Part 1 of 3 - The Ghost - Manitoba
Russ with the chocolate ghost!
Hunter – Russ
Cameraman – Trever
The 2008 Spring Bear Season started like many others in the past. In Manitoba, our season begins the last week of April. I fell behind setting my own baits, concentrating on getting the baits in our outfitting concessions ready for our 2008 guests. Joel Penner and I own and operate Adrenaline Outfitters in Manitoba. We have approximately 40 bait sites to load and prep before we can start working on our own sites.
Once these were taken care of, I spent the first few weekends of May loading baits, hanging tree stands, and placing Stealth Cams on the baits Shelley and I intended to hunt. On May 9, I reviewed the photos from one of my favorite baits and was elated to find a photo of a beautiful chocolate boar. I have been hunting hard for a color phase bear since 1995, maybe year number 13 would be my lucky one.
I waited patiently for the right wind. Once the weather cooperated, I called Rod McGrath to run the video camera for me while I took my first trophy color phase. It was May 13, and the weather was perfect, but for some reason, the big guy never showed. We saw several average bears, including 2 cinnamon colored bears, but the big one did not show.
I tried again on May 16. This time, we had several bears come to feed, including a large sow. She had no cubs, and we expected a large boar to come following in behind. The big guy came in, circled, then hung up downwind of the bait, broke branches and popped his jaws until the sow quit feeding and joined him. This bear would need to be hunted smart, as the usual tactics were not working.
On May 28, we decided to do something drastic. We hunted a very questionable wind. We thought this may fool the big guy since we figured he had patterned us. Again, several bears came in to feed. This time he came from upwind, called a sow off of the bait, and left without us so much as getting a glimpse. I was beginning to second guess if this was a real bear or a ghost. I checked the photo again. This bear was definitely worth the effort and I vowed to continue after this bear until I got him, or the season ended.
June 4 was calling for a good wind and perfect weather. I decided to try a morning hunt. I got up at 3:00 a.m., and was on the road by 3:30. I stalked into the stand at first light. When I got there, there were 5 bears within 40 yards of my stand – but they were all at least 15 feet up different trees. It was quite a sight. I realized I had probably just missed the big guy since there was no other reason all these bears (3 of them mature bears, 4 years or older) were perched in the trees.
I sat for 5 hours and saw over 15 different bears, including another huge sow with no cubs. The big one had to be near, but again, never showed. Once all was quiet, I bailed out of the tree stand to try and get back to my job for the afternoon.
On June 5, I recruited my buddy Trevor, to ditch work and grab the camera for me. We headed out to the bait, but I decided, instead of sitting in the tree stand, we would sit back about 100 yards. From here, we could not only watch the bait site, but watch the trail the bear was using to circle us as well. The area is semi open, poplar, and I figured I could get a shot if he used his trail to circle the bait.
As we were setting up, a huge sow walked within 45 yards of us as she left the bait site. We sat for the next 4-1/2 hours waiting. The mosquitos were having their way with us since it was too windy for our Thermacells to be effective. At 9:40 pm (20 minutes before the end of legal shooting light), I caught movement at the bait site. I watched the black bear for several seconds through my Nikons, and determined it was a large sow. She glanced behind her twice and I knew a boar was behind her, it was just a matter of which one.
About a minute after she arrived, I saw something moving from behind her….CHOCOLATE!! I told Trevor “Shooter bear!!!! We’ve got to hurry!!” I stalked in along the baiting trail. At 50 yards, they caught me. The sow continued to feed, but adjusted her position so she could watch me. The boar moved off into the pines. I thought all was lost until I saw the big boar start displaying. Obviously, he was not sure what I was and figured I must be another bear. He stood up on his hind legs and rubbed his back against the tree. He then began to pace from his display tree to the bait.
I edged as close as I dared without revealing too much of my outline. I just needed him to be broadside and stop pacing. When it looked like he was heading to sniff the sow, I came to full draw. He turned away from the sow, and started working one of the barrels. I didn’t think I had a shot because of some spruce boughs in the way. But when I looked through my peep and lined up my pins, I realized with the 35 yard shot, my arrow would go over the branches and I had a clear lane to his vitals.
I released and saw the arrow bury into the bears chest. He whirled and ran away….unlike the sow, who spooked by the boars reaction, ran directly up the trail towards me. I spoke a few calm words (yeah, right!) and she veered at the last second and stopped 20 yards away. Then she angrily stomped off.
I turned to Trevor to see if he caught any of this on video. While we were discussing the whole situation, we heard the confirmation of a double lunged bear. A few soft moans confirmed the placement of my arrow, it was all over but the taxidermy bill……or so we thought.
It wasn't quite dusk and we couldn’t pick up an immediate blood trail (we had begun on the wrong trail we thought he had run off on). We did find the arrow, 15 yards behind where the bear was standing, with my Hellrazor stuck deeply in a poplar. It was soaked with blood. We agreed that with the temps dropping to near freezing, and the nights only being 7 hours long, we could take up the trail in the morning with better light, and not risk losing the hide or meat…….
…..That night it rained 2 inches. We were on the trail by 5:30 am. By ‘trail’, I mean making grids and loops looking for any sign the torrential rains were not washing away. After 2 solid hours, we started from scratch. We grabbed a compass and took a bearing from where we were standing when we heard the death moan. We then took a bearing from the bait site to the direction the video showed him run.
I followed my compass, looking up every 10 yards or so. After about 30 yards, I saw what I thought were running tracks in the grass. Another 50 yards, and there lay the bear of a lifetime. A flood of emotions as intense as the drenching rain washed through me. It took a few seconds for me to compose myself and call Trevor over. We didn’t get the recovery on film because of the conditions and trailing situation, but still captured the moment as best we could with both video and digital images.
My bear made it to the taxidermist by late morning. We bottomed out the 300 lb scale with some bear to go. He only measured 5’ 10” – a true ‘gorilla bear’ as we like to call them. We couldn’t get a square on him since we tubed him out for a full mount. His skull greened well over 20” - the bear I’ve been waiting 13 years to claim.