Trophy Bruins of Northern Manitoba
I have been on a mission to harvest a black bear with my bow for sometime. I have taken two with a rifle and have also harvested a 9 foot Brown Bear in Alaska.
In the 90�s I hit a very large black bear in Ontario with an arrow. I hit the bear in the shoulder and didn�t kill him. In the spring of 2005 I bow hunted in Saskatchewan. It rained and the wind blew (30-40 mph) the entire week I was there. I saw a couple of bears, but didn�t harvest one.
I was looking forward to giving it the old college try again this year. I decided to hunt with Trapper Mike�s Outfitting Service, located in Northern Manitoba. I had sent two friends to hunt with Trapper Mike in the fall of 2005. They both harvested bears and each saw over 20 bears during the week. Randy Jorgensen, assistant editor of Woods-n-Water and a long time friend of mine had previously hunted with Trapper Mike and had nothing but great things to say about his hunt.
Coming along on this trip with me was Roger Rosma from Charlevoix and Craig Taylor from Davison, Mi was also hunting that week. Neither Roger nor I knew Craig, but he sat next to me on the flight from Winnipeg. After talking for a few minutes we discovered that we were both hunting at Trapper�s Mike.
Trapper Mike was a retired Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman. He first started bear guiding in the late 1980�s. His son Blain was his partner and they have taken some very big bears over the years. Unfortunately Mike passed away two years ago. Blain and his mother Ann continue to run the outfitting business.
I was really looking forward to this trip. Ann informed me that last year they took two bears that were over 7 feet in length, which means they would weigh in at over 500lbs. My hunt was going to start the week of September 10th and run through September 17th, a full 7 days of hunting.
I arrived at Thompson, Manitoba in the early afternoon on the 10th. My home for the next week was going to be the basement of Ann�s home. Their basement has been turned into a very nice bunkroom for the hunter�s to stay in during their hunt. One room has four beds and a bathroom, and the other room has two beds and its own bathroom. There is also a TV, wood burning stove and several mounts on the wall, including a Dall Sheep and a Wolverine.
While getting ready for the afternoon hunt Ann had told me that they had 12 hunters previous to our arrival. They had harvested 10 bears, two hunters had one wounded and the other had missed. She told us that the previous week it had gotten very warm and the bears didn�t move very much. Then a cold front came in and the bears started to move again and they took three bears. With this news I was very excited about our upcoming week of bow hunting. But I also had some concerns because the weather for the upcoming week showed that it was going to be very warm for the next few days.
Blain met with us before we went out for our first hunt. He told us we were going to hunt close to town today because we didn�t have a lot of time to travel to some of the blinds that were further way. He said he has over 30 baited blinds in his hunting area. He introduced us to one of his guides, Randy, who would be assisting us during the week. Randy took me out for my first night of hunting. I couldn�t help noticing Randy load a double barrel shotgun with slugs. Most places in Canada that I have hunted prohibited the guides from carrying firearms while guiding. So, of course I had to ask him why! He stated that the bears in Northern Manitoba were very large and at times aggressive. They often would be at the bait sight when you walked in to bait the stand. You could also walk into a sow with cubs. If you get in between them it could pose some problems. So the guides carry shotguns when they are baiting or walking the hunters in and out of the stands. We had about a 15 minute walk into the bush before I got to my blind. The stand was a portable tree stand about 15 yards high, with a wooden ladder used to climb up into my stand. There were two barrels used for baiting. One at about 20 yards for someone hunting with a bow, the other was further away for anyone hunting with a rifle. The only barrel that had bait in it was the closer one to me. The stand had not been hunted in several days and the bait had recently been hit by at least one bear.
I sat there with my new Mathews Switch Back Bow watching the trails that Randy had pointed out to me that the bears were using to come into the bait. It was very warm, I only had on a long sleeve t-shirt. The only animals I saw for the next few hours were many ravens, some ground squirrels and two snowshoe rabbits. Randy walked in shortly after dark and picked me up. We then went and picked up Roger and Craig and headed back to the house. Once we arrived back at the house we went out to the garage and had a couple of cold ones and talked about the evenings hunt and plans for tomorrow.
After our drinks we went into the house for dinner. It was now 10:00pm. I am not used to eating dinner this late at night. What a dinner, everything was made from scratch. After a great dinner, Ann served us the first of many great home made desserts that we were going to have over the next week. After a long day of traveling and an evening of hunting, the three of us were very tired and didn�t have any problem falling to sleep that night.
Breakfast was a little later than normal because we slept in the next morning. As we ate breakfast we talked with Ann and Blaine about our hunting plans for the upcoming week. This time of year you can hunt until 8:30 pm. Usually the bears start coming into the bait stands after 7:00pm. Blaine stated that we would have breakfast each morning around 8:30, lunch around 12:30 and depart around 2:30. That way we should all be in our stands by 4:00pm. Once we arrived back in camp we would have dinner. That could range from 10:00pm to 12:00am depending on how far away we hunted and if someone harvested a bear that evening.
Blaine also took the time to explain to us how to field judge a bear to determine if it was an adult bear or just a young bear. The bait at each site would be placed into a 50 gallon barrel. If the bear was as high as the barrel it was a shooter. He also said that if the bear�s ears looked really big or like �Mickey Mouse ears� it was a young bear. If the ears appeared to be small and far apart on the head, it was a mature bear. He also warned us about sows and cubs. You can�t shoot a sow with cubs, often the sow would come in first and it could be up to several minutes before the cubs showed up. He informed us that we could harvest a wolf on our bear license as long as we hadn�t harvested a bear yet. It�s not uncommon for his hunters to see wolves while bear hunting.
The weather forecast for the next couple of days showed that the temperatures were going to remain very warm, that wasn�t the news any of us wanted to hear. Before my second day of hunting I wanted to shoot my bow to make sure everything was still in good working order. Even though I have a very strong bow case for traveling, you never know what may have happened to your bow or rifle while traveling thousands of miles to your hunting location. The last thing you want to happen is to find out there is a problem with your choice of hunting weapons while attempting to harvest a trophy animal on your trip of a lifetime hunt. After a couple of shots with my Mathews Switch Back Bow I knew everything was in good working order or at least I thought it was!
After a great lunch, with home made soup and sandwiches we headed out for our second hunt. Today I was taken to the same stand. I had high hopes as Randy and I were walking in that the bait had been hit. It was so warm I walked in with only a t-shirt on and my hunting clothing in my pack back. After a second warm afternoon of hunting I still had not seen a bear. I didn�t blame them for not moving, it was too hot for me to move either. Normally this time of year it should be in the 60�s.
After arriving back at camp we had a couple of beers and discussed our warm weather issues and plans for the next day. After another great home made dinner by Ann and her friend Marlene and another great dessert we headed off to bed.
One of Trapper Mike�s assignments as a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman was in the Northwest Territories over 30 years ago. There were no cars and your food for the year was delivered once a year by a barge. So you needed to plan well when you ordered your food. Mike�s patrol area was thousands of miles and he patrolled the many villages in his area by boat or dog sled. You learn to live off the land. This assignment was for two years. While there Ann met Marlene who was a teacher and they have been friends ever since. I believe one reason why they are such great cooks is because they learned many years ago to make everything from scratch. They enjoyed their assignment so much that they stayed an extra year in the Northwest Territories.
After breakfast on our third morning Ann offered to take us into town in order to look around and possibly look for some souvenir to take home. This area of Northern Manitoba is about as far as you can drive in Manitoba. It has a lot of history and culture. One of the largest nickel minds in the world is located here. Much of the population is made up of native people. It�s also one of the coldest areas of North America during the winter, often getting town to 40 below zero. But, Ann did say it was a dry cold!!
After another great lunch we headed out to our third day of hunting. Yes, it was still very hot out and another day of hunting in a t-shirt. Randy had to work his regular job and wasn�t able to guide us for the next couple of days. Our guide for the rest of the week was going to be Kenny. Kenny had been a black bear outfitter for many years before selling his business. He had also been a great friend of Trapper Mike, Blaine and Ann for many years. Kenny is 76 years young and I can only hope that I am in as good as shape as he is when I am 60 years old. As we all discovered over the next few days Kenny was a great person, with a great sense of humor and an unbelievable life story. When he was 14 he lied about his age and joined the Merchant Marines during WWII.
Kenny took me out to a different stand for my third evening of hunting. This stand hadn�t been hunted in over 10 days. One very good bear had been taken from this stand and while the hunter was waiting to be picked up he saw a monster bear come through the area. This stand was just like the other one I had hunted, a portable tree stand about 15 yards high with a wooden ladder to climb the tree with. For the next 5 hours I saw several ravens, squirrels and some rabbits but no bear. Kenny showed up shortly after dark, carrying a double barrel shotgun to pick me up. The third evening was much like the previous two nights. After discussing the days hunt, plans for the next day, we had another great dinner and went to bed.
Day 4 was much like the previous 3 days, very warm. I headed out to the same site as the night before. After I got into my stand, I pulled my bow back to make sure everything was in good working order just like I do every time I climb into a stand with my bow. When I pulled my bow back all hell broke loose. I heard a large noise, the string broke and my peep-sight ended up in my left eye. I sat there for a minute trying to figure out what had just happened and also trying to figure out if I had been hurt. Well, no injuries to my body, but of course I was very upset. This was a new bow, one of the best on the market, and I couldn�t figure out why it had happened. I looked at the bottom cam and it had a cut in it and looked like someone had taken a bolt cutter and cut it. I had been very careful with handling my bow during the hunt. I looked at it once I got into my stand and everything looked fine with my bow. I just sat there for a few minutes in disgust. I thought about just sitting there for the evening and not hunting. After all this was a bow hunt and my one and only bow was now out of commission. But I had Blaine�s cell phone and after about a half hour I called Kenny and he brought me out a firearm to hunt with.
Needless to say I was not a happy hunter and I didn�t see any bears that evening. After dinner we checked the weather for the next few days and learned that a cold front with very high winds was moving in over night. We were looking forward to cooler weather, but not the high winds.
Day 5, the weather broke and it was now cold with high winds. I was going to hunt a different stand tonight. This stand had not been hunted in a couple of weeks and Blaine had checked the bait and it had been hit by a bear. This stand was several miles back into the bush. We used an Argo to get to the stand. The stand was located in a pine tree in the middle of a small stand of trees. It looked like a great spot. I climbed up into my stand and strapped myself in for what was going to be a very windy night. After a very cold and windy evening I didn�t see any bears. Once back at camp I discovered that Craig had shot a good size bear just before dark. Craig was hunting with a 338 and thought he had a good hit on the bear. It was decided that we would wait until the next morning to look for Craig�s bear.
Day 6 started out with us looking for Craig�s bear. All of us went to help, including Rob Collen. Rob is a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman and at times works as a guide for Blaine. At first we had a pretty good trail to follow, but after a while it was very difficult to find any blood. I had to get on my hands and knees to find any sign of the bear. After a while we lost the bear�s trail. The bear had gone into a very thick area of bush. You could see the concern on Craig�s face and I think most of us thought the same thing, are we going to find this bear? I felt it was only a matter of time, with a 338 bullet in the chest of a bear it shouldn�t have gone very far. Rob had picked up the trail again and soon we found the bear dead. It was a very large bear. It measured 6 foot, 6 inches and its weight was determined to be between 425-450lbs. Needless to say everyone was very excited. Blaine drove the Argo back and we loaded it up with the bear and drove it out.
That evening�s hunt and the next evening was much like the previous night. It was very windy and cold. Usually when the wind is blowing, the wind will lay down some later in the day. Not in this case. This evening the wind picked up.
Even though I didn�t harvest a bear this was one of the best hunts I have ever been on. The guides tried everything they could to try to get us a bear. They felt very bad that I didn�t harvest a bear. The food was great, all of the meals were made from scratch and I have never been to a place were you get dessert not only at dinner but also at lunch. They go out of their way to make sure you have a great time. They don�t take a lot of hunters, in the spring they only hunt two weeks and they hunt three weeks during the fall. Prior to our arrival there was 100% opportunity for the hunters they had. If they didn�t get a bear it was because they missed one or wounded one. They also have outpost hunts at a cabin they own along a very large lake. Some of those bears there haven�t been hunted before and a couple of years ago they harvested a bear that was aged at 29 years old. You can catch pike in front of the cabin in the mornings while waiting to hunt in the afternoon. I have already made plans to return. If you are interested in hunting with Trapper Mike�s Outfitting please contact me at 989-344-9038 or at www.jptrophyhunts.com. They usually take a couple of 7 foot bears every year and many 6 foot bears. This hunt is for 7 days and is very reasonably priced.
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