Also have a lot of video editing to do. The footage we have this year is insane. Should be helpful to up and coming hunters and a good watch for others.
I'll be going hard in the fall. I found out where my blacktails go after bow season. Fall GOS is going to be wicked.
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Originally Posted by walks with deer
