Outfitter: Bear Track Outfitters, Manitoba, Canada
Guide: Ron Dare, owner of Bear Track
Method: Treestand over bait
Bow: Hoyt Nitrum 34, 31 inch draw at 70 pound
Arrows: Black Eagle Carnivore with 125 grain VPA broadheads

I just returned from a bowhunt for black bear with Bear Track Outfitters in Manitoba. I had a good trip and shot my first bear, a nice boar. Ron Dare hunts from a nice camp with cabins on the shore of Lake St. Martin.







Hunters stay in comfortable two bedroom cabins with a bathroom, kitchen, and sitting area. There is a larger cabin where all meals are served and a common cabin with couches and chairs. Ron's wife, Jeannine, prepares and serves delicious meals.

A typical day is as follows:
Wake up around 7:00 to 7:30 and enjoy a cup of coffee in our cabin.
Breakfast is served at 8:10.
Around 9:00 to 9:30 we would go with our guide to check bait sites, place more bait as required, and pull the trail camera cards.
Back to camp around 12:30 to check the trail camera cards to determine which baits to hunt. Ron's operation, which includes himself as guide and two other guides, runs about 30 bait sites. There are plenty of options when choosing where to hunt.
Dinner is served at 2:00.
Head out to hunt at 3:30.
Hunt until dark at 10:30.
Enjoy a light meal after the hunt and retire for the evening.

Ron runs bait sites via boat on Lake St. Martin and the Dauphin River. The other two guides, Pat & Kevin, run there bait sites via ATVs.
I hunted the lake a couple of days and then we moved over to the river due to wind. On Thursday, I hunted a bait on the river called "Frenchman's Rapids". I got settled in the ladder stand which was right on the river bank about 4:30 and noticed a black poplar tree in front of me that had claw marks where a large bear had climbed up the tree. The claw marks went at least 30 feet up the tree where the lowest limbs were.



Here is a view of the river from my stand.



At 7:35 a bear came into the bait site from my right. Bears are so quiet, I had no idea he was around until he appeared out of the brush at 20 yards entering the bait site clearing. The wind was perfect and he never knew I was there. After 15 minutes of milling around and eating some of the bait, which is a mixture of oats, granola, peanut butter, strawberry jelly, and used cooking oil, the bear finally gave me a good broadside shot. At 15 yards the shot was a double lung and the boar only ran 35 yards into the brush before expiring. I heard a death moan and knew he was dead.



I contacted Ron on the radio and he and Pat came across the river to track my bear. It wasn't much of a tracking job as the bear did not go far. The bear was a nice medium size boar and I was very happy with my first bear. I can highly recommend Bear Track Outfitters for a baited black bear hunt.

Great job!! Looks like an enjoyable hunt. As you note, bear are scary quiet when they come in.

Jeremy

Ones first bear is always remembered.

I recall my first and last one very easily the ones in the middle take some thought.

Congrats on your first bear!!!

Waidmannsheil on the bear, well done!