dhaverstick
Lil-Rokslider
I spent the last week in northern Alberta with Ryk Visscher's Hunting Adventures on a black bear hunt. I had used Ryk twice before for moose hunts and my last moose hunt guide, Amos Jensen, made their bear hunts sound like so much fun that I had to try it out.
Bear camp was a wall tent affair with six hunters, six guides, a cook, and her husband. All the creature comforts were met and everyone was very friendly.
Kelly was our cook and I was quite excited about that because I had eaten her cooking during my last moose hunt. Only hunt I've ever been on where we had appetizers for breakfast! If you went hungry, it was your own fault.
The guides had 26 baits that they tended to daily with the primary draw for the bears being beaver carcasses. Trappers often have a quota of beavers they have to trap in order to keep their trapline and they sell the excess to bear hunters and outfitters.
I saw probably 30 different bears during the course of the hunt. The first bait I sat had a sow and 3 cubs from last year that pretty much lived there. Once, when the guide was putting bait in my barrel, the sow went up to the road and helped herself to the extra beaver in the bed of the UTV that was supposed to go to the next bait.
My guide and I had an "interesting" encounter with this young boar, a sow, and her two cubs from this spring. It got a little intense a couple of times! This goober entertained us for about 3 hours before Mom ran him off.
Bears weren't the only thing that liked to eat on the beavers. I watched this marten help himself to a carcass as well.
I was mainly a bear watcher all week, waiting for either a nice color-phase bear or a big bastard. By Friday, I was the only person yet to kill a bear and the only stickbow shooter in camp. I decided to hunt in the morning at a new place and had this boar come in.
I liked his blonde muzzle and blonde eyebrows so I decided to shoot him if I got the chance. I watched him and a young sow for 45 minutes before I got the shot I wanted. It was a 15 yard pass-through and I watched him pile up after going only 20 yards. Below is a video of the shot.
I had another tag that I really wanted to put on a color-phase bear. There were plenty around and I hunted this last bait two times in hopes of seeing a blonde bear that was using it. This sow and her cubs came in, along with another young boar.
With only 15 minutes left of shooting light, the blonde finally came in. I got a shot opportunity to draw on it, but let down because it was just too dark for me to be sure I could make a lethal hit. Nevertheless, I got some good video of the bear.
This was a great hunt and a ton of fun. All the shot distances were under 20 yards and the guides did everything in their power to put you on the bear of your dreams. If you want a cool adventure, you can't go wrong with Ryk Visscher!
Darren
