Having hunted bear and moose with Kory Leslie of True North Outfitters in New Brunswick Canada several years ago, we have always wanted to go back. He has a beautiful lodge, fantastic hunting, and is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about bears. And, he’s a great guy. So when we connected with him at one of the winter sports shows, we told him to hold the last week of the spring bear season for us. I have never shot a bear, but as a close up observer when Don, my husband,shot one with a bow out of a ground blind, I knew how exciting it could be.
The last week of June found us taking the 600 mile plus drive to St. George, New Brunswick, Canada. We had a fantastic time! The weather was great – earlier in the season, many hunters had a full week of rain, we only had a few drizzles. Although we both had bear tags, we knew that hunting together would lesson the likelihood of both of us getting bears, but we like hunting together. That’s what makes it special for us. I was up first because I had not shot a bear.
As you know, bear hunting takes place from late afternoon until evening. That time of year, official shooting time ends around 10 pm, but it does get dark in the woods a bit earlier. We had mornings free to tour around. We were able to see some of the local Bay of Fundy sites, such as Kory’s family run Halibut Farm (the only one in Canada), fish for flounder in the Bay of Fundy with night crawlers (who would have thought that was the bait of choice), and walk deserted beaches for sea glass (one of Ginny’s obsessions). We also got to tour some of the inland lakes.
We hunted hard for five days. Day one and two, we were in a tree stand, about 20 yards from the bait. Kory baits with smoked salmon skins, pizza pockets, chocolate cake, and beef finisher, all rejects from local industries. Day one was slow – we saw a few birds, that’s it. Kory knows there were big bear on that site because he uses trail cameras. He only takes one bear off a site each year, so as not to over hunt an area. He often has bear waiting for him when he comes in with the bait (and he baits every day). Interesting fact: in New Brunswick, guides are not allowed to carry any weapon with them anytime, even when baiting or following up a wounded animal. Kory has a hatchet, that’s it!
Day two, same bait, slow until dusk. Suddenly, the wind changes and we a grunt and what sounds like a stampede running a way – busted! If you’ve been bear hunting, you know that you never hear a bear approaching. How they can be that quiet when they are that big, I’ll never know. And Kory explains that they stay back and watch the bait for a long time, and then they will completely circle the bait. That means they have been all around you and you don’t even know it. In any case, that night was over for us.
Even though Kory knew there were big bear there, he had several other baits for us, also with big bear so we moved for night three. This time we were in a slightly elevated gun blind about 40 yards from the bait. We felt good about this site. We got in about 4 pm, and around 8, little Boo-boo, as we called him, came in. He was a one year old that would run in, grab a salmon skin, and run out. Then he would struggle to open the buckets and sit and eat the goodies in them. We were a little frustrated, fearing that he would eat everything before any big ones would appear. Almost!
It got darker and darker. Finally, at 9:38, a big one slowly walked in. He obviously had been there before because he just went to a bucket, sat down, and began to eat. One problem, he was behind the bucket. The buckets are hanging from tree branches, and as it would swing, I would get just a small shot at the vitals. It wasn’t good enough to take the shot. Time was running out. Don couldn’t see anything more than a black blob. This is where I have to give credit to my Leopold scope. Not only did I have great light in my scope, but with the lighted reticle, I could easily see to make a killing shot. But he wouldn’t move!
Just a side-bar here. My husband loves gadgets, and is a sucker for anything he sees on TV. The newest thing he got before this trip was the Bear Talker Call with Bear Essentials from Woods Wise. Kory didn’t think much of it, and neither did I. But Don was anxious to try it along with the cans of Sow in Heat from Buck Bomb. We needed to get the bear to move, so now was his chance. He used the caller to make a sow in heat call (or so he thought!). A couple of calls did nothing. Then he realized that he had the caller below the front of the stand and the sound was not traveling. He raised it and called out once. The bear immediately looked up and started slowly walking off. He walked behind another bait bucket. He was quartering away and between two small trees when I took my shot with less then a minute of scope light left. It felt good but I had no idea. Then, within 15 seconds, we heard the death moan! Never having heard, I wasn’t sure if it really was a death moan, or just an injured bear. Don assured me it was dead!
We called Kory in, and less than 15 yards from the bait, the bear was piled up. He was HUGE! Kory said, this bear was not one of the ones he saw on the trail camera. We examined my entrance and exit wound (taken with my Browning 300 wsm), and then he saw another wound. We all agreed it wasn’t from my shot. He realized it was probably the bear that another hunter wounded with a bow (high shoulder shot) a week ago at a bait three miles away! We’d know for sure when we skinned him. He was too big for us to get out of the woods that night, so we put our gloves on him to keep other bears away and came back with the 4-wheeler the next morning.
Sure enough, he was the same bear. He had lost a lot of weight in the week, but still measured out as one of the largest bears of the season, over 7 feet long, and 6 inches from eye to nose.
He had to have been in pain, since not only was part of the arrow in his shoulder, but the broadhead had worked its way off the arrow and was also in his shoulder. The downside to all of this was that we couldn’t use the meat. That was ok, we still had two nights for Don to get a bear.
Day four – we went to a ground blind for Don’s bear. This was the same area where he got his bear several years ago – good karma. He had his CZ .375. We had several bears come in, but nothing big enough to shoot. Skunked another night.
Day five – last chance. We went back to where I shot my bear since the big ones that were on the trail camera were still there. Again, we had Boo-boo and a medium sized bear, probably a sow, come in, but no big ones before dark. Hey, no one said bear hunting was easy! In fact, the easiest part was the temperature, very pleasant. The hardest, for me, the bugs. Therma-cell did work when we were in a more enclosed area, but I am a bug magnet, and even with mesh gloves, they bit right through! Once I switched gloves and was covered head to toe, I was ok.
What a great week with http://www.truenorthoutfitters.ca/– can’t wait to go again!
