CANADA: Big Bears During The Rut In Saskatchewan

[MarkB]

Awesome thread, I'm late to it. Those are some truly awesome bears. From a guy living on Vancouver island its not "normal" to see full unrubbed haired bears in late spring. They are certainly around but one must look carefully before trigger pressure if a perfect rug is what you want. Also another surprise is the fat on them carcasses for spring bears. Ours have that in most falls but far less is norm for spring bears. We still have 4' of snow on accessible mnt tops, more in back country.

Excellent info for all BB hunters in this thread no matter where you want to hunt them.

Great read. Well done @Green Chile

MB

 

[BGGMKLR]

Something that often becomes a factor on these hunts is someone's patience level. That might be stressed during the travel or some other part of the trip. It was evident on this trip with 12 hunters as we sat on stands for long periods of time, watching for target bears. Target bears were ID'd on game camera as being large enough to be a possible target to take. Sometimes it was really specific to say that chocolate bear with the torn ear is your target...watch for him! Now of course, there is always a random element where an unknown bear can come in and change everything...but often we are trying to take a target bear that is known to the guides. Patience is often key to the success...but then there is luck to consider.

I will use myself and 2 other examples to show what I mean. In my case, I've taken multiple bears and had some good success taking trophy quality bears. I had some ideas on what was in the area and know how to judge bears (but I'm always learning). Last year, I focused all week on one bear and took him at the end of the week. That was perfect. This year, I saw a LOT more bears and was turning down bears on a regular basis. I kept looking for that target bear and then one came in and ran off the sow with cubs...well, the cubs went up a tree and the sow fought the other bear...but the larger bear stayed and I ended up taking it. It was NOT the target bear and in some ways, I had settled for something less than what was possible. I was a little concerned about the coming heat wave and we ended up having a fire a few hours away and no one took bears for 3 days after I took mine. Ok, it is what it is but I did settle instead of being stubborn on waiting for that target bear to show up. Maybe I would have gotten him or maybe not...we will never know. I did take an adult bear cleanly and that's important but I might have gotten a bigger bear with patience and luck...or maybe not.

Then there is the first time bear hunter that saw very little all week...then because of the ATV ban, he was moved to another stand that we weren't considering before that. He had the good fortune of having a great bear show up and he made a great shot. He was prepared when luck came his way on the LAST day.

Then my friend who hunted (also his first bear hunt) and he stuck it out the whole time no matter what happened. He saw lots of bears but only saw the target bear once briefly and it left before presenting any shot. He stayed with it...consistently...and in the end did not get a chance. However, as soon as the hunt was done, he said we are coming back next year!

Just some things to think about as you work on being patient and look for luck on your next hunt.

As previously stated, sometimes, as difficult as it is, we just have to read the room and change the gameplan accordingly...no matter how deeply we have carved the plan in stone.
In Zim years ago, my "dream" targets were Buff, Leopard, and Sable. I had absolutely committed myself to not take the first Buff or Sable I came across, no matter what, should that happen.
First eary morning of the first day's hunt (after about 2 sleepless days traveling coupled with a 3rd excitement-induced sleepless nite in camp) our tracker spotted a lone Sable bull grazing while moving through a vlei slightly below us...towards a thick tangle of scrub mopane. The shot was just inside 200 yds. The sticks went up and as I settled in I never gave my original plan a 2nd thought. He was a hair over 42"...not a monster, but a fine coal-black representative.Was it a good decision to deviate from the plan?
You bet.
We did not see a another single Sable for the duration of the hunt.
Id rather be lucky than good...every time.
Regards
Spike

 

[Green Chile]

I just picked up my AZ bear taken from 2-3 years ago. I think it's just short of B&C 20" minimum. Still a good bear.

 

[Slaton]

Congratulations on a great hunt. My 17 year old daughter and I are headed to Quebec Friday morning with our bows. I really appreciate the gear list on the first page. It pretty much matches the one I made for us and keeps me from over packing.

 

[Green Chile]

The gear list is an attempt to keep me from overpacking but I would rather go heavy than need something. The amazing thing is having a washer/dryer in bear camp. That's a huge luxury.

By the way, we are signed back up for the same week next season and a member of this forum is joining with their son for their first bear hunts. I'm jazzed about that!

 

[Slaton]

If we have good enough service in camp I’ll try to do the same thing as you and post a somewhat live hunt report. This will be her first bear hunt and I’ve been on a few but never killed one.

 

[Green Chile]

I hope you can post a hunt report, whether it's daily or afterwards. I look forward to reading it! Good luck to both of you! Any mature bear without dependent cubs is a fine trophy for a first bear.

 

[Sideshow]

Really enjoyed this hunt report.
I have a couple questions for you @Green Chile if you don’t mind.

From your camera angles your in a tree stand of some type. What's to stop the bears from joining you?
Dose it happen?
Do they have ticks? I'll need to go back and look up disease that you mentioned that’s not worth getting.
Cheers very a really informative thread.

 

[Green Chile]

Great questions. We are using ladder stands that are about 12-15 feet tall. They are strapped to the trees with ratchet straps and are quite sturdy. The bears can get curious when they see a dark shape up in the tree. I had several stand on my rifle case under the tree and get curious about that. They will also stand up and put their front legs on the tree to look up at you. Sometimes they try to climb the tree or the one next to you and they will make some sounds as they are curious. My friend had one chewing on the ratchet strap and grumbling at him. He just poured water on its head and had a pocket of rocks. That same bear ate the roller wheel off of his bow case under the stand. Most of these instances are the younger bears that are curious. Most of the bears will stop when you say something to them. Some need persuasion to leave...water bottles, clap your hands, little shouts all work. Pour your pee bottle on them and they will back off!

Last year I had the target bear (that I ended up taking) pull down the beaver carcass from the bait and come over and lay under my ladder stand to eat it in the dark. It sounded like a little kid eating a bag of potato chips...lots of crunching about 10 feet below me. Cool experience.

In this area, the bears have a lot of ticks. We use a lot of Permethrin spray as well as Thermacells. Most of the ticks are encountered when loading the bear carcass or when taking photos, skinning, etc. You might be thinking of Lyme's disease with ticks? That's a serious thing in some areas but this is what I found in a Google search...

"Lyme disease is considered a low risk in Saskatchewan, but not a zero risk, according to the Government of Saskatchewan and Canada.ca. While blacklegged ticks, which carry Lyme disease, are found in Saskatchewan, they are not native to the province and are not known to have established, reproducing populations. Most ticks found in Saskatchewan are American dog ticks, which do not transmit Lyme disease."

 

[Sideshow]

Thanks for those answers! Sounds like a great experience.
Trichinosis sounds very much like Hydatids defiantly something to be avoided!

I did read somewhere that Mountain Men preferred Beer meat to most other meat maybe the berry eating ones though.

 

[Green Chile]

Ah yes, trichinosis due to eating undercooked bear meat...similar to undercooked pork. Bears that eat a lot of berries and plants like dandelions are preferable to those who are eating fish, carrion, etc.

 

[davidg8480]

VIDEO: Woman in Tree Stand Watches As Bear Climbs Ladder

www.distinctlymontana.com

Bear showing-off it's climbing abilities for female hunter !

 

[Green Chile]

Yea that young one got closer than it should have and it's big enough to hurt you or pull the stand down. It could be up on the seat with the lady faster than she could react. They are fun to watch but you don't want one in the stand with you. Back them off and don't let them get too close.