MIKE’S OUTFITTING 2022 Alberta Bear Hunt
Bears
Cole Wallitz from Montana
Cole Wallitz from Montana
Mike Ukrainetz's Link
Hi Bowsiters, it’s that exciting time of the year again, Spring Bear Season! I hope you enjoy following along on our adventures up here in Alberta. We have a very full schedule of American hunters who are finally allowed back after two missed spring bear seasons. We are so glad to have you guys back!! Thanks
Cole Wallitz got our first bear of the spring on May the first. It had a 19 11/16 green score skull, a 6 ft 11 inch square hide and weighed 305 lbs. From the skull size and body frame I’m guessing it was a 5 1/2 yr old bear with a somewhat lean body. We had a pretty bad summer 2021 drought and virtually no berry crop so the bears might be a bit on the smaller side this year weight wise, but we will see? It was a great bear though to start the season and Cole’s biggest bear by far. He’s killed a couple on spot and stalk hunts in Montana.
Great start to this year. Congrats Cole. Nice spring bear.
Way to kick it off Mike! Congrats to Cole for a great bear.
Nice bear. Congrats on a great trophy!
Finally…thank u Mike! Looking forward to it , just like every other year! Will be a little different this year, being on this side only. :( Good luck 2 u and your hunters!
Great to see things getting started off finally. Great bearCole. Congrats.
Great to see things finally get rolling for you guys, Mike!
The way this spring has been, I’m surprised to see there’s no snow on the ground, though. Did you guys have a nice warmup?
Great bear to kick things off! Looking forward to my trip with Kyle in a couple weeks!
Awesome bear. Congrats to a good start
The jungly start.
The jungly start.
Lots of chainsaw work is involved to get everything properly cleared out.
Lots of chainsaw work is involved to get everything properly cleared out.
Guides Gerard and Cody working hard.
Guides Gerard and Cody working hard.
Guide Aaron and Cody in the background setting the crib supports.
Guide Aaron and Cody in the background setting the crib supports.
Here’s a series of pictures showing how we set a new bait site. We have every bait set up the same way with the main feature being a crib or wall to get the bears to position broadside for a shot and then several containers for the different bait.
She is shaping up nicely.
She is shaping up nicely.
All done!
All done!
The bears like it already, check out the time.
The bears like it already, check out the time.
At every bait site we have a barrel with just meat scraps, standing up so ravens can’t get in it at least at first, then another barrel has popcorn and bricks of liquorice, it’s laying down so rain can’t fall in and wreck the popcorn. There is also a 3rd barrel just out of the camera view that is strapped to a tree that is full of oats and used cooking grease. Then in the middle of the crib is a cage which holds half a beaver carcass. Bears love beavers so it’s purposely put where the bears have to come directly in front of the hunter to get at it. It’s half a beaver because we cut the beaver in half at the site to add some sweet beaver smell and then the half carcass has the guts hanging out which the bears can pick away at. A whole carcass gets jammed up in it and they can’t really pick it apart, they also can’t walk off with the whole carcass.
We also have a steel honey pot that holds about a quart of honey, it has a small slit in the top of it. It is anchored at about 4-5 feet high on a tree so a bear has to stand up and lick the honey out of the pot. The hunter can then easily determine the sex of the bear while it’s standing, facing the hunter. The final thing is the white topped posts. They are 36 inches tall so if a bear is as tall as the post to his shoulders, shoot it, it’s a big boar. A big sow will only come up to the bottom of the white at 30 inches. That’s it, all set for your hunt!
how far are your bow shots normally.
15 yard average out of a wooden box blind.
Bear proof wooden box blind, 6 ft by 6 ft size
Bear proof wooden box blind, 6 ft by 6 ft size
Two people can sit in it, out of the rain and wind. It seems to hold scent in better too. A non hunter kid or wife can easily come along on the hunt. (Or non-hunter husband, don’t want to be sexist.)
Two people can sit in it, out of the rain and wind. It seems to hold scent in better too. A non hunter kid or wife can easily come along on the hunt. (Or non-hunter husband, don’t want to be sexist.)
Great bait site but the wooden box blind wouldn't work for me as I am too tall and hate blinds.
I remember 30+ years ago being those young guys.(guides). Man, those were fun times!
Tony Modica and Louis Spillman from Louisiana.
Tony Modica and Louis Spillman from Louisiana.
Louisiana boys, Tony and Louis got it done on a couple of nice boars with their crossbows! They were booked for 2020 and finally got here two years later. (We will have the stats on these two bears soon but the bears are lighter in body weight this spring.)
Tony Modica with his 180 lb, 17 14/16 skull bear. It was Tony’s first bear and he was very happy with it. This 3 1/2 yr old bear would normally weigh about 220 lbs. it certainly was a lean summer and fall for feed. (It wasn’t the big one on camera but it’s hard to tell sometimes.)
Here is Louis Spillman with his 265 lb, solid Poper at 18 10/16 skull. It was another lean bear, should have been about 290 lbs at this probable age and skull size according to my historical records. They did not go into the dens very fat! Again Louis was very happy with this bear and surprised when I told him he too didn’t shoot the big one at the bait. We sent him back to the same bait the next evening, he reluctantly went, and then he killed the big one on our $2000 second bear fee. Then he was an even happier guy! Pics coming soon. (It’s a good thing we have a huge guiding territory and lots of bears!)
Louis and his 2nd bear taken yesterday evening. 7 foot 4 inch square hide and a 20 0/16 skull! But only 305 lbs, should have been a minimum of 340 lbs, and more like 360. The coats are beautiful too though, not a rub on a single bear yet.
Wow nice bear congrats Louis!!
Congratulations guys! Beautiful bears! That 7'4" is a dandy!
Dan Wiegand from Illinois
Dan Wiegand from Illinois
Dan is here on his 3rd Mike’s Outfitting bear hunt and he killed this 6 ft 10 inch hide snare bear that had a 18 14/16 skull and weighed 250 lbs. The snare was a wolf snare set by a rancher that was experiencing heavy calf losses so he had to try and kill whatever was doing it. It probably was wolves but the big boars will also kill the ranchers calves so maybe he was the culprit? We were happy to get the bear anyway.
Must be the angle. I thought it looked like Dans bears head was the biggest. Nice bears. Congratulations
Hancock West, I thought the same thing.
Amazing that Tony's bear weighing #180 lbs just missing Pope and Young. You must have some great genetics up there Mike. Where's all the snow??? You must have missed the storms Manitoba got nailed with.
Thanks for the comments everyone! I truly appreciate anyone’s interest in what we are doing here. I don’t mind criticism too.
We did get hit with a pretty big dump of snow but it warmed up enough now that it’s mostly gone. We do need warmer temps to really get the bears going though. I have found that a daytime high of 15+ C or about 55 F is really needed to get the bears moving and hungry again. Our temps have all been below that, now more rain and cooler temps coming up, oh well, the bears will have little to eat except our bait.
Mike, I say it every year, those cribs and marker poles are such a perfect scenario for the hunter to judge and have a shot opportunity.
Congrats on a great start.
Thanks Rich, TREESTANDWOLF! They are a pain to build and some hunters don’t like the look of it all, or feel that bears may shy away from the “wall” of logs but it’s all worked well for us. Bear number 6 is down now for 6 hunters in camp, one double kill and one hunter hasn’t killed but he is after a colored giant that isn’t cooperating. He comes into the bait in daylight but doesn’t stay for long and won’t give a perfect shot.
Mike…Which coloured giant might that be? :)
Off to a great start Mike. I like your set up also. Takes a lot of guess workout of things. Should minimize ground shrinkage for most. Hope that big color phase cooperates for your sixth hunter.
Here's a giant we've been trying to kill for 5 years now. He is probably the biggest bear we have on camera this year out of all 32 of our baits. I think he is 450+ lbs and hopefully a 21+ head, and hopefully we get to kill him. Dino is familiar with that pursuit though, we will see. The big colored is still alive too, we had a clean missed shot on him due to an arrow clipping the edge of the box blind. He is very suspicious of the box now and edging towards going nocturnal too.
Mike. Do you have ground blinds only or also treestands?
We do have some baits that still have our permanent, wooden tree stands that could be used but I've never had anyone use them, even people who said they hated hunting out of a ground blind, if that's why you are asking?
When we first started using ground blinds I didn't like them at all, it didn't feel like I was hunting out in the weather like I should be, I felt like I was trapped in my bathroom looking out the window. But once I had multiple bears up close, some so close I could reach out and touch them I was hooked. The bears had no idea I was there, unless they looked in the window of the blind. I fell in love with hunting baited bears out of a ground blind! Now I couldn't imagine going back to the much less stealthy way of hunting out of a tree stand.
We can't bait deer here and a tree stand is essential, a ground blind would be a ridiculous way to hunt deer with a bow with no bait though. Your rare shot opportunity can come and go in seconds and you don't know exactly where it's going to happen, you have to be able to see a deer headed your way and get set up for it.
Dawson Dudla from Alberta
Dawson Dudla from Alberta
Dawson Dudla got his big bear Thursday evening. 19 5/16 skull, right at a 7 ft square hide but weighing only 270 lbs. The boar had buckshot in his butt and a gimpy back leg. He was on the bait last year too so we were surprised he made it this year with his injury. It was great to get him killed!
Hides look superb so far.
Reason I asked Mike as been a treestand hunter for 40 +years and struggle shooting out of a window from a blind. It's a mental thing I think? Just kinda weird me out at go time.
Looks like you have a great program going. Love it!
A Legendary Bear has fallen! Whoohoo!!
Wow. What a brute, and a color phase no less. Gotta be a happy hunter for sure. Posting the stats later? Congrats to all involved!!!
Great looking bear. Congrats to both the hunter and the outfitter.
Pert near looks like a grizz. Tell us how the hunt went for that old brute please.
Do you set your all your blinds oriented to bait the same?
As in the blinds are set east of the baits due to prevailing westerly winds. And east winds tend to be associated mostly with storms , moisture and erratic in nature.
Or do orientations varies given the terrain and having options for different winds?
Huntcell, great question, if I was bowhunting whitetails I would be all over it. For bears we set our blinds so the setting sun doesn’t shine directly into the blind. So almost never to the east, mostly they are set to the west, or north westish, with a prevailing wind from the west so the wrong way for the wind. For the last several years we were using ozonic scent suppressor machines but they got old and broken, and so I’m trying it without ozonics this year to see how it works. So far the 6 big bears out of 7 kills didn’t seem to care about the wind or an ozonics machine. They wanted to eat and got shot. We will see if the success continues?
Our hunters sit where we have big bears on camera in daylight, regardless of wind direction or almost anything else.
Dan Wiegand from Illinois
Dan Wiegand from Illinois
420 lbs! And it’s a lean bear year.
Fantastic bear. Congratulations to the lucky hunter. Why do you think the bears are leaner this year, especially coming out of farm country? Was it a bad crop year last summer/ fall?
Any idea on skull size Mike?
Man, it's great to see this thread back to its full glory!
Dan Wiegand from Illinois
Dan Wiegand from Illinois
The deep valley he ran down into.
The deep valley he ran down into.
Thanks Midwest, it’s great to have our American brothers back in camp! Canadians were great too though.
Dan is featured here with a Legendary bear that we’ve been feeding for two years, 420 lbs which is just huge for this year due to the summer drought and failed berry crop of last year. Giant frame on him at 7 foot 8 inch square hide and his skull went 20 8/16! We always hope for a true Booner with a 21+ inch head but that is truly a rare beast no matter how old or big they get. This head was big enough. Congrats Dan! This was Dan’s 2nd, 20+ inch colored bear with us, got another one back in 2017 I believe.
The Extraction Crew
The Extraction Crew
The arrow hit a bit low and angled back so the bear went about 300-400 yds down into a deep river valley. It was all hands on deck to get him out of there in one piece. We wanted to get him weighed in camp. We used a capstan winch with the bear in a sled to slide him out. When I say we, I mean, not me but Dan the hunter, along with guides Gerard Van Den Boogard, Aaron Bourassa, Cody Ried and hunter, but also a guide, Dawson Dudla got er done.
7'8 is a beast! Congrats!
Dang, what a bear! Stunning really.
Nice bears guys good luck mike stay safe.
Giant bears!
Congrats on one more stellar year you’ve got going Mike!!!
Mark
Heard you got some snow today and the cold has killed most of the green growth, so bears should be hitting the baits hard? I'll be hunting with Kyle in 1.5 weeks and can't wait. Going for 21" :-) That big chocolate was nice!
Another great year, Mike! That big chocolate is incredible!
What a monster! Well done.
What a giant and what great bear trophy pics!
Thanks for all the kind comments! We feel very fortunate to have killed these big bears, the weather has been horrible for two weeks now, rain, high wind then snow and cold back to more rain. Everything is a muddy frozen mess out there. I have the best guides and a fantastic chef/cook who are working as a team, staying positive and happy. I’m just here to guide the ship, (scout for whitetails mostly.)
We got a new group of hunters in yesterday and we’ve got a new bear in camp already, taking pictures this morning.
The new crew of killers in camp! Four repeat hunters, Jerry Westfall, far left and John Kissella far right with his two sons, Jacob and Nathan and then two new guys Greg Reddmann and Kenneth Wixson. We’ve just completed the second evening of hunting and we’ve got two bears down so far. Pics to come soon!
Jerry Westfall with a bear in the air! This bait site is so open because caterpillars killed off the poplar trees a few years ago. Most of the sites are much more tree covered than this spot.
Jacob Kissella with his first bow killed bear! 19 1/16 skull, 6 ft 10 inch hide and again lighter than normal weight at 260 lbs. (Normal for a bear of this hide and skull size would be 290 lbs.) Jacob was thrilled to get the bear no matter what weight it was, beautiful color too. Congrats Jacob!!
Great bears Mike! Congratulations.
Gosh Mike you guys are having a great year despite the lousy weather. Lots of P&Y boars. How do you account for that, baiting secrets, stand placement, wind, as mentioned earlier great guides??
Hey Gary, thanks for the comments. First off, we have a very productive bear area, lots of bears, lots of farmland feed, it’s relatively easy to access our whole 1200 sq mile guiding territory. Then we have a long term baiting and bear harvest management system. We bait with a huge volume and variety of feed and we only use 30 baits to kill 40-50 bears a year. We feed about 400-500 bears a year. We kill 90-95% male bears and strive to only kill them when they are 5+ yrs old, with 19+ inch heads, some are accidentally killed at 4 or even 3 yrs old but not many. We manage our bears like a big Texas ranch manages their deer.
Crappy weather, too cold, too hot, too rainy and natural food sources becoming available doesn’t seem to slow us down much. Hard working, great guides and hunters who follow our system make it all work very well. Good equipment, trucks and quads that don’t breakdown often and we have backups for everything if it does.
Can’t forget dedicated trail camera use, we spend several man hours every single day going over trail cam pics and choosing the best bait for every single hunter. Plus all of us love doing it, we run a happy, hard working, unified camp!
Sorry for the bragging. We love bear hunting!!
Proof that hard work and a love of your work pays off.
Very impressive Mike. Those smiles on your hunter's faces is your reward for your hard work and dedication. If I'm a big boar living in your area I'd be worried!!
Big one coming into camp soon!
Fun post. About how many bears to you take out of your camp each year?
Inshart, we take around 40 bears a year. But that’s a only a small portion of all the bears killed in our area. Farmers and beekeepers shoot many more than that and hunters in the fall kill a bunch too. They don’t kill many of the big male bears though.
Taken near Corvallis Oregon? Lots of big beavers in the area, some with shoulder pads.
Haha Mike We did that seversl years ago on a bearhunt with a gopher! Too funny and a good way to keep things lite around camp
Nathan Kissella from West Virginia
Nathan Kissella from West Virginia
Ok, here’s the real pic of repeat hunter Nathan with his big bear. The bear came in three evenings in a row before he could get a proper broadside shot. It’s so good when hunters are patient and wait for the perfect shot, no wounding that way. We knew the bear was big but we didn’t realize he was this big! 405 lbs, 7 foot 6 inch hide and a 20 0/16 skull. He was such a fat bear with kinda short legs. Beautiful long haired coat too. Congrats Nate!
Great bear, and not to bad of a beaver either, lol.
Love the color phase on the beaver! ;-)
Kenneth Wixson from Arkansas
Kenneth Wixson from Arkansas
Here's Ken with his bear from last week, 225 lbs, 18 1/16 skull and a 6 foot 9 inch hide, beautiful coat on it too. This was Ken's first bear and he was happy to get it. Congrats Ken!
Our 2nd week of hunts just ended. It was a tough week and I don’t know why, we had 6 hunters who only killed 3 bears. Now, we were only trying to kill the big boars and they became random hitters, reliable bears from last week became unreliable. Nathan killed the one giant and then he could have killed two more big bears, but he was after one bigger than his 405 pounder. Other hunters never saw a big bear. Everyone saw quite a few bears though, 10-20+ in the week each, and each hunter could have killed a big sow but that’s not what they came for. The weather was pretty good, warmer and there are lots of big bears on camera. That’s hunting I guess, sorry guys. Hopefully it’s better next week.
We are back in action, two big bears down with the first evening of hunting with a new crew! This one went aways though…
Four bears in two days now! All big boars and two colored ones.
Wow, love the color of that one.
Congrats to the happy hunters. Mike, are you gonna post the weight and skull size on the blonde. What a great bear! BTW how exactly do you green score a skull. Seems to me after the head is totally cleaned up the measurement would change substantially?
Mooseslayer, I’ll be posting pics of all the bears soon here. It’s been a busy camp. The skulls are measured with calipers for width and length. We are usually within 1/4 inch or so of dry official score. Sometimes they even get bigger, cause we ain’t the experts.
Congrats!! Anything close to 21" yet?
No 21”s yet! We are working on it, we’ve got a few mostly nocturnal giants that are eluding us and not many guys want to burn their hunt going after them when they could go kill a big enough one.
Adam Millburn from Missouri
Adam Millburn from Missouri
Adam shot this big boar on Monday evening which is the first day for hunting for each group. The skull went 20 1/16 and the hide was 6 ft 10 inches. We couldn’t weigh it because he died way down in the Peace River valley but the guides estimated it in the low 300 lbs. The shot was only a bit off, angled slightly back, 4 inches behind the shoulder on entrance and 10 inches back on the exit. It was strange how far the bear went with a pretty good hit. It was a great bear! Congrats Adam!!
Mike Bader from Wisconsin
Mike Bader from Wisconsin
Mike Bader with his giant, brown colored bear. We underestimated the bear on camera but he was 390 lbs, 20 6/16 and a 7 ft 6 inch hide. It also went a bit farther than he should have, 200-250 yds, with a pretty good hit, angled slightly forward on this one.
Congratulations on some great bears guys! They are beauties!
Mike Bader with his 2nd bear.
Mike Bader with his 2nd bear.
Mike with an unbelievable second big, colored bear! A beautiful cinnamon one this time. We had nighttime trail camera pictures of a giant, black one on this bait and we put him on it to try and get it. It is a solid 440+ lb monster and Mike was committed to going after him. Then this colored guy walked in, we didn’t have him on camera, how do you resist? I guess you don’t, two days hunting, two big colored bears! Amazing.
The hide went right at 7 foot square, the skull was 19 9/16 and he weighed 310 lbs. Again a bit of an underweight bear considering the skull and hide size, he should have been around 340 lbs. A great bear nonetheless.
FYI: Booner “Awards” 3 year book is 20” and All-time Booner is 21”. Any bear over 20” is huge. Continued success.
Thanks Charlie for the clarification. I always forget about the 3 year, 20” minimum.
Thanks too John! I know you didn’t get the big one you were after with us but at least your sons got two beautiful bears!
Mike, next time I’m coming alone and leaving Bader at home!! Haha
Some great Bears! Kyle texted me that they shot a 20" bear first night with 3 in camp.
Congrats on the GIANT bears - beautiful colors!
Mike, next time I’m coming alone and leaving Bader at home!! Haha
We certainly can all agree.
Consistency always with Mike and crew.
Great bears!
Yes sir, some great bears!
Mike McNeilly from Nevada
Mike McNeilly from Nevada
Beautiful Bear!
Beautiful Bear!
Mike drove up from Nevada for his bear hunt and shot this big boar. It had the most gorgeous, thick, shiny coat and it weighed 350 lbs, with an almost 20 inch head at 19 15/16. The hide squared out at just under 7 ft, at 6 ft 11 inches. Guide Cody was glad that Mike dropped the bear in his tracks with the rifle because the bait sits right on top of a huge river valley. No hiking this time.
Thanks for the comments everyone!
Mike Bader's 2nd bear
Mike Bader's 2nd bear
Here is Mike's 2nd colored bear on trail camera. We got behind on going through cards and he was on camera before we put Mike on the bait but we hadn't seen the pics yet. Mike was put on the bait to go after a giant, 400 plus pound black one. We saw this picture after he killed it. So this is what a 7 foot square hide bear with a 19 9/16 skull, weighing 310 lbs looks like up close. I would have guessed him at smaller than that from the trail cam photo, he looks light in the shoulders, no belly, not even a big looking head. To me it just reinforces how you need an objective measurement to compare the bear against for size, like our 36" tall post or a barrel or something or a hunter might pass this one up? Pass it up on size at least if you were after a really big one, but probably not pass on him because of it's color.
Tony Vicari from Maryland
Tony Vicari from Maryland
Repeat hunter Tony killed this big boar yesterday evening too. A great bear at 310 lbs, 19 3/16 skull and the hide squared out at 6 ft 10 in.
Don Siemens from Washington tagged out on two good boars in one evening! Happy Hunter and stats coming tomorrow. Sorry about the muddy pics, we should have cleaned them up better.
The bear kills above were Don's first bear kills at 72 yrs old and this was probably his last big Canada hunt. Don's bears went 220 lbs and 230 lbs with 18 0/16 and 18 12/16 skulls and the hides squared out at 6 ft 6 in and 6 ft 8 in. They were both almost certainly 3 1/2 yr olds. It can be difficult to judge just how big the bears are, even with our 36" tall bear measuring posts. A 220 lb boar and a 320 lb boar may only have 1-2 inches of difference in shoulder height and they never stop right by the post, often they never stop moving at all unless they lay down. The ground around the bait can be uneven which can make judging difficult too. Don did his best to figure it out and got two nice bears. Congrats Don!
Don and I had a great evening celebrating his success and I got to hear all about his family and his military service in the late 1960's when he was in a submarine unit. Some fascinating stories. Thanks for your service too Don!
Congrats Dan. 2 fine bear.
Awesome bears! Anyone seen any wolves this week?
Congrats to Don and yourself, Mike! I enjoy following along and remembering past celebrations! You run an amazing outfit!
Thanks Hearst! (hdaman)
And Kevin our guys hardly ever see wolves with the big, wooden box blinds and wall of tree cribs.
Mike, dont want to derail anything here and PM if you think that’s better, but are most guys in camp using mechanicals or fixed blades?
Brijake, it’s probably a 50/50 mix of mechanicals and fixed blade heads. I don’t push for one or the other. As much as I am a fan of mechanicals for accidental gut shots. A fixed blade head will work perfectly fine if you can hit an 8 inch circle in the middle of a bears lungs at 15 yds. If that’s a struggle for you, shoot a mechanical.
Haha, I know bears can move and you can accidentally get a bad shot too but I want hunters to shoot what they like and have confidence with, so it’s totally up to them.
Here’s a crew of killers, Left to right Don Siemens, Tony Vicari, Mike Bader, Adam Millburn, Scott Yeadon and Mike McNeilly. Seven bears down so far, all of them males with 18+ inch skulls. One evening left to hunt for Scott, Mike and Tony, maybe we can hit 10 big bears for the week!?
Mike McNeilly from Nevada
Mike McNeilly from Nevada
Here’s Mike with his 2nd bear, after killing a 350 lb bear on the 2nd day of the hunt he didn’t plan on taking a 2nd bear unless it was even bigger, which was unlikely, well he found one on the last day. 375 lbs, with a 19 5/16 skull and a giant frame of 7 ft 5 inches!
Huge bears! Congratulations Mike
We ended last weeks hunt with 9 bears for 6 hunters, I've got to get pics from one of my guides of one more bear we got on Saturday evening, a big colored one. Of the 9 bears all of them broke 18 inch skulls, 6 went over 19 inches and 2 of them over 20. A fantastic week, especially since the week before was so tough with only 3 kills for 6 hunters. We will see if we can keep the big bear killing streak going. Everyone seems to be really enjoying themselves too, hunters and guides, that's the main thing, happy hunters is what keeps our business going strong not just big bears.
We've now got just 4 hunters in camp, had 2 last minute cancellations. They hunt from Monday through Saturday for a 6 day hunt, we only hunt evenings. They got their first evening of hunting yesterday and one bear was taken. Pics coming soon.
Thanks Mike! Please keep the pics and stories coming! This is such a great thread.
Brooke Ukrainetz from Alberta
Brooke Ukrainetz from Alberta
Our 15 yr old daughter Brooke shot this big boar yesterday evening at last light. She had been dedicated to hunting by herself, she didn’t want any mom or dad backup over four evenings of hunting. And she didn’t need any backup, one perfectly placed arrow put the bear down within seconds, just 15 yds from the bait! The boar had a 6 foot 10 inch square hide, weighed 270 lbs and had a beefy 19 8/16 skull. A great first archery kill. (She killed one with a crossbow and finished it off with a hard hitting 45-70 rifle when she was just 11 yrs old.) No boys will want to mess with this girl! Congrats honey!!
Her bow and arrow setup was a 45 lb Diamond Prism bow with Victory Vap 500 arrows with 75 grain outserts and a G5 Striker 100 grain fixed blade heads. She got a complete pass through with the arrow laying on the ground on the other side of the bear. I didn’t want to risk an expandable head with the low poundage bow. The broadhead is still shaving sharp.
Congrats to Brooke and thanks for passing it on, Mike!
Nice bear Brooke! I love seeing women/young women getting out and shooting stuff. Mike, what percentage of people you run through camp want/save the meat?
Bearman, I would say 75% or more of my hunters would like to utilize the meat but most hunters fly here and it’s a big hassle and expense to get meat back along with hides. Sometimes it’s not even possible with baggage limits and smaller planes, even if you are willing to pay for extra bags. So unfortunately most don’t take it and there is no meat donation place for bears. But we certainly take more than the farmers and beekeepers that legally kill all bears on sight and leave them to rot. For those that want the meat I would say drive up and take it all, or fly and only kill one bear.
Some awesome bears, Mike!
WAY TO GO, Brooke!!! Congrats on a great bear!!
Thanks Mike. When I used to hunt Canada for spring bear, we never saved the meat. I regret that now. Now, our Minnesota fall bears are fabulous table fare.
Travis from Wisconsin
Travis from Wisconsin
Travis is new to hunting and got his first big game animal with us. A good sized sow. Congrats!
Ari from Wisconsin
Ari from Wisconsin
Ari was on his first bear hunt with his dad Mike and they got a beautiful 215 lb boar. Congratulations!
Tony Cipolla from Texas
Tony Cipolla from Texas
Tony also got his first bear this past week. A 235 lb boar with an 18 14/16 skull and a 6 foot 8 inch hide. He got it with a classic 45-70 and iron sights, a perfect gun for a 20 yd shot.
Scott Yeadon from Rhode Island
Scott Yeadon from Rhode Island
Scott had booked his bear hunt for 2020 and had a long, long wait to finally get here for his hunt. He was a very patient, deliberate hunter waiting for the specific big black boar we had put him on, some hunters don’t have the patience. Scott was waiting for 5 days and then this big colored bear showed up, he passed on it but questioned his choice and our bear judgement. We took another look at the video he took and trail camera pictures and gave him the green light to kill it, figuring it must be a 5+ yr old, 19+ inch skull boar.
Scott killed it on his 6th and last day of hunting. The bear weighed 305 lbs, the hide was just under 7 ft and he had an 18 8/16 skull so it was probably a 5 1/2 yr old with a slightly smaller head than usual but maybe a fat 4 yr old? Who knows? But the coat was a beautiful, shiny cinnamon color so Scott was thrilled! We were very happy for him too.
2022 Big Bear Board
2022 Big Bear Board
We’ve taken 23 bears now for 22 hunters spread over 4 weeks of hunting. 20 of them with skulls over 18 inches, 18 going over 18 1/2, 13 over 19, and 5 over 20. Two more weeks to go with several more big bears still on our target list, and the breeding season is rolling in and new boars are popping up. Plus, smart, old, nocturnal giants will now drop their guard and maybe show up in daylight. It’s an exciting time to be in the woods bear hunting!
New group of 5 hunters in today, all bowhunters, hopefully some big bear killers. We are excited to see what we will get this week, got a few giants on the hit list, just need some luck and patience. The weather looks fantastic, highs of 65 to 73 F all week which is perfect for this time of the year, no rain in the forecast. First evening sit starts now!
For many years I've noticed hot/muggy/buggy days are best for daytime movement. Kill some slobs guys.
I agree Bearman! Guide text just came in with this pic…
And another one back at camp, she’s a big one!
TJ Marshall from Louisiana
TJ Marshall from Louisiana
Tale of the Scale
Tale of the Scale
Here’s TJ with his first bow killed big game animal, a 380 lb, 7 foot 5 inch giant of a bear. 19 13/16 skull, bit of a short nose kept the bear out of the 20 inch class. Beautiful, shiny black coat too. A fantastic animal for a very happy hunter!
The hunters are just headed out for their 3rd evening of hunting and all of them are after big, rutting boars! TJ passed up one yesterday that he figured was only slightly smaller than the one he killed, still a 350+ lb bear. He’s after a 440+ pound legend now. Great weather this week, fairly hot and dry, no rain in the forecast.
Congratulations TJ that’s a Huge first bow kill!!!
The boars are being elusive, no more kills after 3 evenings of hunting. TJ almost killed another big bear, his 3rd big bear sighting, he needs to spread the luck around! Everyone is seeing 5-10 bears on each sit. One hunter Scott watched a 3 yr old boar kill a yearling just 3 yds in front of the box blind! Momma bear must have been off with the big boar Scott is hunting because the poor yearling screeched for a minute or more before being killed. Mom didn’t run in to save him. It’s a brutal video.
Would be a viral video Mike, and probably good for the tree huggers/anti-hunters to see.
Mike
Is that the video that's posted on FB? Thank you for posting it. The clip is just plain brutal, and a very strong teaching tool to show folks why we hunt.
Man o man you take great trophy photos.
Brutal video. That’s nature tho
Thanks Charlie on the photos. I know they are exaggerated but it’s what hunters love to show to their family and friends. It’s a fun aspect of the overall experience. I’m showing exactly what every bear measures out at so I feel like I’m really not trying to fool anyone.
I posted the bear killing video on Facebook yesterday and it was going crazy, viral I guess they call it, with over 260,000+ views and hundreds of comments, good reasonable ones and angry, bad ones. Some people were very upset that they were exposed to seeing it, like I was forcing them to watch or something. Others were mad that the hunter didn’t stop the killing. So I deleted it. I didn’t feel like it was giving the positive message of how the bear populations need to be managed or they will kill each other, especially boars killing cubs. “Trophy” boars killing cubs actually and so we should be supported in our bear management, hunting efforts. It’s a crazy, unreasonable world out there and I didn’t want to be the target of some nut. It just wasn’t giving me positive exposure for my business or hunting in general.
Here’s the point I was trying to make to the anti-bear hunting crowd on Facebook. Especially to the anti “Trophy” hunting clueless group, but they don’t like facts and studies that back up the benefits of killing mature animals of any kind.
Blake Patton from Texas
Blake Patton from Texas
Almost 400 with a big white blaze!
Almost 400 with a big white blaze!
We had been after this bear right from the start of our hunts, May 1. He would show daylight pics on camera but just would not come in while a hunter was sitting in the box. We put several hunters on him. I don’t know if he was circling downwind and smelling the hunter or just getting lucky? When Blake first came on the hunt we told him we had a great bait for him to sit with lots of activity and a big colored bear hitting it. He was excited to get out and hunt. The first evening Blake sat for 6 hours and didn’t see a single bear, we were a bit baffled. He stayed committed to hunting the bait though and started seeing more bears on the 2nd and 3rd hunts and then finally on Blake’s 4th evening of hunting the big boy came in at last legal light and Blake made a perfect shot. The bear didn’t go 50 yds and let out an eerie death moan.
The beautiful chocolate boar weighed 390 lbs, with a 7 ft 4 inch hide and the skull went 20 5/16 green score. A fantastic bear for a great guy! (I had to say that because Blake is a regular on bowsite and he’s still in camp.)
The Tall Tale Room!
The Tall Tale Room!
Lots of time to relax and hang out with your fellow hunters in bear camp! We usually only hunt evenings from about 4-5 pm all the way till 11 pm in June.
"{Here’s the point I was trying to make to the anti-bear hunting crowd on Facebook. Especially to the anti “Trophy” hunting clueless group, but they don’t like facts and studies that back up the benefits of killing mature animals of any kind."
A friend of a friend hunted bears in Russia a decade or so ago. They split time between areas that had been hunted regularly and an area that had not been hunted or least not in a great while. One thing he noted was that, in the area that had not been hunted, the sows with cubs were FAR more aggressive than in the area that had been hunted. One way to interpret this is that hunting, which focuses on killing mature boars, had actually influenced bear behavior by reducing aggression tied to predation attempts.
Steve Patton from Texas
Steve Patton from Texas
Blake’s son Steve also shot a whopper of a bear with a matching 20 5/16 skull, same as his dad’s! This bear weighed 375 lbs and had a 7 ft 2 in hide. It took 5 days of dedicated, patient, hunting to hold out for this big boar. Late May and June can be a frustrating time of the year to hunt with your target bear disappearing off camera for days at a time. If you cave and shoot a smaller bear you’ll never get the big one!
Blake is a good guy for sure. Big supporter of P&Y as well. Congrats pop and son.
Steve Patton's Bear 36" tall on the white topped post.
Steve Patton's Bear 36" tall on the white topped post.
Blake Patton's bear at Honey Hole bait
Blake Patton's bear at Honey Hole bait
Yeah Charlie, they were great guys to have in camp! Lots of interesting bowhunting stories told around the table. It's always fun to have a group of serious bowhunters after only the big boars, they all held out. In the first 3 days of hunting we only had one big bear on the ground. After the 3rd day is often when the killing of our 3 and 4 yr old, 200 to 280 lb boars, begins which kills off next years bears. We like to grow the bears to 5 1/2 yrs old, and 300+ lbs before taking them and these guys were fully on board and it eventually worked out for almost all of them. Blake, Steve, Earl Chauvin, TJ Marshall and Scott Murdoch. Earl was the only one to not get a big bear, I always hate that! Sorry Earl. We have too many sows so hunters are always welcome to shoot a big black sow if they don't want to hold out for a big boar. They will weigh 200 to 250 lbs and make a much better rug than a long and lanky young boar of about the same weight anyway.
All five guys rebooked for 2024, we are almost full for 2023, just 3 spots left.
Blake's bear as a 2 1/2 yr old, about 125 lbs, most hunters will pass them up at this size if we ask them not to, but not everyone. He'll be about 28-30" at the shoulder, same height as the average 180 lb sow.
Blake's bear as a 2 1/2 yr old, about 125 lbs, most hunters will pass them up at this size if we ask them not to, but not everyone. He'll be about 28-30" at the shoulder, same height as the average 180 lb sow.
Him as a 3 1/2 yr old, 34" tall at the shoulders, will weigh about 220 lbs, skull might even hit 18", same as the barrel height, he now becomes tough to get hunters to not shoot him.
Him as a 3 1/2 yr old, 34" tall at the shoulders, will weigh about 220 lbs, skull might even hit 18", same as the barrel height, he now becomes tough to get hunters to not shoot him.
Here he is a 4 1/2 yr old, about 290 lbs, skull probably about 18 3/4. Most hunters will definitely want to kill him at this point but we don't want them to, 35" to 36" tall at the shoulders but obviously long and lanky.
Here he is a 4 1/2 yr old, about 290 lbs, skull probably about 18 3/4. Most hunters will definitely want to kill him at this point but we don't want them to, 35" to 36" tall at the shoulders but obviously long and lanky.
At 5 1/2 yrs old, we would have been happy to get him at this point, probable 330 to 350 lbs, 19 1/2 to maybe even a 20 inch head. They are very killable at this age and big enough. 36" shoulder height.
At 5 1/2 yrs old, we would have been happy to get him at this point, probable 330 to 350 lbs, 19 1/2 to maybe even a 20 inch head. They are very killable at this age and big enough. 36" shoulder height.
Then at 6 1/2 yrs old, 20 5/16, 390 lbs, 7 ft 4 in hide,
Then at 6 1/2 yrs old, 20 5/16, 390 lbs, 7 ft 4 in hide,
A better view of him in low light but you can see how big he really was compared to the post, 36" tall on the post, maybe 37" if he had his front feet together. Weird, big ears too!
A better view of him in low light but you can see how big he really was compared to the post, 36" tall on the post, maybe 37" if he had his front feet together. Weird, big ears too!
Side shot of him in 2022. He doesn't even look fat, he had the frame to be 450 lbs and you could see it when he was just 3 1/2 yrs old, long and lanky.
Side shot of him in 2022. He doesn't even look fat, he had the frame to be 450 lbs and you could see it when he was just 3 1/2 yrs old, long and lanky.
At 6 1/2 yrs old the big boars will often become more nocturnal so it's a risk to try to grow them to this size or bigger, plus we do have some other resident hunting pressure and he could get killed by a local. They can also get aggressive to other boars and not allow other 3 to 5 yr old boars to grow up on the bait. If they get by us and live to be 8-10+ yrs old then they can really subdue the activity at the bait by anyone other than sows, cubs, yearlings and 2 yr olds. And they become more and more nocturnal, random hitters and much tougher to kill. I don't like old boars on our baits, they need to be killed at 5 and 6 yrs old if you are running an outfitting operation managed for big bears. This is our 30th year hunting the same area and it's as good as ever for big boars.
Wow Mike that was a great lesson in history of that bear. I appreciate you taking the time to post that. I would never have thought that they would grow that fast, especially in the skull size. This post just confirmed that I have passed multiple pope and young bears holding out for 19” plus. It’s amazing that you can keep track of all those bears.
Year to year pics are a tremendous education. Thanks for posting those.
Congrats to the Patton boys!!
Thanks guys! I have a bit of a bear obsession problem. Blake asked me to send a couple of trail cam pictures to him and I ended up staying up till midnight going over the last 5 years of pictures on that bait! Better than a Netflix evening I guess.
Chayla Astalos from Alberta
Chayla Astalos from Alberta
Missing front leg
Missing front leg
We helped Chayla kill her first big game animal with a rifle. A giant 20 8/16 skull, three legged boar. 375 lbs even with the one front leg missing, probably would have weighed 400 lbs with all four legs. An amazing 7 1/2 yr old bear!
An interesting note on this bear is that he was last seen on this bait in 2018 as a 3 1/2 yr old! The bait had attracted two other much bigger boars during that time and so he completely left the bait for 3 years. Both of those bears were eventually killed, they weren’t easy to kill, and then he came back.
375 lbs
375 lbs
5 1/2 inch wide front pad, new camp record!
5 1/2 inch wide front pad, new camp record!
Chayla’s bear had the biggest front pad I have ever measured at 5 1/2 inches wide. (Measured straight across from the edge of the pad to the other edge of the pad with a non flexible steel tape, not wrapped on the pad.) It was also split apart and one claw was missing like it had been bit hard by another bear! He was probably in a fight, what amazing animals to be able to survive like that! He only had one good front leg and it was all messed up. Only having the one front leg for 4 years probably made the paw grow bigger than normal too? Who knows?
The next biggest pad I’ve measured was 5 3/8 inches on a giant bear about 20 years ago when we weren’t weighing them. Maybe a bears front pad track measures bigger on the ground with the weight of the bear pushing down on it but even then I’ve never seen a track go over 5 1/2 inches. I’ve heard of people claiming to measure a 6 inch black bear track but I’m sceptical to say the least, don’t know what you guys have seen?
Mike. I have only measured a few pads and the biggest was right at 6". The bear was "I think" 19 years old and we didn't get a weight but I'm just guessing about 650# live weight. A 5.5" pad is big! Tell her congrats. Great bear.
Such great information, pics and stories Mike! Thanks for posting!
Bearman, I can’t say I’ve ever seen anything close to 650 lbs!
Thanks Dino!
Here's a pic Mike. A monster .
Congrats Blake!! One more for the 20+" trifecta this year! Great bears by all the hunters!
Congratulations Chayla! A great big and unique bear for sure!
Miguel Garza from Texas
Miguel Garza from Texas
Miguel or Mike shot this big boar the first evening of hunting with the new group. Another 7 footer at 7 ft 3 inches, 20 8/16 skull and 390 lbs! We didn’t have this bear on camera, we were after a 330 pounder when this new bear with a notched ear walked in, gotta love the rut.
Manuel Esquival from Texas
Manuel Esquival from Texas
Manuel shot his bear with a recurve bow and had his son along on the hunt. The bear’s skull went 18 11/16, hide was 6 ft 4 in and we estimated the bear weighed about 240 lbs.
Everyone getting in on the skinning
Everyone getting in on the skinning
Luis Cardenas with his 310 lb boar, 19 9/16 skull and a 6 ft 11 inch hide.
Luis hunted with us back in 2013 with a group of guys and he commented that we’ve done so many improvements since then, not only with the lodge but especially on our big bear management.
In 2013 we had 25 bear hunters who only killed 8 bears with skulls over 19 inches, and only 7 bears weighing over 300 lbs, now almost 3/4’s of our hunters get bears with heads over 19 in and weights of 300 lbs or more.
Our lodge, all the comforts of home. We run all of our hunts, Spring and Fall, out of this place, 4-6 hunters per week on all of our hunts, 6 per week for 5 weeks in bear season.
Our lodge, all the comforts of home. We run all of our hunts, Spring and Fall, out of this place, 4-6 hunters per week on all of our hunts, 6 per week for 5 weeks in bear season.
Jason Myers from PA
Jason Myers from PA
Jason has hunted with us several times for different species and he decided to come back with his son for a bear hunt. They were having fun watching bears and in no hurry to shoot one unless it was big. Then a big one came in and Jason made a perfect shot on a 345 lb, 6 ft 11 inch bear with a 19 5/16 skull. His son Zander got to film the whole thing, an exciting father/son moment!
The guides who make it all happen, Gerard, Cody and Aaron
The guides who make it all happen, Gerard, Cody and Aaron
Great "annual" thread! Very happy its back! Congrats on some fantastic bears.
Tip of the hat to all the bear guides out there... the guys who basically burn there clothes at the end of the season! LOL Good on 'em all!
Manuel and Manuel from Texas
Manuel and Manuel from Texas
Manuel decided to participate in the sow killing part of our bear management program for his 2nd bear. We have too many of them and just like deer, the female numbers need to be controlled too. This was an average sized sow at 200 lbs on the scale, 17 3/16 skull and a 6 foot 5 inch square hide.
His boar had a 6 ft 4 inch hide. This is exactly why we encourage our hunters to hold out for a big 7 foot, 19+ inch skull, 300+ lb boar, it’s a bear that is big in every respect. Or kill a big, mature sow instead of a 3 or 4 yr old boar. The sow will have a better coat than a lean young boar, the sows have a fatter body, with shorter legs so they make a beautiful rug and they weigh almost as much as a 220 lb, 3 1/2 yr old boar and close to the weight of a 4 1/2 yr old boar. Let the 4 1/2 yr old boars grow for just one more year and at 5 1/2 yrs old they have reached most of their maximum lifetime size. They are then at a perfect size to take and they are very killable.
Cody Fairchuk from PA
Cody Fairchuk from PA
The happiest guy in camp with another mature sow, 6 foot square hide. Cody hunted for a big boar for 4 evenings in a row and was entertained by dozens of bears, he said he was having a blast but he did want to go home with a bear. He had never taken one before, or even seen so many bears before this hunt. We encouraged him to kill a sow on his last day to hunt, the 5th day, so he did and he was thrilled, so were we!
When I was taking pictures of Cody with the bear he had an ear to ear grin and he said, “I might have killed the smallest bear in camp but I’m also the happiest guy in camp! I’ve never done this before and may never get to do it again. I’m so happy to be able to take a bear with my bow. Thank you so much!” What a great attitude. Congratulations Cody!!
Big Bear Board
Big Bear Board
Well, I think that’s a wrap for bear hunting for this Spring. The guides might still take a sow or two but otherwise we are all done. What a fantastic year of spring bear hunting!
We had a great mix of hunters, from new hunters to the very experienced. Every week was a different group of people with different camp dynamics. All very nice people, no bad hunters or aholes.
THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HUNTED WITH US! We hope we earned your hard earned dollars.
Thanks to my hard working guides too, Gerard Van Den Boogaard, Aaron Bourassa and Cody Reid and to our fantastic cook/chef Josh Kucharick. They all busted their butts to give everyone a great hunt!
Our bear killing stats are all posted on the Big Bear Board, nothing to hide. Every hunter could have easily killed two bears and we only had two wounds this year too.
33 hunters, 34 kills, 6-2nd bears, 6 no kills.
31 male, 3 female.
29 bears with skulls over 18 inches.
27 over 18 1/2”
21 over 19”
9 over 20”
24 bears weighed 250+ lbs
18 over 300 lbs
9 over 350 lbs
3 over 400 lbs
6 colored bears
Chef Josh Kucharick with dinner for this fall.
Chef Josh Kucharick with dinner for this fall.
For anyone interested in a great bear hunt, we've got 6 spots open, June 9 to 16 in 2024. $5500 USD hunt cost plus 5% GSTax and a $330 license, plus $2500 for a 2nd bear. Feel free to call or text me at (780)864-7736 for more info!
