I just returned from one of the most enjoyable hunts. About two and half years ago a friend of mine Von Evans asked me if I wanted to go bear hunting. So we put down a deposit and began the long wait and the build up. After two and a half years there is a lot of build up. We had booked our hunt with Wally Mack of W and L guideservice in High Level Alberta. The first step was to figure out how to get to High Level. We looked at flying to Edmonton and then takeing a small plane to High Level. The flight on the small plane was going to run $780 a piece with out bag fees. There were 7 of us going so we decided to rent a 15 passenger van for $2000.00.

We arived in Edmonton around noon and picked up our van. After a few moments of looking at the van and looking at all our gear we convinced the rental company to let us take the back two rows out of the van and loaded all of our gear.



After getting loaded we headed north to Peace River. We spent the night at a small hotel and headed north to High Level. We stoped at the liquor store to pick up some supplies and were surprised by the cost of beer. We drove about 8 miles north of town to bear camp.



Bear camp was comprised of wall tents with wood stoves and cots. The kitchen and showers had power via a generator and some of the nicest people you have ever met. We ate lunch and got a saftey speech and it was off to the stands. The stand were ladder stands over barrels and always a dead beaver.



I had never been black bear hunting and was not sure what to excpect. I brought my bow and a my great grandfathers 1886 .33wcf and wanted to take one with each since we all had two tags.
We set out for the stands at 4 pm and were to be picked up by 11pm. The anticipation began to fade a bit after a few hours on the stand. I hate taking an animal on the first day but we were told to judge them by how they compared to the drum. A bear that was taller than the second rung on the barrel was a six footer and a bear near the top was a seven footer. As I sat the long lasting dusk began to set in. I had begun to become insensitive to rustleing leaves because the squirels had been having a turf war below my feet all afternoon. I'm actually surprised I turned around at the sound of a stick breaking but I did. There he was a huge black shape moving toward the bait and me since my stand was directly in his path. He moved up to the base of my stand and stopped. He looked up at my stand and stared at me. He let out a low gutteral growl. He then walked towards the bait and as he walked past the barrel, his back was even with the top of the barrel. I new he was a shooter. He moved over to the beaver and got up on his hind legs and ripped of the bottom half of the beaver. I could hear the bones crunch as he ate it in about three bites. While he was snacking on the beaver I eased my bow off the rest and readied myself for the shot. He headed back to the barrel and stood up and put his front feet on top of the barrel giving me a perfect broad side shot. I let the arrow fly and he bit at where it had passed through. He ran about ten feet and began to walk and moved off into the scrub. I sat there looking at the luminock questioning my shot. after a minute i heard the death moan. I called Wally and he said sit tight maybe something else might come in. It didn't. After awhile I could hear the four wheeler. We tracked it out about 75yds and there he laid. It was a real struggle to get it up on the quad. We loaded it back on the truck and I knew it was a good bear.


The next morning we loaded it on the quad for a photo op.


and then it was on to the skinning table.



I was amazed at how human there paws looked when skinned.



after we skinned it. We hung it to measure. It measured out at 6'11" from nose to tail. Not bad for my first black bear on the first night.



I then proceeded to hunt for four more nights srring lots of bears but none that tickled my fancy. On the last night I was sitting not worried about taking another bear. I was happy with my trophy. As i sat I heard sticks Breaking and saw the dark shapes moving through the trees. A nice six footer popped out and headed to the bait. He kept looking back behind him. I could see another shape back in the brush he charged in and the other bear bolted. I could see that he was a good sized bear and he was all black even his nose. He had long black fur. As he moved to the barrels I raised the .33wcf and eased the hammer back. As he turned broadside I but the colorado sights on his chest and squeezed. He bolted straight for the stand and fell twenty yards behind me, moaned and went still. I had done what I hoped. Taken two good bears, one with a bow and one with a hundered year old rifle.



That night we skinned him and he measured 6'8"


One Of the guys we hunted with, Von Evans SR. scored with a monster that measured 7'11"




All in all our party of 8 hunters saw a total of 58 bears in six nights and all took two bears. Our guides were great hard working people. The food was good. I can't wait to go back. I would highly recomend to everyone, get out to the bear woods

Congrats on a great hunt in Alberta.Hope you are coming back soon. What method did you use to measure these bears?

after skinning we hung them by their nose on a tree and measured nose to tail

That first bear of yours is great!

Congrats,

Bob

Looks like you guys had a ball and made memories to last a lifetime.
Thanks for the pix and great report.
Best
GWB

Congrats. Good job.

Seems like a pretty decent first bear hunt!

Nice Pics and stories!!!!!Congrats.

How'd you like them 'skeeters?

Skeeters were about the size of sparrows but once the thermacell kicked in it was smooth sailing.

Please forgive my ignorance but why the beaver?

Bears in that area love to eat beavers... I know how that sounds.

Thanks.

great hunt!

Sounds like a great trip, and congrats to you all. That one bear is a corker!

Here is the link for the video of the one I took with the bow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Erjhb9su5JI