Alberta Bearhunt - Day #4
Slept better last night and woke refreshed at 9:00AM. Eric had another fine breakfast ready by 10:00, after which the day's work began. Jeff and I were given the assignment of going back to the poplar grove bait and building a "rustic/natural" stand. With all the tools, nails, and bait loaded on the quad, we were off. It took almost an hour over the winter/bog road to reach the foothills where the going gets better and the first back country bait site is located. The bear wasn't on the bait, but he had certainly been there! The place was "torn up" with logs thrown in every direction and most of the bait gone. This was a good sign!
It was fun building the stand, cutting shooting lanes, and re-baiting the site. It also got my mind off the misfortunes of the past few days for a while. We were setting the stand up for the new clients coming in today, which was fine with me. Once done we headed back in the general direction of camp, checking my bait along the way. No new activity, but I'm sure he'll be back. Close to camp we detoured down another gravel road to check two other baits. The first one was hit for the first time, but the second was still in-active. Things are picking up and I have the better part of a week left, so all is not lost. We decided that this first stand would provide another opportunity for the three guys arriving today, taking some pressure off the camp as far as providing active baits. (Note: In retrospect we should have started hunting one week later this far north as the bears were proving late in hitting baits thus far.)
When we got back to camp we found that the three hunters had arrived and introductions were made all around. One of the clients (Dave Unger) has hunted with Eric many times in the past and brought his own quad. He headed out with one of his friends (Richard Lepp/little Richard) to check a bait further north down the highway close to the NWT border. The third hunter in the group (Richard Case/big Richard), Jeff and I went to the last active bait we had found and set up a portable stand for the evening hunt. Eric was busy getting the camp organized and preparing another fine dinner.
I decided to give my stand a longer break and went out trying to capture more good duck photos. Jeff brought little Richard back to the "Poplar Grove" stand. Big Richard sat the stand we set for him that afternoon and Dave went to the "Border" stand he had checked earlier. The three new guys were all on active baits which gave Eric some peace of mind, and I was sure something would happen the next day either at my original bait or elsewhere that would have me on stand again soon.
About 11:30 PM the action started back at camp. The first one back was big Richard. Eric had gone to pick him up while waiting for Jeff to get little Richard. What a story he had to share! About half hour after climbing into his stand he heard noise behind him. Looking back he saw a small bear heading to the bait. We knew from the sign around the bait that a bigger bear was around, which explained the small bear's nervousness. Without ever making it to the bait, the little guy left in a nervous rush.
Richard got ready thinking the bigger bear was approaching. To his complete surprise, in marched a large wolf! The wolf came right in to with-in ten yards, giving Richard the opportunity of a lifetime. Using a 1968 prototype bear take down recurve bow, Richard anchored the beast before he knew what hit him. The first arrow broke the spine, dropping him in his tracks, whereupon he received a second arrow to finish the job. Talk about one lucky and excited bow hunter!
Next back to camp was little Richard and Jeff. More stories, blood, and success! Shortly after getting on stand a decent bear came in and gave him a good standing opportunity at twelve yards. Richard put one of his new prototype bows (he owns Bow River Archery and makes custom recurve bows) to the test, and made a clean double lung shot.
The bear fell in less than fifty yards in plain sight, so Richard got down and had him completely skinned by the time Jeff arrived to pick him up.
Dave came in last, and had not seen anything. Jeff told of the four wolves he had seen not far from the Poplar Grove stand giving us all some hope that there might be more than one wolf taken this week. The stories went on for hours until Eric finally shut down the generator and told us all to get some sleep! We can't wait to check the river stands in the morning as the bear activity is picking up daily. It's almost 2:00 AM as I sign off tonight.
I'll report again tomorrow, see you all then.