2012 Spring Bear Hunt Thread

[Shedrock]

[habujohn]

I lost my message so will try again.  My wife and I went to Alberta this spring and hunted with Garrett Bros.  We had a great adventure and met some fantastic people who treated us like kings.  We also saw lots of bears but we did not see a 20" bear.  Day two I was lucky my wife was with me as she said, that is not what you came here for as a 6.5 foot bear walked from the bait past us at 10 yards.  The bear was shot two days after we left and scored just under 19".  If anyone would like to hear more about this great outfit just send me a PM.  Good luck to all of you who still have not gone on your hunt.
John

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

I arrived in Camp last Sunday at around noon after a 2 day 1007 mile solo drive from my home in SE Minnesota. The weather was beautiful. Ryan has a new tent camp this year a little bit up the road from where his camp was last year.
 

my assigned tent was just off of the trailer that would later become our dining hall when the weather turned to crap.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

we unpacked our gear, met the other hunters in camp and had a camp meeting where Ryan gave us his guidelines for judging the size of bears and deciding which ones where mature bears. A snack was served and we loaded up our gear for the first evenings hunt.

I was the first to be dropped off. A bait nick named ratatooie was to be my 1st nights sit. After driving in the truck about 10 miles or so Ryan off loaded a quad and drove me another mile off the road to the bait. As we approached the bait in a clear cut where young Aspens had begun to regrow, a young black boar stood on his hind legs to get a better look at us. We watched him disappear in the trees and then turned to look towards the bait. A medium sized sow was on her back legs looking at us. Her front paws were up against the tree that the tree stand was fastened in. Five yards away a yearling cub was six feet up a tree and watching us as well.  We slowly got off the quad, the cub slid down the tree and bailed into the bush. The sow did the same except she stopped about 30 yards out and started to pop her teeth and give us a woof.

I climbed up into the stand which was about 10 feet high and 12 yards off the bait. I took a practice shot towards the bait and Ryan gratiously retrieved my arrow, wished me luck and was off to deliver another hunter to his bait site.

as soon as he left the sow began to make a loop around me about 40 yards out in the bush. A noise like a baby cried sounded off some where near me. I looked left and right and couldn't find the source of the sound. The cub had run off yet this sow seemed very agitated. the crying intensified and the sow kept circling. I still couldn't find the source of the sound. suddenly it occurred to me to look straight up. A tiny cub was straight up above me at the very top of the tree! Not Good!

[jeanpaul3006]

 this is getting good!!!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

I quickly gathered up my gear, lowered my bow and pack and climbed down from the stand. I thought I would just back out and let the cub come down, the mom calm down and wait for them to leave. I would then just get back in the stand. After all I had just seen 4 bears in the first 10 minutes of my hunt! What a bait site! But the baby didn't come down and the mom didn't calm down and I decided to walk back to the main road in the hopes that Ryan would return to camp after dropping off the other hunter and see me on the road.

I made the mile out in time to catch Ryan on his return to camp and he quickly took me to another bait where the wind was right and I settled in for the 2nd time that day. At about 7 pm a young boar came into the bait and gave me every opportunity a guy could want but he was way to young to kill and it was just the 1st night. I enjoyed watching him from my perch and eventually he spooked when I made a tiny noise while shifting my feet on the stand.

that was it for the first night. I walked out to the road at dark which was 10:15 pm and waited to be picked up

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

Monday morning the sun still shone and Ryan and his assistant guide Dave and I  began working on converting the other 4 hunters in camp form their misguided compounded ways.

This is Tino from Montreal. Ryan and he are discussing some aspect of shooting a trad bow.

   

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

Tina was no stranger to hunting. He is a very accomplished gun hunter having killed 8 blacks, 1 Barren Ground Grizzly and an 11 foot Polar Bear. But he has just begun hunting with a compound four years ago and this was his first bear hunt with arrows as the projectiles. From his first shot he was hooked!

He has nearly perfect form from the get go!
 

to be continued in the AM...........

[Margly]

Nice    

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

After a hearty lunch and more target practice we headed out for a bait called Determination. Knowing in advance the wind was wrong for the existing stand in place we carried along a lone wolf hang on with the intention of placing it in a tree on the down wind side of the bait barrel. This bait was set in a dry area between what appeared to be two very large wet areas. I wouldn't call them swamps but clearly I wouldn't want to have to track a bear far in them. When we arrived we saw a very large sow with triplets from the prior spring at the bait waiting to greet us.

The sow gathered her young behind her and backed off the bait no more than 15 yards and just sat there watching us.  We slowly walked around the opposite side of the bait to the tree Ryan wanted to hang the stand in. Ryan scaled the tree while I watched the sow with my pepper spray in hand at the ready. The sow was extremely calm and the three stooges behind her kept peeking over her shoulder watching us.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

When the stand was n place at a total height of about 8 feet I climbed in and hoisted my bag and bow. Ryan wished me luck and hoped that " I would see some bears today". I'll admit right now I was rather anxious standing there while Ryan placed the stand with that big momma so darn close! Then he left and the anxiety was intense until it was quite clear the sow had zero intentions or even any interest in my hide.

for the next two hours or so i was treated to an intimate look at a great mom looking after her youngsters. I nicknamed her Daisy and the cubs Curly, Moe and Larry.

here is a photo of the mom feeding while the boys frolicked near by.
 

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

AS you can see , laying down her back is level with the top of the barrel.  that's a big sow! Eventually she had other things to do and she and the boys wandered off leaving me alone with my thoughts. The wind was picking up and the sky becoming heavy with clouds. Clearly rotten weather was approaching. We had no idea of how rotten it would soon be.

As I purposely carry no time piece and can't say for certain but about an hour before dark Daisy and the boys returned . I had shot a practice arrow after they left a few hours before and Moe and Larry quickly began having a tug of war with it. Curly was off to the side playing with a stick and Daisy was at the barrel. The boys wrestled , fed and wrestled some more. Sometimes the mom would walk over to them and join in on the fun. Some times she would just lay down and keep watch.

Keep typing! This is a fantastic recap so far.....and I'll bet it only gets better.

Bisch

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

about a half hour before quitting time, Daisy suddenly gives three short woofs and boys jump up and climb the tree with the other stand in it. A very loud crack is made as some thing heavy behind me breaks a large stick or tree branch. Daisy woofs three more times sending the cubs ever higher into in the tree.  More stick cracking and looking over my left shoulder I see an incredibly large Boar coming in. Daisy is standing at the bait barrel growling deep in her chest. The boar is circling to my left and is at 20 yards. He is huge!! The face off begins. Neither bear makes a move. I  am waiting for world war 3 to begin when off in the distance i hear the quad approaching. The boar hears it too and spins and tears out of there.  I see headlights thru the trees and Ryan arrives on the quad. He parks on the trail right next to the tree the boys are in. It is totally dark so I holler that the cubs are directly above him and the sow is at the bait barrel. I hear him unzip something and then he slowly circles the bait to my right. I can see he has a short shot gun in his hand at the ready . Daisy is her old calm self and moves slightly to my left and sits down about 15 yards away. I hand Ryan my bow and start taking down the lone wolf keeping one eye on the sow the entire time. I get the stand off and together we slowly return to the quad, turn it around and head for home.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

Tuesday we awoke to wind, rain and more wind. it was so bad I didn't even take time to shoot a few arrows. I went to the ladder stand, named for an old  tree stand where the home made ladder is still evident . The largest bear killed last year was killed at this site. A great place with a creek in the back ground and great visibility. The stand is again just 8 feet off the ground but on a slight rise about 14 yards from the bait at the most. I spent a very long afternoon in the wind and rain and saw no bears this day.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

Wednesday it began to snow! Was I prepared for this ? Hell No!
 
neither was anyone else!
 

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

It alternated between rain, sleet  and snow with lots of heavy wind gusts. It was so bad and I was so unprepared equipment wise that I elected to stay in camp! Tino did too and since Troy had shot a nice chocolate boar the day prior we sat in the trailer and shivered together while trading hunting stories.

Kevin from Florida and Steve from Indiana went out with Steve seeing no bears and Kevin just one which he promptly put an arrow thru. When Kevin returned on the quad he looked hypothermic .We got him in front of a propane heater while he told his tale

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

All night long it blew hard. Thursday dawned wet, white and cold!
 

[tradbower]

Well keep the story going.  

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

Putting on every bit of clothing I had come with and wearing borrowed insulated rubbers from Ryan I asked to hunt the ladder stand from two days prior. The wind was wrong so once again we carried in a hang on to place on the opposite side of the bait from the stand all ready in place.

Ryan selected a spruce tree 8 yards or so from the bait with smaller trees on each side of it. I asked him to hang it no more than 8 feet off the ground. Climbing in it seemed like I was right on top of the bait barrel. Ryan said the cover was really good he could hardly see me, ya right!

After Ryan left I began my long afternoon vigil. Because I seem to get cold faster sitting than standing I stood at alert most of the day. It snowed on and off all day. The little creek behind me had became a raging river with all of the run offfrom three solid days of precipitation.

As early evening arrived I had finally decided to sit for while. The weather was so bad I was having serious concerns of even attempting a shot for fear of not being able to follow any blood trail.

A loud stick breaking close by brought me out of my thoughts and I shot to my feet and grabbed my bow off of the hanger.

Looking to my right as another stick broke I could see the bear standing scratching his back on spruce tree about 30 yards away. Is he as big as I think he is? He dropped to all fours and started in my direction. As I saw his head and his stride all doubt left my mind about whether he was a mature bear or not. At 15 yards he stood again and reaching with his mouth began breaking some sticks off above his head that had small buds on them .

My heart was in my throat now and I shouted to  myself to calm down!! He again dropped to all fours and walked over to the first barrel. I picked my spot but before I drew He turned to his right and walked directly over to the other stand, He checked it and rechecked until he was satisfied I wasn't in it! He then started to leave and my heart sank to the bottom of my boots at the thought I wasn't going to get a shot. But wait now he is coming back. moving with a cross between a trot and a waddle he returned to the first barrel and stood facing me head on . I had perfect wind and perfect cover. A stand had never been in this tree and I did not move a muscle. The two barrels were cabled to two larger tress and he stepped be hind them as he moved towards the 2nd barrel directly in front of me. At 8 yards and only 8 feet of the ground he looked huge!! He was huge!.

As he stepped out from behind the tree I ever so slowly began my draw. He turned away from me to leave again and my arrow was in him.! He exploded straight ahead crashing thru a dead fall, circling to his right behind the other tree stand and disappeared from my view at about 40 yards up hill. I assumed he was on the quad trail when I last could see him.