Part 1 of 2 - Alberta Two-Fer - Alberta
Freddy's first Alberta black bear.
One happy hunter.
Hunter: Freddy Lagos
Cameraman: Gary Smoot
Well it was day number two up in Alberta with Northern Adventure Hunts, and after the success Smooty had his first night in the stand I could hardly wait to get into the bush and start my night of hunting. The weather was still abnormally cool for this spring but with the activity we saw the night before our hopes were high!
Jason, our guide, had setup a Stealthcam on what is called the Spruce bait the week before we arrived to hunt. The bait started getting hit after a few days of baiting and our Stealthcam took some pictures of a real nice bear. After looking at the pictures, Jason came to the conclusion that this was a bear he was after last season. Other hunters had sat this stand last season, but this big guy was smart. He always stood back in the bush and surveyed the treestand to make sure no hunters were in it before he hit the bait. Several people saw him but he never presented them with a shot, guess thats why it's called hunting!
Our plan of attack was to setup an ambush with our Ameristep Groundblind, and boy did it work. We got into the bait site early that afternoon and cleared some shooting lanes and setup our Intimidator on the downwind side of the bait. Gary and I settled in for what we thought was going to be a long sit, we were in for a surprise! We had been in the groundblind about 2 hours when Smooty said, "There he is." I responded, "Quit messing with me." Smooty was serious.
We looked up to see the big bruin standing about fifty yards behind the treestand checking out the area to make sure all was clear, little did he know it wasn't. After what seemed like an hour he decided the coast was clear and started into the site. As soon as he came in he laid down at a spot that Jason had poured out some molasses and started licking away. He laid there lapping up the molasses for about fifteen minutes, got up and started to come the rest of the way into the site. On his way something caught his attention, our groundblind.
This wise old boy knew something wasn't quite right and started to get a bit spooky. He turned and walked straight at the blind. At twelve yards, he turned broadside and my Hoyt came to full draw. I settled my pin on his vitals and waited for him to stretch his front leg out. As he started to walk away and opened his vitals, I released. My Beman tipped with the new NAP Bloodrunner stuffed him right in his armpit with a THWACK, and he took off like his rear end was on fire.
The shot was a little further forward than we would have liked because he was slightly quartering away, but that Bloodrunner did the job. He went about 150 yards after the shot, and after a heck of a tracking job by Heather and Jason, we recoverd my first Alberta black bear. Two bears in two nights for me and Smooty up at Northern Adventure Hunts. The week had just started off with a bang, hopefully our luck would continue our last four days in camp.
I want to send a big thank you to Heather and Jason for all their hard work that week. Ralph and Vicki for the opportunity, my brother Smooty for filming me and of course the Big Guy upstairs for making it all possible. If you're looking for an awesome bear hunt at a great price get in contact with Heather and Jason at Northern Adventure Hunts in Northern Alberta. Great hunt, great people, great camp. Just an all around great time! Looking forward to next year already.