My Manitoba bear hunt 2014

[Robhood23]

This was my first spring bear hunt that I have done. We used to hunt them here in the states every fall but it has been about 10 years since my last hunt. Anticipation was high for this hunt as we met the outfitter and he said to expect to see 3-5 bears a night from stand. This turned out to not be the case and we ended up seeing 6 bears total for 5 hunters in 6 days of hunting. Not sure what happened, something they liked greened up or the hot weather we had, he did mention the ice finally came off the lakes about 2 weeks before we got there. Our hunt was from June 16th-June 21st.

  Here are the first bears we saw on the drive to bear camp.
 

 

 

   We had fun watching them until momma bear decided we had been there long enough and started charging the trucks!

[Robhood23]

We had one Cree indian guide and the other guide/owner was a gentleman from Newfoundland. As most camps they had lots of stories to tell and they had gone 18 for 18 on bears prior to our arrival. I will never forget the look on the Cree Indian's face when I pulled out my longbow. In all the years of there operation they have never had a traditional archer in camp. There were 3 of us shoot trad this week. 2 recurve shooters and me with the longbow. The look on his face was like " you are really going to hunt bears with just a stick". Wish I could have gotten a picture of that!
  This next pic is what would be home for the next week. I slept in one of the Tipi's. Besides the mosquitos it was pretty nice in there.
 

 

[Robhood23]

For this hunt I would be shooting my JavaMan Falcon that is 58" and is 57#'s at 29". Those of you who know me know I usually shoot Grizzly Stick Alaskans but I was just not happy with them shooting out of this bow so I made the switch to Easton Axis 340's and man do they shoot great. I also decided to shoot a 3 blade on this trip and went with some Razorcap 125's.
  In the 2nd picture you may notice I am missing my top muskrat silencer. I was pretty lucky that that dang red squirrel only chewed off the silencer and not through my string. He chewed it off on both ends and left a little leather on the top and bottom where it went through the string. Figures the only thing I didn't pack extra off gets ruined. Didn't seem to affect anything after about 3 shots so I just left it as is. I did have my back up centuar just in case though!
 

 

[Robhood23]

This next pic is of the first bait I sat.
 
 
I was planning on just hunting with the camera the first few nights. This guy showed up not long after I got on stand.
 

  About 4 hours later I see this white thing moving through the woods and am thinking how cool would a white bear be so I grab my bow and get ready, as it gets closer I notice this is not a bear at all but rather a white wolf. I quickly change out the bow for the camera only to see the batter was dead. I must not have turned it off after taking pics of the snowshoe hours earlier.
  Did not see any bears at this stand and sat it for 2 evenings.

[Robhood23]

On wednesday we decided to try a new spot that was set up for rifle hunters. I had brought a lone wolf and some sticks so we put up a stand about 15 yards from the bait. Here is a pic of that set up. Again, first time sitting I see one wolf, a pretty ratty looking gray one. Sat this stand for 2 days and no bears. Got to keep a positive attitude though right!
 

[awbowman]

The start of a good story no doubt.  Great pictures just help us to be there with you.

Thanks for sharing  

[Robhood23]

That night back at camp I was talking to the guide and saying I am willing to sit early mornings. I mean the baits are getting hit every day and there is only about 4 hours of dark at this time of year so they have to be coming in sometime right? So Friday morning he takes me to a different stand.
 

  I really like the feeling of this spot. It is obviously an established site based on all the trails and everything beat down. He proceeds to tell me they have taken 6 bears so far from this stand this year. At 7 a.m. I have 2 bears come in and I decide to just watch them as they did not look to be what I was looking for. The first bear was the bigger of the 2 and his back was a few inches over the barrel. For some reason I was having a really hard time judging this bear. Then a beautiful blonde sow was coming down the trail and I decided to take her if she presented me with a good shot. She walked in from out front of the pic behind the 2 pines on the middle right of the photo. sniffed the ground a little and turned and walked back. I could have taken a quick questionable shot but decided against it.
 

  I was just happy to finally see some bears! Guide picked me up at about 10:45 a.m.

[Biathlonman]

Falcon must be bad luck, you should send it to me!

[Robhood23]

I got back into this same stand that evening and was trying to figure out the jugding thing. I took my judo and picked a spot about 5 feet from the barrel and shot it. Now at least I had a reference for measurement. I know it was risky putting scent on the ground but oh well. I figured I could only see about 1/3rd of the barrell, the barrell is sitting on top of logs and there is a hole the bears were standing in that was 6-8"s deep. Now I see why I was having such a hard time. Level ground without the barrell on logs would have put this bear at least a foot over the barrel. After about 4 hours I decided that my luck was about up when I heard some branches break. I stood up and got ready hoping it was the blonde but it was the same 2 from 7 in the morning. The first bear (bigger of the 2) was an angry bear. He tried to get the logs out of the barrell and was getting really frustrated. He started banging on the top of the barrel with both paws and swatting at the logs and actually bite one of the logs and it exploded in his mouth. I still was having a hard time judging him but he did clear the 5 foot arrow mark so after watching him for about 5 minutes I decided to take the shot.

[todd smith]

so far so good...  

[Robhood23]

The shot looked perfect and as he was running I could hear he was having a tough time breathing and then the death moan. It sounded like he had gone along ways but what I think I was just hearing the other bear as he kept going. He went just over 60 yards and we had no problem finding him. The razorcap did an outstanding job.
 With bears they alwasy seem to shrink when you find them. I was happy to see this one was actually bigger than what I had thought. Not a true Manitoba monster bear but one I was very happy to take after a long week of hunting. We ended up going 2 for 5 for the week and one guy never saw a bear and 2 others passed due to the size.
 

  Here is the entrance wound from the razorcap
 

 Here is the exit wound
 

  Here is a pic with my guide
 


  THANKS FOR FOLLOWING ALONG and SHOOT STRAIGHT!

 

[Bernie B.]

Nice story!  Congratulations on a well earned bear!  I enjoyed your story and pictures a lot!    

Bernie

[cacciatore]

Perfect,congrats. I love bear hunting.

[Danny Rowan]

Way to go Jamie. Congratulations. Never been bear hunting and probably never will, I have ate bear and it was not good at all, I will not hunt just to kill, I eat what I hunt but love reading the stories on bear hunting.

[cacciatore]

Danny,I had bear meat balls and they were very yummy!!!then the rug made for a coozy blanket.

[HARL]

Could not have been cooked right Danny ! I have had people eat bear meat here and then when I tell them its bear meat they will tell me"it is not,cause I don't like bear meat ".Really depends on how it's cooked .

[Robhood23]

yes Danny if cooked right or made into sausage it is good! We brought back all the bear meat. The guides did not want to track that night but I said I know it is dead and want the meat. Bear meat spoils fast and i didn't want to take the chance of letting it go bad. Found the bear right away and field dressed him and we took pics the next day! Meat was excellent!

[wapiti792]

Great photos and story. Congrats on a beautiful Manitoba bear!

[Steve Rasmusson]

Nice work Jamie! Wish I could have joined you...

[Flatshooter]

Way to go Jamie! Nice bear and great account of the hunt.