SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome back to the guys today outdoors and podcasts. Begging, begging crying to go with my grandfather.

SPEAKER_01: 0:29

Go with my father on his gear drive. Yeah, on the last trip over, I shot a great kickoff wasn't about charging ground. And then the whooping.

SPEAKER_05: 0:38

And then you hear. Alright, everyone, we are back. We are back after the great bear week here in New Jersey. And today we have a couple of the killers from this week that put down a bunch of uh great bears. Some people got their first ones. Another one got his 21st, 20, 24th Black Bear. Would be 20, would be 20 though in New Jersey. Um and then Frank got his first archery bear as well. And Zach, all the way from the south, gets to miss out on on bear season. Hopefully it comes up next year too. The catch it and everything like that. Um boys, how's how's everyone doing? Good?

SPEAKER_02: 1:28

Pretty good. Killing it.

SPEAKER_05: 1:29

Well, I I feel like I haven't seen since the government shut down, Zach, I feel like we haven't seen or talked to you much at all here.

SPEAKER_01: 1:40

Yeah, we've been really busy doing a lot of paperwork and stuff. Sorry, my son is like in my face right now. So we've been just doing like uh a lot of paperwork because we have a lot of Marines that are like stuck. They're not allowed to move, they're not allowed to transfer, so it's just like babysitting and thank God I don't have to do it, but it's just like we're breaking up fight club pretty much every single day in the uh squad base, so it's it's kind of hectic.

SPEAKER_05: 2:09

I love it. I love it. Um well boys, after a very interesting week, was it we had this northeastern come in on it started basically on on Sunday and everything like that? Monday was really rainy, and you know, we might as well start with uh with you, Eddie, here and because you're the first one in the group to get a bear uh that's talking with us right now, and an absolute giant of a of a bear. So kind of go into really what leading into to the season and everything like that, and then um tell us about that rainy, stormy bear that you were able to knock down.

SPEAKER_03: 2:51

Yeah, no, so so I I ended up going out Monday and I killed a bear that we called Diamond Bear. Uh Diamond Bear, first pictures I've ever gotten of him was in 2004. So this is an old bear. I didn't get I I I've got him periodically on a deer corn. It just he had a very unique circle on his chest. Uh, but it kind of was like a shape of a diamond, it was hollow in the center. So, you know, over the years, I I would say probably 2009-2010, I really started pursuing him because he was getting into that 300-pound range, and I was like, Oh, I want this bear. Well, I had him in 2010, solid, and then all of a sudden a 700-pounder showed up, and I ended up letting my mother sit the bait, and she shot the 700-pounder uh with the shotgun. So it's pretty neat because mom's skull was 22 and the 16th. She's actually the largest black bear killed by a woman in Boon and Crockett, so it was actually pretty cool. So, a lot of history, uh, a lot of hunters knew this bear over the years, and it just stuck with him diamond bear, diamond bear. Um, it's gonna be, you know, uh Timber Life Outdoors. We're gonna do. I have so much pictures, audio, video. Every day I was baiting this bear this year, I was videoing going in because I've never had the legend this locked it. And I was very excited. So leading up to it, he's he has been missing for two years. Nobody's seen him. I figured he died of old age. I I tracked him through five different towns, nowhere, nowhere on a camera for two years. Uh, one of the local cops, two towns over, sent me a picture when I was in Wildwood for the firemen's convention back in August or September, and uh he said, Look at the size of this bear, and it was standing in a driveway, and it turned, and I saw the blaze, and I went, There he is. Um, a little bit of homework trying to find where I can get close. Uh, and then a page on Facebook. Somebody posted a video of him, and I was on the other end of town, so I made it to that end of town, just hunting him down. Uh September 11th, he showed up on camera. The bait sat there for two and a half weeks, multiple bears on it. Um September 11th, he showed his face. And I was from there, I was locked in. I had to figure something out. I mean, you guys, you know, a little sneak peek. These are pages and pages of when he came into the bait, what the wind was doing, when he left the bait, what direction he left. I mean, I I wasn't letting him slip past me this time. So, you know, yeah, full analysis. Full analysis. The only consistency this bear had was he would not show up at night, uh, daytime only, all day long. The only consistency besides that was if he left to the if he left to the left of the bait, he was coming back from the left of the bait. If he left to the right, he was coming back from the right. That's it. Wind could be doing anything. He did not play the wind one bit. Um so coming up to the season uh week before, I lost him for three days, gone. I was giving up. I I I sat on my couch in the dark, just staring at the wall. Like I let him slip by. I was I was sick. Uh I believe I ended up giving him what you know, the biologists they call it rotten guts. I think I oversweetened him. Uh he left the bait, he came back, finally showed back up, and I fed this bear nothing but peanuts. And he never left that day again. Never ever left. Stayed on the peanuts, all protein. He just stayed there. He would sleep behind the bait. Now he was staying at the bait while I was baiting. I have videos of him at 12 feet just standing there while I'm dumping bait, dumping bait. Um, also had 12 other bears hitting this same bait. So I had to start baiting them every day, every day. So I said to myself, I said, you know what, I'm gonna start tricking them up. Because with these big bears, you got you gotta play with them. You got they know what you're doing, so you gotta play with them. So I was switching my times up. I was doing it in the morning, doing it in the evening, doing it. I I wouldn't give them a pattern to pattern me. But no matter when I went in, he was coming. He waited for me all day.

SPEAKER_05: 7:31

So now one thing before before you go, I'm afraid to ask. I think everyone is now wondering how much was that bill for just peanuts alone of bait? And how are you still living at home and your your wife has not kicked you up?

SPEAKER_03: 7:50

So I I actually stepped in a little bit of uh bait heaven this year. Uh I helped uh I helped a person out who supplies bait. A lot of us know them. Uh, gave them two farms, and I pretty much get what I wanted. But I also uh I got about 5,000 pounds for like 600 bucks off a guy in Irvington. So it was like I fell into it, you know? Yeah. We went through about 7,000 pounds of bait. Jeez! Uh between me and Brian.

SPEAKER_04: 8:22

That bear was only 12 feet from you.

SPEAKER_03: 8:25

Oh, yeah, yeah. I I have video. Yeah, that would have had a revolver multiple. Hold on, hold on.

SPEAKER_05: 8:31

Let me tell you these two boys are from the south, so they don't understand what it's like being in New Jersey and in the woods in Jersey because that's not like I I know it sounds like crazy, but you just get so accustomed to these bears, and these bears get so accustomed to you. And a bear that size does not like I swear, the bigger the bear that I've encountered, the bigger boars, they really just they know nothing is really gonna happen to them, and they're very confident. Where I've I've been just as close eye to eye with bears, and they're it's just we just look at each other, and that's it. And the bear will either stay there and just chill, or just slowly not even run, just slowly just walk off like nothing even happened and went about its day. So for you guys and anybody who's listening who's not from New Jersey, especially up in the West West Jersey and everything like that. You this is like a normal, nor normal kind of thing here. Not in Wisconsin, just straight up looks anyway.

SPEAKER_03: 9:36

I uh I I even got I even have a few pictures. I actually the biologist wanted uh the pictures because I actually have nine bears at one time on the bait. Like this place was infested, but yet the big boy he would roll in, diamond bear would roll in, everything's gone, nothing would be there. As long as he was there, no other bear was ever around. Like it was just his. But leading in the you know, the the day of, you know, we were looking at the rain, and I I said to Brian, I said, like, hey, we're going. I said, Well, I'm going. I don't, you can come film, you can do whatever you want, dude. But I'm going. I don't care if I get blown out of the tree, I'm going to put this legend to rest. And uh, you know, I I don't want to give out too much because, like, you know, the the video is gonna be great. There's so much into the video. We'll get you and Brian back on for the video, for sure. But but the uh leading up to it, like it's gonna be good because I thought he outsmarted me. We got in there, wind is howling, raining. I mean, it was just disgusting. And uh within 20 minutes, we started seeing bears, and they're just coming in and out, and all I did was spray, you know. That's all I did because every time I would bait, I would spray, spray, spray. So the plan was, you know, there's so many bears there, there's no bait left. So Monday rolling in there, no bait. Went to the bait site. There, I mean, there wasn't even a crumb. I'm like, yes, this worked perfect, you know. So I sprayed the trees, they roll in. Um, you know, and and uh you'll you'll see when the video comes out how it actually played out. But we sat till 11:30, 11:40, and uh I was frozen. My hands were purple. Uh there's some real good video of us swaying in the tree, you know? It's it's yeah, I think you guys posted that today. Yeah, yeah, actually, yeah, he put it on. It was just you wouldn't. I think we were the only ones out there that morning. I'll to be honest with you. I don't think anybody else went out. Oh, we we we were out. We were out. Where is troopers?

SPEAKER_05: 11:39

See now you guys are bear hunters if you were. I think I think only like, and this is not a knock to like I I and we kind of try to take that to advantage because like we kind of figured like no one was really gonna be out at the pressure line. And what we did is, you know, we we were doing a lot of spotting stalking and everything like that. So like we just boots on the ground. Like, I think between the combined four of us, I think we were well over 20 plus miles. I think Zach on his own, I think did did uh like 11 or 15 miles by by himself. I I think that day. So um it was it was a fun day, but yeah, I mean you guys you guys toughed it out like so you were. And I don't blame like who who I don't blame you at all. Like that's that's what you gotta do.

SPEAKER_03: 12:27

Yeah, it did like I said, this bear, he did everything a big bear should not do. And in the past, this bear, I I've had him day of the season hitting the bait for many, many years. You changed one thing with this bear in the past, he was gone. Gone, clear gone. I had his den for seven years. I found his den. He would den November 14th every year for five years. So I could never like when we only had the shotgun season, I could never kill him because he was already in his den. I had a camera on his den and it would show him going in and coming out late March. There were two pictures, that's it. So I knew where he was, but he would travel five different towns, and I had him in each town all the way around. Yeah, it it he's a he's a true legend. Like it uh and today I went in today to take the stands out and the steps, and I just sat in the stand and I'm like, there's something missing here. Like the woods was like a ghost, you know. There was just nothing, and like I just had that that feeling, like, man, the legend fell right there, you know, like a 20-year quest almost, you know, and it's like finally came true. Uh and he was bigger, he he was bigger five, six years ago. He was he was a lot bigger body. Um he was definitely well in the sevens easily uh three, four years ago. So, you know, we we figure he's about 26, 27 years old. Wow.

SPEAKER_05: 14:04

Oh my god. Lived a great life. Yeah, right. Are you guys did like so for the biologists, like when you know, because yet again, I know you know we you want to keep as much for for the film and everything like that, too. So, but like when you went to to the biologists, like what was kind of their first reaction of just on like the sure, like when they open up, because I think they pull a tooth and everything like that. Yeah, how much was was was there really not much left? Like, kind of what what did that and what look like?

SPEAKER_03: 14:32

He still he still had some decent teeth, but they they were like, Oh, he's definitely 15 plus, you know. And I said, Well, I can tell you right now, I have pictures of him at 180 pounds in 2004. And they're like, Really? So then they looked a little deeper and they're like, Yeah, his teeth are very dark, you know, they were stained. Um, so they're they're interested in themselves to to get that DNA, that tooth back, you know, whatever they do. They're interested in themselves. Um exactly how old it is. You know, wow, that's that's incredible. Yeah, the the the legend of Diamond Bear, and it it's gonna be cool. You know, I'm glad I'm glad I and me and Brian, Elvin from uh Timberleaf, we actually met because of Diamond Bear. We were hunting, we were hunting back in 2019, only about 300 yards from each other. He would have him on his bait, I had him on my bait. He had him at Brian actually had him at 60 yards on opening day, circling him right at dark. And then the bear was gone, vanished. I said he knew you were there, he's gone. There's no shot, you're never gonna see him again. I'm not gonna see him. Nobody in this town is gonna see him again. You gotta go find him. But he would just gone. Insane. Insane bear. I I can tell you right now, if I had a 24-inch skull bear that you knew for a fact was standing here and he was standing here, I was taking diamond bear.

SPEAKER_05: 15:55

Like I mean, I think sometimes, especially like at least how I look at things, like the the quest, the the the history that you have and with these animals and everything like that, yeah, I think far outweighs like, yeah, I feel like especially with bear or especially with deer, because you get it really common with deer and everything like that. You hear all these people that have been chasing deer for, you know, so many years and everything, and then have even passed up on on bigger deer because like that is like I don't know, the history is a big part of what what we love to do. And like when you're chasing and get obsessed with one specific animal, and that's all that you're thinking about day and day. Nothing else matters, like literally like nothing else matters until until you achieve you know the goal, or until you know somebody else or the the animal dies of of old age.

SPEAKER_03: 16:48

Uh uh you know, my my daughter, she kept coming in here in the man cave because I was sitting here in the dark just staring at my phone, kept refreshing it.

SPEAKER_01: 17:00

Oh no. Kept refreshing it. Refresh the refresh the screen.

SPEAKER_05: 17:08

Oh no. What a terrible time to lose.

SPEAKER_07: 17:15

Never fails. Oh no.

SPEAKER_05: 17:24

Maybe. Oh, I can't. Alright, well. I mean, I couldn't imagine yeah, for you, I I'm really interested in people outside of like New Jersey and everything like that, like really want to hear people like what they would do, you know, in in those scenarios. Like you guys are like, oh, do you have a gun? First of all, we're not even allowed to legally carry a gun into uh a handgun into the woods and everything like that. Even if even if you have even if you have your concealed carry in New Jersey, I still don't think you're allowed to. Um that's crazy to me. Yeah, yeah. So okay, so he'll he'll be back. Um, so yeah, we we still cannot um do that, which I don't know. Here in New Jersey, like running into like you want, like I love running into bears, like and being on Western, like Frank can tell you once we get into his story and everything. And I imagine, you know, TJ's been hunting Jersey. How long have you been hunting uh Jersey for TJ? You grew up here as well, correct?

SPEAKER_02: 18:36

Yeah, I grew up. I'm like like uh central Jersey, so hunting deer and everything, probably the last 15-20 years. But uh that's my first this was my second year trying to go after the bear I was supposed to go after. He didn't show up, but a bear similar to his size showed up, and I thought it was him, but it wasn't.

SPEAKER_05: 19:01

Um real quick, me, we guys, we got Eddie back. Um, we we lost you for a sec, right when you started saying scrolling and you were doing it.

SPEAKER_03: 19:08

Yeah, just real quick, just you know, with the emotion and and of him disappearing after having him locked in for weeks, and my daughter come in here and I'm in the dark. Just from the light of my phone, you know, scrolling, refreshing, make it see, make it scene if you show up. So, like to actually put an end to this legend, it's like it's priceless. No, no, definitely.

SPEAKER_05: 19:31

I I definitely feel it. And someone we even before we get we get back to TJ, and I want to say for whether no matter what you're chasing, it's always a bittersweet because you're so happy that you finally have killed the target that you're going to, but then also there is a really set because it's like what's next? Like, I like you miss that chase. You miss like at some point you're gonna be like, I really want to be chasing, like you want to have that game again with that specific animal, and you're never going to get it again, you know. And just like you said, you went back to the woods and you're taking everything down, and you know, something was missing. Well, that right there, like the whole chase is is over, you know. The and no matter if you're chasing deer, bear, turkey, a specific bird, like whatever it is, like for me, there's certain birds that have gotten the best of me, and those things piss me off, and I cannot wait until you know turkey season to finally kill, like, I'm waiting for one bird specifically. I I I know he's still alive because I saw him actually not too not too long ago and everything like that, but you just get so like invested, and when it's over, it's like you're happy, and then it sets and it's like man, you love the chase, and that's what hunting like you love just chasing, and and oh yeah, the game of of chess and everything like that.

SPEAKER_03: 20:57

Some people don't understand it, you know. They sit back and they're like, How do you do this? You know, and I'm like, listen, I love it. When when I when uh you know when I met my girlfriend, she said, you know, what do you do? You know, and uh I'm like, Well, I hunt and fish. I said, You won't find me in a bar, you won't find me running around, you're gonna find me either in a tree or on the lake, you know. And she's like, Oh, you know, she found out real quick what that meant because I wasn't around from sundown, you know, I was gone. Yeah. So she ended up joining, you know, she got her license, she's already taken three bears, she's taken three great bucks. So, like, she she joined. So it's like, there you go. But yeah, you know, she just goes and sits. I do all the you know, hair stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course. Yeah, yeah. So um, but but so hey, we're gonna have that, we're gonna have that video out probably in a few weeks, and it's uh I can't wait. I can't wait. Yeah, because I get I get to tell my story in full with with pictures and this and that. So like I'm really looking forward to putting this all together. It's awesome.

SPEAKER_05: 22:05

No, we're we're really looking forward to it. Um, you know, we'll we'll definitely get you back on for that as well with with Brian and everything like that. Because, you know, we I I have Brian on for our 200th episode. We actually had Brian on for talking about his bear and everything like that. And now you guys have shot just two absolute just giants and you know of bears and like yours is super old, like the stories behind it and everything like that, you know, we definitely would love to sit down and and hem that out uh and another date. But um TJ, the first first bear, you know, and yet again, for for our our guys that are not from South or not from Jersey, where TJ C says that central. So yeah, the bears there are you don't really you may get a few, but probably you guys, your bear number is not no.

SPEAKER_02: 22:55

We it's you might for us to see your bear down here is shocking. Uh you just don't see them. Um but one thing I want to do for a while was get a bear. So I started off in this, you know, State Land, stuff like that, and seems like you always have them on camera, but as soon as that first morning, if it wasn't there, everything's gone. Everyone, you know, travels in and out, it spooks everything, they go dark or they don't show, and your whole week is shot. So uh did that for years. Finally, um my uncle, his buddy, was doing work at a lady's house, and she has bears all over. So bait didn't need it. They're literally in her backyard running around at the bottom of it. It's a real thick kind of marsh setup, and uh, I had everything set up. I was gonna do a ground hunt, you know, seemed real easy, and then that that storm came in. I saw the wind was totally different now. Um, so I ended up there's a rock ledge kind of a little before that marsh, and it's got a little cutout in it, and I was like, you know what? I'm gonna sit in my truck, I'm gonna let the storm ride out, and I'm sitting there looking at the weather app, look at, and I was like, there's a small break from a downpour to a drizzle, and it's about a 30-40 minute break, and it's right at sunlight. So I honestly I waited for like the last 15 minutes before sunlight, and I booked it through the woods. The camera went off that they're we're in the marsh, so I figured I'll go hot up on this ledge and hopefully they come out. And for once everything went right. I was sitting there and I kept poking, poking. Finally, started to get a little more light, and finally I poked and I was like, I don't remember there being a boulder right there. It was about like 60 yards, and I kept looking at it at five because this is this is the first time I actually got to see a bear. And I looked and I was like, that that's not a boulder, that that thing's moving, and it's coming towards me. And uh, so I'm poked, I'm just looking, I'm looking, and it's it's walking. It's I was like, Alright, that's probably like 25 yards out. So I'm watching it, watching it. So finally I tuck back in my little cove and I'm drawing, you know, waiting, and finally this thing walks out, and for some reason it decided to hug that rock while coming up because it was looking the other way, thank god. But when it walked up, it scared the crap out of me at first because bears are a lot bigger than what they look on trail camera, especially a little over 300 pounds. So my drew back real quick, and the time I looked to the peep site, the only thing I know about a bear is dead centered. So when I looked in there, I saw all three pins were right on it, and I touched it off, and hearing that thud is a totally different sound than a deer. So uh that was pretty cool. Didn't get to hear any great, you know, the death roar or anything like that. But watching that thing run 50 yards and finally falling and then rolling another 40 yards downhill, it was pretty cool. The drag was horrible, I'll admit that. Next time, definitely bringing a quad. But uh, it's it was a lot, it was it was exciting. You know, the challenge of it was for me, I find bear a lot harder to kill than deer. It seems like as soon as they pick you off, no matter what spot, they're gone. You have one week to get it done, and if you screw up one time, your week is shot. With a deer, it's like, all right, you mess up, you give it a week, and it will come back. You have months to get it before someone else does, or hopefully, but uh definitely cannot wait to get out there and do it again.

SPEAKER_05: 27:00

Yeah, I I I will agree with you on on that. I think the the time limit that we have here in New Jersey, it's six days, and yet again, for if you're not a die hard bear hunter or somebody who's just not mentally insane, like hunting in that storm on Monday, you're not gonna do it. You know what I mean? So if you don't get good weather, and at the end of the day, like that was still huntable weather. I think last last year, the evening, the wind was even worse, if I remember correctly, last year. And that was a good one.

SPEAKER_02: 27:37

Yeah, now we made snow and everything.

SPEAKER_05: 27:40

Oh no, that was early season, or it was a window, it was it was super, it was super windy. I think it was what I think it was like 45 mile per hour wind. Like the morning was okay, right? But once you get to a certain you know, wind, you know, we we were still out, but like nothing. And I think the number was super low. I think there wasn't that many bears harvested, like lower than than this year is on opening day. Um but like if if you look at that in New Jersey, the problem is you're if you have bad weather anywhere in between that week, you're you're potentially losing a day or or two. You know what I mean? So people have to take off of work, peep, whatever the case is. That already brings down your potential of harvesting a bear down. Now, yet again, you get super inconsistent wind, which on the first I'd say three days, two to three for at least where we were, the wind was constantly swirling. We especially Monday and early Tuesday, that wind was constantly swirling just because of the storm and everything like that. So if you're getting a bear that really does not is not used to human scent, or you're you're not hunting somewhere by houses or or on a hiking trail or whatever, my experience, those bear, you're not gonna see them.

SPEAKER_02: 29:01

Yeah, that's exactly what helped me out. Was there a few houses around? So I feel like bears that they used to smell them people, you know, it just it really wasn't worried that you know, if even if it caught my scent, I couldn't tell, but like I said, it didn't had no worries. I probably shot that bear at 12 yards. I love it. And like you said, it it scared me as much as I scared it when uh it popped around that corner.

SPEAKER_05: 29:28

I love it. What are are you getting uh are you gonna be eating this bear?

SPEAKER_02: 29:34

Uh yeah, so I have an uncle who he does all the specialty stuff, so we skinned it, everything like that. We butchered it, you know. He's gonna do all the seasoning, everything like that. Oh man. Have you have you had bear before?

SPEAKER_05: 29:47

No, it's my first time, so oh I I I love it. I can only speak good things about it, you know. As long as people don't get a junk bear, you know what I mean? You're I it's it's good experiences when it comes to comes to.

SPEAKER_02: 30:00

bear especially those bear sausages and stuff like that like it's absolutely killer but um yeah no are are is this a thing are you gonna continue to do this or you know um did it did bear hunting get you kind of like hooked do you have that itch or did was it one one and done oh no i it um it's definitely hooked I mean uh I like that like I said it it's more for me it's more challenging than deer because like where I'm at you know the deer the does and everything it's everywhere like a a bear trying to get that to cooperate I was shocked the way it happened but like I said with all the failures I've ever had with like sitting and waiting and you could hear the blue jays coming around like literally going right around with the bears walking and you're like well now it's dead behind me and I'm not seeing that bear ever again and you just hear the blue jays you know as it walks off and it's like this is fun. So it's definitely a lot more challenging I definitely respect it a lot more than what I thought I would.

SPEAKER_05: 31:01

I thought it was just oh it's a bear how hard could it be and prove me wrong that's what everyone thinks they are a challenging animal to to kill um you know and yet again that just goes to show like we're one of the most densely bear populated states and it's only western like the west north of Jersey park you go from central all the way to south we really you go from very few to absolutely basically none there's what spaces that there's a few bears in the pine barons and everything like that which it's very much possible but not a living like a legit living population of of bears but um yeah no that's 300 pounds as your first bear is absolutely impressive congratulations um yet again TJ um it's you've killed a bunch of great bucks you know that we've been watching everything like that and very happy for you to to get your first bear and everything like that and you know can't wait to see what else you're able to to get down uh in the coming future. Thank you can't wait um Mr. Chris our other guy with his first bear surprisingly honestly all jokes I had no idea that you were going to even be bear hunting this year I thought you'd be getting ready for Africa or something like that. Well I'm still getting ready for Africa that's like I'm gonna put a little hunt and I'm planning like it's like that's it didn't stop me but I I know but I'm just so now used to you just like all on board for for Africa and everything like that. So like Bear just completely slipped slipped my mind for you or surprised you haven't booked a grizzly hunt yet well I mean listen I got listen I got a I got I got the Buffalo hunt I got two different safaris next year in Africa.

SPEAKER_04: 32:47

I got Patagonia in Argentina in 27 I got I got a lot of big hunts but bear hunting is you know I take a week off to go bear hunting that's that's happening every year.

SPEAKER_05: 33:00

It's one of the the New Jersey New York traditions if you live close enough where you can come to New Jersey and you know our boys um our our Wisconsin boys are going to be coming out next year for for the bear hunt as as well and hopefully we can get Zach coming coming as well and have the full camp next year as well but Chris why don't we hear your story on how everything unfolded for you um I know you and I have we we've talked about and we've talked before but you know always always love it when Chris kills something and he comes on and talks about it.

SPEAKER_04: 33:34

Well so um bear season opened up in New Jersey and I shot a bear and uh meeting end of story this is why the pursuit live guys are are always the best I mean you know fortunately I'm a I'm I'm a diehard hunter and also a complete psychopath so I was out in the rain in my rain gear at 515 in the morning and got in the saddle and I sat in the tree all day. It didn't matter I was out there um the bear that I shot I actually encountered at 730 in the morning I had eight bear encounters throughout the day um and my I have two I had two target bears uh one that we named sweat pants um I I got I actually got a picture of it so so you can kind of understand at first when we saw it when this bear showed up on camera we thought he had some kind of mange and if you look you can see like how he's missing his fur yeah yeah he was wearing a sweat a set of sweatpants yeah yeah I I kind of set out with the with the intention of of hunting sweatpants I have another big bear that's probably five to six hundred pounds there um but neither of them showed up so as the day went on the I you know this was the first bear I I encountered in the morning I I had my phone out I had video of him walking under my under my tree he never really even knew I was there and when I texted my hunting partner Rob he said that's a good bear shoot it I'm like well I'm gonna wait it's you know the sun just came up we'll see what happens keeps raining the the wind keeps coming I get a couple more bears that come in i i had a sow with cubs come in we're getting on to like 3 30 in the afternoon now and just I'm like the next bear that comes in is getting it i'm I'm in my tree of place I'm cold I'm wet this is it so uh uh he he came in from the opposite direction that he did in the morning walked right under me stopped at 10 yards and looked up at me so I looked at him and I didn't have a face mask on or anything I had all my reindeer I had my quiz up and I'm just like all right you're you're gonna get it buddy sorry and as soon as he walked to the other side of my tree I grabbed my bow he stopped gave me a broadside shot and said yeah let him have it and uh yeah I I it it probably I I didn't have the you know the buck fever shakes it was like oh it was like oh thank god I need to warm up I I couldn't even hang my bow back on the hanger for a minute I I was holding my bow because I'm I'm just shaking I'm like oh gosh thank it's over thank you oh so I sat in the tree and I started to text you know I was texting my hunting partner letting know that I took one and another bear came out two minutes later I'm like ah well that's great he stopped 30 yards broadside I'm like oh well you know you're you he's another one that I would have shot he had a nice white chevron on his chest and I was like ah I wish you would have came out first I would have much rather taken you but um you know I got out of the tree had you know decent blood for probably 40 or 50 yards I think maybe you know maybe a little bit more or less but with the rain he got into some really thick stuff and I said all right let me let me back out I I got uh got our buddy Darren Duran on the on the horn said Darren you know we need you to come out we got the dog on it this bear and it ended up going you know I estimate about 200 yards. Darren seems to think it was a little less but we we we went with one dog first that that dog took us in a completely different direction. So we went and got his other dog and that dog inevitably just took us straight to the bear so we didn't have an accurate distance on the track but I I do feel like it was it it it ran a little more than it should for the shot um crossed a creek that on you know I'm 6'4 and this thing you know the the creek was above my knees up to my thighs and this thing swam through it and kept going for probably another 60 yards after that um but yeah we got we got the bear we got him out uh per it was as perfect of a shot as it could have been it was double lunged I was using a big expandable broad head opened him right up and even Darren when he saw the bear said that I I don't know how this bear went and all like even half the distance that that it actually it shouldn't have done this. So yeah we got him out um he's in the freezer now which is great and uh yeah great uh great great ending to an opening day I ended up uh going out and doing some guiding for the rest of the week trying to put some other people on bears and uh yeah so uh it was great and then now it's back to planning the next safari not even whitale it's just planning the next safari listen listen but bear hunting is one thing but dangerous game hunting now we're talking like you talk you talk about oh you know we you know we we go up we hang out near the bears like you know and I know I'm gonna get a little bit into my usual feel here but you know when you're staring down Cape Buffalo at like 10 yards oh here we go okay you know this thing all right this thing really wants to kill me where a bear is like oh hey how you doing what's up you got that food for me yeah the the bears here just want food that's that's it that's it that's it where Cape Buffalo says no no I don't I just I just don't like you because you exist. Yeah yeah so but no I'm uh I I'm I'm I'm looking forward to trying to go back out in segment B.

SPEAKER_05: 39:50

I'm uh I'm still in the hunt for for sweatpants here and uh and we'll see which I I did have to you know Jersey has to fix this whole I don't understand why in segment B you cannot bow hunt it makes no sense to me especially because if I can go out for six days and shoot deer with my bow and tag it under my six day why can I not go out and hunt bear with my bow why does it even why does it matter if you can already do it for deer with your six day so you're you don't have an issue with people already bow hunting at that time why when it now comes for the because yet again we have six days to to bow hunt bear in New Jersey give us another six days during the I honestly would guarantee you probably would have a lot more bear hunters out there because I I mean for myself I've already shot one with the gun I but I'm fixated on shooting my next bear with the bow I have guys out there that I know that they just bow hunt so they would go chase them yes you you Chris which you know um I feel like you're not you're hurting people who don't want to go out with the gun already there's you know that's that's just how it is like give everybody that opportunity to kill them again with with a bow I'm sorry you already had a season already if I can shoot deer with my with my bow and tag it under my sixth day there's no reason why I cannot bow hunt bear for for the winter winter time.

SPEAKER_04: 41:41

But you know that again our state is you know banana so it's yeah it definitely should be like an any implement kind of thing where you know even in New York during rifle season for deer you can hunt with your bow if you want you can use anything it's just you can't use your rifle during bow season so why isn't it the opposite in New Jersey for the late bear season I I I don't know I don't understand it.

SPEAKER_05: 42:04

And yet again it's only the bear season like yeah we can bow hunt from sub from the second week of September and if you're in the zone that goes all the way to extended mid-February the whole entire time six day yet again you can bow hunt and use your your bow on the six day tags and not use your you know your your other tag that's and exactly what you mean like why I and I'm gonna get drawn into this whole freaking thing and everything like that so I don't want to get into it but like we have the fix we have the fix my bow identifies as black powder equipment yes we can we can still do that now can't we works that is still an office we could do that that is that is a thing we we can um but all jokes aside Mr uh broadside ambush we now have as boondocks hunting have now gone four for four thank you very i was i was a little nervous right you know four for four we've kept the streak alive with at least one of us tagging a bear every single year um I went with the first Peyton got the the next two and then now Frank with with his first archery bear and everything like that. So one Frank thank you for for keeping it the streak alive for us and everything like that. But you had a very I'd kind of say more of a different uh bear hunt than than the rest of the three um you know and it it was a a hunt that or a a season that could have gotten gotten you discouraged and everything like but proves why you just need to keep grinding and keep going and keep going you know you've you've had a lot on your plate and everything like that on the last couple weeks. So this is a very well deserved bear and you know hoping getting things moving on in the right way for for you and and every single factor as as it can be. So I the minute I was an hour and something away from Frank and the minute he told me uh that this he he sent me the video and it was a I literally packed up camp and drove all the way to meet up with Frank and everything like that. So Frank give us uh give us everything that that went down for you.

SPEAKER_07: 44:32

Yeah so so for me probably I did a lot of um scouting for bear actually during the deer season because I wasn't seeing the deer that you know I normally do or was seeing before so I just kind of switched my focus. I was running a lot of cameras I kind of had an idea um that they were doing almost the same exact thing as they were like the year before when my buddy shot his so I went up and I put up a few more cameras and you know sure enough they were basically doing the same thing. So uh Monday night I act or actually going into Monday I actually didn't go out in the morning. I woke up and I was like uh 50 50 I don't know I was like nah fuck it I'm not gonna go so I I'll go out this afternoon so I ended up going out early in the afternoon once the rain kind of died down a little bit and actually set up my my saddle before then probably like I think it was like three days before bear season started I got my whole setup ready and uh went in there and I was just kind of waiting wasn't really seeing too much seen a little deer movement early then that kind of died off and uh I was actually texting you know one of our good buddies outdoor more squatch I had him over there and I'm like man like he's he he he he kept telling me you tonight's the night you're gonna get it done I know it I can feel it I'm gonna pray for you probably half hour after he said that I look around the tree and coming up from where normally it's like a deer bedding but I also know like the bears come from there I look over and there's a bear standing 25 yards away from me so I'm like oh shit so I'm sitting there I'm trying to get the camera on I'm trying to get all you know all my shit together put put my phone away stop texting squats you know and uh I I grab my bow and I'm like all right I and right when I was like I can't I already had the yardage so I already like had my pin set everything and sure shit enough all of a sudden the bear turns and it's coming right for me so now I'm like all right well like I'm gonna wait like the bear's 25 yards like I'm gonna let it get closer so I'm sitting there waiting waiting waiting the bear kept coming all of a sudden it turns it turned actually pretty quick it turned and it started going back to where it was coming from so I was like oh shit so I start so I moved my pin back because actually when it was coming I kind of adjusted my pin you know for um to actually make the uh the closer shot and when the bear turned to start going the other way I kind of had like a quartering away shot at it so I I drew back I took my time I shot it and this is the first time it happened to me the bear actually ducked like I have it on video the bear dropped probably about six eight and I hit it almost almost in the spine dead center of the body but like high and barely got any penetration the bear takes off running gone I'm like damn so you know I'm sending the the video to Mike everybody else I'm like what do you guys think we all agreed that was high just wait for the morning so I go back Tuesday morning I didn't even hunt I I went back in there and didn't find no blood because it it rained all friggin' night no blood no arrow nothing just vanished I was like oh man this sucks I'm on the phone with Mike I'm telling him everything that happened he's like listen like it happens like you know just keep your head up you know it'll be back sure shit enough to make a long story short I end up getting the bear back on camera about three days later with a huge scar on its back um I think I sent you the picture Mike of that one yeah yeah she the bear looks like honestly besides the the scar the bear looks complete like yeah nothing even really happened didn't yeah didn't even like loot laser but I'll tell you I've never you know I've been hunting bears for a little bit not quite as you know as long as as as Eddie over there and everything like that.

SPEAKER_05: 49:19

I hope to be able to accomplish the bears eventually at some point because I just love bear hunting um but I've watched like a lot of video I'm always watching bear videos and stuff and like I've really never seen a bear duck an arrow like this before like it you literally thought like you can see when we slowed it down before the arrow even gets there she already starts to completely like drop in move um so by the time like when the arrow actually hits it was just it was a perfect would have been a perfect shot but it was just way too high by the time the arrow actually reached um so that was quite like wow like and what how how far was the shot?

SPEAKER_07: 50:11

That one was 26 yards.

SPEAKER_05: 50:13

26 yards so yet again obviously of course that yet again they're they're animals and everything like that and their their reflexes are way better than ours but still like for you just never really at least you know for mine you never really hear bears really doing that when you always watch the the hunting videos and everything like that like you you just never see it with deer it's such a common thing you know with with bears and I don't know if it's because her head was down maybe that was it you know I know with deer they can um duck arrows a lot easier when their heads down versus versus up and everything like that. So maybe that was was one of the things I'm not a hundred percent sure but it was definitely something interesting that you know even for myself you know I gotta take into or anyone's got to take into consideration just in case if that ever happens to to them.

SPEAKER_07: 51:04

So yeah very very interesting that that that happened first time seeing that yep yeah man so I mean I was a little discouraged but I st I still went out um didn't really see any bears um I started seeing back on camera but like late at night and uh Thursday morning I kind of had that feeling we got cold temperatures I was like I don't know like today could be the day and sure enough by like 7 30 i i see the bear i actually the one that i shot about 150 yards away and he's it's actually circling me because i got in there i mean i sprayed that rack getter like Oreo cookie shit i mean you could smell that shit i was like 17 feet up in the tree and you could smell that shit like like I was sitting on the floor man I was like well I might overdid it but uh no such thing no and he just and that bear actually circled it came on my weak side I had it at 25 yards but I I didn't want to move because then it actually started cutting back so it's like oh it's gonna like circle me and I'll be able to get a shot once you know it the fucking bear walk it starts as soon as he he comes over and I got the tree my way I'm I'm waiting for him to come on the other side of the tree and I'm like where'd it go? I look over and the bear's walking away from me it walks all the way it probably it went back to actually where it came from and it probably stood over there was going back and forth for probably about another half hour 40 minutes and then it must it must have somehow the wind shifted and it got that scent I mean and it literally beelined it right for me and I'm like oh my god here we go like I I'm I'm finally gonna I'm finally gonna shoot it and uh it ended up coming 15 yards broadside and Mike saw I ended up uh smoking them he he even ran even that bear I got better penetration but not the greatest but I mean he's he still ran like 150 yards um they're tough animals man they are tough animals real tough man and like I watch him run away my arrow I'm like shit not again like I call Mike I'm like dude like the fuck man like well what once he sent me the video I was like dude I was like that bear is dead like way better yeah not a full pass through but way better way better way better penetration it was a quarter and two shot yeah um yep but just absolutely just destroyed the y lungs and honestly like it Frank didn't even find the bear frank frank Frank didn't even find the bear he had a lucky companion that came and found the bear not not because he called or anything like that. No absolutely I think Mike was on his way before I even got out of the tree so I like I called my friend and I was like hey like I shot one he was like all right and he's got he's got a dog that's actually a cattle dog and uh so the dog I I always hunt there so the dog can like find me like you wouldn't believe the dog literally I got a picture ran right to my tree stand is laying down underneath my stand waiting for me to get down so I get down and uh I go over I I get the quad and we're actually we're driving back to the house we have a four-wheeler trail that takes us back to the house where I was gonna go pick up my friend so we could start tracking them and uh all of a sudden I'm getting like I'm just about going down like one of our hills off our four wheeler path and the dog just starts going crazy. So I'm like I'm calling the dog back I'm like come on come on come on let's go and the dog usually will follow me once I passed the dog and the dog kind of stayed put it like dawned on me I was like wait a minute the dog's on something I get off I get off the uh the the four wheeler and three feet off the four wheeler trail there's a there's like a big like thicket with some bushes and the bear's laying literally three feet from the four wheeler trail I'm like oh nice can't ask for anything better there yeah pretty sweet yeah I was like nice so then I always say I always sit there and I'm always like you know if I wait till he's facing this way there's a good chance it runs back towards the truck you know you're always thinking of that extra little advantage I'll tell you and Frank that was the best crack like I didn't have to do any work but film and take pictures the last couple years we've had to drag bears out like a mile mile plus like out of the woods all uphills and and all these things and everything like that where it's like you're dying after after you're done this was I showed up Frank's like oh don't we got the quad and everything like that I get in the car he goes you're comfortable I'm like just freaking drive I'm like I'm enjoying life like I don't get to drive a quad out to to go pull anything you know people got to understand too when you go after especially these big bears I mean any bear really there's no easy bear to drag out 100 pounds 500 pounds they don't move but you know you go after these bigger bears like you you need to actually think like how am I gonna get it out of here because that thing that thing can rot in hours you know so it's like you need to strategically figure out how you're gonna move this thing if it dies anywhere within a hundred yards so you know people got to take that in consideration like hey you know I'm I'm very grateful for the crew that I hunt with you know I'm sure you guys see on like Facebook you know a couple names like Eddie Macken out there me and him grew up together doing this like we're we're nuts when it comes to bears we're just nuts there's just nothing about it.

SPEAKER_05: 57:00

We've shot them miles in where it's like hey we might have to eat half this bear before we get it out you know like so like it's just it's it's nuts man people gotta it's a lot of work but I love it I love and I think that's another thing where why I think not as many people bear hunt is because of it's not really you know it's not like a deer like at the end of the day deer they're much easier to drag out um there's a lot like and bears they're in some nasty nasty nasty stuff they swamps deep far in and everything like that if you shoot like yeah you if you get a 200 pound deer which yeah I imagine not many people still here in New Jersey do but listen if you shoot one all right like you can come up with a game plan to a much easier game plan to to drag that thing out you shoot let's see anywhere between 300 and or even a 250 pound bear up and I swear that the further back you are and the bigger and nastier of conditions that you're in the bigger and bigger and bigger of the bears that you're gonna gonna encounter I mean we were chasing them I don't know if I I showed you any of the guys or anything like that but there are two like probably close to five six hundred pound bears that that we were hunting and everything like that and there was this one point I'm like what the hell like if I shoot it like you got I gotta I'm calling so many people like you have a crew and we all for the most part take off for the whole entire week for bear season because you can't you need that crew you need as many people as you possibly can I got a guy um funny story of the back damn uh production crew they they did pretty well again um but one of their guys shot a bear and he dragged it out by himself took him four hours I think it was a 300 and something 320 something pound bear and he goes he texted me yesterday I go dude how the hell did you do that? He goes my body is destroyed like I like it destroyed I'm like I couldn't imagine dragging a bear out by myself four freaking hours no I would be calling everybody in my contacts list if you owe me a favor you are going I'm going to be calling you and you are going to be collecting on that if you owe me money I will wipe her debt away come out and you help me drag listen but you know Monday all all the boys you know everybody was excited they all knew the story they knew all knew I had them like they were all waiting none of them went out in anticipation that by 8 39 o'clock I was gonna have him on the ground because I would bait he would come in so that was the plan.

SPEAKER_03: 59:58

Well he didn't go that way It took a little longer, and the Texas were coming at like almost noon. Like, hey, what's the story? You know, we got to get in the woods. I'm like, Go in the woods. What do you don't wait for me? Go in the woods, you know. And they were like, Ah, we'll wait a little longer. So, you know, when it happened, I sent it out. They gave up their whole afternoon hunt, and everybody's big bear they were after hit their cameras at four o'clock, 4:30. And they're just looking at me and they're like, you know what? It's so worth it, though. And I'm like, I owe you guys, you know, you gotta have that group that's like willing to drop and come. My my son shot one Saturday night, 403, his biggest bear. His head's actually bigger than Diamond Bear's hair. It's probably it's probably gonna finish high 21s, maybe even 22. Um, and it this thing was down and way, way yonder, and it was down in this hole. And I was like, I don't even know how I'm gonna do this. And again, everybody just got home, and it's like, hey guys, you want to drive an hour, you know? And and they're like, We'll be right there. Austin Gotham, we're coming. I'm like, you know, it's just priceless, man. Have guys like that in a group that it's just like drop it a hat, they're coming five six deep. It's like nice.

SPEAKER_07: 1:01:13

No, that's awesome. I think my my bear actually weighed in at uh 180s, you know, dressed. It wasn't the biggest solid bear. There ain't nothing wrong with that. Listen, I was I was excited, man. I was pumped. It was my first one with the biggest.

SPEAKER_03: 1:01:27

Listen, I got I got a bear up there. The first New Jersey bear hunt is the one standing up in the middle. Very, very first hunt. The very very first day. I wasn't even bear hunting, I just sat in the woods deer hunting. First thing I saw was that you shot it. That thing, that thing crawled up a tree, fell out, started yelling. I didn't know what was going on. You know, it's laying there dead. I don't know it's dead, never dealt with a bear. I'm throwing sticks, probably 20, 30 sticks at it, you know. The guns like safety's off as I'm throwing sticks. You know, I was terrified. Now here I am like hand feeding these things, you know. It's like come a long way. But that, you know, that's a 120-pound bear. Yep. You know, there's there's years, there's years I shoot 150, 125-pound bear. I'm I I eat them, so yeah, yeah. You know, yes, I want my target big bear, but you know, it's hard to pass up even a 200-pound bear. Like, I'm like, I just want a I want a bear. Yep, exactly. I I've just been fortunate the last three years, I've killed solid bears, you know, and it's like it's finally paying off all the years of like doing this, you know. And you know, like I you got you guys saw like the dark face video that Brian put up, you know. I helped Brian out with the big bear. I my son shot the other big bear, so I was like, Ah, I got nothing. He goes, Hey, I got this bear, dark face, you know. I'm like, Yeah, all right, let's do it. You know, and wacko, you've seen that story.

SPEAKER_07: 1:02:56

Yeah, I had one on the property where we were hunting. We haven't we didn't see him this year. Last year, we actually we nicknamed him jelly roll. He was about six to six fifty. And I hunted him last year with the bow, never saw him, but uh he just like up and vanished. Didn't see him at all this year, so we don't know. We didn't hear about nobody getting them, but yeah, you don't know, you don't know.

SPEAKER_03: 1:03:24

I I thought mine died old age, yep. And then all of a sudden he pops up out of nowhere, and it's like it's on. I've had two years to rest my mind. I'm coming, you know.

SPEAKER_05: 1:03:36

I'll tell you, um, so one more. So James from from back then, he he shot a bear, and you know, we're all up at camp together. They we were not this was not planned or anything like that. So we camp out at Stephen State Park, they camp out at Stephen State Park this year, and everything, and we were literally right next to each other, which works out great. So we're all in group chat, like a Snapchat group chat and everything like that, and you know, he shot a bear and everything like that, and he sends a picture and it's 50 feet up in a tree. So he shot the bear and it ran all the way up in the tree and everything like that. And I'm like, okay, whatever, not thinking much of it. Finally get back to camp, and you know, we're everyone's celebrating, and they're like, Yeah, it took us four hours to get it down. It eventually it locked its jaw when it was dying on and it bit down. And once their jaws are locked, it's it's like a pit bull. Yeah, yeah. And he there's this video of him just like it looks like he's doing like he's rowing for crew, and he's just trying to get this this other tree to like knock it down. He they should like they shot it again, trying to just get it down and everything. Didn't didn't work there, and for four freaking hours. Um it it it just freaking they just struggled and struggled to to get it down, and finally, like I it just came crashing down and everything like that. And I was like, dude, it's like you could have saved yourselves three hours and 30 minutes, went and grabbed the chainsaw and just cut down the freaking tree. And they're like, no, we we were we that was gonna be one of our next things, but like it's crazy, and yet again, it's these animals are just absolutely just incredible, and just like you never like I've I haven't really you've seen people shoot them out of trees and they fall and everything like that, especially when you're hunting with hounds and everything like that. But to shoot one, it goes up in a tree, gets stuck, and then it's just sitting there, and you you gotta take your whole entire time to try to steal it down and and and everything like that. Um but yeah, that that was one of the funny stories from from camp and everything like that. And and for you know, our our guys from Wisconsin and who are gonna be coming next year, and anybody else who's looking forward to come. Like this is a a huge tradition for us. Um, something that we mark on our calendars every single year. Um, probably from not it's probably gonna, it's already basically on our calendar for next year because it's always going to be during um the the second week of of October and everything like that. Um during was it a present is a presence, which what's the holiday again? Veterans is it veterans? Columbus Columbus Day. Columbus Day. Jesus, Columbus Day. So it's always that that Columbus Day and everything like that. Um is is usually gonna be be the season. Um but it's it's something that we mean, we we put on some miles, every single one of us. Frank got one, every single one of us were within 30 or 40 yards of a bear throughout the week. Um Zach, who um he was using um, and I I have it too, and everything like that. Um, but we were calling it, he was calling in bears and everything like that, using the fawn in fawn in distress and everything like that. Um, and he got a he had a nice bear within five yards, but I guess when the bear popped up, there was just a whole bunch of brush that he just he couldn't shoot through and everything like that. Um Peyton actually could have killed one. If the season started one day early, he had a beautiful bear um right in front of him at like 15-20 yards the day before the season. Um, and then he had his buddy from Virginia come up and everything like that, who will be coming to to camp and everything like that with us from from here on out and everything like that. Um he put him on that bear, he saw the bear, and he ended up going home. He shoot he shot a buck and everything like that on the last day, three minutes left to go, uh, or they had to head back home. And it's you know, Peyton now lives in Philly and his buddies down in like Virginia and everything like that, and they shot a buck, and they both had to work the next day in the morning. And I was like, What would you guys would have done if you shot a bear? Like, if you would have shot a bear, like you weren't getting that thing out anytime soon, and then not only that, you unlike a deer, you actually have to go and take that thing and get it checked in. And if you don't get there a certain time, you have to do it the next day. I was like, Boys, you would have probably had a call out and everything like that of work. Um, not really thinking that one through, and that's why we just I much rather just take off the whole goddamn week and just not even have to worry about work at all during the season. Because if you do shoot, it's it's much easier. Yet again, when you shoot a deer, you fill it out online, boom, you you write it all down, you do what you have to do, you tag your deer, and then once you drag it out, you can just bring it right to the butcher, you can bring it to your house, you can you can do whatever. Bear, like I think they close what's it?

SPEAKER_07: 1:08:47

They close at nine. Nine.

SPEAKER_03: 1:08:49

I thought it was eight. There the green pond was open till nine because I called I called the one warden and he was like, he's like, Oh, I can hold it till 9:30 if you can get there Saturday with my sons. And like I called him right back. I was like, Yeah, you know, send everybody home because I don't know when the hell I'm getting the hell out of here. Yeah, I got I got I got back to the truck at 10 45, you know. So I had to take it to Woodingham.

SPEAKER_05: 1:09:15

After the the season, like what? So, like you you killed the bear, you called them and everything like that. Like, you do use do they open up the next day?

SPEAKER_03: 1:09:23

Do they you have to they had yeah, they they had a guy at Woodingham and one guy at Peakwest. They were the only two guys, they were there till two o'clock, but you had to call the night before, follow the rules. You know, you got you gotta do that. So um, actually, I had a buddy of ours, he uh we found it Sunday morning, and by the time got it out, couldn't even make Sunday, so he actually checked it in this morning. The skin and the the head, that the yeah, um the hide in the the head, and he was upset because we couldn't get an official weight. So I had him last night bring all the scraps, all the quarters, the skin, the the the cape weight 100 pounds itself. Uh I measured I weighed it here. We came up with like 521 dressed, you know. So it's like it's not official, but it's on my scale that said the five pound weight was five pounds, so you know, whatever.

SPEAKER_06: 1:10:14

Close enough enough.

SPEAKER_05: 1:10:18

Um so last last thing I'll I'll go over real quick is just kind of the the numbers for the total harvest. Um, yet again, Monday was the day of the storm in zone one. We had 12 bears harvested on zone two, we had 15, zone three, twenty-one, zone four, seven, and zone five, zero, totaling at 55. Um the next day was 21, 24, 24, 10, and 0, totaling at 79. Wednesday was 13, 18, 19, 11, 0, totaling for 61. Thursday was 17, 15, 11, 11, 0 totaling for 54. The Friday was 15, 16, 13, 12, and 1. Totaling 17, and there's always one, always one, and it's usually the same guy. Really? What a what a what a guy. That is that's that's the guy. Um, and Saturday was 12, 22, 11, 10, and zero totaling for 55. And it's funny, like, one of my buddies from South Jersey, uh, Zach, uh, one of our team guys, he was asking, he was like, Well, why do they keep zone five open? Like, what I go, because there's always one, there's always one guy, and it's kind of like he's like, Is it that line to keep them like from going too far south? I go, that may be like, you know what I mean? That's like that one, you know, you're you're knocking that one bear out, you know.

SPEAKER_03: 1:11:51

I I don't, I don't really know, but I think they put it in as like a threshold of like, okay, let's just extend it a little bit south, keep it this way, you know.

SPEAKER_05: 1:12:01

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like this way, it's open.

SPEAKER_03: 1:12:05

Let's say they do move down in there. This they don't have to go to back and try to remap it, you know, have another issue, it's there already, you know. That's what I thought.

SPEAKER_05: 1:12:13

Well, which is which is which would make sense, but it's always one, and it's crazy. And if it's the same guy, that's even better. Like, that's it's that's a legendary.

SPEAKER_03: 1:12:20

I have some inside information, and it's always the same guy. That guy knows his stuff.

SPEAKER_05: 1:12:27

Um, that would be got one spot in zone five. He right he fighting stuff all week. He's like, I'm gonna kill a bear sometime during this week in this spot. Um, total would be 361, that one being the one from zone uh five. Um the 26 bears were tagged, and we got to a 15.7 percent um annual our harvest rate, which is very low. Um, and then yeah, uh as as you can look, I'm not gonna go through all the what's face, but Sussex ended up with 183 bears, which if anyone knows that is the bear capital of New Jersey. Um Warren County, which is which is right up there, um, with 80, Passaic with 25, Morris with 61, Bergen with two, Hutteren with nine, Somerset with one. So that must be that that probably Somerset, which has I know there was a bear down there last year and everything, like, but it's so rare. Like there, it's it's just such a but you gotta have that one.

SPEAKER_03: 1:13:40

Um it's like they don't know how to cross 78, you know? Right? It's like that's it. I mean they cross 80, they get hit all the time. I mean, they just don't know how to cross 78, you know.

SPEAKER_05: 1:13:51

Which is which is a good thing. Let's let's uh you know, let's um where they are because you know, I like hunting, you know, and especially for TJ. You could you could talk on this too. It's it's I I hunt both areas that have bears and areas that don't have bears, right? And it is so nice not having to to you know worry about bears come and ruin your hunt and everything.

SPEAKER_02: 1:14:13

I would be devastated if bears came down this way. The first, I think the first night I had that we had uh the trail camera sitting there, I probably had like a 140 walk by and then we put some spray out. And as soon as the bears come to that area, that deer was gone. And I was just like, I was contemplating, I was like, Do I really want a bear that that bad?

SPEAKER_03: 1:14:38

But yeah, no, if I had to do it down here and all my spots got blown up by bears, it's wild now here by me in Morris County, you know, like it it got to the point where you know you just couldn't bait for deer anymore, you couldn't do none of that because you get the bears, but now it's like they take shifts, they come in that the the bears will come in, lay on the corn, they leave right before dark. Here come the deer. It's like they're it's like they're not even afraid of them anymore.

SPEAKER_05: 1:15:04

It's just they just avoid each other, and that and that's kind of what I've seen in New Jersey. And I I I will quote this and I tell every New Jersey is such a interesting state, especially for bears. And this is how you know you have a problem. Two reasons how you know you have a problem. One, right, it is not normal for a mother to have four cubs, right? It's it's not normal, and it's very their percentage of all four cubs surviving is extremely high. I had a I saw a picture earlier today, actually, was a mother with five cubs somewhere in New Jersey. I I can't remember. That's probably my picture. It might have been it might have been my picture.

SPEAKER_03: 1:15:44

She's got five. I keep sending it to the biologist. This is the second litter of five she's had. Okay, so must yeah, it must have been.

SPEAKER_05: 1:15:52

I wasn't, I just I was driving and I was like, holy shit. I'm like, five cubs is it's it's unheard of, right? It's not so it's in New Jersey. Natural bears were never the top predator. They're they're not. We always had mountain lions, we always used to have wolves, right? Obviously, as those things have gone away, bears have become that number one thing, you know. Um, so one hunting is extremely important for for that, as they cannot be the top predator. Um, and then two, the deer are so used to them in West Jersey. I actually have pictures of deer and actually bear on the camera at the same time. Not a big bear, and I'm not saying it's it wasn't a big bear, and it wasn't like a doe and a fawn, like it was a nice size buck and a smaller bear where the deer must have felt safe enough where I don't really need to worry as as nearly as much, right? You'll notice you'll get bears on cameras, you won't get does and fawns on cameras, but like Eddie says, once they're gone, they they show up right after. I I've seen that. Like you'll have a bear, and then not too long later, you have, and it's like they're on shifts, and they know when what time they're supposed to be on your bait, and what time it's I literally just sent you a picture of my bait site.

SPEAKER_03: 1:17:16

They're all mature bears. Jesus Christ. At one time, nine bears.

unknown: 1:17:24

Wow.

SPEAKER_03: 1:17:25

Holy cow!

SPEAKER_05: 1:17:26

Yeah, that's a problem. That that's one of the craziest pictures I think I've ever seen. Like, that's not normal. And I know North Carolina is in that realm too, as us, but we are such such a smaller state that like it's it we're such a bear state, like it's we're a big bear hunting state. At the end, I don't care what anyone says, we are a bear hunting state, we have giant bears, we have a lot of bears, like we are the we have the archery world record here, and I'm telling you, very, very soon, the new world records coming out of this state.

SPEAKER_03: 1:18:08

Skull is coming out of this state. There's hands down, no doubt. When you got Mr. Jim Shocky talking about it, and everybody else, guess what? That means they know this state does hold the world record black.

SPEAKER_02: 1:18:21

Yeah, it's coming.

SPEAKER_05: 1:18:24

Yeah, so it it definitely is. But all right, boys. I I think we we've we've hit our our time, we're at over how we could talk about bears all day. So listen, Eddie, if you ever want to come on, well again, anytime you want to come on and talk bears, you're more than welcome. TJ, we we're gonna have to get you back on and talk some deer hunting with you and and everything like that. Chris, I don't even need to say anything to you. Uh boys, I know for um Connor, we didn't get to touch on it, but next week when Connor does come on, we will be touching on his his time in Ohio and everything like that. Um, that he just got back and everything like that. Looked like such a fun trip. Um, really interested to hearing about that. Now he's back in Wisconsin, and hopefully the Wisconsin boys things should start really heating up, and you guys should be knocking some down here soon. Uh Frank, brother. Uh listen, and whenever I get a phone call, last thing I'll say, yeah, twice I got a freaking phone call while I was in the woods. If he's not texting me before he calls me, something has been shot or is dead. If he if he wants to call me and to talk about something for for the podcast or for business or whatever, or run something by me, he'd be like, Hey brother, you free, right? When he kills something, there is no like, hey brother, you're free. It's a phone call. I'm just like, I'm like killed something, like it's Frank, Frank killed something. But everyone, I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. Make sure you guys go check everybody out. Make sure you guys look closely at uh Timber Life Outdoors. Their video should be coming out in the next couple weeks. If you haven't already, make sure you give them a follow. Make sure you give TJ a follow. I'll put his his Instagram down in the description below. Uh, you know, the only, you know, the the only fans or only bow guys, whatever, you you know where they're at. I don't really need to speak about them. Um, you know where you can find our team and everything like that. I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. And if anyone is ever interested in coming out and doing some bear hunting, please let us know. We love it. It is such a blast. If anyone wants to come and just taste some black bear, listen, we'll we have black bear meat for for days and everything like that. Um, please free free. We will be seeing you guys in exactly one week. We'll see you guys next week.