Part 2 of 2 - Alberta Two-Fer - Alberta
Freddy's cookie loving bear.
Hunter: Freddy Lagos
Cameraman: Gary Smoot
So let’s recap; after two days of hunting up in Alberta with Northern Adventure Hunts, the score was Fred & Gary-2... bears-0. Gary had scored on his first bear ever the first night in camp, and BOY what a first bear. I shot an awesome bear the second night from my Ameristep groundblind. SWEET! Fred & Gary were up 2-zip, and Smooty was up to bat again on night 3.
Nights three and four were fairly uneventful as far as bears went. But we did have an awesome encounter with a Lynx at the scarred tree bait. Let me tell you all something, that Lynx looked like it could do more damage to you than any black bear I've ever seen. It looked like a Bobcat on steroids, or human growth hormones, or something. That thing would scratch your eyeballs out before you could yell UNCLE! On a side note, the week after we left another hunter sat the scarred tree bait and shot an incredible blonde color phase bear. That's right Ralph, a Blonde—but back up, Northern Adventures is our camp. Heather and Jason said so.
Night five found Smooty hunting again and what an eventful night it was. Heather and Jason had not even loaded the quad into the trailer when we looked up and saw a sow and two cubs heading our way. The three bears were in and out of the bait site all night long. Before leaving, Jason hung a beaver in the tree above the bait. This was our first experience hunting over a beaver carcass and it was amazing to see how the bears reacted to it. It was literally like candy to the bears, the sow and cubs alike. The three bears would take turns biting off pieces of the beaver carcass and munching away. At one point they got into the guts and started eating the intestines like it was spaghetti. Disgusting? Yes, but comical and fun to watch. Night five ended with just the sow and cubs making it into the bait. No "shooters" would present themselves that night.
Night six, our last night in camp, and it was my turn to hunt again. We were going to sit the rock bait. Two days in a row Jason found some really big scat, which is usually the sign of a good bear. We went into the bait site early that afternoon. We had to take our HS Camo Netting and a staple gun to make a groundblind. It was very thick and we didn't want to make extra noise cutting a place for our Ameristep. The versatility of that stuff is amazing. We found three trees close together, popped a few staples in, and we were ready to hunt in no time. We had been in the blind about two hours when all of a sudden Gary and I heard something take off through the bush over our right shoulders. We looked at each other and wondered if our wind had shifted. It didn't matter. About fifteen minutes later I looked up just as the bear was stepping into the trail and started towards the bait—it was a good bear.
When it got to the bait the bear layed down and started eating a pile of old cookies Heather had put out. They looked like Chocolate Chip. While the bear was occupied with grub, Gary and I stood up and got ready for the bear to present us with a shot. After about ten minutes at the cookies the bear stood up, stretched, and started towards the barrel. As the bear headed towards the barrel my Hoyt came to full draw. I settled the Truglo pin on the vitals and let her rip. My Beman and Bloodrunner punched a hole the size of a golf ball in the bears vitals. The bear went about 70 yards, piled up, and started to moan. The celebration was on! We radioed Heather and Jason and after a very easy tracking job, now I know why those broadheads are named BLOODRUNNERS, we found my second great black bear from Alberta. What a great way to finish off an awesome week of bear hunting!
Again I would like to thank Heather and Jason for all their hard work that week while we were in camp, Ralph and Vicki for the opportunity to go up there, Smooty for all his awesome camera work, and of course my Creator, the Good Lord above.
For an incredible Alberta bear hunt check out Northern Adventure Hunts in northern Alberta. Absolutely one of the best hunts out there at a really great price. Thanks again Heather and Jason, see you next spring.