What an amazing week! Now this bear was not the biggest one we saw all week but I am proud as punch for taking him with a perfect shot. He ran a total of 30 yards and was dead when he hit the ground. Thank you so much to the fantastic team here at Horns Whitetail Adventures for an awesome hunt and some new friendships! I have a whole lot more to say about this week but I am in need of some sleep for a long long travel day tomorrow!
Yesterday we were skunked 7 hours in the stand and not a bear to be seen. Thats Hunting!!! The weather was sunny and windy and the bears must of been napping for the afternoon. I tried my bear call for about 15 minutes as we knew Kelly was coming with the Rhino and I wanted to see if anything would come in but nothing did and we got picked up and headed back to the lodge for another wonderful meal by Bertha and home cooked Apple Pie ala mode.
I now am starting to develop a Fat little belly! Today we are hoping for one last night in the stand where we see a bear with a Fat Little BELLY!!!! I have passed on about 10 plus bears that would of all been average and I have decided to GO BIG OR GO HOME empty handed! So I will continue to hold out for the big bruin that haunts my dreams...
This morning I woke up and had a fantastic breakfast and then took a long nap before another wonderful lunch! Berta is one amazing cook up here at Horns Whitetail Adventures, you will not go home hungry!
I got some practice in at the target and then it was off to the stands. We were all set up and ready by 3:15 in the stand and it was about 45 minutes before the first bear came in. He was a black with a bit of brown in his coat and a bit scraggly and rubbed about 175lbs or so. Then the little sow from yesterday came in and he chased her off the stand and then a third bear came into the stand and after he left a real nice bear came in.
This bear was a shooter we estimate to be around 300lbs... He was really nervous and circled the bait for about 10 minutes before he came in. I had the arrow ready and when I knew that Max was on him with the camera I drew back. He was standing on the tree looking up at the beaver bait and I had the pin right on his vitals. As I touched off the release the bear dropped and I hit him just behind his ear and he crashed out of the there fast in a straight line.
Max looked at the footage about 30 or 40 times and we know that I gave him a pretty good headache and a flesh wound behind his ear but the shot was not a killing shot and we have one mad bear out there! I will be kicking myself for a long time because I could of waited for a better shot when he was standing there and not moving or at least sitting at a better angle.
Today was filled with highs and lows.. That bear was a definite high and low all wrapped into one. The rest of the afternoon we had two more bears come back to the stand and were walking around us for the rest of the day until the guides in the Rhino's came to pick us up.
We have looked at the footage over and over and I am going to share it here for everyone. Some of you may be wondering why I am sharing this. I am here to be honest with myself and honest with all of you. Today, I made a mistake and I learned a lesson. My lesson is be patient, be patient and be patient and I think I learned that lesson the hard way today!
We are going back out tomorrow and I will take that lesson with me to the field as we continue our adventure here in Saskatchewan.
I shot this video with my video camera while in the stand on the first day of our hunting from stands. It is actually our third day in Saskatchewan and today was opening day of bear season! Hope you enjoy and please feel free to comment!!!!!
This morning we took off and did some fishing had two great meals and then hit the bear stands about 3pm. About 4:15pm a real small bear came into the stand and tore the place up. Max and I both got some fantastic footage and if all goes well I will have it up on Youtube and the blog by tomorrow morning! The bear was not a shooter but he sure was amazing to watch! The way he could climb that tree and move around was fascinating to watch and a real thrill. She was not the least interested in what we were doing and I don't think she even knew we were there! We are pretty sure she was a sow but might of been a real small boar. Either way we enjoyed watching here and the footage is impressive! Hopefully tomorrow we see a bigger bear come in and we will go from there! I am having a ton of fun. The fishing was horrible but the afternoon in the stand was wonderful! The food is more then I hoped for and I am going to be gaining more weight in camp! I am going to have to hit the gym all of next week!
It is Monday and our first day to hit the stands. In 6 hours I will be sitting on stand waiting for the bears to come in. I am holding out for a bear that will make Pope & Young so patients is going to be required which is not really my strongest suits. The bow is shooting well today and I am going to move around some site pins today in practice to get a little clearer picture and practice with the head net in place. The temperatures are in the 40's with a slight wind coming from east to west and I expect that it will be changing and possibly clearing up this afternoon. The boys are all headed out to sight in the smoke poles and fill the air with the smell of black powder.
Breakfast was excellent this morning and we are planning on a big lunch at 1:00pm and then off to get dressed and head to the stands.
I have looked at about 20 magazines and about 400 pictures of black bears in the past month so I am really ready to start seeing some in the wild.
Well we are wrapping up our second day and tomorrow we hit the lake for some morning fishing on Sled Lake and then we are off to the bear stands! I am pumped! We just had our safety talk and I am ready to get into the stand. The weather is warming up and the sun is coming out. It is 9:10pm and the sun is still out and sunset should be in about 20 minutes or so.
I caught my first Northern Pike this afternoon off the dock and tomorrow we are headed out on the boat to get some pike fishing and walleye fishing done! The pictures are from our day today and this is the last early night we have to get to sleep so I am headed off to bed.
Johnny, our Canadian Bear Expert!
Checking out the gear!
Heading to the kitchen!
Bobby Shipe
Last Minute details
Setting up the Rhino's
Fishing in Sled Lake
Not another inch or the boots are getting wet in the inside.
Beaver food!
Fishing for Pike
Max and Bobby fishing.
Joe getting ready to catch the big one!
Stacy Rowe trying her hand at getting a some pike.
My first Northern Pike!
Dinner Time!
The World Famous Horns Whitetail Cream puffs!
Practice time!
This guy made $550.00 Canadian to bring up one of the hunters luggage that got left behind! The flight only cost $650.00 so USAIR and Northwest did not make much money on that flight!
This is a thriving business during hunting season!
