NJ Black Bear “Season” is underway…….at our house that is!
Yep….. we had quite the action-packed week of NJ Black Bear Sightings at the house this past week.
Just for the record, I do not bear hunt, however I don`t have a problem with anyone that does.
I just never had to desire to take a bear……
The only “Shooting” that I do when it comes to Bears, is I just shooting them with my cameras!
On Wednesday May 6th, I got up early to do a litle scoutin` for turkeys before work, as I planned on sitting
the next morning for those “ThunderChickens” – I came home around 7:45am and as I walked on the back patio, I glanced up in the woods and did a double-take! There was a huge Black Bear lying only twenty-five yards off of my back wall! “Was it asleep?” After watching the big bruin lay there for about ten minutes, finally he/she got up………. and I could see that the bear was injured. It walked about twenty yards and slumped up against a tree…….sitting on his butt. I never saw a bear just sit randomly sit on his butt. He was holding his left paw/leg in the air as it appeared broken/or fractured.
I cautiously crept up by walking on rocks, to within twenty yards of the monster bear, that I guessed had weighed somewhere around 4-500lbs. I called the local police and explained the situation and why I was concerned. I said to the dispatcher, “I`m sure you get hundreds of NJ Black Bear sightings daily and I`m not calling just because I see a bear in my yard, I`m calling you because this bear is actually hurt and that I was concerned whom may possibly cross-paths and come into contact with this bear in the wilderness” –
With that, she sent an officer to my house. Upon arrival the officer said, “Wow……. that is a big bear”. He also told me that some local sheep were killed just this past week, by a bear just down the road and that this may possibly be that very same bear. So he called NJ Division of Fish & Game and their response was simply this; “Unless you know specifically that this particular bear is responsible for those killings, we`re not all that concerned about this one” – They also said, “An injured bear such as this, can heal within three to four weeks” –
I explained my concerned was simply the possibility that anyone hiking/walking back could indeed come upon upon this monster.
I told them that I`m a turkey hunter and that I could easily walk up on this monster while walking to my stand in the dark.
*All of the picture below where taken the week of May 4th. Notice the dates/times on the bottom of each photo. Enjoy these amazing pictures.
I spoke to my Mother the other day on the phone after I sent her these latest pictures,
Her response after seeing this pictures; “You couldn`t pay me to live there with all of those bears!” –
NJ Black Bear Season is here………. and my cameras are on hand and ready to shoot some bears!
Made my way out & about on Saturday to try my hand at some Tiger Musky Fishing for the first time in some new territory. Loaded up my `Yak & headed out at daybreak to my destination….. Oxford Furnace Lake.
I really don`t know all that much about this beautiful Lake other than it`s only a hop, skip & jump from my house in Warren County NJ and that I heard there are Muskies in it.
It is an absolutely gorgeous, very serene location. The water was very calm with hardly any ripples as there was only a hint of a light breeze.
“It was a gorgeous Spring day to be out in the `Yak”, I thought to myself as I started working the water with
my Bomber Lures.
This adventure was indeed very
exciting because everything I was
doing that morning was purely trial
and error, as I had never fished
specifically for Tiger Muskies, nor
had I ever fished Oxford Furnace
Lake before. I didn`t have a map of the Lake, so I really don`t know what it`s like structure-wise. As I scouted the entire Lake the one thing I did notice was the fact that the majority of it appears to be fairly shallow. If I had to guess, I`d say the deepest seemed to be around 30 feet or so.
I worked various spots for a good two to three hours………Then it happened! BANG! Fish on!
Watch the Video below that I shot that morning of my first Tiger Muskie. It wasn`t a monster by any means, but it was still the targeted Tiger Muskie that I had come there for so I was pretty darn psyched!
NJ Ice Fishing on Spruce Run Reservoir is another awesome Wintertime activity that I enjoy doing with my very good Friend, Curt Ryder.
I gave Curt a ring on the phone on my way home last Friday night to see if he was up for trying his hand at a little ice fishing the next morning. He said, Sure…let`s do it!” – So we planned to meet up at the Reservoir at 7am the next morning. However, the day didn`t start out too good, as I got a phone call from Curt at 6:30am saying he had just hit a deer with his truck. He said, It`s just the bumper cover,….. only cosmetic” – I said, “Well do ya wanna forget about it today? Curt said, “Hell no……let`s go fishin`!” With that I got the bait and headed over to Spruce Run.
Loaded up the tip-ups, jigging poles, ice-auger & bait in Curt`s Ice Fishing Sled and set out on the ice at Spruce Run Reservoir.
The Reservoir is probably about twenty feet low water level-wise, so we had to hike a good ways in order to get out into twenty four feet of water. We were after
these monster slab crappies that we saw a few guys catch out here last Winter.
Curt and I discuss our hard water ice fishing strategy as we hike out across Spruce Run Reservoir. Me, “I got a feelin`
it`s gonna be a really good day
out here Curt” – Curt, “You always say it`s gonna be a good day no matter when we go fishin`!”
I drilled out our first set of holes as Curt followed with setting up the tip-ups. You`re allowed five tip-ups per man, but if you each jig, then you are only allowed to se four tip-ups each plus a jigging rod. Curt figured that the crappie would likely be in the deeper water as we didn`t connect with any last weekend in the ten to fifteen foot depth that we fished the tip-ups at. Also we saw a guy catch two Pike the previous weekend in this area that we were setting up in.
We fished till around 12:30 and only had three flags tipped so far for the day….. and we were both getting hungry. I decided to take a break and go get us lunch at a local general store. After getting lunch and heading back out on the ice towards Curt, I could see him talking with two other guys. These two Hispanic guys from Bethlehem Pa. had nervously wandered out to see what exactly Curt was doing as they had never seen anyone ice fishing before. I wasn`t sure if they had ever seen or been on ice for that matter!
These two guys really made our day…….they were an absolute riot! I don`t think they knew what to make of me at first, with my `coonskin hat as they just stared at it as I approached them as they stood next to Curt. They went crazy when they saw a few of my YouTube Videos as you can see in the pictures.
By late afternoon, the only fish we had caught were a bunch of little perch that were anywhere from five to eight inches. It just wasn`t panning out to be a good day fishing on the ice.
Curt and I had been ribbin` each other as we usually do, most of the day. He claimed he has a “Secret Formula” that he was spraying on his jig and I was braggin` about my “Game Changer” that I was using on my set up. Now my “Game Changer” as I call it has Anise Oil in it and I do believe this makes a difference when ice fishing. I think the strong smell of licorice is very appealing to fish under the hard water.
We both started to jump from hole to hole hoping to catch those slab-size crappies or a nice bass.
As I went to my next hole of choice, I loaded up my Swedish-Pimple and Butter-worm with a good dose
of the “Game Changer, then started to jig.
Then all of the sudden ice pole crazily bent as a decent fish jumped on my jig! WOW! It really felt good!
Curt could see I had something nice on and rushed over. As the fish got closer, I could see it flash under the ice and said to Curt, “It`s a nice bass!” – As it came to the top of the water I saw the all too familiar whiskers…… a Catfish! As I pulled the catty through the ice, the line snapped as the fished laid half-way on the ice. I swatted the nice fish with my hand and sliced my finger on the catty`s barb as flipped up on the ice. We weren`t exactly sure what kind of catfish it was, then Curt said, “It looks like a yellow-catfish” – As we looked it up on my phone, it was indeed just that. I have never caught a catfish in February Ice Fishing and the even odder part to me was that the catty hit a jig…….yes…….with the “Game Changer” doused on it. It made sense. As Catfish are attracted to smell/odor, the anise oil was the calling.
**Enjoy the Video of our Ice Fishing on Spruce Run Adventure below;
Well ever since I posted a couple hunting videos, a few guys have been asking me what kind of gun do I hunt with. So I thought I`d tell you all a little Tale about my 1960 Browning “Light Twelve” Gauge Shotgun that I use for deer hunting in New Jersey and how it came about.
My Dad always hunted with a Browning “Light Twelve” 12-Gauge….. when it was time for small game and deer hunting, that was the only gun he ever used. I remember very well what shells he used for deer hunting…..Winchester Mark V`s. When shot through his Browning, they were an absolutely amazing combo.
It was always a big deal for me to be able to go with Dad hunting & as a youngster. That`s me proudly holding the skinned Rabbit & my brother Keith sayin`, “I want to keep him!”
I have been deer hunting since I was ten years old and while I did shoot quite a few does on “Doe-Day”, I missed my share of bucks. Dad used to say that I got “Buck Fever” when I would see a buck……. and miss! ha! ha! I could shoot does no problem, but when a deer came through with antlers, that old “Buck Fever” would kick in!
Well my Dad passed away in November of 1979, Al Nagie, who worked with my Dad at Power & Light took me deer hunting that December up on his farm. I shot my very first buck on that cold December day with my Dad`s Browning Shotgun.
My first 8-Point Buck that I shot with my Dad`s Browning Shotgun in 1979.
I used those Mark V Buckshot Shells that year I shot my first buck, that my Father had from previous years.
Moving a few years forward, in 1988 I got it in my head to try to find Belgium Browning “Light Twelve”…… as I figured I`d just retire Dad`s & keep it in the gun cabinet.
Ended up tracking one down at Griffin & Howe, a high-end gun dealer in Bernardsville. I drove over to see it one rainy afternoon with my long-time childhood friend Mark Ader. We eventually found the Browning on the display rack and could not believe the condition….. it was simply gorgeous! I bought it for $350 dollars!……To me, it was like finding Gold.
Now it was years later and those famous Winchester Mark V Buckshot Shells were no longer produced. Instead you could buy Copper-Plated Double O Buckshot, so I did. Low and behold, that old beautiful Browning didn`t throw this type of shot at all……. as I missed a huge Buck at a ridiculously close range!
I remember sitting there in my stand completely shocked at what had just happened as I watched the big buck gallop away. So after that I only took the Browning out Pheasant Hunting and gave up on using it for deer. Now no no…… I didn`t stop deer hunting, I just used my Step-Father`s old JC Higgins 12-Gauge Pump for the next few years.
That is until I went back to Bernardsville and started working at Bernardsville Volkswagen in 1996. See across the street from the dealership was Clark`s Hardware Store and I ended up selling Jim Clark and his family three VWs.
Now this hardware store was the coolest one ever to me because Jim also had a gun dealer`s license and had a few guns for sale from time to time.
Well one Saturday morning I walked over to get something and saw this old Browning up on the shelf for sale. I asked if Jim was around and they called upstairs and down he came. Jim and I always had nice conversations,…. heck anything from Volkswagens to guns!
I asked him about this old Browning and he took it down. He told me it was probably from the late 40`s to early 50`s. I noticed this peculiar safety mechanism on the gun, unlike anything I had ever seen. As a matter of fact, to be perfectly honest, I thought it was pretty darn awkward.
*Watch this quick Video as I explain how it works;
I remember scratching my head thinking, “There is no way in hell I`d hunt with a gun with this type of safety” – Then Jim said that he believed it was a full-choke barrel. I said, “Well how can you tell?”…..He took a dime out of his pocket and said, “If a dime fits in the barrel sideways, it`s a modified choke and if it can`t go in the barrel, it`s a full-choke” – “Doesn`t go in the barrel Ken, it`s a full-choke” –
Now I was a little more interested as I never had a Browning with a full-choke barrel. I was thinking that I would just swap barrels with my 1960 Browning. So I asked Jim what he was asking for it and he said $350 but “If you really want it, you can have it for $200 because we`ve bought so many cars from you and are going to need another pretty soon!” – With that, I marched across the street with that old Browning Shotgun.
A couple months later I was planning to pattern that gun with the full-choke barrel. I went in a sporting good store(which is no longer there), down by Muller Toyota on Rte. 31. I went in and asked to buy a couple boxes of Double O Buckshot and the old man out the counter asked me what kind of gun was I shooting? I told him and he looked at me and smiled, then took the boxes of Double O`s off of the counter and put two boxes of Triple O`s in their place. He said, “You run these Triple O`s through your old Browning…..and you`ll be thankin` me”
I drove over to Spruce Run to try them our that afternoon. After I shot the first round I was shocked! At 40 yards all eight pellets were tighter than any shot I had ever seen! I loaded up another target and shot again at 50 yards……… I was shocked! Same tight grouping! Never ever though of using Triple O Buckshot.
I was off the entire week of Buck week that year and what a week it was! I ended shooting four bucks and two does that week with that Browning “Light Twelve” Gauge Shotgun using Triple O buckshot.
The furthest I have shot and killed a buck is at 93 yards on a drive using Triple O Buckshot. I had three “drivers” that day walk off the distance…..and all three were shocked.
To this day, Triple O Buck with my ol` Browning, is the only thing I use for deer hunting in New Jersey.
NJ Winter Deer Hunting is something that I have always enjoyed doing and today should be good I thought to myself as I strategically put on my layers of hunting clothing this afternoon. I then grabbed my faithful old 1960 Browning Light Twelve Gauge Shotgun, a box of Triple-O Buckshot and my GoPRO Camera, jumped in my truck & headed out and about on this rather cold last day of January 2015.
Not sure why I like to be out in the cold air, but I certainly do. Today was a “balmy” 23 degrees this afternoon with a wind-chill that made it feel like 6 degrees in the brisk artic-like air.
Perhaps I was so excited to be using my new GoPRO Camera that Sharon got me for Christmas, that I was even a little more oblivious to the chilly air than usual.
I got to my stand at 2:30 and planned on staying till dark, as the days are a bit longer now, I would be able
to have shooting light till at least 5:30-5:40pm.
I sat my GoPRO Camera up and turned it on at around 3pm and left it on record the entire time I was in my stand this afternoon.
.
I didn`t have any deer activity until around 5:15pm………. Then things got interesting. A young “Button-Buck” appeared from my left and meandered about below me nibbling at the corn and rooting around in the tulip bulbs
The GOPRO captured the rest of today`s adventure very nicely! Turn up your speakers & enjoy the show!
I`m 51 years old & I still get as excited about the first day of NJ Small Game Hunting Season as much as when I was nine years old & Dad let me actually hunt with him carrying my trusty single-shot .410 shotgun on that Opening Day long ago.
(Yes yes……. I know…….. legally you can`t be a licensed hunter in NJ until you are ten years old……… All I can say is that things were very different back then. Hell I`d been walking alongside my Dad rabbit hunting since I was six years old. Nowadays you wouldn`t think about
letting a kid hunt without having a NJ Hunting License………yea……. like I said folks, it was just a different time way back when)
So on Saturday I met my best friend Curt Ryder & his dog “Jake” at our usual meeting place,… the Quick Check on 46.When Curt pulled into the Quick Check, I grabbed my gun & hunting gear & as I jumped in his truck he joked sayin`, “Geez………. What the hell is goin` on here???
Ken Beam is actually on time! For that matter he`s even early!“…… ha! ha!
Our Hunting destination was about a little over an hour away.
We planned on hunting the Walpack Cemetary as we usually do very well there on Opening Day of Small Game Hunting. The weather was perfect. It was a nice, cool, sunny Autumn morning to hunt.Curt had this new GPS-tracking collar on Jake & it was really pretty exciting because it actually tells you how far away he is & and when he`s on “point”! As you walk towards the dog, it shows your getting closer on the GPS screen.
By 11am we each had our limit of two Pheasants. It was definitely a great morning to start the NJ Small Game Hunting Season of 2014!
It was a nice balmy night on November 5th and at about 12:30am our Pomeranian “Buttercup” woke me to go out. So I picked her up & I swaggered outside on the porch, half asleep. As I put my Crocs on she started growlin` in my arms……. I said, “Buttercup!…..Shhhhhh……..There`s nothin` out here”…………
Boy was I ever wrong.
I put her down with her leash on & she bolted for the driveway……….. I ran over & walked her out in the yard, still going, “Shhhhhhh……knock it off Buttercup!” as she growled. I should know better………
dogs have a much better sense than us especially in the night.
Then I heard a loud smash right across the street & as I hustled her back to the house, I said, “Guess we`re not alone Buttercup!”………… I put her back inside & grabbed a flashlight & pussy-footed back down the driveway to see what was makin` all that racket across the street. Low & behold as I shined the light towards the neighbors driveway, there where not one, not two, but three Black Bears rummaging through the garbage! They could`ve cared less about me as they “dined” away! After watching them for about ten minutes, I went back inside.
Now in the morning, I took all three of our pups out at 9am……….. again as I walked them towards the driveway, that little Buttercup went crazy barking again!
They were back!
Yep…… All three Black Bears where at it again! I hustled the pups back in the house & grabbed my camera!
Now I could obviously see them really well…….. Looked like a Momma & her two youngsters.
The two younger bears probably went about 150 pounds and “Momma” was quite a different story!
My guess was she weighed in between 600-700pounds! A Monster NJ Black Bear indeed!
I worked my way down the edge of my property & wasn`t even 25 yards away from this big bruin!
(Yes….I know……. Definitely wasn`t a very wise thing to do on my part! Please do not try such a foolish stunt like I did!)
Here is that enormous NJ Black Bear caught on video that morning……….. Hope you all enjoy it.
