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For those hunters that just want to make sure they get a bear we do let them shoot smaller ones, usually a selected big, old dry sow, beyond her breeding years. Or if a bait has an overpopulation of sows we will be less selective of just which one it is. Lots of bears here! So many that they let hunters take two bears each, 2nd one on a trophy fee.

—Jim

You guys are sure to knock down a few giants this year!

Best of luck

Mark

Thanks for the encouragement standswittaknife! No LIKES to count to pump me up each day, just crickets here. chirp, chirp. haha

Another bear judgement tool we've used for tree stands is to cut a log 5 feet long and lay it on the ground at the bait. NO sow will ever be as long as that log measured as a straight line nose to tail as she stands in this picture. For us EVERY boar that is 5 foot will make Pope and Young solidly, 18 1/2 plus skull. A 36 inch stake or a standing barrel works better out of a ground blind like we use now.

Most terms that experienced bear hunters use to describe a what a big boar looks like are subtle, subjective and confusing to novice bear hunters and even sometimes to themselves! Before we used barrels and white topped posts I had guys in camp that had killed over 20 bears who accidently killed big, fat sows, some were dry but others were breeding age. Not a big deal in the overall population but if you really want to properly manage the bears that come to your bait site it becomes a problem over time reducing the quality of your hunt.

The 5 repeat hunters in camp have seen lots of bears and 3 other probable 300+ lb bears have been passed up in search of giants. Hopefully it pays off?!

(We measure the square of a bears hide by measuring the hide laid out on the ground, tip of the nose to the tip of the tail and then measure claw tip to claw tip across the front legs and then it's the average of those two measurements. No stretching. The skull is out of the hide, paws are in it, which actually gives a slightly smaller measurement than if you took the paws out.)

That blonde bear is a beauty! Hope a big mature boar in that color is roaming around also!

Can’t wait to escape the concrete jungle, and spend some time out in your neck of the woods. Wishing you, your guides, and all your hunters a happy and successful season. See you in a couple of weeks!

Kind regards,

Scott M

And thanks rattling junkie! Good luck on your hunts too!!

The measure of a bears hide gets thrown around a lot and it can be done very differently which can greatly affect the numbers, some guys just measure the length tip of the nose to the tip of the tail and still call it the square of a bears hide and others do it to the base of the tail making it 3 to 6 inches shorter and then paws in or out make a difference and if it's skinned for a lifesize mount not going all the way up the neck makes it shorter for width. I always like to clarify exactly what we are measuring, glad to hear you do it the same.

Three time repeat hunter, Nick Snoke, finally gets a big one with us! This bear was passed up by a couple other hunters but Nick recognized the bear for what he was, a mature but lean, lanky boar. Squared just under 7 feet, 305 lbs and a 19 7/16 skull! Definitely an older boar. We are sure getting weights, skulls and hide size all over the map this year. It's like wilderness area bears where you just can't tell how old a bear is from the 3 measurements. Kind of weird for us.

Dave didn't want his pic with any bears for fear of being Cecil'd. It's a shame that hunters have to be worried about that nowadays but it's a real fear especially if you are a high profile guy. The Evil, White Trophy Hunter is the latest fake news that can go viral and change a guys life and unfortunately even change world wide hunting regulations. And it can mess with an outfitters business too, where you can get your social media accounts hacked into and shut down.

Thanks kakiat kid! Glad you are enjoying it.

Keep the pics and stories rolling!

Mark

How old does a child need to be to hunt in AB? I’ve been bear hunting in MB and ON a few times several years ago, but now have a 12 year old son that I’d love to bring up. I’ve been following this thread every year since you started it. Looks like an awesome time!

Our group is looking forward to our trip. Only 24 more months. Feels like tomorrow!

and Thanks hdaman! Love to have you back!!

This bear has an awesome looking chest blaze too.

Our main mission is killing big, old male bears. Our secondary mission is now reducing the population of bears or at least the numbers of sows on our baits. We have been feeding these bears heavy for 10 years now and the numbers of bears on our baits is crazy, hard to keep up with feeding them, and the number of sows has now made it more difficult to kill the big boars. They just have too many sows to choose from when the breeding rolls around. We encourage everyone to hold out for a big male but if you want to make sure you take a bear home, we say pick out the biggest sow and take her! The big sows will weigh as much as a 3 or even a 4 year old male bear and have a nicer coat, fatter body and shorter legs which is best for a rug anyway. Skulls are close to the P and Y minimum, some over it, and hides square over 6 feet. So, THANKS BLAKE!

Anyway, patience on Shane's part did work out with him getting this huge bear. 430 lbs is SO rare and the hide squared out at a giant 7 foot 6 inches! The biggest one of the year for both measurements. Then looking at the head we all swore the thing would break 21 inches, if not well over. We killed a 21 10/16 last year and it looked just as big. Well, it went 20 1/16, big for sure but a bit of a bummer for the big head aficionados. It just shows too that you certainly can't guess head size on a live bear when us experienced guides can't even guess it right on a dead one laying right in front of us!

Dan continued to hold out for a big boar but it just wasn't meant to be for him. It was really great to see Dan stay positive and happy throughout the hunt, never losing faith and having a great time. Some hunters get pretty sour after just 2-3 days of hunting with no big bear. Thanks Dan! We'll get you a big one next time!!

We have such a big guiding territory that I can reward my guides by allowing them to hunt for themselves on their days off or trade days of hunting for work like Gerard did the last week. These guides love to hunt and it keeps them sharp and sometimes humble when they get to pursue their own personal hunting. Gerard also got to bring a group of family and friends up for the last 5 days, they had a blast and all worked to get the end of the season wrapped up.

For some stats on our hunts we hosted 29 hunters who shot 32 bears, 27 kills, 5 minor wounds. 20 of the 27 bears killed had skulls over 18 inches, the other 7 bears were all females shot on purpose, no young males were killed and no small or female colored ones were killed. 13 of the 20 bears had skulls over 19 inches with 3 of them going over 20 inches, no 21+ inchers were killed this year. Then for weight on a scale, not estimated, 14 bears went over 300 lbs, 6 of them over 350 lbs and 3 over 400 lbs. This was an average year for us, we've done a bit better and a bit worse. The really great part is that we have a ton of young up and comer boars, 200-280 pounders, including some beauty colored ones that will be big, beasts in the next year or two. I really believe we will soon get to a place where we can kill 20-30 boars year after year, all weighing over 300 lbs and all 19 plus inch heads. Our guide area is 1200 sq miles and we can access every part of it spreading our 30 bait sites all over, never over hunting any of it and leaving portions of it unhunted by us. This was our 27th year in the same area and the hunting is as good as ever, if not better!

We also had a ton of fun, lots of laughs and too much good food made by our chef PJ. SEE YOU ALL NEXT YEAR!! HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE THREAD?!! LOVE TO GET ANY FEEDBACK, GOOD OR BAD. THANKS FOR FOLLOWING ALONG.