Species8472
CGN Regular
- Location
- Nipissing Township + 82a
Every couple of years I change up wherever I am bear hunting so as to keep it fresh. I typically look for water access sites away from ATVs. This past spring I switched to a different area that requires a 6 km drive down a 4WD road (a 2WD with clearance in dry weather could probably make it) to the edge of a lake with no launch facilities followed by a 5.5 km paddle. I could have chosen a site with a shorter paddle but spoke to the gentleman who has the BMA for this area so that I could chose a location that would not conflict with his operations. I figure he's trying to make a living so a few extra km for me is no big deal. The only real traffic the lake sees is from a boat cache of 3 small tinnies that can be launched by hand and that are owned by the same outfitter. All of the outfitter's baits are accessible by ATV from the 4WD road and are typically 200 to 500 m from the road. Being 5.5 km back on the lake puts me at least 5 km from his nearest bait as the crow flies. The lake has about 30 miles of shoreline and from the couple of times I have fished it there seems to be great bass and pike fishing. A couple of pics of the road in (taken this spring):
Loaded up for the 5.5 km paddle to where I planned to bait (taken this spring):
View down the lake this spring:
My typical plan (since they returned the spring hunt) is to look for a monster in the spring and failing that take anything decent for the freezer in the fall. Needless to say I did not get a monster in the spring but did see half a dozen bears from cub up to one boar that looked 250ish. So on Wednesday I headed out looking for the first decent freezer bear I could find. I arrived on Wednesday afternoon and quickly set up camp with plans, gear, etc. to stay until Sunday night. A few pics of camp:
I hunted Wednesday afternoon but only saw a few coons. Thursday morning I slept in until 10 and lazed around camp until about 1 pm and then headed out. The 5.5 km paddle to the site takes about an hour if paddling moderately. I was set up by about 230 pm and the waiting began. This is the view down the shooting lane:
I am on a rise about 12 feet above the bait and 18 yards west of the bait and most of my body was concealed behind the rise. At 705 pm some action finally started. This little 70 or 80 pounder showed up:
In the above photo you can see the angle is slightly different. This is because a raven landed at about 5 pm and even though I was completely still and partially concealed he busted me instantly. I adjusted my position to further reduce my exposure (moved further down and a little to the right).
The little guy ate merrily and every so often would look somewhere with his nose in the air. At 740 pm he looks north with his nose up, lets out a huff and takes off running south at full tilt. He only goes about 50 yards and pulls up and decides to turn around and head back to the food. About 30 seconds later 2 coons show up from the north and they all happily sit down to dinner together. At 805 pm a full hour after he arrived the little guy looks south with nose up, huffs and takes off running north. The coons join him immediately and within 30 seconds the sounds of their flight dwindle to nothing. So now I figure something bigger is on its way but it needs to hurry as shooting light ends at 816 pm.
At 807 pm a nice looking bear ambles up but parks on its rear end behind a tree and all I can see is about 4 inches of its snout. At 810 pm it moves forward but remains sitting. I don't typically shoot at a bear unless it is on all fours as the vitals are harder to visualize when not on all fours. This bear was slight quartering away on its rump and I was running out of time. I took 20 or 30 seconds to visualize where the vitals are on a sitting bear and shot. The bear immediately took off at a dead run into the thickest @#$% around and I lost sight of it within 3 yards. After what seemed like 2 minutes (probably less based on where I ended up finding him) I heard the death moan but it was not that loud so i figured the bear must of went at least 100 yards. I packed up waited 15 minutes and then went down to the bait where the barrel was very spattered with blood and there was a blood trail a blind man could follow. The bear only made it 12 yards:
I tagged him, put a strap on him and began the 120 yard drag back to the canoe. Not the biggest bear for sure but plenty for dragging solo and loading/unloading with a canoe. He ended up field dressing 194 lbs so probably 230ish live weight. Tail to nose he was 5 feet 9 inches. Loaded up (for reference the canoe is 17' 6" long and 38 inches wide at the yoke) :
When field dressing I was happy to see my visualizing of the vitals worked:
Entered just above the heart severing the arteries on that side and then entered the heart (due to downward shot) and blew out the other side of the heart. Projectile was a 225 grain Accubond loaded to +/- 2700 fps launched from a 35 Whelen. By the time I had him loaded and camp broken down it was 2 am (only ended up spending one night). Made it home for 630 am after stopping an hour and half into the drive for coffee and ice. I did have about 50 lbs of ice at camp but a hot bear burns through that pretty fast. Temperatures on the hunt where 17 at the start and 7 by the time I broke camp.
Loaded up for the 5.5 km paddle to where I planned to bait (taken this spring):
View down the lake this spring:
My typical plan (since they returned the spring hunt) is to look for a monster in the spring and failing that take anything decent for the freezer in the fall. Needless to say I did not get a monster in the spring but did see half a dozen bears from cub up to one boar that looked 250ish. So on Wednesday I headed out looking for the first decent freezer bear I could find. I arrived on Wednesday afternoon and quickly set up camp with plans, gear, etc. to stay until Sunday night. A few pics of camp:
I hunted Wednesday afternoon but only saw a few coons. Thursday morning I slept in until 10 and lazed around camp until about 1 pm and then headed out. The 5.5 km paddle to the site takes about an hour if paddling moderately. I was set up by about 230 pm and the waiting began. This is the view down the shooting lane:
I am on a rise about 12 feet above the bait and 18 yards west of the bait and most of my body was concealed behind the rise. At 705 pm some action finally started. This little 70 or 80 pounder showed up:
In the above photo you can see the angle is slightly different. This is because a raven landed at about 5 pm and even though I was completely still and partially concealed he busted me instantly. I adjusted my position to further reduce my exposure (moved further down and a little to the right).
The little guy ate merrily and every so often would look somewhere with his nose in the air. At 740 pm he looks north with his nose up, lets out a huff and takes off running south at full tilt. He only goes about 50 yards and pulls up and decides to turn around and head back to the food. About 30 seconds later 2 coons show up from the north and they all happily sit down to dinner together. At 805 pm a full hour after he arrived the little guy looks south with nose up, huffs and takes off running north. The coons join him immediately and within 30 seconds the sounds of their flight dwindle to nothing. So now I figure something bigger is on its way but it needs to hurry as shooting light ends at 816 pm.
At 807 pm a nice looking bear ambles up but parks on its rear end behind a tree and all I can see is about 4 inches of its snout. At 810 pm it moves forward but remains sitting. I don't typically shoot at a bear unless it is on all fours as the vitals are harder to visualize when not on all fours. This bear was slight quartering away on its rump and I was running out of time. I took 20 or 30 seconds to visualize where the vitals are on a sitting bear and shot. The bear immediately took off at a dead run into the thickest @#$% around and I lost sight of it within 3 yards. After what seemed like 2 minutes (probably less based on where I ended up finding him) I heard the death moan but it was not that loud so i figured the bear must of went at least 100 yards. I packed up waited 15 minutes and then went down to the bait where the barrel was very spattered with blood and there was a blood trail a blind man could follow. The bear only made it 12 yards:
I tagged him, put a strap on him and began the 120 yard drag back to the canoe. Not the biggest bear for sure but plenty for dragging solo and loading/unloading with a canoe. He ended up field dressing 194 lbs so probably 230ish live weight. Tail to nose he was 5 feet 9 inches. Loaded up (for reference the canoe is 17' 6" long and 38 inches wide at the yoke) :
When field dressing I was happy to see my visualizing of the vitals worked:
Entered just above the heart severing the arteries on that side and then entered the heart (due to downward shot) and blew out the other side of the heart. Projectile was a 225 grain Accubond loaded to +/- 2700 fps launched from a 35 Whelen. By the time I had him loaded and camp broken down it was 2 am (only ended up spending one night). Made it home for 630 am after stopping an hour and half into the drive for coffee and ice. I did have about 50 lbs of ice at camp but a hot bear burns through that pretty fast. Temperatures on the hunt where 17 at the start and 7 by the time I broke camp.
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