My wife, Jamie My daughter, Marissa 18 My son Peyton turns 18 on June 5. My daughter Whitney 12 And myself. And my good friend Russ Collard
Tonight was our first night hunting.
We sat on the ground and immediately had a sow and 2 cubs of the year come in. Then we had a small boar come in. And then 2 more cubs of the year and a sow. These ones were different than the first.
Peyton sat by himself and saw 7 bears. Had one come to 5 yards. My daughter Marissa had one come to 2 yards in their blind. My buddy Russ is taking her for me so I can sit with my wife and 12 year old.
This is a 6 day hunt. And we are about 5 hours north of Saskatoon.
Enjoy!
We sit till 10:05 tonight.
The forecast looked like it was gonna clear up. But now it shows rain through Friday. So, we’ll put our rain jackets on and deal with it!
About 7:15, a nice, Beautiful bear started to come in. He poked his head out of the brush, and then backed away.
Around 7:28, he decided to come back and he was committed. He came in and started to eat.
I slowly handed the rifle To Whitney, and got her settled and then waited for the angle to turn.
She has a whitetail hunt in Montana this year. As well as a spike elk tag in Utah. I’ll do my best to make sure she’s successful
As hunters, sometimes we experience the lowest of lows. And my wife Jamie just experienced that.
But sometimes….more rarely, we also get the highest of highs after the lows have hit.
Was last night at this morning one of those times when failure and success meet in the middle?
Keep in mind this is just a brush pile we are sitting behind. So we’re totally exposed just like a tree stand.
The weather this week has just been horrible. This morning is the first time I’ve see. The sun since Sunday. And now it’s raining again.
Last night wasn’t so much rain. Yes it was misting a lot of the night. But not a full on rain.
Around 6:00, the same sow and 2 little cubs we’ve been seeing came back in. They hung around and gave us a show for an hour a half. Shortly after they left, another, smaller bear came in. He ate for awhile. Then he quickly bolted out of there….
So now we are hoping it’s game time….and I see a beautiful blond bear coming. But he just doesn’t make the size cut for us.
He eats for awhile and then he bolts too. That gets my heart ready. I see another bear, black, Coming from my right.
He walks up To our blind, looks at me, And bolts. He was about 6’ away.
He circles the bait, and comes Back in to the bait and ears for awhile. After he left, it was still and quiet. And COLD!! The girls were frozen, I was getting cold and daylight was fading.
As I sat there, I knew in my heart a big one was coming In tonight. As hunters, we just sometimes “know”. And last night, I knew.
And then my wife nudged me. She could see a big bear slowly approaching. I couldn’t quite see him from my angle. And then he walks slowly past the bait, and out of our lives….but….I've seen this movie a time or 2. I assured my wife, he’ll be right back.
About 5 minutes later, Here he came. Walking a trail Directly behind the bait coming straight in. He makes his way to the bait, and then the butthole laid down.
It felt like an eternity and daylight was fading quickly.
Finally, the bear went to look for something else to eat. And he offered a fantastic quartering to us shot. I figured my wife’s 7 SAUM with 168 grain Barnes all copper bullet would bust his shoulder and continue into the goods.
I told her to go ahead and shoot him there.
And this my friends, is a mistake I’ll Never make again.
We had a lot of mixed signals happening. There were two big crashes, then silence. Follow by NO death moan. It was close enough to the guide coming to get us, we just waited.
Once he got there, we went in with headlamps and couldn’t locate him Right away. So we said, see you tomorrow.
And then we began the crappy sleepless night.
We got to the bait, and we began to go the direction we knew the bear went. And he was headed towards all the muskeg. For those who don’t know what that is, it’s crap. Pure crap. Mossy, water, thick with willows and aspens and small Pine trees. And WET.
We couldn’t locate anything.
No blood, no direction. Nothing.
Finally, Russ, who’s probably the best tracker and houndsmen I’ve been around finds a drop Of blood, and a chunk of bone.
And we begin a series of blood trailing, losing the blood, doing grids and circles, And Russ finding blood. This carried on for an hour and a half.
I felt, like this bear wasn’t dead. Everyone else felt the same.
We kept searching and searching and this is NOT easy country to be searching in. The level of THICK is indescribable.
After 3 hours, we’d run out of anything to really follow. The outfitter and I agreed that this bear, unfortunately, isn’t dead.
He looks at me and says, I think we’re done. And my wife and I agreed.
Just as we were calling it, we hear Russ up above us, BLOOD.
So we go up there, and he’s on the move with a guide. And they’re moving quickly. We’re on blood and deep tracks in the soft soil.
I looked at the other guide and said, this blood looks fresh. Like Right now fresh.
And then they start hollering at us to get the shooter up there. So we take off down the hill towards the bear. Armed with shotguns.
The bear was very much alive. Not going anywhere quick, but alive.
She pumps the gun and hammers him again. He drops, and it was all Done.
Her fate of, failure and success, had a rendezvous this morning.
I believe we’re all in shock still.
Way to persevere Jamie! And as JB said "her smile says it all!"
Sometimes, hunts go this way. Tomorrow is the last day and we’ll see what’s in store for us!
We’ve struggled with weather really bad on this hunt. Evening sits have been in the rain. 40 degrees. Feels like hunting baited bears in April really. The good part is, we are seeing bears. Just not bears we want.
Here’s to our last night. Marissa is ready to roll.
She raised her rifle….
On Thursday night, Peyton wounded a bear. This outfitter has a blood policy. Which I understand and am okay with. We see it all the time.
I asked the outfitter if Peyton could keep hunting in my place. And he graciously said yes.
I’m glad Peyton got it done tonight. He was down in the dumps, like we’ve all been there before.
We left Saskatchewan at 5:00 yesterday morning. Made it to great falls Montana last night. We actually got there 3 hours quicker than I had planned.
The Celtics won last night so that was just a bonus to the trip.
Some hunts go like this one did and that’s okay. We spent 10 days in close quarters with each other as family and friends. My daughters and wife got their bears. My son got his. And that’s what was important to me.
As I’ve gotten older, and have began passing the torch to my children, there is an unexplainable feeling that comes over you as you watch your kids grow up and start to be successful on their own.
It’s truly the pleasure of my life.
Let’s Go C’s!
