MIKE'S OUTFITTING 2018 Alberta Bear Hunt
Contributors to this thread:Bears
From: Mike Ukrainetz
28-Apr-18
Guide Josh with lucky moose shed at first bait site!
Guide Josh with lucky moose shed at first bait site!
Hello Bowsiters! It's that fun time of the year again, spring bear hunting over bait in Alberta!! To me and many others it's the most fun, exciting way to hunt bears with a bow, especially if you pursue the biggest male bears. The big boars are a challenge, not everyone gets one and our wooden ground blinds provide endless up close, safe entertainment from all the other non shooter bears.
Pictured is one of our long term guides Josh Harb with a lucky moose shed he found while getting into our first bait site of the year on April 24. Not easy with all the late season snow, it's actually about a normal year for snow, we've just had it easy the last several years in a row. I've seen it way worse! Our two other world famous bear guides are back too, Cody Colbourne and Gerard Van Den Boogaard, plus a new chef Tim Hudson, food should be better than ever.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
28-Apr-18
The first bear of the year!
The first bear of the year!
And here is the first good bear of the year! Big or small? Boar or sow? We only got the one picture of it.
From: Lovehunt11
28-Apr-18
My friend told me you are outstanding outfitter. He got his first Moose on the first afternoon hunt with you last year. He told me that bear hunt with Josh will be a great hunt.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
28-Apr-18
Thanks lovehunt (Don) we do our best to keep everyone happy and have a great chance to get their animal! I love perfecting the bear hunts figuring out the best, usually not the cheapest, way to do everything. Same with our moose hunts.
From: Ibow
28-Apr-18
Always look forward to your thread each spring Mike. Thanks for taking the time - best wishes for a great spring season!
From: BIG BEAR
28-Apr-18
Mike... You put more effort into building cribbing with logs at the bait sites than any outfitter I've seen... It's probably a LOT of extra work but I bet it pays off in helping to position the bears for broadside shots for your clients. Bears seem to be constantly moving and turning without it.
From: t-roy
28-Apr-18
Looking forward to this thread every year,Mike!
How’s the neck coming along? Hopefully, you’re back to normal.
From: Deerplotter
28-Apr-18
Tell Josh to keep an eye on that Moose for this fall ! Good luck with the Bears! Looks like fun!
From: Mark Watkins
28-Apr-18
Mike, As (IMHO) one of the best outfitters in North America, I always look forward to your threads!
I’m sure you’ll have another successful season for you and your hunters.
Say hello to Jen, Brooke and Tyler for me!
Mark
From: Mike Ukrainetz
29-Apr-18
Thanks guys. I always appreciate the comments, feedback. Keeps me going on doing a thread like this. It’s become a fun tradition for me as part of bear camp, especially because I know it’s seen and appreciated by real hunters who understand the challenge of the whole bear baiting hunt.
T-Roy, my neck, arm, shoulder is much better, getting stronger and more mobile everyday. (I had a pinched nerve for several months and then a disc replacement surgery in my spine in November.) Working hard to get back in shape for a BC Mountain Goat hunt in August.
From: Dino
29-Apr-18
One of the best threads of the spring! Keep it coming Mike and heal well!!!
From: Boreal
29-Apr-18
I look forward to this thread every year! Good luck to all your hunters!
From: caribou77
29-Apr-18
Love this thread every spring. Good luck to everyone!
From: single cam
29-Apr-18
Good to hear you are doing good Mike. This thread is usually the first thing I check each morning. I’m heading up to Kyle next week so maybe I’ll run in to you. Best of luck again this season!!!
From: Garrett Bros @ Cons
29-Apr-18
Goodluck mike and crew have a great season
From: petedrummond
29-Apr-18
See you for the nooses in november!
From: Huntcell
29-Apr-18
Boar, giant most places , slightly above average for your area 325 live weight 18-1/4 greeen score
From: Mike Ukrainetz
29-Apr-18
The Lodge.
The Lodge.
Before we get going on shooting bears I thought I would share some pictures of our rustic bear camp way back in the bush! haha, All the comforts of home on 140 acres in farm land, nice and quiet, maybe 6 vehicles a day drive by. We did some recent renovations, new roof, siding, windows, gutters, not cheap in this part of the world.
And thanks for the guess huntcell, noone else wanted to brave it, but sorry I think it's a big sow, 250 pounder, might be right on the head score though, we've killed a few big old, dry sows that were solid 18 inch bears.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
30-Apr-18
Dining room
Dining room
The whole lower level of the house is for our hunters. Pictured is the dining, living room area with a few bow kill only critters on the walls.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
30-Apr-18
Kitchenette, buffet table area
Kitchenette, buffet table area
and our newly renovated kitchen, buffet table area. We do all the meals buffet style and we have a new cook this year, a real sous chef actually, Tim Hudson.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
30-Apr-18
Entrance to the living room
Entrance to the living room
Short flight of stairs to get into the main living room area guarded by my bighorns.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
30-Apr-18
Hunter bedroom
Hunter bedroom
One of our three hunter bedrooms, three beds in this one, no bunk beds, hate those things.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
30-Apr-18
Hunter bedroom
Hunter bedroom
Another hunter bedroom with one of my first bear kills, a blonde as they come black bear. I was beyond pumped at 18 yrs old when I got that bear!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
30-Apr-18
Hunter bedroom
Hunter bedroom
The honeymoon suite, cosy little room with two more beds. House also has two bathrooms for the hunters and guides. Nothing fancy overall but clean, comfortable, fun camp with some great bear hunting, fishing not so good in case anyone was wondering.
From: OFFHNTN
30-Apr-18
Geez Mike......such torture you put your hunters through! lol LOOKS GREAT!
From: Brotsky
30-Apr-18
Camp looks great Mike! Thanks for sharing again this year, always look forward to seeing your bears! Best of luck to you and your hunters!
From: Charlie Rehor
30-Apr-18
Looks great. Major upgrades from “move in day” August 2006!
Mike’s 11th year of Bowsite Sponsorship! Best always! C
From: Trophy8
30-Apr-18
Mike's place is clean and comfortable, he's not even showing the big screen... I see you've been doing some work on the outside....looks great. Look forward to the reports.
From: Sam
30-Apr-18
I’ll be bringing ear plugs...Lol!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
30-Apr-18
Boar or Sow?
Boar or Sow?
Here is that same bear from the opening picture, starts to make me doubt my bear judging ability. I still think it's a big sow, guide Josh says it's a short legged boar?! Sure looks nice. We have our first hunters out this eve and Josh Austin from Kansas is sitting this bait to get a close view, he killed a small bear and a 20 incher with us 2 years ago so he should know what he is looking at in the flesh. We will see...
From: Deerplotter
01-May-18
I say 280# boar. Your camp lodge looks very nice. Keep us posted on bear success.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
02-May-18
Well it's been a slow start, 2 hunting days done and the 4 hunters have only seen about 6 bears total, no big ones. The daytime highs are only about 50F and one evening was super windy, very windy again today unfortunately but warmer. Checking more cameras today and still have about 10 out of 30 baits to get setup, the snow really put us behind. We should be all caught up by Sunday and hopefully some big boys on the ground! Send your good luck vibes our way!!
From: Doug C.
03-May-18
Front
Front
Mike - just wondering if the pictures of this t-shirt bring back memories? If people aren't aware he's a good artist (he drew the pics on this shirt).
From: Mike Ukrainetz
03-May-18
Thanks Doug, that's great to see! I haven't drawn much in a long time, kinda forget I even know how.
From: Doug C.
03-May-18
Those shirts were worn by Alberta Bowhunters Association members at the 1993 P&Y convention in Minneapolis to try and get the next biannual convention. They didn't get it but in Traverse City (1995) they did and the 1997 P&Y convention was in Edmonton - the only one to be held in Canada - but boy did they put on a great convention!
From: t-roy
03-May-18
Good vibes headed your way, Mike! I’ll have a headache for a couple of days, but don’t sweat it! ;-)
Great drawings as well!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
04-May-18
Would you shoot?
Would you shoot?
Latest update is that things have been frustratingly slow for what we are used to, daytime high temps just haven't been getting into the 60+ F range which is really needed for good activity. Four hunters in camp, 4 evenings done and no kills. We could have been tagged out 2 bears each if we were just shooting any old bears but we are after the big boars. I prefer to only shoot a 300 plus pound boar, or bigger, which will usually have a hide that squares out at 7 ft or really close to that and usually around a 19 inch head, generally it's a 5 yr old male bear. We have only seen two like that so far out of about a dozen bears total seen by all 4 hunters, one of the big bears wouldn't come right in for a good bow shot and the other is the one pictured. I tell guys the bear needs to be 2 inches above the standing 34 inch barrel or in this case also the green and white stake. The hunter passed on the bear, mistake?
From: JackPine Acres
04-May-18
A rule of thumb I was told once by an outfitter, "if the bear can fit in the barrel, it ain't a shooter". The one in the photo is a nice looking bear but not 300lb+ in my opinion.
If it's a slow week, that bear will get tagged. If hunters are getting visits everyday by bears and are looking for something special, it's a pass. I love bear hunting and wish I was in a stand. Last fall I was in Manitoba waiting on a giant and saw the same beautiful chocolate 3 nights in a row. Wind picked up and didn't see another bear that hunt. Tag soup. :(
From: Mike Ukrainetz
05-May-18
Randy Ginest
Randy Ginest
345lbs
345lbs
4 5/8 inch front pad
4 5/8 inch front pad
First Big Bear of the Year! Repeat hunter Randy Ginest from Kansas with a big one!! Randy finally got this bear on the 5th evening of hunting, 30 hours of sitting. The big ole boar just wouldn't commit to coming right in front of the blind, maybe kind of knew someone was in there? Randy was patient, didn't want to wound him and this was his reward. 345 lbs, squared out at 7 foot 1 inch, front pad width of 4 5/8 inches. (I'm still searching for the bear with the magical, "add one to the front pad measurement and that will be the square of the bear's hide". One day I'll find one of those! haha)
From: Sam
05-May-18
Right on!!
From: woodguy65
05-May-18
Congrats great bear! How 'bout the melon?
From: T Mac
05-May-18
Nice bear! Congrats Randy and Mike!
From: caribou77
05-May-18
Congrats! Great bear.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
05-May-18
Whoops forgot the melon, woodguy aka Jerry Westfall, 19 6/16 so I’m gonna say he was a 5 or 6 year old, perfect teeth, not scarred up on face, and lots of fat. Randy’s first big black, he’s been cursed with only big colored ones up till now.
We killed two other good boars yesterday too and passed on another, will post more pics soon.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
07-May-18
Rocky Mckindles
Rocky Mckindles
300 lbs
300 lbs
Here is Rocky with his bear, 300 lbs, 18 4/16 skull, squared 6 ft 9 inches, a fat 4 yr old I think. A very happy hunter I know, first decent bear for him. A solid 300 pounder taken from the bait with the trail camera picture above but Rocky says it wasn't the same bear, his was a smaller one! The big one just wouldn't give him a shot and this one looked big enough after 5 days of hunting so he shot it. It ran off after the hit and then the bigger bear from the trail camera picture came in and starting roughing it up, chewing on it. No serious damage done. So the bear in the trail cam pic is more than 300 lbs.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
07-May-18
Josh Austin
Josh Austin
Josh Austin from Kansas with his big ole bear! Well not that big but he thought it was bigger so he shot it. Days and hours on stand can play tricks on a hunter's mind. He was still happy, great guy so I can give him a hard time. As you can see from the picture it died down in the river valley so it got skinned down there, 18 0/16 skull, probably weighed around 230 lbs and squared about 6 ft 6 inches or maybe more, these are standard measurements for a 3 yr old. Some will square out at 7 ft if they have long legs, this one had just standard issue legs.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
07-May-18
and the 4th man in camp Tom Whittingslow from Florida with the only thing he got from the hunt, a nice picture of him and the mighty Peace River! He did pass up what he thought was a 280 lb 4 yr old, probably a Poper bear but Tom killed a big, black 19 inch 7 footer with us last year so he choose to pass. He got some great video and pictures of the boar and I agreed with his size estimate. We really appreciate the guys who pass up bears like that, unless it's a bear you'll be really happy to take, get it mounted then we prefer to not shoot anything less than a solid 300 pound, upper 18 inch bear.
Well that was it for the first week, it was slow to start but the last 2 evenings ended really well. The 4 guys saw around 30 different bears, half a dozen good boars. Next week should be awesome! All 30 of our baits are now in and we are stacked up with several tons of meat scraps, beavers, oats, popcorn, used grease, licorice and honey in camp to keep up with the 400 bears that will be hitting our baits.
From: Deerplotter
07-May-18
Great job on the first week Mike-congrats! A 300# bear is a nice bear. Looking forward to next week.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
07-May-18
Thanks deerplotter, and yes a 300 lb bear in the spring in western Canada is a big bear! Sometimes I’ll get hunters wonder why our bears are seemingly so light weight, they think a big 7 ft bear must weigh 400 or even 500 lbs or more. Most 10+ yr old boars will never weigh more than 350 lbs in the spring in Alberta.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
08-May-18
Big coloured bear.
Big coloured bear.
It got close!
It got close!
Here’s an awesome coloured bear that was passed on yesterday evening. The hunter wasn’t sure if it met our standards, it certainly met hers! From trail camera pictures I didn’t think it was this big actually but once she got lots of pictures and video of it I realized how big it is and she needs to try and take it now. Hopefully he sticks around...
New crew of hunters in camp, 6 of them, the Chris Peccia group who have been taking our 2nd week the last few years and are booked for the future too. They saw about 20 different bears yesterday, the first hunting day, no kills.
From: wannaelk
08-May-18
Bears are so hard to judge!! That pole in the ground is a great idea.
Enjoying the updates, keep'em coming
Good luck to this weeks hunters
From: Boreal
08-May-18
Looks big enough to me. Good luck getting him.
From: Matt Rehor
08-May-18
Love this thread Mike!! Good luck to you and your hunters!!
From: Bearhunter
08-May-18
That bear should be left to grow 2 more weeks!
From: Bou'bound
08-May-18
From: Kuma777
08-May-18
Hi Mike! That’s a long-legged, beautiful bear, and a definite shooter in my opinion. He looks hungry, and will be back! Good luck to you and your hunters this year! Looking forward to the updates, and wishing I was there. I will enjoy living vicariously through your thread and updates this year. Happy hunting!
Scott from Tokyo
From: Mike Ukrainetz
08-May-18
Big, Big Bear!
Big, Big Bear!
I look at a lot of trail camera pictures everyday and I don't see many bears like this one! Wish the picture was a bit more sharp but he's a giant!! got a hunter sitting on him
From: Mike Ukrainetz
08-May-18
Same bait site as above with an average bear
Same bait site as above with an average bear
To give some perspective to the giant black above here is an average 200 lb bear that most guys would be happy to take. The black is twice the size or more. (Sorry again for the blurry image.)
Glad to hear you are alive and kicking Scott! The only bowhunter in Tokyo.
From: woodguy65
08-May-18
WOWSER! I'd skip breakfast and be waiting on him. LOL
Good luck!
From: petedrummond
08-May-18
I don't skip breakfast for anything. Lunch either.
From: Kuma777
08-May-18
Yeah, that big black is a brute!! Good luck, and look forward to seeing the stats on that guy!
From: NKS
09-May-18
This has to be my favorite yearly thread! Thanks for taking us along Mike.
nick
From: Mike Ukrainetz
09-May-18
Kayla Wiegand
Kayla Wiegand
Dam isn't this the most beautiful bear! Such a happy hunter too. One shot, 150 yd recovery, ran in a circle and barely went over the river bank. Guide Gerard was able to pretty easily get in back to camp whole.
It was shot at Chad's bait for anyone who has been here before. We've taken so many big bears off of it since 1994.
From: wilbur
09-May-18
Great picture with happy huntress smile.
I like the matching hair colors.
From: GhostBird
09-May-18
WOW... beautiful bear. Congrats to all.
From: BIG BEAR
09-May-18
That looks like a candidate for a life size mount !! Great bear !!!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
09-May-18
Kayla's bear last year
Kayla's bear last year
Here is Kayla's bear last year as a 3 yr old, probably weighed around 220 lbs, around an 18 inch head, square out at 6 ft 6 hide I bet. We have lots of pics and several hunters got video of him. He got a free pass, everyone was told not to shoot him.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
09-May-18
Kayla's bear this year.
Kayla's bear this year.
Here he is again as a 4 yr old this spring. He weighed 290 lbs, hide squared at 6 ft 9 inches, skull went 18 13/16, standard 4 year old bear in all 3 measurements. Me and the guides thought he was a 4 yr old from trail cam pics but in the video and pictures Kayla took from the blind he looked bigger, 320-330 lbs so we gave her the green light to shoot him, got fooled a bit BUT SO HAPPY we did! She loves him, first bear for her and she will do him justice with a great mount.
Just putting out some interesting info/stats on how we age these bears. I'm sure if I still had my 2016 trail camera pictures I could find him on the bait as a 2 yr old and maybe a yearling and possible even a cub, but maybe not, 2 and 3 yr olds often relocate far away from their now mean momma bear.
From: Kuma777
09-May-18
That is a beautiful bear! Fantastic color, and incredible first bear! Congrats to the hunter and your team.
From: SBH
09-May-18
Awesome to have that information and watch them grow. Well done to both hunter and guide. Beautiful bear.
From: T Mac
09-May-18
That is a beautiful bear! Outstanding all the way around congrats Kayla!
From: Trophy8
09-May-18
That is flat out a great color bear...congrats to the young lady.
Mike, If I recall correctly a few yeas back you had a colored sow with 3-4 color cubs? Maybe he was one of those?
From: Mike Ukrainetz
10-May-18
Could be trophy8, can’t remember which bait that was on though. Most of our sows have 3 cubs and usually a colored one or two.
We got a giant yesterday evening, pics coming soon!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
10-May-18
A good day!
A good day!
A great day! Couple of 20 inchers in camp!!
From: GhostBird
10-May-18
A couple of brutes. Congratulations Mike & hunters.
From: John Kissella
10-May-18
Wow! What a week you guys have going! First a big beautiful colored and now two more giants. Congratulations to the hunters and guides. Mike has it figured out.
From: Pigsticker
10-May-18
Excellent, congratulations to the guides and hunters!
From: Kuma777
10-May-18
Wow! Looks like the big boys are finally awake, and making the rounds! Looking forward to the details and pics of those pigs! Congrats
From: T Mac
10-May-18
Wow! Congrats to all!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
11-May-18
Dan Wiegand
Dan Wiegand
360 lbs
360 lbs
7 ft 4 in. tip of nose to tip of tail and 7 ft 6 in. tip of claw to tip of claw across the front legs, so 7 ft 5 in. square hide.
7 ft 4 in. tip of nose to tip of tail and 7 ft 6 in. tip of claw to tip of claw across the front legs, so 7 ft 5 in. square hide.
4 5/8 inch front pad
4 5/8 inch front pad
Here is Dan Wiegand with a legendary, beast of a bear from picnic bait. We've been trying to get this bear for several years, he was unkillable from a treestand with a bow and we could barely get him with a ground blind. He would stop before walking out in front of the box and look for the hunter, if he saw anything suspicious he wouldn't come right in. He finally dropped his guard a bit this year and Dan made good on the first opportunity he got and he got it on video with his wife Kayla filming. The bear weighed 360 lbs, hide squared out at 7 ft 5 inches and a 20 4/16 skull, big framed bugger. Another awesome bear for the Wiegand's.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
11-May-18
Chris Peccia
Chris Peccia
Cool in the bush photo!
Cool in the bush photo!
Close enough to call it 400 lbs!
Close enough to call it 400 lbs!
Another bear with midget feet! Less than 5 inch pad on a 7 footer.
Another bear with midget feet! Less than 5 inch pad on a 7 footer.
Chris Peccia from Montana with another legend, the BPS bait bear. Chris was after this bear last year but the bear quickly became nocturnal after just a couple of daytime pictures when he first claimed the bait. We had no trail camera pictures of him yet for this year but guide Josh and Chris thought they should hunt it anyway, see if Chris could kill him on his first visit, assuming he was still alive, well it worked. First visit, one arrow and down he went, 20 12/16 head, 400 lbs and squared out at 7 foot 1 inch, just a beast of a bear!
From: t-roy
11-May-18
Some awesome bears so far this year, especially that beautiful color phase!
I’m curious, Mike. Other than obvious things (coloring, scars, blazes, etc) how do you identify individual bears, especially the all black ones? You posted on here about how certain bears have been eluding you for years. Whitetail bucks are usually are easy to tell, but bears would have to be way harder! Thanks...Troy
From: Mike Ukrainetz
11-May-18
Good question t-roy. Sometimes there will be identifying marks but it's more a matter of one similar looking big bear on a site every year with the same sort of feeding patterns. There is rarely ever more than one really big bear at a bait site so we do make the assumption that each year it's the same one. We are usually proven right when we kill the bear and there are no more big bear sightings on that bait, maybe not even the next year. We have had it where there was two big ones which we thought was just one and we kill one of them and the sightings continue, then we can usually go through trail cam pics and with a detailed look we can see differences between the two of them, of course we usually have lots of pictures for reference and time of hitting the bait, they will usually have a somewhat repeatable pattern. It's all fun to figure out!
From: Brotsky
11-May-18
Awesome year so far Mike! Good luck the rest of the spring. This is always one of my favorite spring threads!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
11-May-18
Average sow
Average sow
Big boar
Big boar
Here's an example of why you should always use the bear's body length and shoulder height to judge whether it's a boar or sow. These two bears don't look too much different as far as blockyness of the head, size of ears, hanging belly etc, all subjective, confusing terms especially for the beginner bear hunter but look for a tall, long bodied animal compared with a barrel or log laying on the ground and it's easy to figure it out.
From: blackbear62
11-May-18
Hey Mike love this thread. I was wondering if you have noticed any problems with judging bears compared to the fence stake from tree stands. Does the downward angle affect judgement? Mark
From: Kuma777
11-May-18
Congrats on putting some big bears down Mike, gang, and hunters! Mike, curious what you estimate the age to be of Chris’s bear? I know you mentioned that you have been after it for a few years. Does that mean it may be like a 8-9 year old bear? I know you target 5+ year old boars and was just curious as to the difference in size between say a mature 5-6 year old vs a 9-10 year old? Or do you feel that most bears kind of max out in size around the 5-6 year old range? Maybe just more bone on their heads? Loving your posts and updates! Good luck the rest of the season?
From: Mike Ukrainetz
12-May-18
Hey blackbear62, I prefer a 5 foot log on the ground for a tree stand. If a bear is as long as the log from nose to butt then he is a shooter boar, no sow will ever be that long. A stake or barrel for reference from a tree stand is more difficult because as you say you are dealing with the downward angle.
Kuma777 Once the bear gets over about 5 yrs old it's really hard to know age, you can look at teeth how much yellow color, wear, offset jaw or not and then with a clean skull you can look at bony ridges and how much the skull plates have closed up or not to get an age estimate. I think Chris's bear was less than 10 and more than 5. Skull size slowly increases with age but some bear can get well into the 20's at a pretty young age, 6 or 7 years old, maybe even hit 21. This is mostly for bears that have access to feeding in farm fields, that's what I'm familiar with, other wilderness outfitters that have had their bears aged say the skull size, body size varies greatly, is all over the map and has little linear growth.
From: Kuma777
12-May-18
Good information Mike! Thanks for the response. I enjoy learning from your experience and many years of hunting big bears.
From: Bou'bound
12-May-18
great thread
From: Predator
12-May-18
Those last 2 bear are a couple of giants. Great work and congrats to hunters and guides!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
13-May-18
New beast!
New beast!
Going through my daily stack of memory cards gets a bit tedious until a new giant pops up, then I get a shot of adrenaline! Almost like real bear hunting but...not.
This guy just showed up on Deep Creek bait. Overall we will only have big bears on 10-15 baits at one time out of 30 baits and many of those bears are primarily nocturnal hitters. A certain amount of luck is certainly needed to be there when the big boy shows up
From: Mike Ukrainetz
13-May-18
Bill Hoyle
Bill Hoyle
Bill Hoyle with his first bear, 200 lb male, 6 ft 1 inch hide. Bill held out for the first 4 evenings and no big ones showed up so on the 5th evening we moved him to a shoot anything bait to make sure he got one, and he did, a nice bear and a happy hunter.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
13-May-18
Bill Lloyd
Bill Lloyd
Bill and his big ole 320 pound boar taken yesterday, 6 foot 10 inch hide and 320 lbs, 19 3/16 skull, classic 5 yr old boar size. Bill passed on a bear of similar size the first evening's hunt, hoping for a giant but 3 more evening sits and no giants so we went after a more killable and big enough bear on the 5th evening. One arrow did the trick.
From: carcus
13-May-18
love this thread
From: Mike Ukrainetz
14-May-18
Clint Loobey
Clint Loobey
Thanks carcus for your eloquent words of wisdom!
And the last kill of the week! Thank goodness for this one, last day of the hunt for Clint Loobey. He saw lots of bears, sometimes over 15 in a single evening's hunt but just wasn't seeing anything big. This was his 2nd hunt with us and he didn't kill last time, but he maybe did accidentally pass up a pretty good bear so glad he got this one this year. All 6 hunters got a great bear each this week!
18 12/16 head, 300 lbs, squared out at 6 ft 8 inches.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
14-May-18
Old beast!
Old beast!
Got a hunter on him now!
Got a hunter on him now!
New crew of hunters today, New bear on the bait. This fat, scarred up boar just appeared on camera checking out one of the local girls. Several daylight, evening pics two evenings in a row, he might be in trouble?! He's kind of a short legged bear, probably square out at barely over 7 feet, looks pumpkin headed though.
From: ben yehuda
14-May-18
Good luck to all your hunters!
Last Friday I saw a nice little bear from the road coming out of Crowsnest Pass. It made my three year old daughters day.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
15-May-18
Blondie!
Blondie!
Blonde right down to his yellow claws.
Blonde right down to his yellow claws.
Now this is what you call a blonde bear! Two year old boar, it will be torture keeping this guy alive for the next 3 years. Oh Boy.
From: Kuma777
15-May-18
That Blonde is incredible!! That’s my dream bear!!
From: TD
15-May-18
Poor mans polar???? =D
Love this thread, thanks much. Congrats to the hunters and good luck to those who are about to hunt.....
From: map1
15-May-18
Mike don't the blonde color phase typically darken to brown as the bear ages? Don't see many giant blondes running around?
From: Mike Ukrainetz
15-May-18
map1, yes typically they do become darker as they age but on occasion they will maintain the blonde color to maturity, it's usually the pure blonde ones like this one that have a better chance of keeping blonde
From: JackPine Acres
15-May-18
Sun bleached. :)
From: Mr.C
15-May-18
Kermode "the spirit bear" named by the raven because the bear reminded him of the glaciers that once where , Canadian Indian history
From: Mike Ukrainetz
15-May-18
Harry Kirk
Harry Kirk
Tale of the Scale
Tale of the Scale
Harry Kirk gets our 3rd week of hunters off to a great start with a big 19 9/16 Pope and Young qualifier. Hide squared 6 foot 10 inches and the bear weighed 295 lbs so I would say he was a 5 yr old that is a little on the light side, most boars with this skull and hide size are around 320-330 lbs. Not to matter, it was 70 yr old Harry's first bear and with a bow! He was really thrilled to get it.
A couple other guys in camp passed on bears around the same size, first evening and hoping for giants. We will see.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
15-May-18
Shannon Payne getting tuned up!
Shannon Payne getting tuned up!
The weather has been fantastic, warm and dry, not a lot of mosquitoes, virtually none around the house, no blackflies and no ticks. Highs around 70-80 F lately, very nice midday bow shooting weather.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
16-May-18
Mystified?!
Mystified?!
Sam, Colton and John watching Shannon shoot wondering how in the world anyone can shoot that badly?!....
Ha, just kidding all these guys are great shots, the bears are in trouble!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
18-May-18
Matthew Wolfe
Matthew Wolfe
Matthew Wolfe with his first bear, a hefty 305 lbs, hide squared out at 6 ft 9 inches and skull went 19 0/16. There were two big bears on his bait and we told him that the one with the scarred up face was the bigger one, it came in and Matthew wasn't sure of the size so he got some video of it before he decided to shoot it. It looks huge in the video, like it's 400 lbs! Deceiving. Now we are not sure if the other one is actually the bigger one, it gets tough when two big black bears are in and out all the time to tell exactly which one is which.
You can see the video on our Mike's Outfitting Instagram page.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
18-May-18
Harry Kirk 2nd bear
Harry Kirk 2nd bear
Harry Kirk with his 2nd bear, the hide went 6 ft 6 inches, weighed 250 lbs, skull 17 8/16. Three yr old. A bear like this will be as high to the shoulders as a 34 inch barrel so looking out of a ground blind he will cover up the barrel. Generally a 5 yr old 300+ lb boar will be 2 inches or more above the barrel. Some barrels are 36 inches though too, so you need to put a measuring tape on your barrel. Couple tips for anyone who cares.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
18-May-18
Father and Son shot!
Father and Son shot!
I know a shot like this looks exaggerated but they are both sitting as close as they can to the back end of their bears. Looks cool!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
19-May-18
Matthew Wolfe
Matthew Wolfe
and Matthew gets his 2nd bear, a big colored one! 19 4/16 head, hide squared right at 7 feet and weight at 330 lbs. A beautiful coat too, just pristine. Big congrats to Matthew and his Dad Harry, he got to sit and watch Matthew take the bear. They couldn't decide whether to shoot it or not because we hadn't told them about any big colored bear on the bait. They had only been warned to not shoot any small colored bears or a colored sow, to make sure any bear was 2 inches above the barrel height. They watched this guy for 2 hours before finally committing to shooting it. Love the due diligence!
Now we just have to get bears for the other 4 guys in camp with one evening left to hunt. Nothing like a little pressure. They have all passed on 6 1/2 plus foot, upper 18 inch skull bears in pursuit of boars solidly over 300 pounds. Dropping standards for the last evening.
From: Rackmastr
19-May-18
Mike you do such a great job of posting these updates, very cool to be able to keep checking in and seeing how the action is going!!!
From: T Mac
19-May-18
Beautiful chocolate congrats and thx for the updates!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
19-May-18
Thanks Rackmastr and T Mac, I appreciate the encouraging comments.
From: Kuma777
19-May-18
*sorry, double post
From: Kuma777
19-May-18
Well done hunters, Mike, and team! That’s very cool to have a father and son pic together to commemorate such a great experience together. Beautiful chocolate bear! Good luck to your hunters on their last day. I suspect we will be seeing some more BBD pics after the evening hunt. Good luck all!
From: petedrummond
20-May-18
Bert, the bear I got last year photo bombed my daughters breakfast brunch.
From: petedrummond
20-May-18
Bert, the bear I got last year photo bombed my daughters breakfast brunch.
From: petedrummond
20-May-18
From: Mike Ukrainetz
21-May-18
Nice bear Pete!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
22-May-18
Colton Payne with the last bear of the 3rd week accompanied by his Dad, Shannon. Shot the last 5 minutes of legal light, 270 lbs, 18 4/16 skull, hide squared 6 ft 7 inches. A nice Poper bear. So we ended the week with just 5 kills for the 6 hunters, 3 guys didn't kill but they all could have shot bears of this calibre or even quite a bit bigger. In fact Colton passed on one the first evening that was probably a 300 pounder but that's ok, he tried for a giant. The three unsuccessful hunters had all shot several bears with other outfitters and came to us for a really big one, 350 plus pounders but it just didn't work out. That's what we want too, hunters who want a 300 pound 19 inch skull bear or bigger, you just have to shoot the first one you see, even on the first evening hunt or you might not get one at all, they can be very random, occasional bait hitters, some will only stop by once or twice a week.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
22-May-18
We have a new group of 5 hunters in now Deena and Hearst Daman, Wes Millar and Rick Bergendal and Pat Gribben and his non hunting wife, Sandy who hunted yesterday for their first hunt, no kills, no passups of 300 pounders, only a couple 200 lb type 3 year olds, just as tall as the barrel passed on. 5 to 13 different bears seen by them. Wes didn't latch the back door of his blind and a bear came up and opened the door and he was faced with a bear at about 1 yard! Not to mention the 3 other bears that were sticking their heads in the box and trying to climb on top of the stand! Fun, fun!!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
23-May-18
Hearst Daman
Hearst Daman
Hearst Daman gets the 4th week of hunts rolling with a classic type of bear we want everyone to hold out for, 325 lbs, 19 7/16 skull, hide squared right at 7 foot. A great probable 5 year old or maybe older bear! This bear was taken off Big Muley bait, been after him for 3 weeks now. Might have had a certain hunter last week pass on him...
From: JackPine Acres
23-May-18
Your management practices and harvest successes are very impressive. Just top-notch all the way around, great job! The smiles in every picture tell the story.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
24-May-18
Finally got daylight pictures of this guy, a few hunters have been after him over the last few years.
Thanks jackpine, we work hard at it and it's just more fun to go after the big elusive boars!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
24-May-18
Wes Millar
Wes Millar
Wes Millar and his good boar, 285 lbs, 18 13/16 skull, hide squared just under 7 feet at 6 ft 11 inches. Long framed bear. This is Wes's 3rd Mike's Outfitting hunt, he did a bear hunt with his dad a few years back and a rifle moose hunt. Great guy to have in camp!
From: John Kissella
24-May-18
Since your season started I have been wondering about that giant bear at the Church Bait. I sat there three evenings last year hoping to see that monster. I am so glad to see he's back. He is a beauty! Good luck to all the hunters!
From: Dino
24-May-18
Such an awesome thread...Thx Mike. Have you found a consistent time of the year for rutting activity? When do the big boars start snooping around?
From: Mike Ukrainetz
24-May-18
Dino, the snooping around slowly begins around May 15th, picks up around May 20th and is full on June 1st and onward. I mostly love it for a chance to kill a smart old giant but some hunters dislike hunting it because overall activity can drop off and you can burn a whole hunt, waiting and hoping...
From: petedrummond
24-May-18
If you think the hunting is good you should meet his guides I was a fishing guide in the Quantico and in Wisconsin in college. Humped a lot of canoes but these guys are really over the top. Unbelievable work ethic. Made me feel I was lazy. They work harder with no supervision than any young men I have ever seen sometimes with almost no sleep. They are everything young men should be and more. They have no quit in them.
From: 'Ike' (Phone)
24-May-18
I’ve got to get my Passport updated...Lol! Great stuff Mike...
From: Trophy8
24-May-18
Mike...the church bear is a.....wow!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
25-May-18
Thanks guys! and yes I agree with you Pete, my guides are all 20 something year old guys who work their butts off sometimes not going to bed till 2 am or later and back up by 8 am every morning. I'm fortunate to have such a great crew!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
25-May-18
Rear Naked Chokehold I think?
Rear Naked Chokehold I think?
Not sure what's going on here, some kind of wrestling match?
From: Slate
25-May-18
Mike pretty dam cool. Some great pics and awesome hunts.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
25-May-18
Lots of laughs while waiting for breakfast!
Lots of laughs while waiting for breakfast!
Well it's been a slow week so far for kills, the guys and gals in camp are seeing lots of bears every evening, anywhere from 5 to 15 different ones each. I think Wes set a camp record with 9 bears in view at one time! They all seem to be really enjoying themselves but the big boys just won't cooperate. Two evenings left to hunt...
From: Mike Ukrainetz
25-May-18
A great crew!
A great crew!
Hanging out with old friends and making new ones in bear camp!
Hanging out with old friends and making new ones in bear camp!
From left to right, Wes, Hearst, Deena, Sandy, Pat and Rick wearing the Mike's Outfitting gang colors!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
27-May-18
Wes Millar
Wes Millar
Wes Millar with his 2nd bear, first one with a crossbow so he wasn't being too picky, just wanted a good bear with a nice coat, so we put him on a kill almost any bear, make it a clean one shot kill and he did, happy guy. 185 lb female, 17 0/16 skull and it still squared a no bull 6 ft 3 inches, only 2 yr olds and small sows measure less than 6 ft square in our neck of the woods.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
27-May-18
Rick Bergendal and his buddy Wes
Rick Bergendal and his buddy Wes
Rick Bergendal and his last day hunt bear, the bow shot was less than perfect and the bear went way down in the river valley so guide Gerard skinned it on the spot. No weight for it but estimated around 300 lbs, the skull went 19 2/16 and the hide measured 6 ft 9 in, probably a 5 yr old boar. 4 5/8 inch wide front pad.
While Rick was hunting his bait, Wes who was tagged out, went and sat Beaver Dam bait, wouldn't you know it, a legendary giant came in and Wes got video of it. Incredible bear I'll be posting the video on Mike's Outfitting Instagram if you want to check it out.
So that's it for the 4th week of hunters, 5 bear kills for 5 hunters. Pat Gribben also got a bear but it was retrieved way down in the river valley at night, no decent pics. Couple other missed shots fired and one other big black passed up in the quest for the Church bait bear. He continues to live, always fun to chase down the giants.
From: Bou'bound
27-May-18
Mike What is it about the area that has the bears squaring so big. I’d it body structure or something else unique. Seems even younger and average bears have lots of skin compared to similar age and size class elsewhere.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
27-May-18
Bou'bound, thanks for asking. I think our bear hides are bigger because I'm full of crap about stretching and then measuring them...
Thought I would throw that in before someone else did! Haha, just kidding, we measure all of our bears right in front of our hunters, lay them out and with no stretch, measure them.
I think it's a matter of overall genetics and great feed with our bait for 2 months and then farm field feed for the other 4 months out of the den grows big bears fast. Also even though quite a few of our bears will be just as long as they are wide some of our highest square measurements come from bears with longer legs. One 350 lb boar could be 7 foot by 7 ft and the other 350 pounder will be 7 ft by 8 ft giving him a 7 ft 6 inch square hide. Also the longer legs often means a slightly longer skull giving that 20+ or even 21+ inch head which we get more often than many areas of Alberta where a 20+ inch head even on 10+ year old bears is super rare, 21+ almost doesn't exist. Other parts of North America are even better than ours for big skulls and maybe even longer framed bears?
I've heard guide Lance Kronberger say the same thing about brown bears in Alaska where in one area the biggest bears simply have longer legs, giving an extra foot to the square of the hide, otherwise basically the same size bears, slight weight gain cause of the leg length but not by much.
From: Bou'bound
27-May-18
Makes sense. Whatever it is up guys have it down to a science consistently. Well done.
From: hdaman
28-May-18
Well...we just finished up our week with Mike and his team and it was fantastic! We shared camp with a couple of great guys, Wes and Rick from Wisconsin. In fact, we all had such a great time we are planning a reunion hunt together already! So here’s the scoop. Mike does everything first class. Every bait is set up the same way with multiple food choices for the bears. He has a camera on every bait so he knows what is there. Each bait has a comfortable wooden blind with an Ozonics unit available. Mike has made a significant investment in every bait to ensure each hunter has an opporutunity for the bear of a lifetime. Not an advertisement, just telling it like it is. As mentioned in a previous post, Mike’s staff is also amazing! The guides...Josh, Cody and Gerard are capable, confident, respectful and just really good guys. Tim, the chef will have you wondering why you ever go anywhere else to eat. In fact, we traveled to Canmore, Banff and Jasper prior to the hunt and the best meals we had were in bear camp. Dang, we had such a good time I almost forgot about the actual hunting. It’s safe to say that everyone saw in excess of 30 bears each for the week. We saw over 40 with 16 different bears on one bait in a single night. But, you go to Mike’s for big bears whether they are black or color phase. To to get those, you need patience, clear shooting criteria and some luck. It doesn’t work out every time, but knowing what is possible, along with all of the action, sure keeps the heart pumping! At the end of the week our new hunting “family” ended up shooting some beautiful bears, gained a few pounds, made new friends and most importantly, had a great time. Thanks Mike and crew! Hearst
From: Mike Ukrainetz
28-May-18
Dang Hearst. Thanks so much. It was a pleasure to have all of you in camp!
From: Pgribb
29-May-18
Hearst described the experience perfectly. I would only add how impressed I was with the way Mike and his guides handled themselves. This was my first bear hunt, and my wife (who is not a hunter) came along. Mike and his guides took the time to alleviate her fears, make sure she was confident of her surroundings, and while she started out a bit nervous, by the end of the first night she was having a great time with me in the blind. Our guide Cody did everything he could to make sure I got the greatest experience possible. He and Mike spent hours going over photos, discussing my goals, describing the bears that were working a particular bait and went above and beyond what I would consider "normal" expectations. The experience level in our camp ranged from first timers to those with over a dozen bear hunts, and these guys were able to relate to everyone. I cannot say enough good things about the camp, Mike and his team and the other hunters we shared our experience with. If you are an experienced hunter, or looking for your first bear, there is no way you can go wrong with Mike's. The sheer number of opportunities you have to see bears interact with each other, coupled with the knowledgeable engaged guides that have a passion for making sure you enjoy your hunt makes it an unforgettable experience.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
30-May-18
Thanks Pat. It was fun to see the transformation of Sandy over the course of the hunt from nervous, unsure want to get it over with to excited, engaged, seemed like she was really enjoying it.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
31-May-18
The rut begins!
The rut begins!
Big boars cruising in the rut, lots of breeding going on, hard to pinpoint where the big boys will show up now. Lots of dandelions too which slows down our baits only slightly because of the variety of food we give them. We got another two solid Popers this week, pics soon and hopefully more to come...
From: Mike Ukrainetz
31-May-18
Awesome beast.
Awesome beast.
Haven't seen this guy for 2 weeks, followed a sow in, no hunter on it though. Bummer.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
02-Jun-18
The Church Bear is dead.
From: woodguy65
02-Jun-18
Wow congrats, that's a giant and a beauty! Love got him?
From: petedrummond
02-Jun-18
How big?
From: hdaman
02-Jun-18
Now that's a big old bear! Can't wait to see the measurements!
From: Pgribb
02-Jun-18
Great bear!
From: MPN
02-Jun-18
Atheists?
From: Mike Ukrainetz
02-Jun-18
haha MPN, actually very faithful people and now very happy.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
02-Jun-18
455 lbs!
455 lbs!
Christian Alexander and his son Cole with a new Mike's Outfitting weight record bear, 455 lbs! 450 was the previous record. Christian was the lucky hunter and Cole got to witness it. They had both taken their first bears and decided to hunt together for a 2nd bear. If a big black that was frequenting the bait came in it would be Cole's shot, if the infrequent big colored came in it was Dad's. Dad got lucky in the last 30 minutes of legal light, came in on his own, not with a sow. Rifle kill at 20 yds on Church bait. Countless hours and multiple hunters have spent A LOT of time on this stand over the last 3 years hoping that this bear would show up in front of them. He had a shoulder wound, not from us, and that probably contributed to his shy, mostly nocturnal behaviour.
From: Trial153
02-Jun-18
That church bear is a beast, congrats to everyone. Even me not being much of a black bear fan thinks this looks like a great bowhunt
From: Trophy8
03-Jun-18
WOW! What a great bear, Congrats to all.
From: JL
03-Jun-18
A nice biggun!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
03-Jun-18
5 2/8 inch front pad, very close to as big as they come in reality land.
5 2/8 inch front pad, very close to as big as they come in reality land.
Christian Alexander with the true giant. 455 lbs, skull went 21 10/16, chest girth of 53 inches and the hide was a relatively short 7 foot 6 inches. Short legs compared to the massive, thick body. If he had matching legs he would have went very close to 8 foot square like other giants we've taken. I know these stats are not the most important part of the hunt but I love the rarity of it and comparison to other big, old bears. Christian had his 18 yr old son Cole with him on the hunt and it was great to see him just as excited for his dad, not jealous.
Plus it was such a saga to get this bear, I have few guys disappointed that he is gone, they all felt like it was their bear for all the hunt days they put in on it. The bait has been designated for the last 3 years as a strict, giant bear kill only bait. We killed a 21 inch 420 pounder off it last year and a 430 lb bear the year before and not a ton of bears on it. Proper kill management pays off. Letting hunters shoot whatever they want, if that includes all colored bears, young boars, lots of sows, especially in a 2 bear limit area is the best way to ruin your age structure, trophy quality in your territory.
From: mitchelk
03-Jun-18
Awesome Mike great pointers there.
From: woodguy65
03-Jun-18
Wow awesome - world class bear! Great color too - hope that's going to be a full body mount. Great memories for dad and son!
From: Rackmastr
04-Jun-18
Quite simply one of the most stunning bears I've seen and sounds like some amazing history with him. The dedication of targeting big bears and the year after year 'plan' that you manage up there makes it pretty obvious why you continue to have success on giants. Congrats Mike!
From: John Kissella
04-Jun-18
Congratulations to the Alexander team! You've got yourselves one truly incredible bear!
From: carcus
04-Jun-18
Wow great bear
From: Mike Ukrainetz
04-Jun-18
Glen Philips
Glen Philips
We also took some other great bears this past week. Here is Glen Phillips with his bear 315 lbs, 18 12/16 head and 6 ft 10 in hide.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
04-Jun-18
Bruce Enger
Bruce Enger
Bruce Enger and his 295 pound boar, 19 3/16 head, 6 foot 9 inches.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
04-Jun-18
Keri Franklin
Keri Franklin
Keri Franklin with his crossbow bear, 280 lbs, 18 6/16 skull, 6 ft 6 inch hide. Keri and her husband Rick drive up from Montana for the hunt in their 5th wheel and Rick is the non bear hunter, observer and sits with Keri. They've also booked for 2019 and 2020. They really enjoy the bear meat and cooked some up on their bbq and I even liked it! They did a taste test between it and elk and the bear meat won with everyone.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
04-Jun-18
Keri with her 2nd bear shot the last evening, 18 11/16 score skull, 6 ft 9 in hide.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
04-Jun-18
Cole Alexander
Cole Alexander
18 year old Cole Alexander with his first bear, a 225 pounder with a beautiful coat.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
04-Jun-18
Cory Enger
Cory Enger
Cory waited 4 evenings for a big one and then on the 5th evening he decided to tag out with his muzzleloader on his first two bears.
From: hdaman
04-Jun-18
Wowza! What a week!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
04-Jun-18
Christian Alexander
Christian Alexander
Here is Christian's first bear before he took the big colored one, a 250 lb boar, 6 ft 9 inch, 18 9/16 head. And that's it for the week! 9 kills for 6 hunters, no wounds.
From: Alabowma
04-Jun-18
Mike would you say that this week is one of the best to book? Looks like y’all had some good action this week!!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
04-Jun-18
Alabowma, not really the best week, we could have killed this number of bears any week. Other weeks the hunters were holding out for only 320+ pounders so less kills. Some guys were even passing on that size of bear going for a 350+.
From: Predator
04-Jun-18
Wow! That Church bait bear is simply incredible. I certainly hope it gets a full body mount - would look simply awesome! Once again, some great hunting results Mike! You do it right up there for sure - simply an incredible place to hunt big bear and your system for getting them killed is second to none.
From: Kuma777
05-Jun-18
Some great bears Mike and gang! Congrats to your team and the hunters.
That Church Bear is a beast! What a beautiful bear! Was kind of hoping to have a crack at him next year, but happy for you and your hunter that you got it done after years of pursuit! Congrats!!
Sure have enjoyed your posts and season updates. Good luck the remainder of the season. Looking forward to next year.
Warm regards.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
06-Jun-18
The free loading family from last year, high expectations and no money!
The free loading family from last year, high expectations and no money!
We are now into our 6th weeks of hunts, just 3 paying clients in camp going after the big rutting boars, then some free loading friends and family come up to clean out the aggressive, ugly bears and clean out the food in the lodge, we go right till the last gasp June 15. And we've been here since April 8th! Long season. Mostly fun though.
Thanks kuma777! We will see you in 2019 and 2020, we are growing your big colored bears right now!!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
09-Jun-18
A small bear herd!
A small bear herd!
Normally the activity on our baits tapers off in June but not at this bait, ole SinBin we call it, still lots of bears! The chance for a big boar is as good in June or even better than any other time. One evening left to hunt with paying hunters, we've killed 3 bears the last 5 days with one big one, will post some more pics soon.
From: hdaman
10-Jun-18
Be sure and post results of family week. It's too early to end this thread!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
20-Jun-18
and I'm back! I got overwhelmed with the last hunt of the year, family and friends invasion and getting in some food plots, no time for bowsite posting. Got 'er all done.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
20-Jun-18
Fred Ebert
Fred Ebert
Fred Ebert with the last big client bear of the year. 360 lbs, 19 12/16 skull, squared just under 7 ft. The last week with Fred, Larry Burns and Mike Sullivan was a bit slower than normal, lots of bears but the big boys just wouldn't come in. I think we need to crop off some of our sows, too many for the big bears to choose from when it comes to rut time. We feed somewhere between 400 and 500 different bears each year so we could do with a few less bears.
For all of our paying customers we ended the season with 30 hunters who shot 34 bears, 30 kills, 4 flesh wounds, 25 males, 5 females, 6 colored bears. 22 of the 25 male bears had skulls over Pope and Young's 18 inch minimum, most of those were well over 18. 12 of those 22 bears also went over 19 inches and 300+ lbs, 3 of them went over 20, 1 over 21. Overall it was a very good year but we've done better on the 300 plus pound body weight part before with more of them going 330+. I always like to see improvement year to year so it was a bit disappointing, probably only for me but it's what keeps me going on these hunts. My plan going forward is to kill only big, 19+ inch, 300+lb boars of any color and big, black only mature sows. Hopefully clear out some of our old, dry sows. I would much rather see a 200 to 280 lb sow taken than a 2 to 4 year old boar of the same weight, we need to leave more of them to grow up. I really enjoy the whole process.
From: JL
20-Jun-18
How do you get a paying hunter who is hoping for a big boar to shoot a smaller sow?
From: Mike Ukrainetz
20-Jun-18
Amy and Tatum
Amy and Tatum
Amy driving the quad out
Amy driving the quad out
Getting stuck in a mud hole! It's a great experience for a couple of mainly city girls.
Getting stuck in a mud hole! It's a great experience for a couple of mainly city girls.
and now some family fun photos, my 13 year old niece Amy and her best buddy Tatum were together when Amy took her 2nd bear in 2 years, a big sow.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
20-Jun-18
Good question JL. I don't get them to shoot a sow, I prefer that everyone holds out for a big boar right to the last day of their hunt but not everyone wants to hold out. Some hunters just want to kill a bear and they end up shooting a 200 to 280 lb boar that may or may not make Pope and Young, they could shoot a sow of the same weight that probably has a better coat and will still square over 6 feet and they will be thrilled with it. The truth is too that even if you hold out for the full 6 days it doesn't mean you are going to kill a big one, even with regular trail cam pictures of it.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
20-Jun-18
Nephew Josh and Uncle Phil
Nephew Josh and Uncle Phil
My 16 yr old nephew Josh got his 3rd bear in 3 years, his biggest one yet, a 200 lb sow. Uncle Phil got put on a big bear bait that we were hunting hard all season, Big Daddy and the biggest boar finally came in for him, 19 7/16 skull, 310 lbs. Phil and I started out outfitting business back in 1992 with our retired school teacher dad as the cook. We had to fire my Dad as the cook, he sucked, and make him the head camp guy and Phil went on to be a Doctor, dumb move, and I continued the smart career of an outfitter! haha
Phil has helped me so much over the years that we gladly helped put him on a big one, still no gimmie as everyone who has hunted with us knows.
From: Mike Ukrainetz
20-Jun-18
Rod and Russell Graham from Black Diamond, Alberta
Rod and Russell Graham from Black Diamond, Alberta
We also donated a youth hunt to SCI Calgary for the winner of the largest whitetail for a youth hunter in 2017. Thirteen year old Russ won it and his Dad Graham came along as a non hunter for the hunt. Great guys who took care of themselves and Russ got a big sow. (Russell's whitetail net scored 174.)
From: Mike Ukrainetz
20-Jun-18
Daughter Brooke
Daughter Brooke
Tough girl, she insisted she was going to be the one doing all the shooting!
Tough girl, she insisted she was going to be the one doing all the shooting!
Every skinned a bear pilgrim?
Every skinned a bear pilgrim?
Happy Hunters!
Happy Hunters!
And the best hunt of all was the one I got to do with my daughter Brooke! She shot the bear with a crossbow and then had to finish it off on the ground in thick brush at 5 yards with my 45-70. All I did was plug her ears. Then she helped me drag it out and skin it back at camp, a 220 lb sow. No boys will mess with her! Makes me so happy!!
Well that's a wrap folks. Love to hear your feedback on everything, what you liked, didn't like, what you want to see for next year? Thanks for following along!
From: t-roy
20-Jun-18
Congrats on another great year, Mike! Some really great looking bears taken.
Sorry to hear about your brother’s poor career choice!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
20-Jun-18
haha, t-roy, yeah he regrets it.
From: hdaman
21-Jun-18
Mike-thanks for following up with the family hunt pics! While every week is unique and fun(including ours), that last week has to be the best! There is nothing better than spending time in the outdoors with your kids. Great outfitter, awesome dad!
From: GhostBird
21-Jun-18
Thanks for sharing your season Mike... always one of my favorite threads.
From: woodguy65
21-Jun-18
Good stuff Mike, thanks for taking the time and effort and posting all the statistics for each bear and hunter, very transparent operation. Its almost hard to look at other threads where there are no stats given.
I don't know how many uncles those kids have but I bet your the most favorite. LOL
From: EliteFan
21-Jun-18
Great season, Mike. Already looking forward to next year. And the year after that. And the year after that.... Congrats to Brooke! Chris
From: Pigsticker
21-Jun-18
Mike, great family pics! The girls reminded of a friend who rode into elk camp with his 12 year old daughter. He was planned to pack out an elk for me but was going hunting the the next week for himself. He said to just call the and his girls would do the packing. She happened to have a sweatshirt that said “Perfect Ten” my comment was that if she could pack an elk out then she had to be at least a twelve instead of a ten. Thanks for raising them right.
From: APauls
21-Jun-18
Awesome year Mike! Would you care to venture an age guess on that church bear? Any irony that Christian killed the church bear? ;)
From: Mike Ukrainetz
21-Jun-18
Haha Apauls, bit ironic yeah. And him and his son are very faithful people too, maybe it helped? I would say Church bear was 10+ yrs old
From: Deerplotter
23-Jun-18
Congrats on a beautiful bear with your daughter. How cool is that!
