Ok, I didn't want to go, and felt really sorry for my hunting boy. It was the last day of bear hunting, Scott was out of town, and he had no one to go with him. So, being the loving, do anything for my kids mom, I went! I've been several times before with both of the boys and, saw a bear, video taped their hunt , and helped gut a bear, yuck! I did it all with them. I kinda had fun with them, and kinda enjoyed the experience yet, it didn't cure me of my fear of bears. Bears and snakes, are the only things that make me want to faint. (I will take a bear over a snake though :) Anyway, back to my hunting story.........
My mom told me a story about my great grandfather hunting bear and coyote. He would cook meat and burn it, take it to the bait pile, and wait. It brought them in every time.
You see where I'm going with this? Yes, I burnt bacon, put it in a plastic bag, stuffed it into my pocket, and off we went. Dave, (a friend of a friend, and our next door neighbor) picked us up at 4:30pm, we drove, I can't tell you where, because if my life depended on it I couldn't find my way back home from the location. On the way he told us the bait had been hit the night before, but they only took the BACON grease! I got excited!
On the way in we saw a rust colored coyote. The guys that hunt in there have seen it more than once. It shot across the dirt road, Dave stopped and Dean jumped out with his gun. It ran in the woods and stopped and looked at Dean walking toward him, then bolted. Dean hopped back in the truck and we were on our way again. I sat in the back thinking about that bacon grease, and the bacon in my pocket.
"Ok", I thought......"We will go in and put all the bacon on the bait, climb in the tree, and in 20 min. have a bear".
I forgot to tell Dean to put all the bacon on the bait, and he only put 2 pieces on. He climbed into the stand....
I said, "Dean, why didn't you put all the bacon on the pile?"
"I thought you said not to put it all on!"
"Give me the bag!" I balled it up and threw it out toward the pile. I floated down right below us!!! O well, I thought. Then as I sat there I thought about that bacon in the baggie. Did I really want a bear that close?
"Dean, maybe we should go get that and put it on the pile"
"No, it will be fine mom"
"OK Dean, we'll leave it"
We waited..........SNAP, SNAP to my left side...........SNAP,SNAP behind me.
I thought, "Ok we're getting a bear tonight". I was happy for Dean. Then I heard more snapping in front of me.
Then I thought "Ok, Kerri your hearing every bird, squirrel, and rabbit in the forest". I listened some more to be really sure what I was hearing. Yep, something was coming in. I was a little confused because the snapping was in three different areas in a short amount of time. As I pondered this over, we heard a "WOOF" , which is the sound a bear makes. It happened again and Dean and I just looked at each other. Then I knew we were getting a bear tonight. Right? Wrong!! Immediately after the second "WOOF" a pack of coyotes broke into a screaming fit!!! I started to cry while shaking uncontrollably, Dean immediately got his gun ready. Then he proceeded to calm me down.
"Coyotes can't climb trees mom." he whispered.
We quickly realized they had been circling around us all evening. That is what we were hearing. Just when I thought things couldn't get worse a pack off to our left answered them. So there we were 4 bullets, two people up in a tree stand with 2 packs of coyotes, one circling the other possibly on their way to greet the others.
You know what I was thinking?
"This is the LAST time I go hunting. It's over. Never ever again. I don't care if it's the last chance on earth to get a bear! I'm never ever going hunting again! EVER!!"
After the crying stopped, I just shook. Dean was watching and listening. I didn't know how we were going to get out of that tree! I wanted to call someone. (I did have my phone on me)
"Would I get cell service?" I thought.
They started circling again, and then they would stop, and shake just like a dog does after their bath. You could hear that vibrating sound. One came to the bacon in the bag, but there was a ground covering of small trees, and all Dean could see was the back end and the tail. He couldn't get a shot without the dog noticing him. We waited till legal shooting time was up. It got really cold and really dark. I figured they knew we were in there and were waiting patiently for us to get down so they could have a good meal. (pretty dramatic huh?) Then we started talking out loud hoping this would scare them away, and soon Dave's headlights were coming down the road. I made Dean keep his gun loaded till we were out of the woods!
I practically killed myself getting back to the truck. I was falling over stumps and blow downs, and rocks. I jumped in the truck, and was finally safe.
Never again!
(My daddy always said, "Never say never")
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