The Bear of a Lifetime...ALMOST! - Manitoba
Saying "Cheese" for the Stealth Cam.
It’s a bear, it’s THE bear!
Hunter: Zendal Carroll
Cameramen: Joe Rush
Spring of 2009 took forever getting here. Spring means black bear season, and when I found out I would be hunting Manitoba with Russ, Rod and Joel of Adrenaline Outfitters, I was really pumped up. Joe and I would be hunting the second week of June, prime time for the old boars to be searching for receptive sows. We also were told we would be hunting western Manitoba in the Riding Mountain region, a region known for monster bruins.
As the hunt began, cool wet weather was upon us. We actually sat a few mornings to try to improve our chances at a bear. On the second day another hunter in camp, Chad Bell, shot a beautiful seven foot black boar and on the third evenings sit, Joe connected on a six foot plus chocolate phase and it was down to me. I only had three days left.
The next evening Joe and I had a great chance at a huge boar, but we believe the bear was only scent checking the bait we were sitting, because he only came to about thirty yards, checked for a sow, turned and retraced his steps back into the timber. He never gave us a shot opportunity. Other than that evening, we were having great sits, seeing lots of sows, cubs, and smaller bears, but nothing close to six feet. This leads us to the last day, a day I still have trouble thinking of.
On the last day, Joe and I decided to try a morning sit. We sat from about 8:00 a.m. until around 11:30 a.m., when Joel came to pick us up. After we broke down the camera gear and came down, Joel and Joe were looking at the Stealth Cam pics from several days. When they came to the photo of this one particular bear, neither of them could believe what they saw, it was a true giant. It’s so huge that its head looked small. Seeing the picture convinced all of us we should be sitting this bait on our last evening, but the wind was totally wrong. As we left to eat lunch, a plan was formed between us.
Our master plan was to get back to the site early enough to actually cut several small spruce trees to make a makeshift blind downwind from the bait site. We started by picking a downwind ambush spot, cutting several six to seven foot spruce trees, and placing them to cover our movement. With a little effort and some trimming we settled in. We actually used our HS umbrella as one piece of our cover. As Joe set up the camera, I trimmed a shooting lane at ground level to the area we hoped the bear would use. The steady breeze came directly from the bait to our blind. We were set.
After waiting several hours, we had a small bear, what we thought was a sow, come into the site. She ate for a while then seemed to be nervous, walking out into the open, and eventually circling completely downwind of the two of us. When she caught our wind, she came directly to us, coming to within 6 feet of the two of us. She finally satisfied her curiosity and ambled off. There’s something to be said about bear hunting on the ground, Adrenaline...
As the shadows darkened, we sat silently, waiting for some slight chance to see the bear responsible for the Stealth Cam photo. We would know him immediately if he decided to show. As we sat there, Joe suddenly saw a black form moving to the barrel. As the bear nears, Joe says "It’s a bear, it’s THE bear!" From my position, I couldn’t see anything of the bear. The bear laid by the barrel for only a split second, then walked right out in front of us, directly in the shooting lane I had trimmed earlier. This is where things went way wrong. As the bear stood up at the barrel, I reached to turn on the second camera angle. The first thing wrong was that I turned the darn thing off, instead of saying forget the second angle, me being me, turned the camera back on, waited for it to cycle, and then hit record. By then Mr. Bear was coming broadside at 19 yards, I grabbed my bow and stood up. Already thrown out of my thought process, my standing up was not a fluid deliberate move, but a jerked motion; the bear picked off immediately. As I stood there, my very first thought was "He is SO BIG!" That did nothing to help with my already weak mental fortitude. When the bear turned directly away from us, caused by him seeing me stand, I came to full draw. I was actually thinking, "At about 23 yards, he’s going to turn slightly and give me a quartering away shot.” At that very instant my draw came off the wall of my cam, and I punched it, sending the arrow right over that fat bears rump. The bear of a lifetime, booner, maybe 8 feet squared, sounded like a bulldozer as he left for a safer area without me to throw arrows at him. I love to bear hunt, and I know it doesn’t always go your way, but this one is gonna leave a scar I'll always remember.
I've had some awesome hunts, but this is one of the best. We stayed at Jim Rossums "Muskrat Creek Lodge", ate like kings, had great people to share camp, and saw some great bears. I really want to thank Joel Penner, the guide who knew we were gonna get a chance, Rod McGrath, Russ Meihling, and JR, for making the trip a great one to remember. These guys really know how to hunt big bears. It was an honor to spend a few moments in the presence of such a great animal. Nothing hurt, except my pride.