Dang... I am tired, lol. The 2016 bear camp is done and man what a time we had. We battled the worst bear hunting weather in years with temps in the low 40s, high winds and rain. In spite of that we were once again 100% on shot opportunity (adult bear at 10 yards). I won't steal the thunder on the hunters stories or pictures but I will throw a compilation video together when I get home. We had GREAT shooting in our camp but we also tracked for another camp and my blood dog "Bear Dog" was an absolute rock star with the highlight track being a track of 1.86 miles and 24 hours old.
We are making the 24 hour drive home now. As always, it is so hard to leave that wild Mastigouce Wilderness. Tons of great bear and moose encounters and the very untimely death of my beloved (and nearly new) Black Widow recurve. But that is a story for after I recover.
Thanks to the Tradgang hunters that came to hunt with us. It was another special year.
Glad you had another great camp, Jerry, and sorry about the Widow. Get some rest.
Looking forward to the stories.
:coffee:
I'll be waiting for the stories !
Sounds like a great time in the North Woods!!! Can't wait to hear all the stories!
Sorry to hear about your loss, Jerry!
Bisch
Oh no!!
Glad you had a good camp, can't wait for pics and stories.
:campfire:
:campfire: Bring it fellas :) Rest up JR! Thanks for taking care of my guys!!!
I hope to make it up there with you some day, Jerry. Sounds like such a great time (with the exception, of course, of your BW tragedy)! Can't wait to hear the stories... Be safe on your way home, buddy.
Awesome!! Can't wait for the stories. All this bear hunting talk has got me really interested. On my list in the next year or two for sure.
:coffee:
I'll be waiting to hear stories!
Hey, I like your African videos on YouTube. I'll have to try to watch this new one of yours when I'm somewhere with faster internet. What happened to your Black Widow? Bad luck, by the sounds, but those guys will take care of it. Cheers, Ben
Looking forward to the rest of the story.
Too bad about the Widow.
Unfortunatly I am tied up at a family reunio till next week. But when I get home there will be a full story and pics! one word....EPIC!
Here we go! coming from california it is quite a trek for me. My dad accompanied me but you wont see his pictures(wheels). Got off to a good start showing up at check-in an hour early and Jerry was there within minutes. Short ride to cabin and quick meeting going over details and doing paperwork and it was time to get settled and shoot a little. Weather was cold and windy, not good for bear hunting, but I was excited regardless.
First night in stand was freezing! But plus was bugs were non-exsistent. Beutiful country to say the least. My first sit was slow, one nice bear tiptoed in but didnt like me sitting in the tree and slinked off. Despite at least 3 different bears on trail camera. I think the high wind had them spooky. Fortunatly my dad had a mature sow come in off and on for 30 minutes before he made a perfect 10 yd shot and we were on cloud nine! One hunt and we were half done!
next morning we slept in and took care of dads bear and met some other hunters arriving at camp. Hunt 2 Jerry asked me if I would like to hunt from a ground blind. Of course I was in. Apparantly my Idea and his of a ground blind are different. This was more like having dinner together! A double bull chair 6 yds from barrel
No brush! I was a little worried about being seen but he said if I was still it wouldnt be a problem. Well, he was right! at about 7:30 I could hear the resident beaver slapping his tail in anger and I figured something was about to happen. The commotion behind me told the tale of a boar chasing a sow and I was ready when the boar came in to look around. At 5 yds my arrow was true and I watched my bear make it 30 yds and pile up.
The next couple days I got to just experience the wilderness and fish some beutiful native brook trout with my dad. I cant say enough about jerrys operation. Top notch all the way, food, experience and just plain fun. Pictures to follow as I am terrible at it and I have to rely on a buddy. Thanks for listening. NEXT!
Sounds like a great time.......
Shanes pics
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h160/steadman_2006/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_0735_zpszfcijon5.jpg) (http://s63.photobucket.com/user/steadman_2006/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_0735_zpszfcijon5.jpg.html)
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Congrats bud!
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I got in camp on June 11th to the same cold/rainy weather as Shane. It was the worst bear hunting weather I've ever dealt with. I talked with Jerry about what I was looking for in a bear before my first evening's hunt and he told me he would do his best to find me the bear I was looking for.
As for my impression of the bear hunt, Jerry, and his guide gave 110% percent effort trying to find a big bear. I had multiple opportunities on bears but they weren't what I was looking for. I saw bears on stand every night except the night it poured rain for two plus hours.
I did see a couple very big bears but 30 yards through the brush isn't good and no one can control what the bears do and just the fact of seeing them makes me willing the return.
And Shane's trout tasted great.
doug77
:campfire:
Anymore news :campfire:
TTT
:campfire:
Sounds like a GREAT place to go.
Terry
Sorry to hear about your Black Widow, Jerry.
Nice bear photos and congratulations to the hunters.
OK folks, first let me apologize for the huge delay in writing this years account of bear camp. I returned to Georgia and had to prepare for a big Independence weekend trad archery gathering. We had about 90 people attend and that was a blast. Following that, I recently leased several additional properties in Georgia for bear hunting and have spent every spare moment working there....OK, enough excuses, lol... here are some tales from bear camp.
The 2016 bear camp started pretty tough in our area of Canada. Cold, rain and wind met us for the first several days of camp and as the hunters started to arrive I worried how it would impact the numbers of bears we would see. We met our first group of hunters (Tradganger Shane H and his dad. We planned to get them in the woods right away and it did not take long to realize that the Mastigouche Wilderness would not let us down. Shane's dad hunted the "Tickle Fight" stand and would shoot the second bear that rolled in after the first climbed his tree to say hello. Shane would score the next night after hunting the #12 or "Bloody Nose" stand from the ground at 6 yards. And a nice boar at that.
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj501/jerryrussell1/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsfpkipiia.jpeg)
Another hunter (Illinois Doug) would also score from a ground blind at 7 yards. and his son would pass on several bears and get some awesome ground blind video.
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj501/jerryrussell1/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps2rwjaccu.jpeg)
This year we continued to encourage hunters, that are willing, to hunt our ground set-ups. While we have tree stands at nearly all our baits we have found that the experience is GREATLY enhanced from the ground and that the wound rate plummets from these shot angles. As a matter of fact the last 3 years we have recovered every single bear that has been shot.
Speaking of wounded bear recovery, I have to give a massive amount of credit to my blood tracking hound "Bear Dog" This was his 3 year working in my camp and once again he has a rock star with amazing recoveries. We had fantastic shooting in our camp with most of the bears traveling just 30-150 yards but we also tracked for our camp 2 located some distance away. Often times we would be called for tracking assistance the following afternoon putting these tracks at between 20-24 hours old. This is where bear dog proved the true worth of a skilled tracking dog.
He had the following tracks with distances recorded with his GPS collar.
1,050 yards- 13 hours old
1,100 yards- 14 hours old
950 yards- 22 hours old
1.86 MILES- 24 hours old
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All of these tracks had been abandon by sight trackers after exhaustive efforts had failed.
The fishing was great and Shane H. and his dad tearing up the brook trout each days they fished. Dang those trout were good fried in butter!
Half way through the first hunt week the weather started to stabilize and the rut really started to kick in and the number of big boars exploded. LOTS of chasing was witnessed and hunters were reporting multiple bears visiting each night. Josh W. would be next to score from a ground blind at the Skelator bait but not before watching and filming his beautiful bear for more than an hour.
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj501/jerryrussell1/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsjjyvqtk3.jpeg)
We had some awesome encounters with a number of moose this year and Bear Dog tried to get through the windshield on a couple of them, lol.
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj501/jerryrussell1/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsaie8ygqu.png)
Tradganger Doug 77 was on the prowl for a monster bear and while he did see a couple bruisers, they just would not commit. He passed on several mature bears that did not meet his goals.
Tradganger JR had hunted with us for several years in a row and was determined to kill a monster. He would get his chance the very fist night but things went sideways at 10 yards and the arrow sailed over the monster boars back. The next night he passed on some smaller bears. The following night he would get another chance at a monster boar but a shot never presented itself as the bear fed at just 10 yards. He would only have four nights to hunt so on his last night I put him at Bloody Nose bait. This is a special bait in that we have never placed a hunter there without having a mature bear present for the hunter at 10 yards or less. The stand did not let us down as JR got to witness several boars chasing sows but the chaos never allowed for a standing shot.
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These are just a few stories from the hunt. It was great fun for sure with one MAJOR exception... the loss of my beloved Black Widow bow. We were at the skinning shed working on bears when my assistant guide went to the back of the truck to retrieve some equipment. My beautiful PSAX was in the way of his gear so he removed it. Without thinking, he placed the bow on the top of the camper shell. Later, we drove the 13 miles back to camp #1 but the bow decided to leave the roof somewhere along that 13 mile dirt road drive.
This bow was a bow that I bought two years ago to replace a Black Widow that I had shot for more than 19 years. I have decided that as a replacement, I will resurrect my old Widow by getting a new set of limbs for the old girl. It will feel good to have her back in my hands.
2016 was a bit tougher year due to the terrible weather at the start but we are proud of the fact that we have been 100% on shot opportunity (mature bear at 10 yards) for the last 5 years. under normal weather conditions a hunter can expect to see multiple bears at each sitting. We have some monster bear roaming that Mastigouche reserve and your simply will never find a more beautiful and wild place. We look forward to Tradgang bear camp 2017. We run very small groups on our hunts and will only hunt the pre-rut and rut so as to prevent the chance of hunters arriving to a hunt with snow on the ground. Simply put, if you are wanting a great wilderness adventure with very hard working guides at a place where you WILL get your chance at your bear-give us a look and then give me a call to discuss.
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj501/jerryrussell1/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpspfdvsk1y.jpeg)
We will only have two small groups for 2017 and plan to make an announcement of a very special tradgang bear adventure in the next couple weeks. Thanks again to the Trad Gang members that made the trip up with us.
P.S. I promise to try and get a 2016 video out ASAP. I have many thousands of pictures to work through along with some great video...
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj501/jerryrussell1/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsa9qkmv0u.jpeg)
Sounds like a great time, Jerry. I hope that when I finally get enough saved up, I will one day join you in one of your Canadian Bear adventures.
That REALLY sucks about your Widow! It was a good lookin' bow. Did you ask Bear Dog to help you find it?
Great report, jerry! Sorry about your luck with your bow!!!!
Man, that's a bad way to lose your bow (as if there was any good way). Sounds like y'all had a great hunt.
Congrats to all the successful hunters!
Bisch
Awesome! Would like to here more about the shots on those bears you were able to get that traveled a long ways.
QuoteOriginally posted by TURKEYFOOTGIRL:
Awesome! Would like to here more about the shots on those bears you were able to get that traveled a long ways.
1,050 yards- 13 hours old- single lung
1,100 yards- 14 hours old - shot in neck. Across a nasty swamp and strait up a rocky hill so steep it was more like mountain climbing.
950 yards- 22 hours old- gut shot. A neat track over a very steep mountainside with the bear bailing off a dangerously steep cliff. There was no blood on this track but the dog was convinced the bear was down in that swamp beneath the cliff. It took some time to work around the cliff but the dog was spot on.
1.86 MILES- 24 hours old- ?? Unknown shot location. This one I called the track very close to dark. We were near exhaustion as this was Bear Dogs third track and we were miles from any road. I did not think the shot was fatal. That dog did not want to give up.
Awesome dog and great pictures of some beautiful country and crew! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: