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Fletch's N.J. Black Bear 2017 Adventures....

You were making it too easy for them! They like to feel like they are getting away with the goods! Maybe you need to start burying them and let them find the prize!??? Im just messing I don't know anything about bears!!!
 
Went this morning and saw Mom and her cubs... Friday the 13th could have been her unlucky day if I were someone else. But I'm not one to make her cubs orphan's. Be back at it tomorrow. After that its time to start packing for Illinois.
 
Well guys: "The Fat Lady Has Sung".... Game over... No Bear... I got up to rain falling this morning AGAIN and rolled over and went back to sleep.. Decided to give it one last try this afternoon. So the last 3 hours of daylight found me sitting in the same laurel patch as yesterday. A little warm, but no wind and quiet. If anything came through those laurels I would have heard it hundreds of yds away. Nothing, not even a chipmunk.
As I walked out in the dark I thought back to last year and all the bears I had hitting my bait, with several of them in excess of 600 lbs. What happened???? This is a very remote area that they should feel comfortable in. And none were shot to the best of my knowledge, and usually when a giant is shot you hear about it. Puzzling... But hey that's hunting... Maybe when the season resumes the first week of Dec. things will be better...
Right now its time to start thinking about Illinois. Maybe theres something special in store for me out there??
"J" sent me a pic that kinda sums up the season.. Maybe the bear should be giving me the finger.. Guess his waving bye sucker.... Thanks for the donuts and other goodies...

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Thanks for the update Rich, was a fun ride leading up too the end buddy.... You may not have scored but it was a great ride along on the journey....Well done buddy....
 
Lol, sounds like a fun year of hunting! You didn’t want to have to get that thing out anyways. I’d use Brock’s words here “all of the fun, none of the mess”.
 
Yeh it was a fun ride. Probably even lost a few pounds carrying bait in since the end of July and that's always a plus. While I lost weight that big sow and her two cubs definitely put on a few eating my donuts, as they were daily visitors on both my cameras. Would have loved to know if it was her that stole the full bag. And the fun of getting a big boar out was always in the back of my mind. So yes to use Brock's words it was a lot of fun and none of the mess. Plus I don't have a big butcher bill ($1.00 a pound is the going rate) and lets not forget the taxidermist bill. LOL But still got another week of bear when firearm deer opens up first week of Dec. So I'll be back out mainly for bear. This time I won't bait, I'll go back to basics and hunt the oak ridges. \
As for final totals, the final 6 day total was 241 bears taken. Some of these tipped the scales at 500+ lbs. while most were under 200 lbs. Some kid's even harvested 400+ lb bears. So add in warm wet weather and a state that's not famous for its hunting, I would say not bad. Of these 241 bears 16 were handled by the state this year (tagged). When a certain percentage of the handled bears are harvested they stop the hunt. This is how they assure that they are not over-harvested. Its beyond me what their basis is for this method???
 
OK.... Second half of the bear season starts again Monday.. It will run Mon. through Sat. concurrent with our firearm deer season. Come sunrise I'll be sitting in my original spot. Maybe a good bear has moved into the area since Oct. if not guess it will be my last chance at a bear in N.J. for awhile, as our wonderful new governor plans to put an end to bear hunting while hes in office....
 
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