gundog870
Premium Platinum Member
Well I just made it back from a Canadian bear hunt and what a hunt it was!! We had an absolute blast and my stomach still hurts from laughing. This is going to be a picture overload and a mile long story, just a warning. EDIT: Sorry for the Big pics, no idea how to change that.
To start this story off, when I booked the hunt I told the guide - All I want is for my dad and his buddy to see bears and I could care less what the outcome of my hunt was and I could not have been more serious. They took my request seriously and it was awesome!
Also, when we booked this hunt we had all decided that we were going to hunt off the ground with recurves and simply fill tags. Well, as summer slipped away and none of use were happy with how much practice we had had with the recurves our mentality changed a little. We still planned on hunting off the ground, but instead of recurves we just wanted to get it all on video and get as close as we could get!! That we did!
We decided that we would leave after the Friday night football game and get there early the next morning. We showed up at about 10 o'clock with no sleep and Jimmy and were running on pure adrenaline! We saw two bears going in, and it was 65 and overcast... You have to wear helmets in Canada, and that is where the laughs started.
SOO Dad drops of Jimmy at his stand and heads on another 15 minute ride to his. We are all set up by 1:30 and settle in for a LONNNG Sit. I sat until dark only seeing a sow and three cubs which was really cool but I get back and I beat the two clowns back into camp. It turns out, Jimmy had shot his bear at 6:15 and paced back and forth on the road until Dad got out of his stand at about 9:00. The excitement that night was unreal, he had heard the death moan and had an awesome story! It was so funny because this is the first bear other than the two on the road that morning that Jimmy had ever seen.
Day two came and we had 35-40 mph winds and high 50's. We fished and moved a few fattys but no takers, and caught enough snakes to keep us busy and then mid day we were off! I didn't see anything that night, but Dad and Jimmy had a great night!! At 4:30 dad let this bear eat for nearly 10 minutes and could not take it any more. A pretty decent bear, but literally no fat on him. The guides said the weight isn't on any of them yet because of the late spring, but who knows if that is true. He was pumped. Good bear down.
So here we are, Sunday night, crappy weather and only me left to fill a tag while the fishing was going to be slow. I decided that I better get after it, and when I got to my bait, the sow and cubs were on it. I was 15 yards up the hill as these pictures were taken.
I eventually cracked a stick and it was like a bomb went off. Cubs up the trees and Momma running around huffing and snorting like she was going to kill someone. It was hilarious to watch.
Later that evening I had a small boar come in and I managed to scare him off while I was dicking around trying to take his picture. I immediately regretted not killing him so that I could fish.
This is how you scare a bear VIDEO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYn_XYaHK2U&feature=youtu.be
Tuesday was a bust, crappy weather again and I didn't see a bear.
Wednesday we woke up to a little nicer weather, with only a soft rain falling and I knew I needed to get out and fish hard and it paid off!!! I managed to get this fatty to eat in 30ft of water off of a rock ledge. The picture does zero justice for the girth of this fish.
So I went into the stand at 1:00 again, and was in a new spot. This spot was tight!! Only 8 paces to the bait bucket and one trail had to walk past me to get there. What do you know, at 3:30 a boar comes strolling in right over my left shoulder and spots me at about 5 yards. I didn't have me facemask on and I think the glow, along with me peeking over my shoulder made him nervous. He didn't run, but never stopped at the bait. This is how close I was, and just to the left in that opening is where he was.
I didn't see anything the rest of the night and was really feeling like a heel for being the last one left, not to mention, I wanted to fish! We had originally planned to leave on Friday morning, but with those guys tagged out the plan was for me to kill and then leave midday Thursday. Well now it's Wed night and I haven't had a bear I wanted to kill yet. So I decided I was going to hunt the morning and I am glad I did!! To keep the story short, you can watch the video. I hesitated to shoot him because it was only 7:00 and it was the same bear I saw the day before and I thought he was too small. I was watching over y shoulder to see if anything else was coming, and checking my watch to try and decide what too do.
Well, he stuck around too long and I broke the cardinal rule of shooting them laying down, but I couldn't take it when he was at 8 yards and I had decided to shoot.
MY Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBn6k47-bao&list=UUw8Ia9He53XoDg0lrzh7ZnQ
I lucked out, I made an "awesome" shot right behind the shoulder and had hit right where I was aiming. Arrogantly I showed the guys the video and we talked about how we could drive right up too him, as you can see in the video, I could see him flipping and rolling right behind the barrel...
My arrow actually never touched an organ, just cut the artery in his armpit and put a big hole in his chest. HE bled like crazy but when he ran out of blood, he made it another 100 yards in the swamp. A dead bar is a dead bar, and Ill take him! He turned out to be good sized too! A double bonus!!
Bonus Pictures:
Cubs:
they hammered the eyes:
To start this story off, when I booked the hunt I told the guide - All I want is for my dad and his buddy to see bears and I could care less what the outcome of my hunt was and I could not have been more serious. They took my request seriously and it was awesome!
Also, when we booked this hunt we had all decided that we were going to hunt off the ground with recurves and simply fill tags. Well, as summer slipped away and none of use were happy with how much practice we had had with the recurves our mentality changed a little. We still planned on hunting off the ground, but instead of recurves we just wanted to get it all on video and get as close as we could get!! That we did!
We decided that we would leave after the Friday night football game and get there early the next morning. We showed up at about 10 o'clock with no sleep and Jimmy and were running on pure adrenaline! We saw two bears going in, and it was 65 and overcast... You have to wear helmets in Canada, and that is where the laughs started.
SOO Dad drops of Jimmy at his stand and heads on another 15 minute ride to his. We are all set up by 1:30 and settle in for a LONNNG Sit. I sat until dark only seeing a sow and three cubs which was really cool but I get back and I beat the two clowns back into camp. It turns out, Jimmy had shot his bear at 6:15 and paced back and forth on the road until Dad got out of his stand at about 9:00. The excitement that night was unreal, he had heard the death moan and had an awesome story! It was so funny because this is the first bear other than the two on the road that morning that Jimmy had ever seen.
Day two came and we had 35-40 mph winds and high 50's. We fished and moved a few fattys but no takers, and caught enough snakes to keep us busy and then mid day we were off! I didn't see anything that night, but Dad and Jimmy had a great night!! At 4:30 dad let this bear eat for nearly 10 minutes and could not take it any more. A pretty decent bear, but literally no fat on him. The guides said the weight isn't on any of them yet because of the late spring, but who knows if that is true. He was pumped. Good bear down.
So here we are, Sunday night, crappy weather and only me left to fill a tag while the fishing was going to be slow. I decided that I better get after it, and when I got to my bait, the sow and cubs were on it. I was 15 yards up the hill as these pictures were taken.
I eventually cracked a stick and it was like a bomb went off. Cubs up the trees and Momma running around huffing and snorting like she was going to kill someone. It was hilarious to watch.
Later that evening I had a small boar come in and I managed to scare him off while I was dicking around trying to take his picture. I immediately regretted not killing him so that I could fish.
This is how you scare a bear VIDEO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYn_XYaHK2U&feature=youtu.be
Tuesday was a bust, crappy weather again and I didn't see a bear.
Wednesday we woke up to a little nicer weather, with only a soft rain falling and I knew I needed to get out and fish hard and it paid off!!! I managed to get this fatty to eat in 30ft of water off of a rock ledge. The picture does zero justice for the girth of this fish.
So I went into the stand at 1:00 again, and was in a new spot. This spot was tight!! Only 8 paces to the bait bucket and one trail had to walk past me to get there. What do you know, at 3:30 a boar comes strolling in right over my left shoulder and spots me at about 5 yards. I didn't have me facemask on and I think the glow, along with me peeking over my shoulder made him nervous. He didn't run, but never stopped at the bait. This is how close I was, and just to the left in that opening is where he was.
I didn't see anything the rest of the night and was really feeling like a heel for being the last one left, not to mention, I wanted to fish! We had originally planned to leave on Friday morning, but with those guys tagged out the plan was for me to kill and then leave midday Thursday. Well now it's Wed night and I haven't had a bear I wanted to kill yet. So I decided I was going to hunt the morning and I am glad I did!! To keep the story short, you can watch the video. I hesitated to shoot him because it was only 7:00 and it was the same bear I saw the day before and I thought he was too small. I was watching over y shoulder to see if anything else was coming, and checking my watch to try and decide what too do.
Well, he stuck around too long and I broke the cardinal rule of shooting them laying down, but I couldn't take it when he was at 8 yards and I had decided to shoot.
MY Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBn6k47-bao&list=UUw8Ia9He53XoDg0lrzh7ZnQ
I lucked out, I made an "awesome" shot right behind the shoulder and had hit right where I was aiming. Arrogantly I showed the guys the video and we talked about how we could drive right up too him, as you can see in the video, I could see him flipping and rolling right behind the barrel...
My arrow actually never touched an organ, just cut the artery in his armpit and put a big hole in his chest. HE bled like crazy but when he ran out of blood, he made it another 100 yards in the swamp. A dead bar is a dead bar, and Ill take him! He turned out to be good sized too! A double bonus!!
Bonus Pictures:
Cubs:
they hammered the eyes:
Last edited:
