This article, written by A-Way Outdoors co-host Fred Abbas, will be published in the September 2009 issue of Woods & Waters News. -- Sam Qualls

“YEAR OF THE BEAR”

1961’, there were many firsts that year. A childhood friend from Dearborn, Steve Miller and I would blunder into a huge 550 pound Michigan black bear and three months later I would take a beautiful bride for life. That was yesterday, or so it seemed. Believe it or not that was the last time I hunted bear despite the fact my son Greg has been inviting me on bear hunts for the sake of our A-Way Outdoors television program for the last 10 years. By the time 2008’ rolled around I had totally forgotten whatever it was that had turned me off of bear hunting in the first place. Greg sensing weakness in my usual excuses virtually baited me with food just as he would bait bear, except my bait would come in the form of succulent steaks, thick lamb chops and beef roasts. Greg further enticed me with a promise of a Chinese buffet once we hit the road. What really sealed the deal was when Greg informed me that two of our pro staff, Jack and Mark Ruthruff would be at the camp two weeks before the season opener setting out stands and baiting our locations.

Greg was already getting glowing daily reports from Jack who would be guiding other hunters as well. Mark is our designated master chef. Our destination will be Bear Creek Outfitters in Ontario, Canada. Greg and a few of our pro staff have been hunting here for the last ten years with a success ratio of almost 100%. Our camp consisted mostly of bow hunters and surprisingly most of the guys were from Michigan.  This was a modern camp with nice buildings and the usual conveniences of home. This camp is fully recommended by us, and for those of you who enjoy fishing, you can do that as well.  Dusty Brodhagen has a unique operation here that allows the hunter hands on participation by baiting his own sites each day, along with camp team work in retrieving your bear. After the evening hunt everybody meets for dinner, then after dinner we all go out to retrieve or track any bear that was shot. This country is rugged so the bear is carried out in a body bag (by the young guys, of course) instead of trying to drag the bear out.

Jack had three baited sites working for us with trail camera proof of who was frequenting them. Greg was after a color phase bear and since none were captured on tape I would be the hunter and Greg would be the cameraman. My stand was about 10 feet off the ground, much to my concern because I have witnessed how fast a big bear can climb a tree. Greg’s stand was a few feet above mine which would give him a good camera angle. Two hours into out sit I felt a tap on my shoulder, Greg pointed to his ear then the direction that he heard footsteps. This amazed me because I had not heard a thing even though I have pretty good hearing myself. The next thing I heard was the hum of the camera being turned on. Now I was fully alert glancing up to see the direction that the camera was pointing. I immediately locked onto a movement 100 yards in front of us. Greg whispered big bear, big bear. The bear headed right toward the bait, once he reached the bait his sixth sense kicked in, something was bothering him and now he headed straight for our tree. This made me very nervous especially when the big bear stopped directly below us with his nose held high in the air sniffing and breathing hard.

A scary thought entered my mind, because by now I was breathing pretty heavy myself, so if I could hear his heavy breathing, shouldn’t he be able to hear mine as well? Tense minutes passed when finally the bear broke the stalemate by walking to the path where we had entered the woods. Both Greg and I wear Scent-Lok suits along with spraying down our boots and any exposed skin with scent eliminators. We take every precaution that we can to fool an animal’s nose. Despite these precautions the bear knew that something wasn’t right but he couldn’t prove it to himself as to whatever it was that bothered him. So he continued his search. Knowing that young boars or big boars are curious and have little fear of us I whispered to Greg that if this bear started up the tree I would shoot. That’s how nervous this bear made me.

Now the bear had his nose to the ground and began to backtrack our trail right back under our tree where he stopped again, nose high in the air. The boar was so big that if he stood up he would be less than three feet away from my boots. To my great relief the bear finally ambled back toward the bait allowing me to draw, I wasn’t about to wait until he settled down. I knew at some point before reaching the bait he would have to give me the perfect quartering away shot. The moment he did the arrow was on its way.

The big boar went down less than 30 yards from the point of impact. Greg was so excited for me that he was beating me on the back in congratulations and in his zeal he almost knocked me off the stand. Although we basically had the bear in hand we marked the massive blood trail with tissue paper to make tracking at night easier for the crew. Thank you guys (from the Lansing area) for the help during that awful down pour in getting the bear back to camp. All eleven hunters in camp tagged out. Greg was the exception only because he held out for a color phase bear. See this hunt on the Sportsman channel, or on the Pursuit channel. It can also be seen in Canada on Wild TV during the week of October 5th. Also, this hunt and other bear hunts could be seen on our new DVD titled, Black Bear Zone 3.

No sooner was this hunt over when Greg began making plans to take me bear hunting in Saskatchewan, Canada the following year. Lloyd Lake Lodge was world renown for its excellent fishing and bear hunting. Not only did this wild country harbor big bear, but many were color phase. That is exactly what drew Greg here; I was more interested in the fishing. They had huge pike, lake trout, walleye, and Grayling. It took four different flights to reach this remote country. The last flight put us right in camp. Our host Sam Qualls had dinner waiting for us, but more importantly he had a glowing report on the many bear sightings. At my age good food and comfortable modern accommodations were on top of my list, and I wasn’t disappointed. There was a laid back routine at this camp that I enjoyed like no other. After breakfast the guides would make the rounds baiting the many bait sites and bring us new reports of the bear activity. Most of the time the guides actually spotted the bear near the bait sites and were able to report the size and color of the bear.

In the mean time Greg and I, along with our fishing guide would go walleye fishing for shore lunch for the whole camp, (the guides would fry the fillets to a golden brown in a big pan over an open fire, along with potatoes or beans) This was our daily routine, my mouth still waters when I think about it. After we caught the walleyes we would go after pike. On this trip we caught several pike that weighed between 20-29 pounds. This was a catch and release area for pike. While we didn’t fish for lake trout others did and they caught some almost as big as the released pike.

The first evening on stand we had a chocolate color bear come in and put on quite a show for the camera. Greg chose to wait for a bigger bear that had been sighted here a day earlier. The same bear came in the following day and again was allowed to walk. That night at dinner we got a report of a big cinnamon bear spotted several miles up stream, (hunters are dropped off by boat at different bait sites). Greg chose to hunt this bear.

Soon after being dropped off a storm blew in out of nowhere, we didn’t mind the drenching rain, it was the wind, thunder and lightning that bothered us. While this was going on we spotted the cinnamon cautiously coming in, we were astounded that any animal would venture out in this weather. The bear almost reached the bait when for some unknown reason he turned and ran away. Usually when this happens the bear doesn’t return. An hour later we spotted him in the distance circling us, he actually ended up directly behind us on the trail that we had come in on, before losing sight of him again. Then suddenly he appeared on our left flank, I whispered to Greg that the bear was on our left and at the same time I started the camera.

Now the bear was determined to come in, but very cautiously. Greg has taken 12 black bear over the years but has never taken a color phase. Maybe it was just bad luck but he seemed to have good luck for others. Two years ago Greg took his wife Kim on a hunt where she shot a gorgeous blond bear, one in which Greg would have gladly traded a dozen black bear for. As a cameraman my job was to record the event and not get caught up in the moment. The unwritten rule is to stay detached from the scene, but unknown to me at the time I did get caught up in the scene. Greg later told me that as the bear was slowly inching his way into position he could hear my labored breathing, he said it sounded like a prank phone call. But the good news is Greg finally got his color phase bear and I did hold the camera steady.

The guide reports were still coming in and we had a choice to make as to which stand to hunt. I wasn’t too particular as to size or color of bear but we did want to tag along with the guide while he baited to see if there was sign of multiple bears visiting a single bait .At this point in the hunt time was truly of the essence, having only a day and a half to fill my tag. Luckily for us we had left camp hours earlier than usual. After visiting six baited sites we found what we were looking for and ironically it was a site that a new guide baited by accident, so of course there were no stands set up there. We had to go up stream another few miles to take down the stands that had been set up. Once we finally got back and reset the stands it was getting late.

Since it was so late and we were at least 20 miles from camp the guide decided to wait for us a couple of miles away, but he would be in radio contact with us. After the guide left Greg and I decided to look over the terrain before climbing into our stands. I was walking along a path looking for bear scat and tracks when I noticed Greg on top of a small incline staring at something. When I got up there I saw a big bear walking in the opposite direction. All of a sudden the bear turned and spotted us. Instead of running away like we think he should have he headed directly toward us with a purpose on his mind. The bear was dangerously posturing with a swaggering stiff legged gait while rocking back and forth with his ears laid back. I whispered to Greg, should I shoot him? Greg whispered back that the bear was threatening us and we needed to get in the stand where we had a better chance of defending ourselves. As we eased back toward the stands I glanced over my shoulder, the bear was still following. It dawned on me that this bear didn’t really know what we were,  he probably viewed us as intruders on his territory trying to steal his food. This country was so wild that the vast majority of bear have never set eyes on a human.

Unfortunately under the circumstances, Greg failed to film this amazing encounter. Who can blame him. As we were hooking up our safety belts we momentarily lost sight of the bear when all of a sudden there he was and he was coming in. I didn’t even have time to think when hunting instinct kicked in, the shot opportunity exposed itself and I released the arrow. The bear ran about 15 yards before folding up near our tree in plain sight. All of this took place within 10 minutes after the guide had left. The guide was flabbergasted when we called him to pick us up.

In 2009’ Lloyd Lake Lodge finished the bear season with a success ratio of 100%, half were color phase bears. Watch the episode of this hunt on A-Way Outdoors during the week of August 24th and November 23rd on the Sportsman Channel and the Pursuits Channel. Also shown in Canada on Wild TV.

I guess at this old age I have now rediscovered bear hunting and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Who said an old dog can’t learn, or relearn new tricks? Not only that, Greg has gotten me involved in metal detecting, especially Civil War sites all over the country. In fact we have a new DVD coming out very soon on the subject. Visit our web for times and dates of our programs or to view our new product line. We welcome comments or questions.
(989) 435-3879
www.awayhunting.com

Lloyd Lake Lodge, LTD.
P.O. Box 1317
Kalkaska, Mi. 49646
1-877-600-9479
info@lloydlakelodge.com