Solo Spring Black Bear

Its been a slow spring for us getting out to do some hunting. We had a huge snowfall, followed with endless amounts of rain this spring. I got out a few times to look for antlers with the kids, once by myself for turkey and really that was it. It was May 10 and the weather was finally getting beautiful and I figured it would be the perfect day to go out to look for a bear. I decided to go after I picked the kids up from school instead of trying to squeeze a hunt in before they were out at 3.

I picked them up and we went home to get our stuff together. They complained the whole time because they wanted to go to the park- i told them too bad. I needed to get out after being trapped in the house all winter with a bad back and then with the endless rain. I decided to go out to our favourite spot for bear and check our little honey hole first. A friend I took out last year had missed a tank of a bear in the same spot and I figured it would be a good place to check out first. We got out there by 5:00 pm and started slowly making our way through the bush roads. On one stretch of road we came across a painted turtle, hanging out on the road. So we pulled over and helped him get across to where he was going. Our little honey hole is just a very short, very old bush road that leads to a grown in landing and massive clear cut. I pulled into the mouth of the road and stopped to check the wind, it was blowing right into the clearing. The wind always seems to blow in the wrong direction in this area but the road goes along a little ways before it drops into a dip and turns a corner to the clearing. So i drove in a little farther keeping an eye as far down into the dip that I could see. Eventually I seen a small patch of black, so I stopped and put my binos up to take a look- it was furry. So I put the truck in park and said to the kids that there was a bear in the clearing. Pheonix right away was sitting on her window with her binos looking at the bear, repeating to me, "Mom its a good bear!"

I turned the truck off and told Easton to stay in the truck and be quiet, he was more than happy too. After-all, the little monster refused to wear any other footwear then his flip flops, but I did make him pack his gumboots. I got out of the truck and got my rifle ready and told Pheonix to jump out with me. She has never been on a stalk with me other then for grouse so she was excited. I gave her the camera and showed her how to use it so she could video it all for the show. She was very determined but her footsteps were pretty loud. I kept turning to her to remind her to walk lightly, but i knew it was hard while holding the camera so I didn't worry to much. We slowly crept up the road until we got to where the road dropped, I couldn't see the bear and I was worried he had heard us and took off up the bank into the trees. So I quickened our pace until I caught a glimpse of him around the corner, he had no clue we were there, he was just milling around feeding on green grass. We went to the right side of the road where the bank dropped, I got set up on a root-ball as a rest and I told Pheonix to stay just behind me. I was all set and ready, I watched him through my scope waiting for the perfect shot. He was a good bear, and had a beautiful coat on him. He eventually started to walk back on to the road and stopped to sniff something in the dirt, so I took my shot. It was a perfect shot at less than 100 yards. It went right behind his shoulder and took out the far one. I watched him rear up and spin a few times while I was re-loading my 300 wsm. I watched him take a few steps and I put my rifle up again, but once I had it up he disappeared. So i stood up and turned to look at Pheonix. She was vibrating with excitement, and was the first to say anything. She whispered loudly too me, "Did you see him spin!!!" and she never stopped talking all the way back to the truck. She wanted to go get him right away, but I told her no we should go back to the truck and Easton and give him some time. Little did I realize that she had watched him drop right after he took his 3 big steps. But I still wanted to be sure. So we walked back to the truck and Easton was asking if we got him, he was all excited asking if we could go see him. I decided to drive the truck down to the clearing much to Pheonixs dismay, I made her ride in the truck instead of running down the road like she wanted. As we drove down, I seen a black thing laying only 10 yards from where I shot him. I made the kids stay in the truck while I checked to make sure he was dead and there weren't any other bears hanging out in the clearing. When I gave the Ok, they both jumped out excited to see him. Then the hard worked started...i now had to skin and quarter the beast by myself, and his hide was so nice that I wanted to rug him. I'm not a good skinner...unfortunately lol...but I tried my best to skin him out good and tried to keep it somewhat symmetrical. I was glad to have Pheonix with me, she held a leg here and there for me or pulled on the hide to help me skin it. He was heavy, I can lift 240 pounds off the ground and I had troubles rolling him- I had the kids help me roll him over. After 2.5 hours of skinning and field dressing, I finally had him in the truck and we were headed home. The kids were just buzzing the whole way home, asking if we could go out again the next day for a bear. I just laughed and told them we wouldn't be able too- I needed to deal with this bear and buy my second tag before we could head out again. The next day Pheonix was still pretty pumped and dressed in head to toe camo for school, I took the meat to the butcher and measured the head and hide. My skinning job wasn't as good as I had hoped, so i will probably just have him dry tanned. But he was a 6 foot bear and his head was a green score of 17 1/2".

Although I go out on my own a lot or with the kids, this was the first time I got an animal on the ground. Kyle was at work in Sparwood which was 3 hours away, Pheonix made sure to text him from my phone to rub it in a little bit. I was pretty proud of myself being able to do everything on my own with 2 kids in tow. It may have taken me a looooong time and I couldn't move the rest of the night because my hips hurt so bad, but I was pretty happy. Not bad for my first trip out for bear and being the first bear of the season! 

Oudoor Adventures with Jayson Podcast Interview

I had the pleasure of chatting with Jayson on his podcast last month. You can hear it here at:

Interview

Saskatchewan Bear Hunt 2015

Our 2nd annual trip to Saskatchewan to hunt with Kerwin and Warren, this time with the kids. We left at midnight on the 30th of May planning to drive through the night in hopes the kids would sleep the entire way. Easton did...Pheonix not so much. We made it to Edmonton 2 hours  before Cabelas opened, so we went for breakfast and waited. We managed to find a youth harness that fit Pheonix and myself so she could go up in the stand too. She was excited, mom not so much, but I didn't hold her back.

We got to Lloydminster that afternoon and had a chance to relax a bit and get a good nights sleep before heading to Saskatchewan with Kerwin in the morning. We got our tags bought in the morning and were off to Warrens families ranch. Warren wasn't due home until later that evening so we hunted the families property for the evening. Kerwin and I only had one little bear come in, Kyle had 3. He had one little one and a sow with a decent boar. I would have taken him if he came to my stand. Kerwin and my hunt unfortunately was interrupted by a couple wolves. The neighbors had their cattle out in the pasture next to us and you could hear them mooing all evening, but close to dark 2 wolves lit up howling. They were in among the cows, and after there was some silence and then a single cow started calling again-but it sounded in distress. We thought maybe a calve was taken, so that night we told Warrens dad about it and he was pretty worried, he was taking his cattle out there the next day.
The stayed the night at the ranch and the next morning we got everything packed up and ready to head north. It was another couple hour drive to get to where we wanted. Once there we set up camp and got ready to hit the stands. I hunted with Kerwin again and Kyle on his own. Warren wanted to do a fish fry for dinner so he offered to take the kids fishing with him, of course they were ecstatic. Later I received a picture of them and Pheonix had caught her first pike all on her own. They had a lot of fun. Kyle had one bear come in that night and Kerwin and I had 5- including big red. It was a pretty cool night and I had all my layers on minus my thick Oncatherm extreme shirt on, and I was wishing I had it on too. We had little bear after little bear come in. Then we seen this big red colored bear come in hopping on 3 legs, at first we thought he was a sow because you could hear him popping his jaws the whole we in, he stopped just in the trees before one of the black boars put a run on him. Then just before dark he came hobbling back to the bait but really on edge. I was standing ready for him to come in as soon as we heard him popping. I had one really good shot opportunity but I couldn't draw my bow, after sitting 6 hours in the cold and getting stiff- I just couldn't get my bow past the wall. And once he heard me draw, he was gone like a shot. I was really mad. I could not believe I just missed out on that big boar because I couldn't get my bow back.

Next day Kerwin and I hunted the same stand, hoping big red would come back in. He had come back in at 3am that night, but I wasn't very optimistic about him showing up in daylight again. Again we had 5 bears come in. 3 were the same little ones from the other night and 2 new ones. The one new one was a bigger boar, not as big as red but decent. He had a nice head on him and that was about it. He was skin and bones and his hair was patchy and rubbed right off. He came in very cautious and he came straight to the stand to check it. When he walked under me he stopped and looked up, I had a wave of Deja vu hit me, like I had seen him before- those eyes and his face...but I couldn't quite place it. He didn't stay long, he put the run on one of the 3 little ones (a little 3 year old boar with big attitude) then never came back. Just before dark the little boar got spooked and ran to our tree, he huffed and made a ruckus and then we had a big black come in, he was about 4 inches above the barrel and the little boar came right up the tree under our feet. I was watching the little boar and Kerwin trying to shoo it down with his hat. He didn't know who he should take his chances with, us or the bear. When I drew back I couldn't see him in my pins, we had ran out of light. So we waited a minute and he just wandered through. We also had the little boar with attitude watching us from another tree and a sow watching from about 60 yards out. When we started down out of the tree the little boar took off, the sow just stayed put. She was only 10 yards from us sitting at the baits, she did not care we were right there. So we made our way out and sat at the truck. As we came out we noticed a bear standing about 30 yards from the truck making its way to the baits. Kerwin had a trailer on the back which smelled of meat so we went to check if the bear had destroyed anything. Nothing was ruined but he was definitely in the trailer checking everything out, you could smell him like he was standing beside you.

Kyle was hunting with Pheonix, and Easton went fishing with Warren. Kyle had apparently shot a bear. It wasn't the biggest bear but it was a good experience for Pheonix. Apparently she also got to see this years cubs during her sit with daddy, and got a good nap in ha ha. Kyle had to keep her from jumping up and down in the tree every time a bear came in. He shot it well before dark so had retrieved it and loaded it up with Warrens help. When they pulled up about 20 mins after we left the stand we told each other our stories.

The next 3 days were very quiet. We only had 2-3 little ones come in, but we did see some rut action. A real young shaggy boar was charming the 2 sows that were hanging around. We had a chocolate sow come in and try to get our attention in a frisky way. She laid back under our ladder watching us, rubbing a stick on her...same thing Warren and I had last year, except this little sow wanted to share her stick and wanted to come up the tree with it. We watched the boar chase the sows and wrestle with them...but we never had any good bears come back in. During the slow days the ugly boar kept come back to me in my head, the same picture over and over of him looking up at me....and it clicked. I think he was the beautiful black I shot at and missed the year before. It was a different stand this year but same location, and this one didn't have the high arm rests like the year before.  Warren also took a night to go back to his families ranch to hunt, there was a big bear there he was after. He didn't see the big boar that night but he did have quite the entertaining night. He had a cinnamon sow come in with 2 new babies, both cinnamon. They came into the bait and the cubs made a B line straight for Warrens tree. They shot up the tree and momma came to investigate what they were doing. He videoed them coming in and when mom decided to come over, you can hear him say Oh f*** when she makes her way to the tree, ha ha. Lucky she was a laid back sow and she just made a couple grunts and they scooted down and she went back to the bait to eat. As soon as she was eating though, one of the little ones went back up the tree to investigate Warren again. He managed to get almost up on his platform with him. Mom didn't even look at him again. The other little cub went to join his mom for a snack and apparently she pancaked him with her paw...flattened him right to the ground and the little guy just howled. Warren said it was the funniest thing he had ever seen.

We ended up staying a day later then we had planned, hoping that maybe some thing big would come back through. We woke up Sunday morning and was able to get packed up and leaving by 9:30-10 am. We had to stop at Jeanettes on the other side of Edmonton for a visit...mainly a business one that turned into a socialization...for 8 hours. We were able to meet Todd Brick, one of the hosts for No Limits TV, so it was a nice visit...but made for a real long drive home. We had to stop twice so Kyle could sleep and ended up home at 9:30 am Monday. It was another good year, had its ups and downs, but we had fun and so did the kids. Their last night they did some more fishing with Warren and his girlfriend, Natasha, and they caught 27 pike but kept 7 for dinner. So overall another awesome trip, and we look forward to next year.

*** 2 weeks after we left***
I get a text message from Warren sending me pictures of a massive red bear that showed up at the stand Kyle had shot his bear from, a week after we left. It was Red, and the left foot gave it away. He was still alive and hopefully he makes it to next season.

Nikita

May Long Bear Hunt

Kyle and I had the opportunity to have a weekend to ourselves, his parents had been south for the winter and were wanting the kids for a sleepover. So we took advantage, we dropped them off with them Thursday evening and got a movie and ice cream and enjoyed a quiet evening. The next morning we got ready to hit the bush. We had accidently slept in and were about an hour behind what we originally wanted to be. We got out and found lots of bear sign, the area had greened up nicely compared to the last time we had been out. Soon we were getting on into the afternoon and although we found lots of fresh sign, it had appeared that we had just missed the bears- so we decided to slowly head back to town ( I had a meeting with someone). So as we putted through a quad trail we came to another dirt road and headed down it. We came around a corner and off to the right there was a green meadow just through the trees, and there was a black bear. So we kept driving hoping we didn't spook him away. We parked a fair ways away and hiked back up to the meadow. He was still there feeding away. I slowly crept up where I had the cover of trees to the opening that we had seen him through from the road. It took me a little bit to sneak through because of all the sticks and dried pinecones that littered the ground, but I somehow managed to sneak to within 36 yards without him noticing me. When I knelt down he heard me, and his head snapped up and was staring right at me. I froze, hoping I didn't scare him. He slowly turned and walked a little to the right still staring at me. The stare down felt like 5 minutes but it was really only a few seconds. When he started walking straight at me and huffed, I decided to draw my bow just incase he decided to bluff me, I really didn't want to shoot him chest on but if he got too close I wasn't taking a chance. Eventually I think he decided I was nothing and he started to feed again, with me at full draw, he started making his way back left into the meadow only 30 yards from me and as soon as I had a clear broadside shot I let my arrow fly. It was a pass through and just my fletching was caught on the other side of him. He did a quick circle around and stopped by a tree. He looked up the tree like he was thinking of going up it and instead went behind it and laid down. When he lay down though he laid on my arrow and it scared him, so he got up and went about 30 yards into the bush before laying down again.
There wasn't much of a blood trail so I went on instinct and the direction I heard him go. Kyle seen him first just because of how much taller he was than me, when he pointed him out I stood on a log and was able to see his fur. I was very happy when I got to him. He had a beautiful hide on him, very thick and soft. I packed him out whole on my back and when I got to the jeep we started to field dress him. He had no fat on him at all. He was long and skinny, probably weighing at 130-140 pounds, but his thick fur made him look like a chunk! I didn't mind, it was nicer skinning him without the greasy fat on my hands and his fur had no rub marks or imperfections at all. He did have a small white mark on his chest, between his front legs.
I am very proud of myself for being able to accomplish this! My first archery bear. I started out so scared of bears and just started hunting them 4 years ago after pushing myself. Even then I didn't think id be brave enough to go after one with my bow. So this is a big accomplishment for me.

The next day we tried to find Kyle a bear. We went to 2 different areas but only seen one black bear in the evening. He was a homely looking bear with his head completely bald. We thought the evening was going to be a good chance, we seen a lot of animals and they were obviously moving. But the ugly little bear was the only bear. But we did see 12 mountain goats, tons of elk, whitetail and mule deer, a badger, a coyote and a bull moose. Even though Kyle didn't get a chance at a bear it was a beautiful day and I got some beautiful photos to capture the day.

Extreme Huntress Episode is UP!

OK everyone the very first episode for the Extreme Huntress contest is up and running. You can watch it on the App,  the website or on Carbon TV.  After you have watched it make sure to cast your vote either on the App or the website for your favorite lady!
How it works is every Sunday for the next 13 weeks there will be a new episode posted- you have the week to vote for a lady and once a new episode is posted you start a new round of voting, giving you 13 chances to vote. But if you miss a week you lose the chance to vote. So make sure you cast a vote every week!

Extreme Huntress Website: www.extremehuntress.com
Carbon Tv: www.carbontv.com

Extreme Huntress Trip to Texas

So in July I took my trip to Hondo Texas for the Extreme Huntress Finals. It was so much fun. I flew down a day early so I could get used to the different climate and to relax and rest. It was very different then what I am used to. The cities are huge (I landed in San Antonio and stayed my first night there), and it is hot and humid. You felt like you had a constant sheen of sweat on your skin...i never had dry skin the whole time I was there! The next morning I was picked up with a bunch of cameras rolling...it was a little intimidating lol. I got to meet the rest of the ladies and we headed for the 777 Ranch where the competition was to take place. We spent 6 days total at the ranch, flying home on day 7. The first day was pretty relaxed, just sighting in our rifles, doing our first skills test and getting used to the ranch and each other. We were assigned cabins and I bunked with Margaret from South Africa. Every day we hunted in the morning and evening, in the afternoon we had skills tests and interviews. We spent close to 16 hours on our feet everyday. We had Larry Weishuhn, Jim Zumbo and Olivia Opre as our judges and Scott O'Grady as a guest. I got to see some amazing animals- Pierres david deer, Water buffalo, Arabian Oryx, Zebra, Hawaiian Black Sheep, Blackbuck antelope, Aoudad, Centaur Oryx just to name a couple.  I cant tell you too much more then that until the episodes start airing in October but ill share some photos.

Met Scott O'Grady

Eating Grants Gazelle

Saskatchewan Black Bear Hunt 2014

What an amazing trip we had! We were gone for a total of 8 days and 6 of them were spent hunting. It was a long drive! 12 hours there and 12 hours back. We got home at 2:00 am this morning.

We had decided to leave a little early and stay an extra day as well. We left when Kyle got off of night shift on Sunday (May 18) and decided to take our time. We did stop in Jaffray (30 mins out of town) because we seen a friend of ours out in his field hunting gophers with his bow, so that added another hour to travel time. Then in Calgary we stopped at the Bass Pro to do some shopping. We got to Edmonton at about 10:30pm and made the trek over to Jeanettes place to crash. We got to Jeanettes at midnight and spent the next 4 hours talking about hunting and the Extreme Huntress Contest since we are both in the 20 semi-finalists. It was really great meeting her and Travis, especially when we are both in the contest. I cant wait to see her again in June and hopefully in Texas in July!

The next morning we headed out and went back to Edmonton to check out the Cabelas. We did some shopping and I picked up a hoodie and we picked up a new pack frame. Then we went for lunch and I bought a new phone. We managed to get out of Edmonton at a decent time and were on our way to Loydminister to meet up with one of the guys we were hunting with that we met on Twitter...along the way hoping they weren't serial killers lol! We made it to Kerwin's at around dinner time and had a good visit and meal with him and his family. In the morning the 3 of us were on our way to Spiritwood to meet up with the other guy, Warren. We got to Warrens familys' ranch (which was gorgeous) and started loading the quads right away. We were heading for the family cabin.

It was a bit of a quad ride to get there but it was beautiful. The cabin was on a hill over looking a lake surrounded by poplar trees and croaking frogs in the marsh. It was very wet, so we got a little muddy and the frogs were everywhere! You could see them hopping out of the way of the quad. We dropped our stuff off in the cabin and we geared up to hunt the evening.

Hunt Day 1
The guys decided that while we were hunting they would go and check the other baits they had set up and sort of organize the camp area. So they took us into the stand where there was a big cinnamon boar coming in and was dubbed "Charra" because he was tall and gangly. So Kyle and I climbed into the stand which was only 18 yards from the barrels and played the waiting game. After a couple hours we had a coyote come in but he was nervous. So he didn't come right into the bait. Then about an hour after that this little blond cub came wandering into the bait and plopped his chunky butt down and started eating. He was only there for about 30mins when he took off running-there was another bear coming. A cinnamon sow with 2 cubs, a cinnamon one and a black one with a white V on his chest. She didn't stay long, she seemed agitated. About an hour after her and her cubs left she came back, but this time she had the little blond cub with her. She right away seen us up in the stand(it was on a poplar tree, so not much for cover) and was nervous. She let her cubs go and eat at the barrels but she would circle and try to catch our scent. Thankfully the BUCKED seemed to do its job and she never scared off, but she knew something was off with the tree we were sitting in. She was a gorgeous healthy bear and big! We named her The Queen. Eventually it started getting dark and we needed to spook them away, it didn't take much- just us talking. She took her cubs and left.

Hunt Day 2
In this area it seemed the bears only hit the baits in the evenings and during the night so we slept in. We got up and had breakfast then went out to check cameras and baits. Nothing had hit either baits. Warren was dumbfounded and frustrated. So we had to go to the back up plan- going to the forestry (government land). There were 4 different areas in the forestry we could sit in. We were put in one  that had lots of activity including a really large boar. Again Kyle and I were sitting in the stand together but this one was only 12 yards from the bait. It felt like we were sitting right on top of the barrel. It wasn't long and we had 2 small bears come in, brothers. A beautiful black one and a rubbed out brownish black one and both of them came up our tree to check us out. The black one came right up the tree on my side to get a closer look, then after he was done the rubbed one came up the tree right under our feet. After they were bored with us they went back to the bait. The bait had a barrel and 2 yellow crates tied together and it had a beaver in it and we watched the black one try to pull it out with not much success, his brother came over and popped it out in no time and took off with the beaver. Leaving us thinking, well great there goes the bait! We probably wont see any more bears.... We did see one more bear come in, again another small one just before the thunderstorm hit. The trees were blowing and it was pouring, but it only lasted about 20 mins and it cleared up. Just before dark we had 2 more small bears come in but never seen one that was a good size.

Hunt Day 3
In the morning we got up and went to check baits again. One was hit but it was just a small

cinnamon, nothing worth staying in the area so we went back up to the forestry. Again we sat in a new area that had a lot of activity that included some big bears. Kyle and I sat in the stand together again and again the stand was only 12 yards from the bait. After a few hours a little boar came in. He went straight to the bait without paying us much attention and started filling his face. He started rolling around after he ate a ton of oats and gave us a good look...that yup he is a boar haha. After about an hour he slowly made his way away from us and the bait. At around 8pm a big bear came in cautiously. I got up and got ready. He came from directly in front of us and walked to the barrel smelled the top of it where Kyle had touched it ( he was the same height as the barrel standing up), walked to the ribbon that Kyle had tied and followed the same path Kyle took to the tree. He smelled the ladder and looked up at us then walked over to the tree (on my side of the stand...of course!). The whole time I wasn't worried...he was a big bear...big bears don't climb trees...I was wrong! He came up my side of the tree, right up under the stand...smelling the bottom of my boots. I was shaking so bad, just staring at him and he stared right back at me. He was beautiful...and big. After he decided to climb down, after what felt like a full 10 minutes, he walked away from the tree on my side so I turned and got ready just in case he gave me an opportunity. He stopped and turned broadside, I pulled back and....my bottom cam hit the stand when I released and my arrow flew above him. The smell of metal burning my nose and my mind freaking out that I damaged my bow. The treestand we were in had very tall arm rests, above my waist while standing. I was leaning over with my bow on the other side, but I must have naturally shifted after I pulled back and not realized. I missed him completely and after that he left. He came back to the stand a couple days later, he showed up on the camera but I never seen him again. I was really upset that I missed that big bear and possibly damaged my bow.

Hunt Day 4
Right away in the morning I checked my cam and limb. It wasn't damaged, just a small dent and some of the finish was taken off. I shot it and it was performing exactly the same as before so I decided it would be ok to keep hunting. This time I hunted in the same stand as the night before but had Kerwin sitting in the stand with me. It was a stressful evening! The first bear that came in for us was a sow with 3 black cubs. She did not like us being in the tree. The cubs went over and started eating and she came over to the tree looking up at us. You could tell she wasn't curious about us, but that she didn't want us there. All of a sudden she huffed at us and grabbed onto the tree to start coming up, Kerwin and I both stood up and started yelling at her and stomping our feet on the platform of the stand. She got off the tree and slowly walked out of our sight where you could hear her bluff charging our stand. I was freaking out. After the little show her one cub was curious about us. He came over and started climbing the tree...just what we needed. So we did the same thing. He didn't leave...and wasn't scared of us at all. He came back to the tree multiple times and I was starting to feel like I was talking to a naughty puppy telling him no.
After they left I was freaked out. I told Kerwin that if she would have came back to the tree I would have called it quits for the night. She scared the crap out of me. Later on we had another sow come in with 2 black cubs. The cubs came in to eat and she was walking in slowly behind them until she seen us. She stopped and turned around and left. She never came in closer then 40 yards from the stand. Her cubs weren't as brave as the ones before either. The one came to check us out and we were shooing him away and he just stared at us. Kerwin huffed at him and he came over and swatted the ground underneath us. He had some attitude. They would come and go until dark but the last time the came back in a friend had followed. The cubs gave him away. The one took off instantly and the other was hanging onto the side of a tree huffing at the other bear. There were trees in the way but if I leaned far enough over I could see the other bear. He was a big bear with a white V on his chest. I got my bow ready, feeling protective of the little cubs. Momma bear made her way over and bluff charged the boar and the boar took off
about 40 yards back. After he ran the cubs took off and mom followed them. The boar circled around back through all the blow down and followed her and her cubs. Rut was starting. By the time the 4 bears were gone it was time to climb down from the tree. Just before Kyle and Warren pulled up a bear had ran across the road in front of us in to where the bait was. Warren wanted to pull the memory card from the camera to see what was on it so him and Kyle went to retrieve it. We told them that there was a bear in there right now but they still went. A few minutes later you could hear yelling coming from the trees...apparently the little guy had some attitude and was not willing to give up the bait. But they came out unscathed! Afterwards we told Kyle and Warren about our night. They then told us about their night. They had an interesting night as well. A sow had chased a little boar up their tree. He came right up beside Kyle and stopped...and Kyle being Kyle he tried to pet it. So it moved to the backside of the tree and started heading up above them, so he slapped its paw. Warren was freaking out that he was going to piss it off. The bear scooted up the tree another 20 feet above them and stayed there the whole night. It also pooped on Warrens bow and pack!

Hunt Day 5
I did NOT want to go back to the same stand, so Kyle and Warren went to it. We went to the stand from the second night hunting. We sat and sat and never seen one bear the entire time. Kyle and Warren were having better luck then us. They had the sow and 2 cubs come in again and the same boar that followed them the night before. He gave Kyle a shot and he took it. After he shot the white V bear a bigger one took off that was coming in with it. They stayed in the stand until just before dark hoping Warren could get one but no luck. So they climbed down to deal with his bear. Warren couldn't do too much thanks to his broken leg so Kyle decided to pack the entire bear out in one shot...whole. They rolled it onto the pack and kyle laid on it to put it on. Warren had to help him roll over and he crawled over to some blow down to help get him up on his feet and walked out. We got to Warrens family farm and weighed the bear and started field cleaning it. It weighed in at 232lbs and was 6'1'' tall. The rough score on the skull was 18 1/2 Pope and Young. Kyle was happy, that was what he wanted- a P&Y bear.

Hunt Day 6
Our last day to hunt and it was pouring rain. Kerwin had to head home so it was just the 3 of us. Kyle tagged out so it was up to Warren and I. We sat in the same stand Kyle shot his bear from and the aggressive sow was. Kyle set up a hanger off to the side of us to video and Warren and I sat in the main stand. It was another slow night. Eventually we had a little sow come in. She was tiny and goofy. She was a character. Trying to pull the barrel down on top of her while she was laying back..sitting back on her haunches and she lost her balance and just flopped over like a dog. She tried pulling the trail camera off the tree and was rolling around on the ground. Warren and I were trying not to laugh to loudly. She heard us and came over to the tree and was moaning at us. She then sat on her back end and started playing with a stick and then the wrapper Warren had dropped from his Reeses Peanut Butter Cup. Both of us were just giggling. She then found an oil soaked napkin, came over, laid back and started rubbing the napkin all over her belly, starring at us the entire time. We were laughing so hard. I looked at Warren and I whispered to him "I think she likes your man scent" lol. She had to be in heat the way she was acting. I'm not sure if she thought we were a bear up there or what but we got quite the show! She hung out with us for at least 2 hours. It was a great way to end our hunting trip, even though I never tagged out. She was quite the bear.

We stayed the night at Warrens parents that night so we could shower and clean up. We loaded up in the morning and started the long trek back home to BC. We stopped for a quick visit with Kerwin and told him about our last night. We stopped in Edmonton again. Kyle wanted to show me the West Ed Mall because I had never been. It was huge. Went back to Cabelas then started our way home. We were both exhausted by the time we got home at 2am. It felt good to be home after the long drive.

May 29 Black Bear

We hummed and hawed about heading out in the evening. We spent the whole day in Fernie dealing with trucks and the kids had been late to bed the night before and Pheonix had school. But in the end we decided to stay closer to home so we wouldn't be home so late.



We drove and glassed...drove and glassed. Never finding much for bear or bear sign. I was starting to think this night was going to be an empty one. We went into an area that the dog hunters hunt frequently (we normally try to avoid these areas because the bears are more jumpy) thinking that they probably hunt the mornings so that they have a lower risk of losing a dog. We drove and started to find some scat here and there. So we drove up to a high landing and glassed and let the kids out to stretch their legs. After a few minutes Kyle says Bear! It was a beautiful cinnamon bear across the valley feeding on a landing of an old unused logging road that was growing in.

We quickly jumped back in the truck and headed that way. Kyle parked the truck on a switch back and stayed there with the kids while I went after the bear. It was at least a 500 yard stalk up on this bear, thankfully it was slightly windy so it hide the noise of my boots crunching on the loose rocks and blowing the right way so my scent wouldn't carry to him. He was so busy eating he had no clue I was there and was able to get to within 60 yards of him. I could have done it with my bow! But I had chose to take my rifle instead, murphys law I guess! I put my rifle up and got lined up and squeezed my trigger. Hit him perfectly, right where I wanted. He jumped and scooted down the hill. I called Kyle on the radio and told him I had a bear down. I walked over to the top of the hill and there he was laying on the bottom.

Kyle pulled up in the truck and the kids were all excited and wanted to see it. So I packed one kid after another down the hill. It was very cold, felt like snow in the air and you could see your breath. Kyle skinned it because I wanted the hide to tan and he is much better at it then I am. Easton was the first one to cave and wanted to go back to the truck because he was cold, so I packed him back up the hill to the truck. I came back down and helped with the rest of the skinning before Pheonix said she was cold too. So I packed her back up the hill to the truck and came back down. When I got back down Kyles back was sore, so I finished the quartering and we got it loaded on the pack. I put the pack on laying down and Kyle had to help me up and I was off back up the hill. Good thing I had a warm up running the kids up and down the hill beforehand.