Bear down! Alrighty gents what a trip... Started out horrible. Headded out around 6am on our way north to Niagra Falls to cross the border, on our way to Twin Bear camp in Kenabeek, ON. Once we reached customs our group was subjects to random background checks. Apparently the customs officials in Canada were not in a good mood that day because they decided to send 5 out of our 11 people home. We didnt know that the restrictions had changed and they were sending back anyone with a drinking related offence i.e. DWI's, no matter how long ago they were. It was a shocking blow but once they tell you your out, your out, so we had to re-group. Just a reminder to think twice if your ever considering gettin behind the wheel after a late night, it will come back to haunt you. So, we had to come back across the border and pulled into a wendy's parking lot and did some re-arranging and had to cram the remaining 6 guys and gear into one pick-up and trailer. Things were tight and we kinda looked like the beverly hillbilly's going north, but we had to do what we had to do. After this the rest of the trip up went relatively smooth even though those were the longest 8 hours of my life riding in the middle of the back seat of that truck... After it was all said and done we finally pulled into camp around 9:00pm friday night, 15 hours after we left home. We threw all the valuables into the cabin and passed out hard that night. Next morning was all about getting gear figured out and getting stands hung. That afternoon everyone else shot the guns to make sure they were on, while I did the same with my bow, just for good measure. The first to strike was our buddy Casey, this great looking 225 lb. bear came in right at last light the first night and he figured that it would make a great first bear for him, we all agreed. Casey's bear shot with his CVA Kodiak .50 cal. Sunday morning was full of skinning, butchering, and picture taking, then it was back out to the tree. I never seen anything the first night and by 7pm on sunday night I was getting a bit frustrated, when I looked up and out of no where there was a beautiful, big bear standing just 21 yards away. My decision of shooter came without any deliberation, and when he put his head down behind some grass, I was given just enough time for me to stand up and grab my bow. The big boar then continued walking through my opening and when he angled towards the log tripod where the bait was hung, I released the arrow. It struck hard. The bear took off like lightning into the bush, he ran ten yards straight to the left, then did a 180 and ran ten yards to the right and piled. Its hard to explain the erie-ness (sp?) of a death moan, but when they do it 4 times just 25 yards away from you, it'll send chills up your spine. Upon arriving back at camp, I learned the one of my hunting partners, Brock, also shot one that night with his muzzle loader, so when Him, Casey, and Rick (the outfitter) returned with Brock's bear, we went down and picked up mine. Brock on the left with his 200lb sow, shot with his TC .50cal. Rick in the middle, and me on the right with my 300lb boar, shot with my trusty Elite! We got them hung, skun, and butchered, and it was later that night when we got news of another bear down. Off we went to bring home Travis's bear. Traps bear, 260 lbs shot with a .25-06.After Trap's bear was killed the action cooled off big time for a couple days until our captain, Keith, came home with some more good news. Keiths bear, a 160lb male shot with his .280. I must say that as bad as the trip started out, we really made the most of it. It was a pleasure to share the camp with these fellas and had a very successful week of killing bears. We ended up killing 5 total with only one poor sap going bearless:p, 50 hours of treestand time last week just wasn't enough for my good buddy Al to get it done, but hes already signed up for next year! Now its time for some whitetails in just a couple months!!
Temps were all over the place! 90's in the beginning of the week then down into the 60's near the end, it was nuts! Thanks again Tony!
He's a stud no doubt (the bear). Nice job Al and congratulation's!! Get him measured, should make books.
Congrats on the bear Al.. glad to see you got on top of one. Sorry to hear about the trouble while getting into Canada though. Nice pics.
