hunting white lake ontario and possible grizzly encounter anybody else see one

dogger1

CGN Regular
Rating - 97.8%
176   4   2
Location
canukastan
About ten years ago i went hunting at whitelake ontario with a party for moose.We consisted of 6 hunters party for moose.2 of the hunters were newbies .i was using a Sako 338wm av and Dave was carrying a Ruger 3oowm.There was a portly hunter that was new ,we put on top of a giant boulder on stand in the clearing . the rest of the boys were blocking all around a giant hill -knob. There were fresh moose tracks from the highway with a peninsula of dense trees filtering toward the hill.Dave took the south side and i took the north side and we preceeded to push the bush..When i came out into the clearing i could see the gent on the boulder sprawled and taking in the sun.i saw a large tan hump of fur moving toward him on the boulder .i was still in the tag alders but could see a large bear stalking his lunch on the boulder. the guy is laid out sleeping or getting a tan oblivious to anything, i yell at him theres a bear to no avail guy is sound asleep.. i take aim at a rock close to the bear him about 100 feet apart and let one rip.the guy jumps in the air thinking hes hit and sceaming from muzzle blast . i came up to him and told him about the bear and what i think it was. Next to the rock his lunch is spread out in tinfoil and the rest is all over the ground. he had been eating fried chicken and throwing the bone to the ground.dave comes and i tell him i think i saw a grizzly it was huge compared to the blacks ive seen.They all tell me theres no grizzlies in ontario but when dave and i follow the trail we could see clearly the size of front and back pads but what stuck out was length of claws. the pads were some where over double the width of both my hands and claws easily 2.5-3 inches past the tips . i told dave it was more tan with a big hump on its back and looked nothing like the black bear he shot two weeks before.i still cant get the footprint and claws on the gravel mud road it crossed out of my head. The guy that was being stalked left when he saw the size of tracks packed his gear and ended his hunt.Back at camp we asked the outfitter and he said there are no grizzlies in ontario.I know what i saw and the size of this bear and shape was different. so are there grizzlies in ontario or not.if so anybody see one.
 
MNRF said for years there were no wild cougars in the province too but a few dead ones have been found that substantiate the claims folks have had forever. Grizzly have been photographed as near as 200km from the Ontario border in Manitoba. Its entirely possible, but if we are talking about the whitelake near ottawa, I think if they were here it would be in the far north-west. However one person cannot in truth say there is a 100% chance it wasn't.
 
There are hybrid Polar / Grizzly bears called Pizzlies. Blacks and Griz will supposedly almost never hybridize. There are brown phase black bears. Not calling you names, but without other examples, it is hard to accept a Grizzly two provinces out of place.
 
My brother has lived in White River for over 45 years. Believe me, if there were so much as a hint of a grizz anywhere in the area, he'd know.
 
No way it was a Grizzly, but while fairly rare in that area of Ontario, I have seen a few brown black bears and a couple that were cinnamon to blonde. 99.5% (ish) black bears in Central Ontario are black, with occasional white blaze markings on the chest.

Also, I concur with the stupidity of shooting at a rock in the general direction of your hunting partner... eating fried chicken is not an issue, whereas intentionally shooting toward another person is a serious safety concern.
 
yes 21b white lake is on top of that hill and cabin is at white river . the rock was over hundred feet from guy in opposite direction, geese i should have let the bear chew his ass.... the boulder he was on was 8 feet high by 30 feet long...it was a completely safe shot ,maybe not for the bear..before you judge shooting at direction or near someone the angle was completely safe as i was closer to the boulder shooting towards bear away from the guy spralled on the boulder .boulder on right bear about hundred feet to left on trail . the treeline i came out on was just at the boulder . just saw an arcticle of 2 grizzly bears near https://globalnews.ca/news/2772713/two-grizzly-bears-seen-roaming-cochrane-neighbourhood/
so i guess there are grizzlies in ontario unless photos dont lie
 
Last edited:
yes 21b and the rock was over hundred feet from guy in opposite direction, geese i should have let the bear chew his ass.... the boulder he was on was 8 feet high by 30 feet long...it was a completely safe shot ,maybe not for the bear..before you judge shooting at direction or near someone the angle was completely safe as i was closer to the boulder shooting towards bear away from the guy spralled on the boulder . the treeline i came out on was just at the boulder .

In that case, the bear wasn't very close to the hunter and you could have just walked over and tapped him on the shoulder.
 
IIRC there was a Grizzly sow with cubs that set up camp and over wintered in Saskatchewan.
They do go where the food is and continually venture in to virgin territory.
Rather than be judgmental, would you prefer to see a bear feasting on fried chicken bones or the sleeper?
As for shooting at rocks it would be nice if the same message could be delivered to 1D10T's at gun ranges!
 
yes 21b and the rock was over hundred feet from guy in opposite direction, geese i should have let the bear chew his ass.... the boulder he was on was 8 feet high by 30 feet long...it was a completely safe shot ,maybe not for the bear..before you judge shooting at direction or near someone the angle was completely safe as i was closer to the boulder shooting towards bear away from the guy spralled on the boulder . the treeline i came out on was just at the boulder .

You can rationalize all you want, but there was no need to shoot at a rock at all. That choice was a bad one. While the chances are not zero, I guess, it is extremely unlikely that it was a grizzly.
 
yes 21b white lake is on top of that hill and cabin is at white river . the rock was over hundred feet from guy in opposite direction, geese i should have let the bear chew his ass.... the boulder he was on was 8 feet high by 30 feet long...it was a completely safe shot ,maybe not for the bear..before you judge shooting at direction or near someone the angle was completely safe as i was closer to the boulder shooting towards bear away from the guy spralled on the boulder .boulder on right bear about hundred feet to left on trail . the treeline i came out on was just at the boulder . just saw an arcticle of 2 grizzly bears near https://globalnews.ca/news/2772713/two-grizzly-bears-seen-roaming-cochrane-neighbourhood/
so i guess there are grizzlies in ontario unless photos dont lie

Cochrane Alberta I think
 
Never say Never, Barren Ground Grizzlies have been know to go Walk About in Manitoba.

Grizz

This. There are two or three spots along the Hudson Bay barren ground grizzly have been see. And in Inuvik 2003-04 two barren ground grizzly killed in places where only historically only polar bear were known to occupy.
Hudson Bay Fur Company in the 1930s recorded three or four barren ground grizzly hides turned in for trade in Ungava Bay.
Archeologists have found grizzly skulls in long abandoned Okak Island along the Labrador coastline.
 
Back
Top Bottom