Spring Black bear

I have been guiding for black bear and grizzly since 1978. Grizzly is all spot and stalk and blackies are both spot and stalk and baited. I never get tired of bear hunting. Most guys seem to settle for the first representative bear they see and few hunt them more than a couple of times and so never really know what it is like to hunt the old trophy boars.

I have my first bear hunter for 2009 and the bears are just getting active as it has been a cool spring. I am fortunate as I have always lived in good bear country............and now I live in the area with the highest density of black bear in North America. Our ranch is loaded with bruins and we are just a couple of miles from a national park.

We regularly kill 500+ pound blackies and numerous Boone and Crockett bears are taken from this area every year. The genetics are here for big heads and big bodies..............this is not the case everywhere.

This year I will be hunting them around home for a month and then off to the Northwest Territories to hunt them for a couple of weeks along with wild wood bison .............. this is an overlooked area with some tremendous old boars and hides like you have never seen.

How many of you guys have hunted spring black bear in Canada?

I would love to come hunt Canada some time. I grew up in Northern Wisconsin hunting whitetail and occasionally bear (every 5-7 years when we draw a permit). I imagine the Northwest territories hunt must be quite desolate and quiet, exactly the way I like to hunt.
Once I get this Africa hunt out of the way I will definitely be looking into doing some bear, moose, elk hunting north of the border.

husb0023, Skyline posts regularly here, however I happen to know that, as he puts in his post above "This year I will be hunting them around home for a month and then off to the Northwest Territories to hunt them for a couple of weeks along with wild wood bison" that he is right now in the Northwest Territories guiding and I'm sure that he will get back to you when he returns. He's a great guy and really knows his stuff...

Just got back. We killed some huge old wood bison bulls and some great bears. The hides on these northern bears are incredible....long silky and inky black.

For a change I got to do a little hunting in addition to guiding and took a wonderful old bison bull that is probably 12-14 years old. His horns are heavily broomed and massive. Also scored on a great black bear...........shot him at 10 AM spot and stalk near a bait site. A little unusual at that time of the day.

Husb0023 I will drop you a PM tonight. I am busy playing catch-up right now and also arrived home to a beef hanging in my walk in cooler that I have to cut up for someone........I have a full butcher shop on my ranch and do this on the side for people I know. Just what I needed, some nice light work after returning from guiding.