That is how I saw my first one. Here is the story, from 2008...
Wow, guys, I'm super stoked! I called a black bear this morning! For background, Missouri has a scattered and growing black bear population. Our conservation department doesn't really seem to have a handle on the population numbers. I've seen in print anywhere from 400 - 1,000 as the estimated number of bears here. Most of these are scattered throughout the Ozarks. In the last several years, there have been bears both trapped and relocated, and several have been killed as nuisance/trouble animals. The areas I hunt have bears and are seen often enough that the Forest Service posts a warning in several campgrounds here in the summer months. I know of a couple of turkey hunters' camps that have been raided by hungry bears in the spring. Also a few deer camps that have had some trouble. I have seen stats on the Conservation Department's number of bait sites hit as they studied bears. The places I hunt are among the top five for hits at bait sites, as sponsored by the MDC study. So, we have bears and wild hogs, with a few mountain lions thrown in for good measure. With that said, I've never been lucky enough to spot a bear, even with all the time I spend in some pretty wooly places in the deep Ozark timber.
Today was THE day! I went calling in the Mark Twain National Forest. I wanted to target bobcats this morning. We were forecast for a south wind, so this particular place I picked was perfect. I parked at the northern head of a three-mile-long spring bottom. This hollow has a year-round spring-fed creek. The entire hollow is filled with thick brush. A lot of the standing timber in this hollow is pine. We had a recent ice storm that caused quite a few trees to lose their tops; the pines are always some of the first to snap off in such a situation. I knew the place would be really, really thick. The hollow is ringed with Ozark hills and plenty of spur ridges and side hollows full of oak timber. I planned to side hill along the main brushy hollow and call the edges. I've done this many times before and have called grey fox, coyotes, coons, and a couple of cats here in the past.
This morning was around 30 degrees with high thin cloud cover and just about zero wind at dawn. I made two stands with no takers. The third stand places me on top of a 20' steep bank overlooking a wide oak flat along the creek. It's a good place. Being on the top of the bank allows me to see down into the cover. The wide flat bottom and slightly thinner cover right on the creek give a good shot opportunity. I should add that the creek widens out and is really shallow here. Just across from this flat, on the other side of the creek, is a narrow, steep-sided, boulder-strewn gully that runs for about 1/4 mile due west. One side of this gully has a cliff face that is lined with cedar trees and topped out with pines. Really great cat country!
I set my FX3 and Predator Supreme out about 25 yards below me at the stump end of a big downed tree. I took my trusty 12 gauge Benelli M1S90 semi-auto and 3" No. Four Buckshot for a hunting gun today. Best tool for the job in this cover. I started with Lightning Jack. After 25 minutes, I had nothing but a trio of nagging blue jays. I had 45 minutes planned for this cat stand. Suddenly, from my right, I saw brush moving around and something big and black. I perked right up; I'm thinking a wild hog. I jumped one here last year, and it was a whopper, a black, rough, mean-looking dude. I didn't shoot that one, but now I'm thinking I'm gonna whack this one in the head with a couple loads of buckshot if it gets close enough. Suddenly, from around the crown of the fallen trees, a head as big as a bucket appears, followed by shoulders that seemed twice the size of the largest whitetail buck I've ever seen. It ain't a hog, and I am not getting it - it doesn't register in my mind what I'm looking at. The critter shuffles to about ten yards from the caller/decoy. It pulls up and swings its head around, scanning the decoy. I think, WOW, a BEAR! And a dang big one too, especially at about thirty yards. The bear starts toward the caller, and it suddenly enters my mind that if it swats the caller, I'm out $500.00! I waved my right arm and started yelling at the bear as I stood up. That stopped the bear, and it looked confused, swinging its head back and forth between the caller/decoy and me. Now, mind you, I'm in full camo, a 3D leafy parka and a face mask. The bear spun and bolted away, only he didn't exactly leave. He ran to the end of the downed trees he came around originally and started to circle up the spur ridge I was sitting on. I guess he was going for the scent stream. It occurred to me he was still interested because the caller was still doing the Lightning Jack blues. I kept yelling, found my remote, and muted the FX3. I jerked my facemask off and yelled again. That did it; the bear peeled off and ran down the hollow. Exactly in the direction I had to take to get out of there!
I stood checking things out for about ten minutes, trying to calm myself down. Then I retrieved my caller and decoy. I went on away from the bear and made two more stands before heading back to the truck as the day warmed up. As I worked my way through that thick bottom, I have to tell you I was a little edgy. This was absolutely the coolest day I've ever had predator calling. I am still jacked up. The coolest day.
