Contributors to this thread:
Zbone's Link
With these bear backup gun threads, anybody remember hearing of Bart Schleyer and his mysterious death 20 years ago this month in the Yukon? Internet search provides quite a few articles on his life and death including this one:
"The puzzling death of Bart Schleyer in the Yukon Territory of Canada
Bart Schleyer, disappeared September 14 2004, Remains found October 3, 2004, Reid Lakes, Yukon Territory, Canada"
https://www.strangeoutdoors.com/mysterious-stories-blog/2017/10/22/bart-schleyer
Great article. He was definitely one hell of a woodsman. Tragedy that he died so young.
He hung out with another legend - Paul Schafer. Both gone too soon.
i remember hearing about this. hard to believe it has been 20 years.
anyone know what the cause of death is listed as? if listed as a bear attack, the evidence doesn't support it from what i gather.
they say in the article "Murdered by the Russian mafia or another assailant" as a possible cause of death, but no motive. is the russian mafia known to be in such a remote place of canada? why?
Interesting guy to say the least. Ultimate adventure hunter, photographer, etc. Hung out for a bit at a tiny Alaska airport in ‘97. Wish I could have spent more time listening to his stories.
Bowonly (Rich King) knew him really well. He should chime in.
Thanks for posting, very interesting read.
I will. Bart was a beautiful man. A private man. And a good man. It pains me to see his memory drug through the media over speculation about his death. Also, it pains me to see some people who try to garner some personnel recognition by associating themselves with the legend they try and create. I certainly did not know him as well as his family and his many good friends who all loved him, but I knew him well enough to believe he would be appalled by all the notoriety. I, for one, wish he be allowed to rest in peace.
Bart was a friend of mine and Susans. We met him through MBA (Montana Bowhunter) and BOW (Bowhunters of Wy). He shared many stories with us and we always exchanged stories in Christmas time letters. BART WAS HUMBLE TO A FAULT. If he had killed a whopper of anything he would turn the story around to the dink you had killed that year. He sent us the video of his brown bear hunt, which is incredible. How many people go into an alder thicket in the middle of the night after a gut shot brown bear? I have a dozen of his arrows he made for BOW and also a plaster grizzly foot cast he gifted to Susan and I. Strictly traditional, really cool self bows sometimes in his pics. Bart was the real deal..........Mike
There are a couple treads running now over on the LeatherWall, one real time as events unfolded 20 years ago...
Nobody is disrespecting Mr. Schleyer, and by all aspects a captivating man, a man one with nature, it's just that people are curious as to what really happened to him exactly 20 years later... More of a memorial to a fascinating man that live trapped Siberian Tigers and Grizzly bears but is mysteriously found dead in the Canadian wilderness while bowhunting moose... Heck, there are those still trying to determine what happened to JFK... There is no disrespect here...
Agree with Zbone. Something just doesn’t add up.
I don't see it as disrespect....
It's a lesson to us all on these solo hunts, it makes you slow down and think. I just spent 8 days solo. When I had my bull down, I consciously thought, "Slow down....be careful" Cut an artery 6 miles from the TH solo...and stuff can go sideways.
Same with packing the meat....I used my trek poles and took it slow
Who knows what happened to Mr Schleyer- he could have had a heart attack....or any number of medical emergencies.
He died doing what he loved....we can all be so lucky.
