Big Bear Down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Guys,
 I'm back from my bear hunt in Maine and it was a great success. We arrived in camp Sun morning and got all unpacked. Took the bows out and shot awhile to make sure all was still good. Sat down and talked with the outfitters for a bit to see what our next days plans were. The anticipation was killing me. I wanted out there!!!!! The guide was going to rebait some stands so guess what? Yep, I'm all over it. We rebaited several spots and I got a chance to see some of the set-ups. Back at camp we had a fantastic dinner. Mon rolled around with all of us ready to get out there. We headed to the stand about 1:30. My stand was just off of a skidder trail with the bait across it. Once in the stand, I ranged the bait at exactly 31yds and sat for what hoped to be a good night. Darkess fell and nada. Tue rolled around with the same excitement as the day before. I got in stand about 2:30 and settled in for hopefully another good night. Just before 7, I heard alot of sticks and branches breaking to my right. I thought it to be moose since bear rarely make that much noise and to my surprise, out pops a bear about 35yds away and directly down wind of me. I stood slowly while grabbing my bow. At first it looked as though he was going to give me a short 20yd chip shot but walked qtr'ing away through some trees and stood in a lane I ranged at 40 yds. He lifted his head and scent checked then turned straight west and walked away. He got to the woods edge and started to walk towards the bait. Once at the bait, I only had a small window to shoot through. Mind you, I could not see him as he was walking towards the bait. Once at the bait, he looked up at it, (they hang the bait 6ft off the ground so hunters can judge the bears) and then I lost him. Many thoughts went through my mind at this point, then I caught movement to my left. I saw a bear walking directly to the bait and it looked to be huge. I saw his back waaaaaay above the grasses and brush. He got to the bait, looked up and then stood up putting his bushel basket paw on the tree. Once I saw that, I knew he was good. It also helped he had to bend down to get the bait. A calmness came over me and it was all bear. I settled the 30yd pin on his shoulder and let er fly. The arrow hit it's mark with a loud growl. Then the shaking began. I tried to send a text to the guide several times but I could not focus nor stop the shaking. He got to me about 30 mins later and we started to look for blood. 10ft in the woods, I found the fletchings part of my arrow. We continued on the blood trail for about 60yds to find my bear laying there all piled up. I did not realize just how big this bear was til then. It took 4 of us an hr to drag him out and load him in the truck. Once at the lodge, hi fives were all around. We got him to the hanging pole and it took the 6 in camp to lift him to get a live weight. 367lbs. Looking at his head, it was huge. I rough scored him when I got back yesterday and he is well over the book min of 18in to get it.  Several of the other guys saw bear this last week, but opted not to shoot as they were smaller bears. This was a great hunt and the big bear was just the bonus to the hunt. My bear will rank amoung one of the top 10 bears shot in Maine this yr so far, if not close to the top of that list. Enjoy the pics. 1st pic is a live trail cam of the bear I shot.

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Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

next one. Pete my guide, is 6ft tall if that gives you any idea to the bears size. 

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Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

next, huge paw that measured over 6in across

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Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

next

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Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

next

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Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

next one

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Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

last but not least

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Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

Congratulations Tx,
Great story and fantastic bear.

  Holy cow! Did you shot a bigin! Congrats on one fine Maine bear. I'm really happy for you. Thanks for posting the story and pictures. Don't think I'll be able to beat that size when I hunt in NC this year. Glad you had a good time and a safe trip. You're the Man!

Thanks man, but I don't think he will come close to that punkin head you got for ur avatar. Good luck down in NC. 

Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

Gary:
 
Awesome!!  Congrats on one heck of a nice bear!
 
Thanks for sharing the pics and the story!!
 
Take care and Good Hunting!
 
Best Afield,
 
Steve

Great bear Gary, congrats! just happens that one was seen on my farm last night. there is an old lady was out on her porch and saw it run by her house and jump the fence onto my place and run for the woods. she is about 80 and when asked about it's size, she said "it was as big as an old mule I use to ride!" i just thought that was funny.

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
Thomas Jefferson

NAHC-L, NRA

  Nice bear, Gary!!!  Congrats!!!!  Shoulda stopped by NY to show me, LOL!!!!  Congrats!

Jeff

 Full body mount??

Yep, full body. I've got an alcove above my tv wall that it will look good in. Just need to find the right brush and small trees to add to it. It also helps that I took my taxi with me on the hunt. Now it all becomes a right off.  LOL!!!!!!! You're welcome Manual. LMAO!!!!!!

Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

Well after 3 weeks of drying, right now his head scores in at 20 7/8ths. There should not be too much more shrinking in the next 45 days hopefully and then I can get him scored officially for the books.

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Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

Way to go Gary!  That sounds like a great place and that bear is a bruiser.  I just got back at 3AM yesterday from my 11 week trip to AZ, WY, NM, and ND and will be heading up to my cabin to hunt the remainder of our whitetail season that goes from 11/15-11/30.  The weather is going to be in the 30s and 40s with some rain forecast, but there is no snow up there and none forecast for the next ten days.  That's the way I like it as it seems that when it starts snowing up there it doesn't quit until about May, LOL!  I lost my Dad on 9/11 while I was in the first week of the archery elk hunt with my buddy in AZ.  He passed peacefully with no pain with my Mom and sister there at the Hospice unit with him.  He was only in there for 2 1/2 days and was cremated with no services in SA.  My sister has the cremains in Battle Creek and we will give him a full military burial at Fort Custer National Cemetery near there next Spring.   We didn't have any luck on our AZ elk hunt or NM mulie hunt.  However, I tagged a pretty decent mulie for the area we hunt in WY and also shot a doe antelope that I had made into salami that is very tasty.  We also got a nice 6x7 bull there in our Wyoming hunt area for the friend of John's from Ohio who drew a tag this year.  He is in the photo with the bull in this first photo.  I also shot a decent number of pheasants in ND over Herc last week, but also missed quite a few other birds that were getting up wild and out quite a ways.  Anyway, I rested up yesterday and got all the yard work caught up today so I can head up to Kalkaska tomorrow for a week.  Here are several pictures of the bull, my buck, and a one day limit of roosters.

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Mike Stephenson
aka Topgun----30-06

Another of the bull as John was taking head/antlers back to the truck

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Mike Stephenson
aka Topgun----30-06

My 4x4 Wyoming mulie

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Mike Stephenson
aka Topgun----30-06

A days limit of ND roosters

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Mike Stephenson
aka Topgun----30-06