Post by dec on May 31, 2006 7:07:01 GMT -5
Well all, I made it back from Saskatchewan and did not get eaten like my kids feared.
All in all, what an awesome time. The weather did not cooperated at all though. I did not realize that bears like it sunny and 70. We had 40's and rain. So needless to say, we did not see many bears. This was pretty much a do it yourself hunt, so that made any bear taken that much more rewarding. I say do it yourself, because even though in Saskatchewan you have to have a guide, this was not a "guided" hunt. I have a buddy who is a licensed outfitter, but is only one so that he and a small group can go bear hunting every year on their own. He does not run it as a business like most outfitters. He has a friend in Canada who is a licensed guide, but is retired from hunting. He just hangs out at camp. He gets paid in free food, cold beers, and campfire gossip.
So, after a 38 hour truck ride the real work began. Baiting, hanging stands, clearing roads in some cases. Two weeks of fun. We had access to 330,000 acres of total wilderness. The nearest gas or pay phone was a 2 hour drive away on the nastiest dirt (mud) roads you could ever imagine. No cell phone service. The closest medical facility was a 6 hour drive again over muddy roads. This place was literally life and death up there. One mistake and it could get ugly real fast.
Of the 10 of us that went up, we took 6 bears, all with bows. No guns. In the middle of the hunting, we had to move camp approximately 14 miles southeast due to all the rain and the fact that roads were washing away fast. If we had not moved camp, we might still be up there.
I took arguably the nicest bear of the bunch on my 4th night out hunting. I shot a beautiful 250# boar at 20 yards with my bow. His coat did not have any rub marks and was in perfect condition. He was out cruising looking for sows when he made the mistake of coming too close to me. He was a magnificent animal to watch. The coolest thing I've ever hunted.
Unfortunately, now it is time to join the real world and get back to work.
All in all, what an awesome time. The weather did not cooperated at all though. I did not realize that bears like it sunny and 70. We had 40's and rain. So needless to say, we did not see many bears. This was pretty much a do it yourself hunt, so that made any bear taken that much more rewarding. I say do it yourself, because even though in Saskatchewan you have to have a guide, this was not a "guided" hunt. I have a buddy who is a licensed outfitter, but is only one so that he and a small group can go bear hunting every year on their own. He does not run it as a business like most outfitters. He has a friend in Canada who is a licensed guide, but is retired from hunting. He just hangs out at camp. He gets paid in free food, cold beers, and campfire gossip.
So, after a 38 hour truck ride the real work began. Baiting, hanging stands, clearing roads in some cases. Two weeks of fun. We had access to 330,000 acres of total wilderness. The nearest gas or pay phone was a 2 hour drive away on the nastiest dirt (mud) roads you could ever imagine. No cell phone service. The closest medical facility was a 6 hour drive again over muddy roads. This place was literally life and death up there. One mistake and it could get ugly real fast.
Of the 10 of us that went up, we took 6 bears, all with bows. No guns. In the middle of the hunting, we had to move camp approximately 14 miles southeast due to all the rain and the fact that roads were washing away fast. If we had not moved camp, we might still be up there.
I took arguably the nicest bear of the bunch on my 4th night out hunting. I shot a beautiful 250# boar at 20 yards with my bow. His coat did not have any rub marks and was in perfect condition. He was out cruising looking for sows when he made the mistake of coming too close to me. He was a magnificent animal to watch. The coolest thing I've ever hunted.
Unfortunately, now it is time to join the real world and get back to work.
