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Day 2

All day hunt

Back to the same spot as yesterday. But we have a problem. It's the same problem that plagued the hunters from week one. It's unseasonably hot. The hottest fall in memory according to Rob. And the side-effect to this warm weather is the bears are out in force. They should be denned by now but they're not. And now that the crops are all in up here, some of the baits are drawing in bears and pushing out deer.

That happened to a few hunters last week. And it happened today to me, Steve and Dave from Texas.

I sat in that stand for 11 hours. I saw only two small bucks. It was warm and I was looking forward to that last hour or magic. A brown phase bear rolled in and came to the bait. He laid down and made himself comfortable. I had to get him out of here or he would wreck the best time of day. I tried waving my arms, and getting his attention but it made no difference. I finally had to unstrap my harness and climb down to push him off. He took off as soon as my boots hit the ground.

But then he came back. So I climbed down again and he let me get about 18 yards from him before running off. I thought he was gone for good and then I see him in the field walking to my stand. He passed under me then headed to the bait a 3rd time. I climbed down and got within 10 yards this time before he left aggravated.

I knew my deer hunt was pretty much shot. But I hung in there. Two does came in and they were wired out of their minds, stomping, blowing. Then all of a sudden the bear comes back a fourth time. I gave up. Hopefully it was a one-time occurrence.

I saw two bucks all day, this one was the biggest

It was fun to see a nice chocolate bear like this. But the fun wore off fast.

The bear circled around and came back, this time behind me and under my stand.

This pic was the third time I climbed down to chase him off. It was prime time and my hunt was screwed. Frustrating!

I'm going back to this stand tomorrow. It warmed up considerably so I'm sure I've not seen the last of this bear.