Far north spring bear.

[Beemann]

Well guys the widow wall is back up but not much is happening over here.  If we don’t contribute  she’s gonna die a slow death… So here goes Ill tell a story .  Covid shut down my annual spring bear hunt for a few years but I was able to get up to Saskatchewan  this spring again .  This hunt took place about as far north as you can go in Saskatchewan .  We flew into Stony Rapids Then hopped on a float plane that took us to the camp on Fontaine lake.  I hunted moose out of this camp a few years ago so it was fun to get back to a familiar camp.  Everything looked the same as we all got settled in. Its not fancy but its comfortable .  

[Beemann]

So we have three other bowhunters in camp.  Fellow  I hunted with before arrived in Saskatoon with no bags and no idea of when or if his gear would arrive so he flew back home.  So we are a man short to start.  First evening we all hit the lake for some fishing and it does not take long to get a meal of fish put together.  We ate fresh fish all week and thats about as good as it gets in my book.  

[Beemann]

Next day it’s time to start hunting and one of the other hunters fills his tag  with a nice bear on the first evening.  I did not see anything but felt like it was just a matter of time.  Well the hunt is pretty slow for me and after four days of not seeing anything I get moved to a different spot.  This spot is in a bug infested  hole and the Treestand is only five feet off the ground..  I could lean my 62″ Widow against the tree crawl in  reach down and grab my bow.  I get situated and start checking out my surroundings.  

• This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by Beemann.

[Beemann]

This spot has a boar and sow that are pretty consistent.  They say he’s pretty good but nobody is sure.  It does not take long for the pair to show up.  My initial thoughts are that he is not what I was looking for.  I enjoy watching the pair for a while.  Eventually the boar decides to get a drink from the lake which is behind me.  I can see him eyeballing me as he passes at ten yards.  When he’s done drinking he decides he better come check out the object in the tree.  He circles around in front of me and walks up to the base of the tree.  He stands  and starts to put his paws on the stand.  I was standing and ready with an arrow on the string so I lunged at him and  gave a little growl.  He dropped to all fours and sprinted out of there taking his girlfriend with him…   I thought my heart may blow up for a bit.  That got me excited to say the least.  After the adrenaline subsided I figured the bear gave me a thrill and maybe I would take him if he gave me a chance….  I thought he looked pretty big with his nose inches from my toes….

[Beemann]

Of coarse once I decide to take him its not going to be easy.  After an all day sit with him and her coming in and out he will not present the shot angle Im lookin for.  Finally at 4-45 he gives me what Im looking for.  The shot looks good but just a bit high of what I was focused on.  He bolts twenty yards then starts walking away.  At about fifty yards he is in the heavy stuff and I lose sight.  I hear no death moan nothing for ten minutes.  All of a sudden here comes the sow without the boar.  She comes in and sniffs the arrow for a bit and wonders off.  Twenty minutes later she comes in alone again.  Well I feel like thats a good sign, he’s gotta be laying out there  dead.   I get down and check the arrow and it looks good.  But there is no blood and I know it could be tough to find him because the shot was high.

[Beemann]

By now its 5-30 and I know my guide is not coming back till 9 at the earliest.  After waiting for a couple hours with no more action I can hear something coming in the woods.  Its a bear and he is kinda grunting with every step.  He busts out into the clearing and I think is that my bear.  He looked very similar to my bear and I thought about shooting him again.  But I could not see any blood and knew I could not take that chance without confirming it was the bear I shot.  So I let him go and go back to waiting.  Finally my guy shows up and we get down to the business of finding my bear.  Like I said it is one nasty spot and we cant find a blood trail… After awhile  we go back to the spot of the shot.  Greg asks me where the sow came back in when she returned.  I show him where she came in and he gets on a trail and starts backtracking.  I got on a  parallel trail and we start a big loop that swings around and eventually out of the thick stuff.  Within two minutes Greg calls out I found him.  He was stone dead and already stiff.  Only went about a hundred yards but because of the entry and exit wounds being high there was no blood trail.

[Beemann]

We fired up the thermacells and took a few pics and got him out of there. One of the other hunters took a bear that night as well.  Going in to the last day we had three tags filled with one hunter left.  He was able to score on his final afternoon.  All in all the bear numbers were not as high as what I was used to hunting more in central Saskatchewan.  But for me at my age the whole point of all this is making memories.  As long as the trip is enjoyable and shared with good people thats all you can ask for.  I normally hunt with Rob Nye but he is transitioning his north camp so it was not ready.  His long time buddy Kent Wolowski  [Rock Ride Outfitting] runs this camp for bear, fishing, and moose.  And Rob’s pal Greg Sikorski was the other guide.  These guys have spent a lifetime in the Canadian bush and you couldn’t ask for better guys to spend time with… Thanks for following along guys now lets get busy start sharing some stories…. We all want to hear em… 

[Beemann]

Should ad my bow on this trip was my 62″ 63@30 MAX  shooting 30.5  inch 2216 XX75 Gamegetters.  With a 160 grain three blade VPA four fletch.  Black widow bows have never let me down.  Thanks  boys… Bryan

• This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by Beemann.

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