Something clicked with the outfitter he choose. He asked all the right questions and got upfront answers. My buddy is a master baiter in his own right having extensive experience hunting Wisconsin . Him and his 16 year old daughter both scored again last year during Wis fall bear hunt. As of now Wisconsin does not have a spring season. But I am working on that. With his decesion on an outfitter made he had to get cracking and get a passport. That went quickly, like less than two weeks. So he went up to Manitoba three weeks ago with a car hauler size trailer of diverse bear bait. Of course the outfitter provides all the bait and prebaits them weeks ahead! As I said my friend is a master baiter in his own right as is this outfitter who specializes on putting clients on big bears. Neither has an ego that prevents them from sharing and learning from the other. So they collaborated on this adveture as big bear enthusiast, more so than just client / guide.
They spent 4 days opening up bait sites from previous years. Was a feeling out process as they got to know one another. Put up two man ladder stands. for the most part, for 15 yard BOW shots .
Then the waiting began, about a week latter the photos started coming in. My friend had a big interest in shooting a color phase bear as they are rather rare in Wisconsin, they become more available the futher west one goes in North America and Manitoba is known for producing a varity of color phase bears. The guide has a number of them in his concession but generally they are not the size of bear that he targets. And he kept telling my friend about the potential for a real giant but in BLACK! And after the guide started sending him pictures of the baits being hit by a number of these behomoths, a real dilemma developed with my friend. color?? or big?? BIG or color, why cant there be a big colored?
3 weeks past and the time to Hunt, finally arrived and my friend rolled in to camp with another large trailer load of bear treats. Again he didn't have to bring anything but for him its all about the hunt, the baiting , the quest for the biggest bear available.
And being as much a part of it as possible.
the behavior of the Manitoba bears are not like the high pressured area he hunts in Wisconsin. In his area of Wisconsin, its not uncommon to have 5 or more hunters, placing baits on the same sq mi . The competion is intense, the bears have a lot to choose from and generally become nocturnal due to all the humans tromping around. Not so on t he Manitoba concession, it is virtually untouched by local hunters as there is not much interest by the locals to hunt bears and there is such a large land area to spread the pressure to almost nothing. Just the same the guide puts miles between his baits.
So his hunt is on l, and wouldn't you know it a brown phase bear shows up the first day. He almost let an arrow go but those trail cam photos of the giants stopped him. A couple more days go by, and so da a couple 18 inch plus 300 pound bears. Second guessing that d axiom " dont pas the first day what ya would shoot on the last day". Well patience is rewarded when big boy shows up.
With so many archery deer, turkey and bears under his belt, my friend says he had a hard time keeping it together when this brusier walk in.
Will post the official number in a few months when he gets it scored.
