Another bear story

[larryours]

Back in 1997or 1998 a bowhunter and his buddy were bowhunting in the Spruce Knob area of West Virginia, they had backpacked tents,gear and food for a week of bowhunting into a remote section, the bowhunter traded the use of his climbing stand for his buddies portable lock- on after an accident with a knife and left forefinger while making a cooking fire for breakfast.
If anyone has ever hunted the Spruce Knob area, they know the weather can change in a matter of minutes.
The bowhunter put the portable up in a hemlock at the edge of an old field, where there were signs of deer feeding on acorns. his buddy took the climbing stand and went above him in the timber and went up a wild cherry tree, all this was around 1:30 in the afternoon, around 4p.m. the bowhunter sees three deer coming out an old logging road towards his stand, the wind is right, from the deer towards the bowhunter, the bowhunter watches the deer and waits for them to move into range, he's hunting with a recurve. The deer suddenly stop, then bolts off in the opposite direction, the bowhunter knew something had spooked them.and the weather has changed. The sky has gotten darker, it's starting to blow a mix of snow and sleet, then the hunter sees three black forms coming through the timber. Bear !
Its' an old sow, about 275-300 lbs and two cubs over 100 pounds.(probably the previous years cubs, but still with the sow)the two cubs start to feed on acorns about 20 yards in front of the bowhunter's stand, under a large white oak, the sow goes to another large white oak about 20 yards to the rear of the bowhunter.and sits down on her rump, like a human, and the sleet and snow blow past her, she being sheltered by the big white oak. The bowhunter after watching them for 15-20 minutes figured that his buddy might be coming down to go back to camp, since the weather was getting bad and he was exposed to the elements in the climbing stand, the bowhunter was sheltered by the large oaks and the branches of his hemlock tree. The bowhunter decided to yell at the bear to make them leave, he had read where to yell at a bear,and they would leave. WRONG, the bear hadn't read that book, He yelled "Get the h--- out of here, you old b---h. and before you could say "Mississippi " She went woof and charged, she hit the bottom of the tree the bowhunter was in, climbing up the tree braking off small braches as she came, she was up the tree with he nose against the bottom of the treestand, and she was popping her teeth, the bowhunter drew back his recurve, in self defense in case she found a way past the tree stand platform, this all in a matter of seconds, she then climbed back down the tree and stated back in the direction of the oak, where she had been sitting earlier, the bowhunter was so glad to see he leaving he exclaimed, " Son of a b---h" ot loud, the bear woof again and back up the tree again, popping her teeth ,clawing at anything in her way, about this time one of the cubs ran down over the hill, probably from all the loud commotion, the old sow looked at the cub leaving, and then the other cub followed the first, she then decended the tree and followed after the two cubs. about this time the bowhunter's buddy, hearing all the racket, thought maybe the bowhunter had fell out of the tree yelled down, "Whats wrong ?" the bowhunter replied" BEAR" his buddy asked" Where ?" The bowhunter replied "In my d----d tree !" It's okay now, they are gone !
Later the bowhunters buddy saw scratch and claw marks on the bottom of his treestand, they also took pictures of the small brush heap from the broken branchs at bottom of tree, and claw marks on the tree. Later someone said I bet you messed your pants, and the bowhunter replied " Anyone says I messed my pants is a d----d liar, you couldn't have drove a ten penny spike up my butt with a 10 pound sledgehammer, it was puckker time!
This story is TRUE, because I was that Bowhunter !

[LoneWolf]

Bet it wasn't funny at the time, hu?
great story

[rubicon]

Hey Larry, If you hung a stand on the Knob it had to be on one of those trees with branches only on one side. And as for the weather my dad always said if you dont like the weather up here stick around a half hour and it will surely change. Ive seen it snow on Spruce Knob on the fourth of July. Happen to be an ole Davis boy.

[larryours]

Hey Rubicon, you know what I'm talking about (weather)
The tree did have branches on all side, that's because I was under the top on east side, another quarter of mile, I'd been into the one sideed tree branches, it's a great place to hunt, don't have to worry about to many hunters spoiling your hunt, but have traked a few.....

[rubicon]

A few years back a fellow I knew who grew up in those mountains and was an avid hunter fisherman had a camp in Canaan Valley. He and his wife were up there in the summer checking on the camp and tree stands . They were walking across the valley floor when they got between a bear and her cubs. The sow started chasing them and they ran to one of the tree stands and quickly climbed up. The bear didnt climb the tree but Jerry was overweight and had some health problems and had a heart attack at his wife's side in that stand with the bear throwing a fit on the ground. When the bear finally left Jerrys wife went for help but it is a long hard trip out of that valley and it was too late. Jerry passed on in that stand.