- Medalist Clothing
- Hunter Safety System
- Parker Frontier Bow
- Gold Tip Arrows
- Scott's Little Goose Release
- LaCrosse Alpha Burly II Rubber Boots
- Plano Pillar Lock Bow Case
- Magnus Stinger Broadheads
- Thermacell
We are home from our trip with Alberta Backwoods Outfitters in Northern Alberta and the trip of a lifetime would be an understatement. The title of this article is a little misleading because the entire adventure truly was a fantastic trip.
On our way!
Fellow field staffer Don Ott was along on this expedition and would be filming and hunting for his first ever black bear. The trip there was very smooth until we arrived in Fort McMurray, Alberta and Don's bow wasn't there. We could only hope that it would show up the following day like the airline promised.
Glad to be in camp
Mitch Chapdelaine, owner of Alberta Backwoods Outfitters was there to pick us up right on time and we were going to get out hunting that night. We would be staying in a tent all week long with a wood stove to keep us warm, at least when we figured out how to use it. That is a whole other story!
Our home for the week
Tent camps are not for the faint of heart, you certainly are not in the lap of luxury, but that is what it is all about. Getting out and roughing it a little is always a blast.
Natasha, our camp cook
Natasha was our camp cook and kept us fed all week long. I think she got sick of me being in her kitchen all morning on my cell phone conducting business, but the only electric outlet was located there. The normal routine at camp was to get up in the morning around 9 or 10, chop some wood for the stove, eat a big breakfast, kick around camp for a while, eat a big lunch and head out hunting around 3:30 pm.
Me in Natasha's way gabbing on my cell phone
One of the things I like the most about bear hunting in Canada is how laid back the days are. It isn't like whitetail hunting where you will go out and sit all day long, but much more relaxed. Most evenings we would hunt from 4:30 pm until 10:30 pm and head back to camp for a warm meal before a small campfire and then off to bed.
I was up first thing in the morning chopping wood! We wouldn't be cold this night.
The first night we made the 1 hour drive from the airport to camp and hurriedly got ready to go hunting. We were a little late getting to stand, but were up and settled by about 7, which gave us over three hours of hunting. We did have a real nice bear come in, but he wasn't what I was looking for.
On Stand The First Night
Once back in camp we had a warm meal and we were off to bed. This is where it gets interesting. Unfortunately, Don and I never had wood stove 101, so needless to say we froze our rear ends off that first night, never really getting the fire started. This would not be the case the next night as I was up bright and early chopping wood and preparing all the kindling for that night. Don can attest that I am now the (self proclaimed) master of the wood stove. In fact, I had it so hot on several nights that Don had to get up and open the window and doors to cool things off. If you can't tell, I am very proud of myself (It is the little things in life).
Canadian version of horseshoes
Hanging out around a warm campfire
The next day we received a call from the airport that Don's bow had arrived, so we were on our way to pick it up. After getting back to camp Don took some practice rounds and was dead on. Since this was Don's first bear hunt, we decided that the bear we had in the first night was a very nice bear and we were going to go back in after him. Don would be hunting and I think I was more excited than he was to (hopefully) see him harvest his very first black bear.
Jaron, one of our fantastic guides
I think you all know what this. I tried to spend as little time as possible in here!
The first couple of hours were uneventful without any activity when Don felt compelled to play a little joke on me that I didn't find all that funny. I had to relieve myself, so while I was going to the bathroom, Don decides to tell me that a bear is coming. If anyone knows me, they understand that I am a little high strung and almost peed on myself.
Typical mud and muck that these quads went through all night long.
Needless to say I wasn't not very happy with Mr. Ott. I explained that there is one golden rule when hunting with me and that is you never joke about game coming! I also explained that it was ON and I would get him back.
Filming a bear on the ground
Well about 20 minutes later I spy a big black ball moving through the thick stuff and proceed to tell Don, "Get your bow a bear is coming!". What does he do, but laugh at me and say, "Yeah right". I of course again emphasize, "No, seriously there is a nice bear coming get your bow!" Again I get the same reply, "Yeah right, I am not falling for it!" Now I am irritated and proceed to call Don a few names and it is at this point and time that he sees the bear coming at about 45 yards away.
Don's first black bear
After seeing that, Don doesn't waste any time getting his bow and getting ready. We knew this bear was going to be shooter and was a bigger bear than the one we saw the night before. At this point and time I am focused on getting the shot on film and Don says to me, "Man, his head is ugly." I promptly replied, "He is a fighter, just shoot him!" After a half hour of in and out at the bait, the bear finally presented Don with a shot and he closed the deal on his first ever black bear.
Don with guides Mitch and Jaron
When we recovered the bear about 80 yards later, I saw what Don meant by an ugly head, this bear was completely bald. It was a very old bear with gray hair on its claws and face and it's teeth were completely wore down. The bear did have a beautiful coat and is going to make a great rug. Mitch, owner of Alberta Backwoods Outfitters, explained that in all his years of guiding that he has never seen a bear like this except on a trail camera one time.
I was really excited for Don. You can ask him and I am sure he will tell you, I was shaking so hard after his shot that the entire tree was moving. Congrats on a great bear Don!
Very gray and very bald
Gray hair all around the claws
New Beargaine for Bears experiencing hairloss issues
Don and I with his first bear
After getting Don's bear out of the way it was my turn to hunt again. Mitch had trail cams set up and had a bait that was being hit by two very big bears. We knew that is where we wanted to be. It is funny how sometimes bears don't like to cooperate and while we had trail cam photos of these two big bears showing up in the evening, that first night the only one that showed up was a decent size bear, but I knew he wasn't the one we were looking for.
Me not long after shooting my first bear of the trip, knowing it was a good shot
So the next evening we decided we were going to hunt the same stand again, and I am glad we did. The evening started with the same bear coming out again and wolfing down all the bait and we were starting to think this night was going to be more of the same like the night before, but that all changes about an hour before dark.
My Canadian black bear
As I already said there was a decent size bear at the bait all evening just making a complete hog of himself, when all of a sudden we see him sit straight up and ears go forward. Not long after that we see a really nice bear making it's way down the trail. I knew immediately that this was not the giant, but a very good bear and if I had the opportunity, I was going to take him.
My Canadian black bear
After running the small bear off, I didn't give him much time and let the arrow fly at 27 yards and put it right behind the shoulder. From the video you will see that this shot is almost a perfect shot on a whitetail, but not a bear. The lungs on a bear are farther back than a whitetail and the shot should have been about 8 inches back. I really believe that my practice all year long on 3D targets and hunting whitetail, it was almost instinct to put the shot right behind the shoulder.
Don and I with my bear
Fortunately after tracking this bear that bled like a stuck pig for the first 75 yards and then nothing but pin drops, we recovered it about 300 yards later through some of the thickest stuff you would ever want to go through. Mitch did a great job, like a little hound dog, finding this bear.
Me with guides Jaron and Mitch
As you can see it is a beautiful bear but what you can't see is the distinctive white markings on the chest. It will make a great rug.
Don's second bear
Now we have two very nice bears down and two to go. Thursday was very windy with little bear movement and I would start out hunting on Friday night in a new stand location. We weren't in the stand long when Don saw movement behind us. I could see a very nice bear, so I asked Don if he wanted to shoot it and he didn't hesitate. As the bear was making his way to the bait, we moved the camera so I could operate it, Don grabbed his bow, put a release on and knocked an arrow.
Within in minutes, Don let the arrow fly to what we both thought was perfect hit. After watching the film, it appeared it could be a little far back, but we both thought that it should still get both lungs. We thought wrong.
After an hour and a half, we got down and tracked this bear for about 75 yards when we jumped it. You could tell it was hurting bad, and Don took off after it. Mitch was there also looking in the opposite direction so we had no choice as we could see it go lay down again.
After getting within 12 yards, Don let the finishing shot fly and he had his second bear. It was very eventful and nerve wracking, but had a good ending.
The giant bear decides to scratch his back a little and let me get even more worked up before he makes his way in our direction
The next night the ending wouldn't be so good. Like I said before we had trail cam photos of a 7.5 foot bear at this bait everyday for the past four days at 12 noon. So we decided, since it was the last day, that we were going to go in at 10 am and hopefully catch this giant coming in.
Once again, the bears weren't all that interested in our well laid plans and we didn't see a bear until 2:00 pm, but once this little guy came in he decided to entertain us the rest of the afternoon. Including; figure eights, pirouettes, tumble rolls and more.
This photo and video don't do this guy justice. He was massive.
Things were looking bleak for getting a crack at the monster bear as 9:00 pm rolled around and we figured he wasn't going to make an appearance, when all of a sudden, the smaller bear sat straight up and stared in the opposite direction. Within in seconds we heard what we thought was an elephant coming through the woods and the small bear ran faster than a racehorse to the thick cover.
We both knew this could mean only one thing. The big bear was on his way and within seconds he made an appearance. To say I was a little rattled is an understatement. Eventually the bear made his way in our direction and I wasn't going to waste anytime when the shot presented itself. He initially was quartering to me, so I passed on him the first time, but once he came back in, he was perfectly broadside at 21 yards.
download Born in East L.A. I came to full draw and unfortunately was not quite positioned in this stand correctly and my elbow hit my safety harness and the tree. Instead of repositioning I made a crucial mistake and I knew it as soon as I let the arrow fly. I leaned my head into the kisser button instead of properly bringing the kisser button to my cheek.
What followed will remain in my head forever. The shot was a terrible shot and hit very low in the middle of the bear. I knew that the situation was bad and our only possible chance of getting this bear was to back out and come back in the morning. Unfortunately that wasn't an option. We were flying out and had to be at the airport at 6:30 am and Mitch had already packed camp up and we were his last hunters for the season.
We got down and examined the arrow and smelled it to see if there was any guts on it. Fortunately there wasn't and after trailing this bear for over 400 yards with very little blood, Mitch felt that the bear would survive. All I can say is, I hope so.
No one ever wants to wound an animal and in my hunting career I have been fortunate enough to have never mortally wounded an animal that I didn't recover. As you can imagine this would have been a storybook ending to a storybook trip with Don and I each coming home with two bears each, but that wasn't the case.
That is hunting and that is the way it happens. Doesn't mean I accept what happened and I will continue to practice with my equipment to make sure a mistake like that doesn't happen again. I may never get a chance at a giant like that again, but I feel blessed to have been given that one opportunity.
The week with Alberta Backwoods Outfitters was top notch. I would like to thank Mitch, Natasha and Jaron for a great week and all their hard work. For more information on Mitch and his operation, visit www.AlbertaBackwoodsOutfitters.com.
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