BEAR TRACK - semi live
Bears
Contributors to this thread:
I am planning on doing a semi-live hunt report from Manitoba. Our group of four are black bear hunting next week with Bear Track Outfitters. Two of us have hunted with Ron Dare before and we are pumped to be back. I will be posting from my mobile, so please excuse typos & sucb.Traveling to Winnipeg Sunday & the hunt starts Memorial Day. I'll try my best to keep you updated. Been reading my hunt journal from my previous hunts with Bear Track to stoke the fire.
... oh boy. This is starting good. I warned you.
Keep it comin GhostBird! Looking forward to following along. Safe travels and good luck!
My wife and I will be there as well! Should be an awesome week with some fellow bowsiters!
Look forward to meeting you & your wife Carnage. We will have us a time.
Best of luck guys. Can't wait for the updates. Just getting started here. Aim small miss small. Hunt
Good luck Andy! From the looks of things, you should just do a semi-live pictorial instead!
Shot my bow a little late yesterday afternoon. Had to wait for it to cool off a little, 90 degrees here yesterday. Broadheads are shooting good.
We're ready for you here Andy. One of our Bowsiters and his daughter last night both shot their first bears from the same stand then the rains came. I was at Frenchman Rapids the other day, and it's primed ready for you and if we get the right wind.
Sounds like a plan Ron. Look forward to seeing you, Jeannine, & Pat.
I am really looking forward to some time away from work. It has been crazy busy lately. A little time bear hunting will be just what the doctor ordered.
Looking forward to the updates....good luck!
Having been at Bear Track with you on your first hunt, I am anxious to follow this! Wish I was there! Have a blast my friend!
Good luck. Those are some sweet looking broadheads your throwing down range!
150 grain three blade VPA's baby... ready to rock!
I wish you were going too Steve. I enjoyed my time in bear camp with you and the mayor.
Thanks guys for the well wishes.
Like all good archery nerds, I obsess and fret over my equipment. Here is the set up I'm using for this hunt:
Hoyt Nitrum 34, 31 inch draw, 70 pounds
QAD dropaway rest
Black Gold custom sight, three pin, all green, .029/.019/.010, on a dovetail mount
B-Stinger sport hunter stabilizer with B-Stinger quick disconnect
Archery Zone wrist sling, these guys make great paracord slings
Tight Spot five arrow quiver
Black Eagle Spartan arrows, 30 inches, 250 spine, steel insert with 30 grain brass weight, Blazer vanes, tipped with a 150 grain VPA three blade unvented broadhead - total arrow weight 543 grains, FOC=12.3
Beautiful bow Andy, very nice set-up! If you find yourself getting bored practicing on Ron's bear I can tell you it's right around 70 yards from the jam barrel to the end of the drive way, and you can get 80 if you go back to the granary! Ha! Enjoy your hunt!
Looking forward to sharing another bear camp with you, Ron and Jeanine.
Same here Tim. Trying to get my gear organized.
shouldn't have an issue with penetration!
No problem for sure. I do pretty good even at my age.
neat kickstand for the bow.
Looking forward to this thread, I'll be there the week after you along with my son. Good luck!
Getting my stuff together. Although my wife says that is not even possible.
Good luck to you and your son Skippy.
Thanks for starting this thread Andy - looking forward to participating in the bear hunting fun next week! See you at ATL on Sunday!
Good luck to you and Tim. Looking forward to the posts.
Here is a photo of the crew from when we hunting South Africa a few years ago. Left to right, Ocmulgee Ogre (Tim), myself, and laniermax (Jack).
Looking forward to sharing a hunting camp with you again Jack. It's going to be fun!
Sharpening the VPA's. The turkey calls will have to wait.
Ghost bird I am here at bear track now and u should be hitting it great! Here are two bears from last night and my daughters first bear! Great people and operation as u know!
Awesomeness! Love the smile in the pic!
Awesome Brian! Congrats to your daughter and to you! What a great memory you guys have made!
Congratulations to you and your daughter. Beautiful bears.
We made it to camp. Stay tuned for update s. Hunt starts tomorrow.
Nice. Sweet set up. No penetration issues there. Similiar to my arrow set up as mine. I only shoot 54/27.5 compound and never have issues since I started running it. Looks like you're timing it right. Nice lookin' bears Bowhtn and daughter took! I like to see the ladies getting into it.
Three lady hunters in camp this week.
Was out there this past week, and had a blast. Got lucky and met great guys at camp. Also met Pat, my guide, probably the best tracker I have hunted with. Can't say enough of the operation and the accommodations. Great hunt!
Beautiful bear Henry! Congrats!
Good luck today Andy!
stjs45 nice bear, congrats. What bait did you hunt?
Fantastic bear! Congratulations.
Jeannine prepared a great dinner last night. Turkey, dressing, mash potatoes, and lemon merange pie.yum. Breakfast in a little while then out to check baits.
Thanx man. I hunted the Trap Line baits.
What I learned is that the hottest baits one week may be cold the next as they have moved to the next one following a sow or pushed by a protective nursing sow. Best recommendation I can give is trust your guide and outfitter as they are constantly checking bait sites and trail cam pics.
Awesome animals. I'm looking forward to when I can go after bears again. Originally planned on this year and blocked off this week. Waited too long to see what was going to happen in Ontario. I hunted there the last year of the spring season and wanted to hunt the first year back open then missed out altogether.
Tim, Jack, & I checked the lake baits with Ron. We baited Rick's bait, The Channel, Vampire, Bear Creek, and Feather baits.
Sorry about the upside down photos. Can't figure out how to rotate on my mobile.
I'm sitting here licking my chops knowing there's a good chance I'm coming off the lake with a bear or more. Though I have not bothered the bears on the lake at all this year, we have a north wind and breezy, I'm still confident my boat will be heavy coming home tonight. Please don't let me be jinxing their hunt tonight by typing that!
News at 11:00
Hope they have a good hunt also, which baits did they hunt?
I'm still having nightmares over the giant I lost at Channel Bait!
No bears killed tonight. The wind was howling. I hunted Feather bait and had a shooter black coming in at 7:40, but he caught my wind before making it to the bait. Tim hunted Bear Creek & Jack was at the Channel bait. Ron didn't jinx us, the wind just didn't cooperate.
Thanks for the update. The wind will always make or break a hunt. Good luck tonight!
this is so fun after just getting home
I recognize the camp in your African photo. Is that Herman and Annette's place remember the ostrich over the fire. thanks for the reports have a great hunt
Thanks for posting this thread Andy. Good luck to you guys and thanks for letting us follow along.
Good luck and great thread. Keep them coming
We were there last week. Went to the lake baits to refresh them and there was good sign. Also windy and could not hunt them.
Our first night, two of us had wind blowing right to the bait and we did not see anything either. Wind is your enemy.
Following this with interest. Good luck!
Going to gain weight on this trip. Jeannine's cooking is great. Blueberry pancakes this morning.
Checked the baits on the Dauphin River this morning.
Raining here now. Looks like a wet hunt this afternoon.
Good luck tonight GB! I'm sure you're just sitting down to lunch right now based on the time of day. That Jeannine is an angel!
Brotsky, you have here blushing right now! Guests are getting ready now and if I was hunting, I'd be wearing everything I brought up here. Cold and rain falling horizontal. Warm cabin sounds like more fun.
GhostBird busy updating this thread - semi-live. Hah!!!
LOL Jack! I'm still waiting for his post!
Still pretty windy, but the rain is moving out. We checked a few baits along the road this morning, Bridge,Tire, Jeannine's, and a new experimental bait, Doofus. Ron and Jack also went across the river and check Pork chop we will probably hunt the lake or the river depending on what the wind is doing at time to go out
Good luck guys! I only hope that someday a bait station named Doofus will be appropriately named after me.
Good luck tonight guys! Ron who is the doofus bait named after? Tell them the story about Ricks bait It's hilarious.
Finally blue sky breaking though for the boys and girls here this week. Thinking we're skinning bears in the morning..... Ghostbird is sitting on a bait with a dandy black and a nice cinnamon.
looking forward to the next update....
The weather finally broke and we had a decent afternoon. Here's the first bear of the week! More pictures tomorrow!!
The weather finally broke and we had a decent afternoon. Here's the first bear of the week! More pictures tomorrow!!
Awesome! Congrats. Looking forward to hearing all about it.
Good looking Bear, Congrats!
It's always nice to get that first bear in camp congrats!
Great bear! Congrats! Hopefully this evening brings a couple more!
Way to break the ice . Best of luck to the rest of the guys . Hunt
That is Jack's bear, his first, a solid seven footer. Way to go Jack!
Tim and I are hunting the lake this evening. Tim at Bear Creek and me at The Channel. Hot baits and good wind with sunny skies.
Hopefully I won't fall asleep after a wonderful dinner and cheesecake. YUMMY.
No, he did not put ketchup on his cheese cake........
From 'Bama, he may have thought about it though.
I'm sitting here looking at the flag now hanging straight down. My boat is loaded and ready for my evening check on the boys. Now that we have normal weather, the rest of the week should be productive.
Hopefully no update means a late night of bear skinning and celebration!
Yep. Late night. I killed a bear at The Channel at 9:15 last night. I had lots of bear activity starting at 7:45. I saw a stud, but could not get a broadside shot in the short time he was at the bait.
Congrats Andy! Way to get it done. I had a feeling last night was going to be a good night.
I took a broadside shot with a pass thru and buried the VPA 20 inches in the ground. The broadhead is no worse for the wear and will be back in the quiver come deer season.
nice reports and bear Ghostbird thanks really helps after being home the withdrawals suck
Beautiful bear Andy! Congrats!
Carnage2011, Heath, killed a great brown colored bear last night as well. I'll see if we can post some pics later.
Awesome Bear! Congratulations!
Heath & his wife with Heath's bear.
Heath's wife with the "Captain Morgan" pose.
Congrats guys, beautiful animals!
Finally pulled the card from Ron's camera to get his pictures. Here's my bear - measured 7 ft square with roughly a 19" skull. Couldn't be happier with the hunt and the accommodations at Bear Track.
Congrats on some fine looking bears! Truck is loaded and heading to bear track
Cajun Invasion up next! Congrats and see you guys Sunday!!!
Congrats! Beautiful bears!
A great adventure and some really nice trophies.
Awaiting the "Cajun Invasion" updates. Best of luck to you fellas.
Safe travels to all !!
Tim is hunting Frenchman's Rapids this evening. There are two nice bears on camera, a big black and a nice cinnamon. Jack & I are doing a little fishing.
Great thread! Congrats and enjoy! C
Well done Andy! Love that stand. Now....make sure and do some bow fishing! It's a blast there!
Steve, the water level is two feet lower than normal and not much carp action. Too bad, I brought my recurve bowfishing rig and was wanting to stick some suckers.
Good luck to you Tim and the rest of the cajun crew.
Ray, the VPA did a number on that bear.
Nice! Its been a few years since I took one but hopefully I'll get a repeat performance at some point. As many are showing up where I hunt here in VA, I may just get lucky at home. Thanks to them cutting large blocks of timber in our area our encounter are getting more and more frequent. Always seem to be just before season opens or just after it closes when they come into bow range though. Sooner or later the stars will align for one of us at the farm. They seem to really like the clover of our plts and we have some sort of berry bushes on the edge of our field they always tear up.
Great thread Ghostbird congrats to all you bear killers! How many pounds did you acquire with Jeannine's cooking?
Definitely gained weight. Might have to stay away from the scales for a while after I get home. After losing 25 pounds this past year, it was nice to eat like a king for a change.
Heading back to Winnipeg shortly. Another great hunt with Bear Track Outfitters. A big thanks to Ron & Jeannine Dare. Enjoyed sharing with Bowsite.
Headed to Idaho from Manitoba today. What a great week at bear track. This was my first guided hunt and I can't imagine a better week. Ron and Jeannine are such great people. It was a pleasure to meet the other hunters. I was able to come away with this guy! Thanks for a great week Bear Track! Special thanks to my guide, Pat. He definitely made the week that much better!
Andy I should have taken notes from you on posting side ways pictures! Haha
Great hunt guys and gals! Thanks for sharing it with us. Beautiful bears across the board!
Jacqueline, way to go! You lucked out getting Pat as your guide! I told my wife when I got home he's the original bear whisperer! Ha! I too had an awesome time with Pat as our guide this spring!
Check out the heart shaped blaze on Jaqueline's bear. How cool is that?
Bear Track's Link
After a week of wind and unable to get out on the lake, I was rewarded with calm seas a couple days and got bears. Pat and I were on a blood trail at 6:00am this morning. I joke that with Pat and I as wing men for each other, that even a bear that's not been shot doesn't stand a chance. 2 drops of blood in 200 yards in spagnam, before the we found the arrow but that bear had other ideas than laying there all night. 400 yards down the trail after gridding the forest on the Paddle Trail, and I called it a day and not so much a lost bear, but one we'll see again one day. The very best of the search was the ride out and right there on my atv trail in the mud and stepping on my tire tracks on the way in, a 6 1/2" wide track. Just knowing a giant was standing there listening to us, was exciting.
We sure enjoyed each guest this week and the weather man says good weather to continue as it can this time of year. Lots of people re-booked for next year already too which isnice to get.
Congrats all and thanks for doing this thread!
Heading home. Thanks again Ron.
Great thread, thanks for sharing!!
Well done and thanks for taking us along!
Great job! Thanks for posting.
And the Cajun Invasion has begun. I'm thinking grandson Riley is having a blast with his father Greg about now. he's on a bait that had 6 bears on it yesterday.
Very cool. A three generation hunt. Keep use updated Ron.
Made it home. Catching up on chores & enjoying the farm. Good luck Tim & family.
6 bears on it in one day? Wow! That is 6 times the number of bears I saw all week! And 6 times the number Stan saw all week as well. We were in the wrong location, LOL!
Which bait site was it Ron? Any pictures?
Nice bass GhostBird!
Hopefully the Cajun's are on the board tonight! Can't wait to see the smile on Riley's face with a bear!
Congratulations Andy. Sounds like a great hunt!
Andy, is this the one you saw at The Channel bait? I had Tim on him tonight and none of the bears showed. Drives me to drink wondering where were they, when Jeannine and I were looking at over 1,400 pictures of bears since you and I put that camera up.
Ron, Would mature bears like mature whitetail know when human scent is present from prior baiting versus human scent being currently present from a hunter on stand? And be more cautious with the latter scenario? Especially if they have been "educated" by previous encounters from regular use of a site?
That is what I started to think given pictures of bear when hunters are not present but the failure to observe one on stand. Kills seem to happen at sites that are fresh, like what happened with the group after us with the lake baits. At least with more mature bears.
That's him Ron. That bear was 2 seconds away from dying. The first time he turned broadside I drew my bow and he stepped behind the barrel just as I came to full draw. He turned and tipped the barrel over which crashed on a plastic pail and he scooted off. Hope one of the boys get a shot at him.
My experience is hunting a stand once or maybe twice in a week, doesn't really affect bear movement unless a guy adds scent to himself as a cover sent. I you can smell it, imagine what a wild animal can smell. I'm thinking the approaching thunderstorm for tonight, has them slowed up a bit or they are chasing the last sows in heat.
I won't post any pictures of another man's family without asking, but there was a posing of bears (Yes plural)on the shore in front of Rick's bait last night. They got their 3 generation picture this morning also. BigPizza had Ghostbird's monster circling him and had a two toned sow in front of him for a long time, but no arrows where flung.
Love it. Look forward to the story that will be repeated for even more generations to come.
I was a good evening in camp the other night and an even busier morning on the skinning table with 4 bears taken by all the sons in camp and the fathers left out of the bragging rights for a day.
Well, the last night in camp and the end of the bear hunt, BigPizzaMan had a big bear in front of him but the wind was so strong, he chose not to try shooting form a tree waving the wind like a horse's tail. I did get to show him what it was like to ride back to camp in the dark on the lake in 4' waves though. All safe, just slow going. I bet the wind picked up to 40-45 mph.