Pheonix Turns 10!

Since she was 6 shes been begging us to let her hunt. In BC though the legal age to hunt is 10. So every spring and every fall, out we would go hunting and Pheonix begging us the entire time to let her hunt. So obviously she was on the countdown until she turned 10, which was the beginning of May 2018. In December we allowed her to do her hunter education course, but the paperwork could not be sent until it was closer to her birthday. She passed her hunters education and we sent her papers in a week before her birthday. The day after her birthday, she received her hunter number and congratulations from the BCWF- she was now allowed to hunt and it was spring bear season! To say she was excited is an understatement.

The first day she could hunt, we took her out. Easton decided to stay with Oma and Papa decided to hop in the jeep with us. We came to a road that Kyle and I had seen a blonde black bear and he dropped Pheonix and I off to walk it. He stayed parked and watched us in the binos. Pheonix and I didn't get very far down the road before I told her to stop, there on the side of the road about 150 yards ahead of us was a bear. He seen us and was sitting on his backend eating grass. He wasn't worried. I told her to stay put and I walked out so I could get a better look at him. I put my binos up and was watching him, she made her way over to me quietly and sat down. Unbeknownst to me, Kyle had seen me react to the bear and knew I had my sights on one and was making his way to us. He came up beside us and got really excited, which got Pheonix excited. He was getting her to get her rifle ready on the shooting sticks....I told him No, its not the right bear. He kind of brushed me off and said its a huge bear, it has no hump I already looked. So more sternly I said to him No Kyle! Look at its face...look at its head...its a Grizzly! He rolled his eyes, and looked through his rifle scope for a better look (has a higher power than our binoculars), after a minute or so he told Pheonix to put her rifle down. Mom was right. It was a massive grizzly bear. We sat and watched him for a few minutes as the great brute got off his butt and waddled up the road and off into the bush. He was so fat he had no hump!
When we got back to the jeep Kyle apologized for not listening to me, he was just overexcited with the idea Pheonix might have got a monster black bear for her first big game animal.

Our next outing we found a beautiful black bear really early in the evening. Kyle and Pheonix jumped out and pulled a stalk on it. They got within range and Pheonix got set up, after a minute the bear spooked off and they came back to the jeep. I asked what happened and Pheonix quietly said she left her clip in the jeep. She was upset, but she learned a lesson! We seen 3 more bears after that (all cinnamons) but they didn't stick around for her.


We ended up getting a bunch of rain for a week straight, so on the first break we got we headed out. We went back into our favourite bear area, the same area she forgot her clip, and things seemed pretty quiet. We decided to go down a road we don't normally travel, but we had seen 3 cinnamon bears in that area before so figured we would give it a shot. We slowly drove down keeping a close eye out. Suddenly, Kyle stops the jeep and is staring at a pile of rocks. I asked what he was staring at and he said there's a bear behind it, sure enough all we seen was a black ear moving behind the pile and he threw the jeep in reverse. He parked us a ways back down the road and he and Pheonix jumped out and went back down towards the bear. I stayed with Easton at the jeep. Everything was saturated and mosquitoes filled the air. As we sat in the jeep they swarmed around, trying to find a way in. I felt bad for Kyle and Pheonix, they had to have been getting eaten alive. I watched Kyle and Pheonix disappear out of view and I got out of the jeep to listen. It took a while before the gun shot. Apparently they set up 9 - 10 times before taking the shot. The bear had a sow with him and they moved around a lot, so they had to constantly move to stay in range. Kyle would help her adjust her shooting sticks to where she needed them, I guess she was quite bossy about what she wanted haha! Eventually a gun shot rung out into the evening air. I slowly started to walk down the road a bit and seen Kyle, he motioned for me to bring the jeep down.

 I parked the jeep down where they were standing on the road and jumped out. Pheonix was vibrating and telling me all about it. Kyle said the bear dropped just at the treeline (they were in a clear cut that I couldn't see before) and that she had made an excellent shot, but when he ran Kyle was worried it would make it to far and darkness was coming. So when it had stopped to look back at them, Kyle let off a shot too. The bear only ran 5 feet and he dropped. So off we went to find her bear. I was really wishing for a pair of rain pants or gaiters! There we found him at the edge of the treeline, I looked at the bear and I looked at Kyle- it was a big bear. He had a big noggin on him and was 6 feet. Much bigger bear than we were expecting for her first bear! We got some photos of Pheonix with him and we got to work quartering and skinning him. I checked the skin and noticed it only had one entry and exit. I looked at Kyle and asked him again, Pheonix for sure hit him? He said yes no doubt about it, she hit him good. I laughed and told him he missed then! He said no way and looked at the skin. Sure enough...only the 2 holes. He covered it up with saying he shot at it free hand lol!

It was a great spring for all of us! Although Kyle and I didn't get our bears at home, we both got our bears in Saskatchewan which was a first for me...third times the charm apparently! But we all got big impressive bears and our freezer was loaded with pepperoni and cheese smokies!

Saskatchewan Bear Hunt 2018

It has been 3 years since we were last in Saskatchewan chasing the giants of the woods. Well this year we made it back to hunt again with Warren and Kerwin in north-central Saskatchewan. The last 2 years just didn't work out with Kyles schedule for Rescue Competition season. This year it did, so we took advantage. We planned to be there on the 20th of May and stay for 7 days. Kyle had to be back to work the 28th for rescue training. So we packed up the kids and dropped the dogs off with his mom and dad and we were off. We made it to Kerwin's late on the 19th and stayed the night, unfortunately he wouldn't be able to come hunt with us until later in the week. We all had a good sleep and left in the afternoon. It was another 2 hours before we would get to Warrens family ranch.

When we arrived we noticed they were having a big family gathering, Warrens sister and husband were there with their 2 boys as well as an aunt. The kids were excited they had someone to play with. It was so nice seeing Warrens parents again, they really make you feel like you're at home on the ranch. After we visited for a few hours, Warren asked if we wanted to sit for the evening because if we did we needed to get a move on. We only had about 4 hours until dark! Warrens mom offered to watch Easton, he could play with Warrens nephews and Pheonix decided she wanted to sit with me in the tree. So we got our gear on and set off to what Warren calls the "pasture", from there we quaded in to our stands and went our separate ways.

Kyle was sitting alone and Pheonix and I were cuddled up on a double ladder stand. I helped her get in to the stand and made sure she was tied in good, this was only her second time sitting in a tree- the first time was 3 years ago with Kyle. She was nervous- the wind was blowing pretty good and it was moving our tree around- so I couldn't blame her. Now if you have ever met Pheonix, you know she has no off switch...like at all. She talked non-stop the whole night, with multiple reminders to keep her voice down from me. It was nearing 8pm now and the wind started to die off, and get really quiet. There weren't even birds chirping, although a squirrel had me all excited and scaring Pheonix for a while. Now when I'm in a treestand I don't stop searching and listening the entire time im in the stand. I heard the slight snap of a twig off to my left and it had me swinging my head over and full attention scanning the bush. It took a few minutes until my eyes locked on black through the trees, But the bush was thick so I couldn't be sure. I sat staring, straining my eyes to catch some type of movement from the black. Pheonix knew I could see something and went very still, and repeatedly asked me if it was a bear. I wasn't sure so I just told her I didn't know. Finally movement, after what felt like forever, I was able to catch part of his face pass through and opening while he was smelling the air. I quietly told Pheonix it was a bear and she finally went quiet haha! I had my rifle between my legs so it was easy to get it up into position. I waited to see what we he was moving before shouldering my gun. He was coming straight in, but very slowly. So I shouldered my rifle and watched him come in through the scope. From past experiences, I knew that if the bear was a boar he would be very wary of coming into the bait and might not give me lots of time to get a shot, or he would skirt the outside of the area- never coming into sight. I held my rifle up in my shoulder waiting...and waiting...he would take a couple steps, stop and smell, and look around before coming a few more steps. He repeated this the whole way into view. Just when he got into my view he stopped and stood up on his back legs- he was looking into the bait without having to come in. Checking for sows. After about a 30 second sniff check on his back legs he dropped down again and changed his course of direction. Instead of coming into the bait he was going to skirt around it- he wasn't interested in food, just ladies. So I followed him with my scope until I had a good broadside shot. He wasn't walking fast, but he wasn't stopping either- so once I had an opening I took it. Pheonix had her ears plugged from the moment I put up my rifle. I took my shot and it was perfect. He ran about 10 feet and piled up- unfortunately he did quite the death moan, my first bear to do one and Pheonixs first time ever hearing it. It scared her and I had to reassure her he was dead and that some bears do it when they die.

We stayed in the stand for a few minutes to make sure he wasn't going anywhere. I messaged Kyle Bear down and he was floored. He asked me how big of a bear was it and I told him it was a decent bear but nothing like "double chin" (a giant of a bear that Warren has been hunting for for a long time). After talking to Kyle I told Pheonix to stay in the tree while I climbed down to check him. I clambered down the ladder, shaking uncontrollably, and walked over to my bear. He had a skinny back end, but once I got closer to him his back just kept going, then I got to his shoulders and head- I had underestimated this bear! His head was so big I couldn't lift it and he had massive muscular shoulders. I texted Kyle saying I was wrong and he was BIG, I wouldn't be able to load him onto the quad...at all. So Kyle said stay there I'm on my way. He had called Warren and told him and he left his house and was on his way in too. I helped Pheonix come down just before Kyle showed up. He was speechless when he seen my bear. Even him and I wouldn't be able to load the bear and there was no possible way he would fit on a quad. We got some pictures and then Kyle had to go meet Warren with the Quad and pick up the quad trailer too. It was starting to get dark now and I felt uneasy being on the ground next to the bait- hidden in the brush. Pheonix was freaking out too. So we hopped on our quad and headed out of the trees out into one of the big open fields to wait for Kyle and Warren. I left the quad running so we had some light but she was still crying and scared-I gave her my phone to play a game and that helped calm her-kept her mind busy. We probably waited out there for a good 30 minutes before they showed up, we followed them back into the bait to load the bear. It took Kyle, Warren, Nat and I to load it into the trailer that was laying on its side. We took it back to Warrens house and skinned it out there. Warren was starting to wonder if it WAS double chin, for the next 2 weeks the guys poured over every photo of big bears that they got to figure out if it was. Kyle is positive it isn't him.

And just like that, my week of hunting was over! Kyle continued to hunt, sometimes solo and sometimes with Pheonix but it had slowed down and there were just little ones coming in. I hung out with Easton and sometimes both kids- took them to the lake for some swimming. Kerwin eventually showed up, he got his bear the same night I got mine where he lives, so the night he came in he went and sat the stand with Kyle. Sure enough a big lanky bear came in, Kyle passed him up twice that sit before he decided he was going to take him right before dark. They came in with the bear loaded in the trailer like mine and pulled into the carport- holy hell did that thing stink! He was definitely a big bear, younger than mine and full of scars. His hair was really thin too. He was obviously a scrapper. As we were skinning him the smell turned to a rank smell- rotten almost, and it was all we could do to finish the job.

Warren was hunting the whole week as well. The mornings we spent helping him with checking his beaver traps, which the kids found fascinating! Our last day there, Kerwin had headed home and warren suggested we all go fish for some walleye and pike. It was slow but it was the perfect night to be on the water. The kids each caught a pike and that was it lol. And they got to see a beaver up close- one came off the bank by the boat and went swimming across the lake.

I love going to Saskatchewan to hunt. Not because of the chance to kill a monster bear (ok maybe a tiny bit lol) but because I have so much fun watching them around the bait. How they interact with each other, their personalities, and the cute little cubs. I was hoping to spend more time in the stand- mainly in hopes of being able to get some decent photos of the furry critters....but alas....maybe next time!

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

On Edge - Spring bear hunt 2016

Bear season, my favorite time of year for many reasons. I love the spring smells, beautiful wildflowers and new babies running around the bush. And of course, you see so many bears! More than any other time of year. This year was slightly unusual as well in the fact that we have seen quite a few mountain goats while hunting for bear, and not in places you expect. Two were right on the bush road.

The season certainly wasn't a slow one for sightings. I was out a lot and only had one day where I didn't see a bear. The best day was 5 bears. The nice part was they weren't just all little guys either, I seen some really nice bears. This year I was a little more picky on what bear I wanted. I ended up hunting mainly with my rifle because it's easier when the kids are with you. We seen a couple monster bears this year, one was when I took a friend out on her first bear hunt. Unfortunately she missed him but he would have been an unreal first bear. We caught him sleeping in the middle of a cut block. The other one was a great big cinnamon bear. Really pretty bear.

We had our Minox trail camera up a few times and got some nice pictures and videos. One thing I was surprised about was only seeing one grizzly bear...and not how we wanted. And that brings us to my bear hunt. 

We were exploring a new area we hadn't been in before. It looked promising and we did see bears but nothing that was really what I wanted. They were all little 4 foot guys except one, he was the biggest we had seen, not a big body on him but he certainly had a melon. It was deceiving. After I let him walk I started to second guess my decision. But it would turn out to be short lived.

After we seen this guy it was basically the end of the road so we thought we would turn around and go back to our trusty spot before it got dark. As we were heading out I was paying attention out my window trying to catch a glimpse of any possible bears when Kyle goes, "Oh there's another one! He looks like a decent bear." So we drove past quite a ways and parked. We jumped out with the guns and hiked back up the road to where he had seen him. I guess the bear had been just about to disappear over the ridge when he had seen him. So we hiked up, hoping we could catch up to him. The ridge he was on opened up to a clear cut and he was already across it by the time we seen him (about 500 yards away from the ridge). He was hanging out near the treeline with a little sow (pic above of sow). They were playing and wrestling around which gave me the opportunity to sneak in closer and get a good rest on a broken tree. By the time I had crawled on my hands and knees and got set, they were only 200 yards away and they had finished their play time and were eating. I made sure Kyle was ready with the camera and settled in to my gun. I touched off the trigger and it was a perfect shot, he jumped then started to run a little to the left and down the hill towards us a bit before he went down. I would say he went no farther then 20yards from where I shot him. The little sow jumped and headed for the treeline but just stayed there. She started feeding again and then noticed we were there, so just stayed put and watched us. I didn't realize until I stood up that I was laying at the edge of a deactivated road and the landing was just to my right.We didn't know where the road came off from the main road. So Kyle said he would go back to the truck and see if he could find it. I stayed and filmed the little sow and waited. It wasn't 10 minutes after Kyle left me that the yelling started. I shut off the camera and got my rifle loaded and ready. The commotion caught the sows attention too and she wasn't sticking around. Then came the rifle shot and more yelling. I knew what it was but I couldn't see very far down to where the road was and where Kyle had gone. After the ridge it drops steep back down to the road so I couldn't see anything. I didnt know where the Grizzly would have gone or where it had come from- I was blind. So I stood my ground with my rifle ready. Kyle then yelled up to me from the ridge that a grizzly had come running in to my gun shot. Kyle had gotten to the ridge and looked down towards the road when he seen it come running out of the bush and on to the road towards us. He had yelled at it and made it stop on the road, but it wasn't willing to leave so he put a shot into the road just in front of the bear which made it turn and leave. But I needed to be on full guard just encase he decided to circle around and try again while Kyle ran up the road to get the truck. I was starting to get anxious when I watched the truck leave one way then come back and go the other way. He was having troubles finding the road up to me, being deactivated with some pretty deep water bars the road hadn't been used so it was grown in and hard to find. He eventually found it and made it up to me, we dragged my bear down to the road because we felt safer skinning it and quartering it up beside the truck. The whole time we were on full alert until we were safely driving away. 

I have heard of grizzlies coming into rifle shots during elk season, but I have never heard of one coming in during the spring. We have had many run ins with them while goat hunting as well, so far we have gotten lucky with no one injured and no injured bears.






Here are some more photos of bears we seen during the Spring:

 The very first bear we seen on the first day

Cute little fuzzball

He did not care that we were watching him at all.

This one was a lot more jumpy

And im pretty sure this one wins the ugliest Bear award...someone didn't winter well

Nikita

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

Elk Season 2014

This had to have been the best year for elk we have had. We both hunted hard from September 1st to October 20th, and I think I only missed a total of 7 days hunting in that time. We seen lots of elk, we had elk everyday whether we seen them or heard them bugling. But finding that legal bull during rifle season or a bull I could get a chance at during the short bow season was tough!

September 1st, opening day,  we had action. We had 2 different bulls calling back and forth and cows walking around our blind, unfortunately the winds changed and screwed us over- everything went silent and the cows left. Afterwards we decided to hike around and see if we could find something. We did find where the one bull that was above us had been when he was calling and basically where he had been living. The whole area reeked like him and there was fresh sign everywhere.

 

Another memorable day during the elk season was hunting in Skookumchuck. Again we found lots of elk but nothing that was legal. We were heading down the dirt road and Kyle looked to his right and seen a bunch of elk in an opening, but instead of just letting me get out and going to check it out he bailed out with me. Unfortunately in his excitement he scared them all off by just charging in and not realizing that the elk could see him. As we watched them take off Kyle could see the herd bull mixed in with his cows and he was a BIG 6 point. So we tried to make a plan of one of us dog behind the herd and the other try to cut them off. It worked but he never gave either of us a clear shot. We ran out of light and had to call it quits.

 

Probably the most exciting days were hunting river bottom. We had the kids with us again and we parked the jeep and Kyle let out a locator bugle to see if we could get an answer. Right away one fired up not far from us. So I loaded up and went into the thick bush to find where they were. I got to the rivers bank and caught sight of a spike through the trees down in the river. So I quietly creeped to the edge of the river but still hidden by brush and sat down. There was the spike and a couple cows hanging out in the water. Kyle kept calling and I watched and listened. A bull lit up again right away, but I couldn't see him because he was on the other side of the river in the extremely thick river bottom brush. After waiting for what felt like hours he finally was mad enough to come to the river. He was aggressive, thrashing the brush with his antlers and screaming back at Kyle every time he let out a call. They were only about 40 yards from me and my heart was pounding. Kyle kept letting out calls and the bull got more and more aggrivated- but he never left his cows. I think I counted his tines 20 times while sitting and watching him- wishing a 6th would magically sprout. But unfortunately he had busted off his main beams which made him a 5X4. As the light grew dimmer he started to herd his cows down the river towards the open fields so I quickly made my way back to Kyle and the kids and headed for the fields on my own. I had seen the spot that they crossed over the fence when we had come in so I went there and sat. They jumped the fence only 20 yards in front of me, but they were moving. The bull was pushing them and I couldnt figure out why, Kyle wasnt calling anymore and they were quite a ways from where we had been. I followed them into the christmas tree patch and froze when I heard the squeak of the fence catching. I slowly turned my head to my right to see a satelitte bull come walking up behind me and only about 20 yards to the right of me, following the herd. He stopped next to me and looked around, smelling. I held my breath. And he let out a bugle that was so loud it had my trembling with adrenaline. The herd bull screamed back and he started to walk the same direction. He only made it about 50 yards when Kyle let out a bugle and it made him stop and turn, he went straight towards Kyle. By this time it was to dark for shooting but I was having such an amazing time I didnt care that neither bull was legal- I wanted to watch them. Kyle didnt realize the satelitte bull was there nor that it was comng to see him and with all the christmas trees Kyle and it almost walked into each other. By then I was making my way back to him and the kids. The kids were so excited they talked about the elk the whole way home.

 

The next day we decided to go back to the same area in hopes that with all the talking another satelitte would have come in and maybe he would be a legal 6 point. We got in and Kyle took the kids farther down the river bank and I went to the same spot. You could see all the kokanee swimming in the river and jumping for the bugs. I was only seated for about 5 minutes when movement caught my eye- bear. I sat still and watched as it came out of the long grass down to the water. It was a grizzly cub...then another one came running down to the water. I sat frozen, heart trying to pound out of my chest. Thats when momma came out. She wasnt a very old bear, it took another minute of watching her and the made their way to my side of that river. I quickly got up, grabbed my gear and phoned Kyle. He answered a little peeved I was phoning instead of texting him, but all I had to say was Grizz sow and cubs  and he was packing the kids up. I met them at the grass road and took the kids to the jeep right away and stood outside with them inside. Kyle was standing on the road watching for her- he knew as soon as she had found where I was sitting because she started huffing and popping her jaws. She followed my scent right out towards the road and Kyle yelled at her. She stopped and each cub popped their head out on a side of her to see what was going on, it just took another yell from Kyle and she took her cubs and ran.

 

Although we both hunted hard only one of us came out successful. The second to last day of the season, and only the second time we got out without the kids, Kyle shot a big young bull. We were heading out with a couple friends and only about 15 minutes of driving down the dirt road a herd of elk were standing next to the road in a clearing. We watched them run pretty far out and stop and watch us. The bull was just a legal 6 point. Standing at 425 yards Kyle dropped him from within the clearing, and just like that we had meat for the freezer! We loaded him up and finished the evening off trying to find another one since there were still 3 of us with tags, we never found another legal bull but the one guy did manage to fill his whitetail tag on a big bodied 4x4 buck.

 

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.