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Speaker 1: Welcome to this country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves

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Speaker 1: from coon hunting to trotlining and just in general country living.

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Speaker 1: I want you to stay a while as I share

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Speaker 1: my experiences in life lessons. This Country Life is presented

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Speaker 1: by Case Knives from the store More Studio on Meat

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Speaker 1: Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you the best outdoor podcast that

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Speaker 1: airways have to offer. All right, friends, grab a chair

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Speaker 1: or drop that tailgate. I've got some stores to share, bears,

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Speaker 1: bait and broken hearts. It's that time of year again

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Speaker 1: for me. Time to get busy prepping for the upcoming

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Speaker 1: hunting season. And there's no better way for me and

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Speaker 1: a bunch of my friends to start it off than

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Speaker 1: bear season. I got a lot to cover, so let's

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Speaker 1: get to it. Arkansas Bear Camp twenty and twenty five

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Speaker 1: started in the blister and heat one month before opening day.

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Speaker 1: We'd moved the whole kit and kaboodled north from the

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Speaker 1: Washington Mountains to the Ozarks. We're trying a new area

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Speaker 1: where we have more options, making the bear hunting better,

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Speaker 1: if only by giving us more places to choose from now.

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Speaker 1: As the crow flies, we weren't moving but about all

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Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty five miles northwest from our old

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Speaker 1: stomping grounds, the place where we'd been doing bear camp

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Speaker 1: since I'd begun attending over ten years ago. As you

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Speaker 1: all know, I was Clay Bow's cameraman for several seasons

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Speaker 1: back in the old bear Hunting magazine days until being

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Speaker 1: invited to join the inner circle of the camp and

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Speaker 1: get a bear myself. Now, since then, I've taken multiple

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Speaker 1: bears here in what was one known as the Bear State,

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Speaker 1: and an even a larger specimen with my friends Craig

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Speaker 1: and Medal and McCarthy in Manitoba last year. That bear

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Speaker 1: meat is gone and I need to get that spot

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Speaker 1: refilled in the freezer. So the plan this year was

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Speaker 1: to fill it with a bear from the Ozarks, the

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Speaker 1: mountains most everyone thinks about when they think about mountains

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Speaker 1: in Arkansas. Trouble was I didn't have a place to

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Speaker 1: do that. I needed to find someone with a piece

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Speaker 1: of private land in a good area to set up

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Speaker 1: a barrel, and as luck would have it, I didn't

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Speaker 1: have to go far from my front door to find them.

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Speaker 1: I'll keep his name to myself, but a simple phone

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Speaker 1: called to him for helping securing the lead on any

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Speaker 1: place up there turned into an offer to hunt on

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Speaker 1: his The amount of generosity I'm afforded on a regular

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Speaker 1: basis continues to astound me. Some conversations these days say

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Speaker 1: the times have changed, that permission to hunt is the

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Speaker 1: thing of the past. Well, I have found that not

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Speaker 1: to be the case, not not all the time anyway.

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Speaker 1: But with permission granted and the ONEX layout of the land

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Speaker 1: sent to me by the landowner, I was off to

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Speaker 1: find a spot to place my bait barrel. I had

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Speaker 1: hundreds of acres to ramble around on, and I had

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Speaker 1: plenty of choices of prime looking spots to drop a

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Speaker 1: barrel and some bait. So on the day it was

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Speaker 1: legal to start baiting for bears in Arkansas, I picked

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Speaker 1: out a spot where I'd seen an old bait station

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Speaker 1: from the property's previous owner, kind of a if it

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Speaker 1: ain't broke, don't fix it decision. The old barrel was

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Speaker 1: still there, and it even had teeth marks from where

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Speaker 1: bears had been chewing on the opening where they accessed

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Speaker 1: the bait. As far as I knew, I was in

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Speaker 1: the chips. So I, along with help from the landowner,

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Speaker 1: took my new bait barrel to the site, got it

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Speaker 1: prep filled with goodies, and posted up a miltary camera

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Speaker 1: to keep tabs on what was taking place at the

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Speaker 1: and it was dining facility in North Arkansas. The reefs

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Speaker 1: bear buffet. Now. Bears obviously have to find the victuals

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Speaker 1: before I started getting pictures of them, and sometimes that

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Speaker 1: can take a while. So I put out all the

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Speaker 1: goodies that bears like to eat, and the smell goods

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Speaker 1: that would put a dunkin Donuts to shame. The scent

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Speaker 1: was overpoweringly sweet, and I doubt Wilfred Brimley could have

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Speaker 1: been on the same forty acres with it and not

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Speaker 1: lost a tow or two. All I had to do

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Speaker 1: now was wait. I've learned to be a patient man

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Speaker 1: about most things, and my job as a policeman, time

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Speaker 1: wasn't always on my side. I had to react and

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Speaker 1: respond quickly the matters of life and death and public safety,

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Speaker 1: anything outside of income and gunfire was often better to

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Speaker 1: give a little time to settle down before I got there.

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Speaker 1: It reminds me of a time when I was a

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Speaker 1: deputy sheriff and I was dispat to a disturbance on

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Speaker 1: the other end of the county. Common sense would have

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Speaker 1: you ask why they didn't just send a deputy that

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Speaker 1: was patrolling that part of the county well, because sometimes

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Speaker 1: in a three deputy department there was only one of

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Speaker 1: us answering calls and serving papers and working court and

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Speaker 1: transporting prisoners and all the other duties the job requires.

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Speaker 1: This was one of those days. The dispatcher called my

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Speaker 1: unit number on the radio after receiving the nine to

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Speaker 1: one one call reporting a fight in progress in the

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Speaker 1: front yard of a residence over twenty miles away, the

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Speaker 1: exact opposite end of the county where I was. Only

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Speaker 1: about two thirds of the route was on pavement, the

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Speaker 1: last part was on gravel, and the whole way down

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Speaker 1: there was one winding up kept rough road from start

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Speaker 1: to finish. If I was going to do my best

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Speaker 1: at stopping folks from hurting one another, I better get

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Speaker 1: my tail in the wind pronto. Third of the way down,

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Speaker 1: the dispatcher called and said that they had received another call,

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Speaker 1: and they'd stopped fighting and wrestling, and now each of

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Speaker 1: them had a knife and they were doing laps around

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Speaker 1: the outside of the house, chasing one another. Now in

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Speaker 1: my head, I'm seeing a sword fight taking place in

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Speaker 1: the front yard. Good night, nurse. I grabbed another gear

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Speaker 1: in that old Crown Victoria that she forgot she had,

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Speaker 1: and I was letting the calf suck on every straightaway.

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Speaker 1: I came to two thirds of the way down. The

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Speaker 1: dispatcher called me again and this is what she said.

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Speaker 1: They now have firearms and are shooting at each other.

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Speaker 1: That escalated quickly, and it put a new spin on

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Speaker 1: my planing slowed down a little, and after a couple

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Speaker 1: miles of lucid thought, I called the dispatcher and I

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Speaker 1: asked her if she still had the reporting party on

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Speaker 1: the phone. She informed me that they'd hung up. I

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Speaker 1: asked her if she had a call back number for

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Speaker 1: whoever was reporting the escalating violence that I was driving

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Speaker 1: towards by myself. She said she did, so I asked

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Speaker 1: her to call them back and contact me when she

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Speaker 1: got them on the line in short order. My dispatcher,

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Speaker 1: who while always being very professional, I could hear the

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Speaker 1: anxiousness and the worry in her voice when she said

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Speaker 1: I have the reporting party on the phone. I said, good,

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Speaker 1: keep them on the line, don't let them hang up,

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Speaker 1: and just have them let me know the minute the

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Speaker 1: folks out in the front yard run out of bullets.

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Speaker 1: Now that made her laugh, and I continued to the

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Speaker 1: house at a little slower speed, but still at an

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Speaker 1: appropriate pace for the nature of the call. And like

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Speaker 1: most calls, it was all over by the time I

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Speaker 1: got there. Some folks went to jail, and I got

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Speaker 1: to go home alive and unscathed. But back to the

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Speaker 1: bears and waiting. Learned to do that quite well, and

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Speaker 1: a week went by with zero pictures of ursus americanas. Meanwhile,

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Speaker 1: my camp mates were getting pictures of not just bears,

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Speaker 1: but big bears. Big fat black bears were making fools

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Speaker 1: of themselves at everyone else's bait but mine. It was

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Speaker 1: a regular doughnut jubilee taking place on a mountain seventeen

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Speaker 1: miles from my own. With the love of humanity, my

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Speaker 1: patience had played out. It was time for a bold move.

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Speaker 1: I've got to relocate a camera a barrel in three

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Speaker 1: hundred and fifty pounds of snacks. With some help from

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Speaker 1: my partner, Michael Meeks, we spent the day moving that

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Speaker 1: bait from one side of the property to the other.

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Speaker 1: And that was late in the evening of August twenty

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Speaker 1: sixth when we completed the move. A week went by

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Speaker 1: with everyone else still getting pictures of bears, and I

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Speaker 1: had just about given in when six days later, at

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Speaker 1: five eighteen in the morning, the first bear picture came

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Speaker 1: in from the barrel that we'd moved. It was a

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Speaker 1: young boar, one that I wouldn't shoot even on a

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Speaker 1: bad year. I guessed him to be close to one

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Speaker 1: hundred and seventy five hundred, not over two hundred pounds,

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Speaker 1: which is still a respectable bear in a lot of places.

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Speaker 1: But I've killed bigger bears and I want that trend

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Speaker 1: going forever up. It's not about numbers for me anymore.

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Speaker 1: I'm really anxious to see that bear again next year,

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Speaker 1: to see what he turns into if a you know,

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Speaker 1: unless a bigger bear sends him down the road between

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Speaker 1: now and then. But regardless of finally had a bear

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Speaker 1: hitting the bait. And if there's one thing that I

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Speaker 1: learned about bears, they all appreciate the free meal. Bears

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Speaker 1: bring more bears, and in a few days my bear

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Speaker 1: Bait had doubled its customer base. The second offering of

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Speaker 1: walking bear Chilli came in the form of what I'm

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Speaker 1: positive is a mature south. She didn't have a cup

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Speaker 1: and would have been a fine bear to put a

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Speaker 1: tag on. She was bumping two hundred and fifty to

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Speaker 1: three hundred pounds, but was also getting over a case

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Speaker 1: of the mange, a condition I had diagnosed well as

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Speaker 1: good as you could from a game camera photo by

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Speaker 1: my friend and our resident Arkansas Gaming Fish Commission Bear

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Speaker 1: Program coordinator, Spencer Daniels. Her face and muzzle were dark,

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Speaker 1: as was that of the young boar, and he may

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Speaker 1: have even been her cub from two years ago. Who knows. Anyway,

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Speaker 1: some of that hair was still missing in the edges

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Speaker 1: of her ears. It was thin around her face, and

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Speaker 1: she had a spot about the size of a basketball

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Speaker 1: on her left rear fender. That hair had grown back somewhat,

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Speaker 1: but it was considerably shorter than that around it. Spencer

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Speaker 1: told me that it wasn't uncommon for a bear to

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Speaker 1: get over the mange. That's good to know, but only

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Speaker 1: time would tell if I would have a bear worth

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Speaker 1: taking a poke at. Because she wasn't it, I was

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Speaker 1: back to waiting. We rebated twice before the season open,

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Speaker 1: and each time after leaving it was only a couple

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Speaker 1: of hours before. The bears showed back on camera the

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Speaker 1: same too. They weren't staying very far away apparently, and

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Speaker 1: after the first restocking, a mature bore rolled in and

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Speaker 1: joined the feast. This was the bear I was looking for,

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Speaker 1: but like a lot of big bears, he was showing

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Speaker 1: up mostly at night, while over on the other mountain

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Speaker 1: it was still bear square dance has taken place in

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Speaker 1: the daylight a week before the season opened. That may

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Speaker 1: have been a slight exaggeration, but that's what it felt like.

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Speaker 1: Then it was go time. My gear was packed, my

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Speaker 1: bow was checked by my friends at the Nashoba Archery

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Speaker 1: Shop and tumbling shoals, and you're truly was ready to

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Speaker 1: head the bear cap with two non shooter bears coming

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Speaker 1: in and one big bear clocking in on a midnight shift.

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Speaker 1: That bear had been in once during the daylight when

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Speaker 1: he started appearing on camera, and that was for an

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Speaker 1: early morning snack right after daylight. By supper time on

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Speaker 1: the day I got to Camp clay Lake Pickle Bear,

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Speaker 1: John cameraman, Drew Steckline, Lauren Moulton, along with Jordan Blissed

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Speaker 1: Misty and James Lawrence were joining me at the table

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Speaker 1: for a meal prepared by Josh Fieldmaker. All the usual

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Speaker 1: suspects were there, and with everyone's eyeballs on seal camera feed,

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Speaker 1: suddenly I had the most active bait going, which didn't

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Speaker 1: bode well for an action packed hunt for everyone else.

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Speaker 1: The big bears were still hitting their baits, but the

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Speaker 1: big boys had switched over the nighttime or had just

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Speaker 1: stopped altogether. And that's how it goes in bear baiting.

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Speaker 1: When you're competing against the white oak acrens. The minute,

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Speaker 1: and I mean the minute they start dropping, bears will

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Speaker 1: forget all about the twinkies and start gorging themselves on acrons.

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Speaker 1: It is one of the coolest things to witness and

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Speaker 1: the saddest things to experience. Bears will be duking it

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Speaker 1: out and running all over each other to get to

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Speaker 1: the goodies out of the barrel. And then when that

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Speaker 1: old familiar sound the white oak eggs start hitting the planet,

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Speaker 1: baiting time is over. Bears will even climb trees and

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Speaker 1: shake them out of things falling to suit them. They're

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Speaker 1: on a mission to put some pounds on before winter,

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Speaker 1: and they're not going to wait on gravity to set

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Speaker 1: the table for them. We sacked out that night, and

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Speaker 1: we're all up early the next day, sharing the coffee

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Speaker 1: pot and strategizing on wind to head to our spots.

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Speaker 1: Everyone in camp except for me and Bear were hunting

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Speaker 1: relatively close to the camp, and Bear was off on

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Speaker 1: his own, leaving the night before to live and hunt

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Speaker 1: like Jeremy Johnson, and I was driving an hour from

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Speaker 1: camp to my bait barrel that was serving groceries like

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Speaker 1: Howard Johnson. Anyway, the hunt was at hand, and I

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Speaker 1: felt confident I was going to at least see a

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Speaker 1: bear the spot that I had picked. I had obviously

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Speaker 1: never hunted, so I didn't have a clue how the

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Speaker 1: bears were going to approach the bait. I tried to

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Speaker 1: figure what the prevailing winds are this time of year

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Speaker 1: and solely based my stand placement off of that. I

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Speaker 1: was accessing the tree from a ladder stand that was

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Speaker 1: already there. That had been my plan all along. It

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Speaker 1: was a fifteen foot ladder stand that the bears in

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Speaker 1: the area would already be used to, and climbing it

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Speaker 1: was way easier than hanging sticks. My thought had been

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Speaker 1: to make as little different noises as possible. On the

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Speaker 1: day I hunted, I could have pre hung everything, but

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Speaker 1: then you run the risk of curious bears sniffing out

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Speaker 1: something new and using it for a chew toy. So

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Speaker 1: I brought my saddle and my platform and would just

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Speaker 1: use the seat of the ladder stand to set up

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Speaker 1: on the back side of the tree. The way I

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Speaker 1: assumed from a lot of the game camp pictures was

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Speaker 1: the way the bears were walking up to the bait.

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Speaker 1: My setup would have me hading to their approach by

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Speaker 1: the tree I was standing in, and when they commenced

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Speaker 1: the stuff and their jaws full of fatty goodness, they'd

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Speaker 1: be standing broadside for an eighteen yard shot. My bait

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Speaker 1: was a mile from where I parked my truck, so

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Speaker 1: I drove my can am to within two hundred and

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Speaker 1: fifty yards and bailed out with everything I was going

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Speaker 1: to possibly need to set the first evening of the hunt,

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Speaker 1: I told enough water with me in my backpack to

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Speaker 1: take a bath with, and after I climbed the tree,

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Speaker 1: I set my platform and settled into my saddle. I

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Speaker 1: looked at my watch. It was twelve thirty PM and

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Speaker 1: the temperature was a cool ninety seven degrees. I was early,

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Speaker 1: too early, and after slugging the first bottle down like

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Speaker 1: a starving hervort calf. I started to doubt I brought

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Speaker 1: enough water. It'd be three hours before the action started,

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Speaker 1: and just moments before it did. I looked around at

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Speaker 1: my setup, how I was positioned in relation to the bait,

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Speaker 1: and I thought to myself, Brent, for someone that has

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Speaker 1: never hunted this spot, you must be some kind of

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Speaker 1: bear hunting genius to have situated yourself in the best

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Speaker 1: possible spot to kill a bear, unless it comes from

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Speaker 1: behind me, to the left, to the right. I didn't

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Speaker 1: think that would be the case, though all the evidence

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Speaker 1: I had a bear's approaching was right out in front

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Speaker 1: of me. No, I had them pegged. I just needed

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Speaker 1: one to show up. When the wind did blow, it

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Speaker 1: was swirling all around. For the most part, it didn't budge,

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Speaker 1: and due to the lack of rain over the last

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Speaker 1: few weeks, the leaves sounded like corn flakes when you

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Speaker 1: walked on them. Crunch, crunch, crunch, like the sound I

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Speaker 1: was hearing behind me right now. I looked over my

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Speaker 1: left shoulder in time to see a bear at thirty

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00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:09,000
Speaker 1: yards clearing the grass, the bushes and the saplings. That

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00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:13,000
Speaker 1: was defining a well worn path that suddenly popped out

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00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:16,000
Speaker 1: to me in view and was easier to follow back

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00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:18,240
Speaker 1: into the woods than the ruts on the Oregon Trail

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Speaker 1: hind the world, and I missed that. No worries. It's

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00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:26,159
Speaker 1: just Booboo, the young bear I'd seen many times on

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Speaker 1: my game camera. I recognized his dark mussle immediately, and

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Speaker 1: it's big old ears. Since he had hair on his face,

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Speaker 1: I knew it wasn't the south I'd seen a jillion

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Speaker 1: pictures of both of them before that date. Even though

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Speaker 1: I knew it wasn't the bear I was going to shoot,

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Speaker 1: I couldn't help but get excited. I was resting my

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Speaker 1: arms on the bridge of my saddle and looking over

300
00:17:49,240 --> 00:17:52,280
Speaker 1: my left shoulder as the bear stop, just standing there

301
00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:54,719
Speaker 1: and looking toward the barrel. I glassed at my watch.

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00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:58,080
Speaker 1: It had my heart rate bumping one hundred and ten

303
00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:01,960
Speaker 1: beats a minute. Booboo smelled a rat, and after a

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00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:04,679
Speaker 1: minute or so, he did in a bow face and

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00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:07,360
Speaker 1: slipped back down the bear trail that he'd walked up

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00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:11,240
Speaker 1: on three thirty on the first afternoon, and I had

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Speaker 1: already seen a bear. That's good. I settled back in

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00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:18,600
Speaker 1: and stared out across the area to by front, where

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Speaker 1: I assumed the bears would have come from. But now

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Speaker 1: after the first one came in, I kept a more

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00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:26,919
Speaker 1: vigilant watch on that trail and the one that was

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Speaker 1: directly behind me to the right side, the one that

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Speaker 1: I'd noticed when I first climbed up and thought, you know,

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Speaker 1: that would be a great way for a bear to

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00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:38,920
Speaker 1: come in and me never know he was there until

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Speaker 1: he was there. At five twenty, almost two hours after

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Speaker 1: Boo Boo showed up and left, I heard crunch, crunch,

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Speaker 1: crunch on the trail right behind me on the right.

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00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:53,159
Speaker 1: I twisted around so hard that I started to get

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00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:55,639
Speaker 1: a cramp between my shoulder blades, and my neck felt

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00:18:55,680 --> 00:18:58,199
Speaker 1: like it had a kidney stone in it. I was

322
00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:01,199
Speaker 1: straining to see what was making there and realized I

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00:19:01,280 --> 00:19:04,720
Speaker 1: was looking over it. There behind me, in the absolute

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00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:07,800
Speaker 1: worst place a bear could be standing, stood the big

325
00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:12,480
Speaker 1: boar I'd only had one picture of in the daylight.

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00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:16,840
Speaker 1: He stood there for several minutes, less than twenty five

327
00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:19,600
Speaker 1: yards away. His nose was working the air like whaling

328
00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:23,240
Speaker 1: does hunting the coon, but this critter was hunting me.

329
00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:26,879
Speaker 1: He swung his head back and forth, raising his nose

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00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:29,680
Speaker 1: to the wind that was blowing from where he stood

331
00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:33,720
Speaker 1: passed me toward the bait. He might be catching a

332
00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:36,040
Speaker 1: whiff of me, but the breeze that picked up enough

333
00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:39,119
Speaker 1: that he was having trouble figuring out where I was.

334
00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:42,800
Speaker 1: Patience and becoming one with that tree was the only

335
00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:45,000
Speaker 1: thing that was going to give me any kind of

336
00:19:45,119 --> 00:19:49,600
Speaker 1: chance with that bear. I eased my left hand over

337
00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:51,639
Speaker 1: to my bowl that was hanging on the side of

338
00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:53,520
Speaker 1: the tree. I slipped my hand right through the wrist

339
00:19:53,640 --> 00:19:56,520
Speaker 1: trap and took it off the hanger, attached my release

340
00:19:56,600 --> 00:20:00,680
Speaker 1: to the string loop, never taking my eyes off that bear.

341
00:20:02,359 --> 00:20:05,040
Speaker 1: There was absolutely no way I could turn and shoot.

342
00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:08,119
Speaker 1: The tree limbs were forming a canopy of maple and

343
00:20:08,119 --> 00:20:11,080
Speaker 1: oak leaves above where he stood, giving me only holes

344
00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:14,480
Speaker 1: between the groups of leaves to see him. He was

345
00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:19,840
Speaker 1: facing toward me anyway. He started easing forward, coming closer

346
00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:21,960
Speaker 1: up the trail that would lead him right beside my

347
00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:24,800
Speaker 1: tree to the barrel that sat less than twenty yards away.

348
00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:28,480
Speaker 1: The wind was perfect. By the time he got to

349
00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:30,840
Speaker 1: the bait and could smell me, I'd have already slung

350
00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:33,720
Speaker 1: an air through it. I just had to wait a

351
00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:37,720
Speaker 1: few more seconds. He got to my tree, swinging his

352
00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:40,399
Speaker 1: head back and forth, and stopped right beside me. And

353
00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:42,359
Speaker 1: then he stepped off the trail to his and my

354
00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:46,520
Speaker 1: left and took a couple steps, putting him directly beneath me.

355
00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:50,360
Speaker 1: I looked down between my feet and saw him standing there,

356
00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:53,639
Speaker 1: panting and breathing in all he could muster, trying to

357
00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:59,080
Speaker 1: find the human that he could almost smell. The wind

358
00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:01,520
Speaker 1: swirled the tiny and he stepped out from under the

359
00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:04,000
Speaker 1: tree to my left, walked a few steps, and stopped

360
00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:09,800
Speaker 1: facing away at ten yards. He was a big rascal,

361
00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:12,760
Speaker 1: and he had walked exactly where I needed him to walk.

362
00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:17,080
Speaker 1: What had started is getting caught from behind had switched

363
00:21:17,359 --> 00:21:20,359
Speaker 1: to me, having him in my sights within pocket knife

364
00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:24,720
Speaker 1: stabbing range. He took another step, and I drew my boat,

365
00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:27,320
Speaker 1: settling my sights on the middle of his back, waiting

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00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:30,800
Speaker 1: for him to either turn right toward the barrel or

367
00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:33,840
Speaker 1: hang a left and head back down the mountain. Either way,

368
00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:36,720
Speaker 1: I was fixing to let all the air out of him.

369
00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:40,639
Speaker 1: I watched him at full draw for a few seconds.

370
00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:42,920
Speaker 1: When the wind stopped and the thermals pulled my scent

371
00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:45,399
Speaker 1: down right on top of him. He turned to the

372
00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:49,280
Speaker 1: left to leave, but it was too late. I had

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00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:53,439
Speaker 1: him dead to rights at twelve yards. He stopped, and

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00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:57,280
Speaker 1: I was surprised when the arrow left the stream. That's

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00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:01,240
Speaker 1: how smooth the shot was. What happened next happened in

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00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:04,199
Speaker 1: the time it takes the blink. The arrow struck the

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00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:07,080
Speaker 1: ground below and behind his left front leg, and the

378
00:22:07,119 --> 00:22:09,600
Speaker 1: back half of that arrow slapped him across the side

379
00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:13,080
Speaker 1: like a grandma with a act right stick. The bear

380
00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:16,440
Speaker 1: hopped over to the right, looked around, and trotted off

381
00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:21,399
Speaker 1: down Booboo's trail, disappearing from view. The crunch crunch of

382
00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:24,680
Speaker 1: the sound of walked on corn flex fading in the distance.

383
00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:27,560
Speaker 1: As I stood there, looking like a monkey hanging on

384
00:22:27,600 --> 00:22:33,920
Speaker 1: the side of the tree. What happened? How did I

385
00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:40,200
Speaker 1: miss a three hundred and fifty pounds bar at twelve yards?

386
00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:43,919
Speaker 1: Why is that limb vibrating like a paint shaker at

387
00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:47,679
Speaker 1: home depot right between where the bear was standing and

388
00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:52,320
Speaker 1: where I am. For the love of Pete, my arrow

389
00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:55,520
Speaker 1: hit the dadgum limb. It was so subtle that I

390
00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:57,760
Speaker 1: didn't even hear it. I can only assume it was

391
00:22:57,800 --> 00:23:00,760
Speaker 1: my fletching that grazed it as it raced by it

392
00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:04,400
Speaker 1: at three hundred feet a second, touching it just enough

393
00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:08,960
Speaker 1: to throw it off course. Thirty minutes later, Booboo and

394
00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:12,840
Speaker 1: the Mangy South showed back up. I was still crying,

395
00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:15,280
Speaker 1: so they slept back down the mountain to let me

396
00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:20,680
Speaker 1: mourn in peace, And that in effect killed my bait

397
00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:25,080
Speaker 1: barrel for everyone except Booboo, the acorn drop picked up,

398
00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:29,240
Speaker 1: and everyone's bait more or less dried up. Bear season

399
00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:32,840
Speaker 1: was a roller coaster of low expectations and then high

400
00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:36,680
Speaker 1: drilling surprises and a kick to the nether regions when

401
00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:40,600
Speaker 1: everything was shaping up to work out, when it didn't.

402
00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:45,560
Speaker 1: And that's why it's so much fun. It was a

403
00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:48,520
Speaker 1: hunt I wanted to forget, but I couldn't wait to

404
00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:51,400
Speaker 1: tell everyone back at camp about how it had all

405
00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:59,720
Speaker 1: taking place. That was my bear hunt in Arkansas, my

406
00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:02,399
Speaker 1: first hunt of fall, and I am ready to go.

407
00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:05,399
Speaker 1: I hope y'all have a safe hunt. Remember if you're

408
00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:08,560
Speaker 1: in a tree, to wear your safety belts. And by now,

409
00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:10,880
Speaker 1: I'm sure you've all heard about the Meat Eater. Christmas

410
00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:14,879
Speaker 1: tour tickets are on sale but going fast, so if

411
00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:16,480
Speaker 1: you want to come out and say this, you might

412
00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:18,920
Speaker 1: want to check on them pretty quick. That's at the

413
00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:22,080
Speaker 1: meat eater dot com forward slash tour and get all

414
00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:26,000
Speaker 1: the info. White Tail Week is September the twenty ninth

415
00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:29,520
Speaker 1: through October the fifth. If you're in the need or

416
00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:31,960
Speaker 1: you want some new stuff, some new clothes and gear,

417
00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:35,719
Speaker 1: check out the website the meteater dot com and they

418
00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:39,760
Speaker 1: don't have all the info on there so until next week.

419
00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:43,200
Speaker 1: This is Brenton Reeds signing off. I'll be careful