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My buddy Randy Bean had very encouraging news when I showed up at his Manitoba bear
camp. The news had nothing to do with the fact that there was at least six different
bear working the bait where I’d be spending most of my time. Nor did it have much
to do with the fact that one of those bear was a far better than average blackie.
The encouraging news was that Randy had seen a huge, brown-phase bear at the bait.
"I’m sure he’s close to 500 pounds,” Randy stated. “I’ve actually seen him on two
different occasions, so he must be visiting the bait on a regular basis. I’m confident
you’ll get a chance at him at some point during your hunt.”
Like me, Randy has been doing the black bear thing for quite some time. But unlike
Randy, I’ve never done it on a commercial level. Believe it or not, Randy’s camp
near Onanole, Manitoba averages close to an 80-percent success rate. Even more unbelievable
is the fact that nearly 50-percent of the bear harvested by Randy’s clients are
‘off-colored’ animals. These ‘off colors’ run the gamut from a very light blond
to a deep chocolate brown. Of the 16 bear I saw while hunting with Randy, 11 were
off-colored. The prettiest of those bear was a huge sow that I can best describe
as being a dark, strawberry-red color. Two cubs, one black and one blond, accompanied
the sow.
My chance?
As is usually the case whenever one of my hunts is pre-hyped, the first day was
dismally slow. Things picked up considerably after that, however. I saw five different
bear the second day, including the strawberry colored sow mentioned above. I also
saw a 200-pound chocolate brown colored bear. Though a good-looking animal, I’d
already made up my mind. I was going to hold out until the last minute for the big
brown that Randy had told me about. As it turned out, I was down to virtually the
last minutes of my hunt before I finally got a chance at the monster animal.
I’d been on my stand a mere 20-minutes when the big brown walked into view the first
time. Right off I could see that the bear was far more ‘hinky’ than any of the bear
I’d seen previously. It took the old boar a full five minutes to close the final
20 yards to the bait. And once at the bait, he became even more suspicious and flighty.
The bear finally seemed committed to grabbing a mouthful of food, so I prepared
to draw my bow. Just that quick, the nervous critter swapped ends and started walking
swiftly away from the bait site. I stood and watched in a state of shock as the
bear of a lifetime sauntered out of sight. A quick look at my watch showed that
the time was 6:30 p.m. Only a couple hours of hunting time remained. All I could
do was pray that the big brown would come back.
A tough decision
Approximately 30-minutes later a medium-sized chocolate colored bear walked in to
the bait. The bear fed for nearly an hour, then suddenly snapped his head up and
stared toward a clump of thick brush off to my left. In the next instant the bear
was hightailing it straight away in the opposite direction. I immediately saw the
reason for the chocolate’s hasty retreat when I returned my gaze toward the thick
brush. A large black (and I mean a large black) was ambling directly toward the
bait. It was decision time. Should I take this ‘bird in the hand’, or should I hold
off and hope the big brown came back?
I took another quick look at my watch. A half-hour of legal shooting time remained.
From all appearances, the big black seemed relatively relaxed. I figured that as
long as I didn’t do anything to spook him, he’d probably remain at the bait. I quickly
decided that I’d wait until the last minute of my hunt for the big brown to come
back. If he didn’t show up by then, I’d shoot the bear in front of me.
The big black had been at the bait for only about 10 minutes when he suddenly jumped
up and took off in the same direction the chocolate colored bear had run earlier.
I knew there was only one thing other than a human that could make a near 400-pound
bear turn tail and run away, and that was an even bigger bear. Seconds later I saw
the big brown once again approaching the bait. Unlike the first time around, however,
I was confident that I was going to get a shot.
The big bear circled around and approached the bait site from my right. As he dropped
his head to pick up a scrap of meat, I came to full draw with the Mathew’s MQ-1.
I locked onto my target, and when the bear extended his nearside front leg to take
a step the arrow was on its way. All in all, the huge bruin made it only 40 yards
before expiring. I can best describe the color of his hide as being somewhere between
cinnamon and chocolate brown. He was well worth the wait!
Conclusion
There are a couple very important lessons to be learned from my Canadian experience.
The first of those lessons is that it’s not unusual for numerous bear, including
a couple real whoppers, to be utilizing the same bait. The second and equally important
lesson is that it’s not unusual for big bear to approach a bait, but then turn and
walk away without coming all the way in. In most cases, those bear will return some
time later and walk right to the bait. I’ve seen this happen numerous times, both
in my home state of Wisconsin and in Canada. I guess this confirms that it pays
to be patient.
Don’t be fooled into believing that all black bear behave in the same manner. For
instance, older bear will seldom approach a bait site as bold and brazenly as younger
bear do. Conversely, younger bear will seldom use the ‘fake approach’ strategy that
older bear often employ.
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