By Larry Weishuhn
Plans for my returning to Alberta during May 2024 to hunt black bear started while I was in the Edmonton International Airport in May 2023. There I ran into a longtime friend, Mark Sidelinger, while preparing to board a plane back to Texas after having hunted with Linda Powell for black bear near the Alberta and Northwest Territories. Before we parted company in Denver after landing there he suggested, “You ought to come hunt bear next year with me when we come back to Alberta.”
That’s how I happened to be in Alberta near Winding River.
Gear stowed in the comfortable camp in preparation for the afternoon’s hunt, “Larry likes sitting on the ground!” answered Brad Fenson before I could respond, when questioned about how I liked hunting bear. I nodded enthusiastically! Brad knew me well!
“We’ve got just the place for him. There’s been a really smart old bear coming into one of our long-established baits. He’s been seen several times, briefly. Hunters we’ve had in that stand have however only seen him at a distance peering around a tree. Soon as he sees there is someone sitting in the ladder blind, he turns and runs away.” Said Clayton Royer, owner of Grand Slam Hunting Adventures, (www.gshuntalberta.com) the outfit we were hunting with.
Mark Sidelinger also nodded approvingly. I was in Alberta, Canada thanks to Mark’s Media Direct Creative. Among his other outdoor clients is Avient, the company that recently developed unique technology which makes rifle barrels, lightweight, extremely sturdy, accurate and immediately draws heat away from the core.
Said Clay, “Larry I’m going to send you with Cam Morrison this afternoon. You’ll want to leave shortly after you are certain the rifle you’re using is sighted in.”
When my newly re-barreled 7mm PRC Mossberg Patriot Predator failed to arrive before my departure for Alberta, Mark had suggested I borrow one of Brad Fenson’s Mossbergs. Brad graciously allowed me to use his Mossberg Patriot LR Tactical chambered in .308 Win complete with a box of Hornady 165-grain CX Outfitter. He suggested, “The .308’s 22-inch barrel as opposed to the .300 Win Mag’s 24-inch barrel will make it easier to handle in the close quarters that you might have to deal with.” I liked how Brad thought.
Cam accompanied me to the rifle range immediately behind our comfortable camp. “You’ll be 50-yards from the bait barrel. I’ll set up a target at that distance.” Sounded good to me. Moments later from a “hunter’s rest” I put 3 shots in the same hole immediately above the target’s “X” center. “Think you’re ready!” said Cam with a smile. As I was packing my gear he reminded, “Take your rain gear. It is going to rain this afternoon. And you’ll be set up in a clear-cut without any canopy of trees. The bait barrel is just inside the tree-line, but where you should be able to see a bear approaching it. There’s a log you can sit behind, and we’ll pull a couple of shorter logs to it to break up your outline, should make an excellent “hide!”
After a bit of a drive we approached where I would be spending the evening. Said Cam, “Gonna drop you off to set up while I add more bait.” As we had approached the bait I had told Cam and Brad who would be dropped off after I was, I planned on staying until at least official sundown, even if I shot a bear early. I had learned a long time before just because you shoot a good bear on a bait, it is not uncommon for an even bigger one to come in to the same bait after the shot. I bade Brad good luck and Cam a “See you later.”
Soon as Cam and Brad left it started raining, intermittently lightly at first, then hard. The first three hours I hardly saw even so much as a bird, just lots of rain drops. My raingear thankfully was keeping me dry.
Interestingly, the temperature hung in the low to mid-40s. Even more interesting, I never even thought of starting the two Thermacells I regularly carried with me when hunting spring bear. There was nary a mosquito! Almost strange! But I was most thankful!
I glanced at my phone; ten minutes before eight. I could see the bait barrel rather “fuzzily” through falling rain. Then, from just beyond it, I saw a huge black “glob”. My rifle was pointed toward the bait barrel. I reached up, pushed my Stealth Vision’s 3-18x44 scope’s lighted reticle switch to “On”, and cranked the variable magnification up to 5X.
No doubt the bear was Huge. He stood easily looking over the top of the upright barrel, and I could see black on either side of the barrel. The distance between the bear’s ears was well over half the width of the barrel. My heart started beating like a hummingbird’s wings!
My rifle did not so much as even wiggle as I peered through my scope, thanks to how I had it rested. The bear moved to his left. Now he was quartered toward me. The red-lighted crosshairs were solid upon his chest. I waited! I wanted to be certain my bullet would pass through both lungs, knowing a bear’s heart and lung are situated behind the front legs rather than immediately between them.
The bear continually looked in my direction, but also he looked up toward where I would have been sitting had I been in the ladder stand. No doubt he would never have approached the bait barrel had I been in the stand.
After an eternity the monstrous boar took a couple of steps forward, quartering less acutely in my direction. Safety to “Fire”, double checked then angle, then knowing how he stood I could drive the Hornady CX bullet through both lungs. It was raining quite hard.
I took one more deep breath, let it all out, then gently pull the trigger. At the shot, the bear rocked backwards, then immediately turned and disappeared into the wall of trees behind the bait. He never ran, but still moved to fast for me to take a second shot.
There was no doubt I had hit the bear squarely through his vitals. But then there was! In my mind I re-ran what had just happened. I had to have hit him! The crosshairs had been steady half-way from top to bottom of his chest, immediately behind the shoulder. Still he had simply turned and walked away as if nothing had happened. Confidence, but still a bit of doubt crept in.
The rain slowed shortly after my shot. Clay and Cam had instructed to stay on stand after the shot and to not go look for blood or the bear. I again relived what had happened.
It started raining again, hard. My intention had been to remain on stand until the end of legal shooting light at official sundown. I had told both Cam and Brad I would not call even if I shot a bear. But now I was quickly becoming concerned the heavy rain might wash away any blood. I called Brad and asked him to contact Cam to tell him I had shot a bear that ran.
Thirty minutes later, Cam drove up. I told him my story while we walked to where the bear had been standing when I shot. Just beyond we found a very small fleck of blood. We walked in the direction it appeared the bear had gone. Ten yards later we found another very small spot of blood. Then numerous steps beyond we found one more small spot of blood, and then no more!
Had the bear quit bleeding because he was only wounded? Had he quit bleeding because fat clogged the entrance and exit holes? Had he continued bleeding, but the rain had washed away the blood? Or, had he merely been wounded?
Darkness was fast approaching. We could find no more blood. Now I was truly questioning what happened. “Break a bunch of limbs to mark where we last found blood. We’ll have to come back in the morning. Temperatures will drop to near freezing tonight. The bear will be fine for the night and we’ll find him in the morning.” Commented Cam.
I reluctantly followed him out the spongy woods back to where we had parked his vehicle. It was going to be a long restless night!
Back at camp I told my story, had a delicious supper that would have been much more satisfying had my bear been on the skinning table rather then out in the woods…dead or alive. Throughout the night, I said many prayers and relived my shot innumerable times. But always, I recalled the crosshairs being solidly on the bear’s vitals.
Morning came none to soon! After a quick breakfast Cam, Clay and a couple of the other guides and I headed back to where we had lost the blood trail. “You guys stay right here and wait for me to see what I can find beyond.” Instructed Clay. “Looks like he’s headed in pretty much a straight line based on what little blood y’all found…” He disappeared into the dense trees along a spongy path.
Moments passed, then I heard Clay say, “Here he is!” Although I heard him I could scarcely believe he had found my bear that quickly. “He’s right here! And he’s huge!”
He had scarcely finished those words when I stood looking down at a truly huge black bear laying at my feet. Before I could say anything Cam was pounding on my back with congratulations. I started to say something but all that came out was “Thank You Lord! Thank You Cam and THANK YOU Clay!”
The bear at my feet truly was huge of body. Having taken a fair number of black bears in years past I had no doubt he would weigh well over 300-pounds and square north of 7-feet. I whispered a prayer of thanks before accepting the congratulatory hands of Clay and Cam, and the other two guides.
After some in the field photos, the guides loaded my bear on a skid, then pulled and pushed my bear back to the edge of the clear-cut where the four of them loaded it into the back of a vehicle for the trip to headquarters.
Back at camp we took numerous photos before my bear was skinned for a life-size mount, which will be done by Double Nickle Taxidermy near New Braunfels, Texas. Once it was skinned the bear’s hide was “squared” by measuring from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail added to the measurement from the tip of the left front foot to the tip of the right. That total was divided by two, the standard way of measuring a bear. Using this method my bear squared 7-feet 8-inches. Later the skull was also measured by placing it length-wise between two perpendicular uprights. This measure was added to the width of the skull by placing the perpendicular uprights at the widest part of the skull, at the zygomatic arch. These two measurements totaled 20 ¼-inches…an impressive black bear, to say the least!
Mark Sidelinger’s bear was a twin of mine. Others in our camp had also taken really nice bears, mostly their first, which is always special.
The second evening of the hunt Cam dropped me at a bait. “No place to do a ground blind. Hope you don’t mind sitting in a stand…” I assured him I would be fine.
That afternoon I saw nine bears. Six appeared to be sows and young boars. But I also saw two bigger boars that had I not already taken the bear I had, either one I would have shot. Both no doubt would have squared over 7-feet. The ninth was a young color phase bear, a blonde with a gorgeous coat! I was tempted, but it was young, most likely a young sow, not the color phase bear I hoped to take. Right color, just not old or big enough.
One of my remaining bear hunting goals is to take a really BIG color phase bear, be it blonde, cinnamon, brown or chocolate. “Big” equates to an older bear. Far too often color phase bears are shot before they have the opportunity to mature and grow to any real size. Much as I liked the color of the young bear, I could not bring myself to pull the trigger. I watched it walk away.
The next two nights I again hunted from the ground, near where a huge brown boar had been seen in the past. Unfortunately, he nor any other bear showed.
We were on the cusp of the bear breeding season, so it was quite possible the big brown boar had moved to another area.
Last day of our hunt I arrived at a ground blind I had built where had been seen a nice cinnamon colored bear. I got there at 9:30 in the morning. I stayed until almost 10:30 that evening any and every moment expecting the bear of my dreams to appear. It did not happen!
Although, at about 8 that evening a sow with three cubs visited the area. While the cubs fed on the bait, the sow kept circling. Several times she was behind me. I kept an eye on her until she drifted away. The cubs, thankfully, followed.
In Alberta there are two bears on your license. This allowed me to continue hunting after I have taken my big bear. Others in our hunting group each took two bears. I took one. There had been other opportunities particularly with the two bigger bears the second evening. I had chosen to pass them, along with the young color phase in hopes of seeing a big mature color phase or an even bigger black colored bear.
I departed Alberta with great resolve to return to look for a large color phase bear, the one that continues to evade me. I dearly love hunting bear!