jerry russell
Senior Member
A bit long winded but the story or the video alone just can't tell the whole story. I hope you enjoy it.
A black bear hunt has long been on the list of adventures that I wanted to share with my 14 year old son Luke. This hunt would be extra special for a couple of reasons. The location of this hunt was the Mastigouche Wildlife Reserve in Quebec. Much famed for giant bears due to the fact that only 30 or so permits are given out here on the more than 900 square miles. Biologist estimate 750 bears roam this one reserve. I have hunted bears countless times from Maine to Alaska in some really wild places but this place was special. I have never encountered bear densities like this and the number of huge bears was amazing. This is an incredibly huge, beautiful and wild place of moose, wolves and monster bears. What would make this trip most special; however, is that it would mark the 36 year anniversary of my first bear hunt with my father when I was also 14 years old. I look back at that hunt as a defining moment for me in both my hunting career and my life. I have always had a burning desire to go to the lands hunted by Fred Bear, Howard Hill and my other childhood hunting heroes but that first bear hunt in 1977 sparked a burning desire to carry my bow into distant lands that has yet to fade even one little bit.
Day One: We left Atlanta at 06:15 and after landing in Montreal, made the 2.5 hour drive to the reserve. We set the bows up and were off to the bear stands. Talk about a culture shock- Atlanta, Georgia to a Canadian bear stand in just a few hours! My plan was to film Luke taking his bear and hunt my bear with any remaining time. We did not have to wait very long for bear #1. It never ceases to amaze me how a bear can get that close to you without making a sound, but there it was at 14 yards. I judged it to be a sow in the 140 pound range and Luke decided to pass on the shot. The bear gave me a wonderful opportunity to talk with Luke about how to judge bears. Along with the dozens of squirrels, chipmunks and snowshoe hares we were entertained for the rest of the evening.
The next morning we got a taste of how huge and wild the reserve really was as we visited 8 or so of the 25 bears stands. The stands are a minimum 5-7 miles apart with some as close as 5 minutes from camp others are as much as a 1.25 hour drive away. The drive between baits has you awestruck with the beauty of this place. Beautiful wild rivers with spectacular whitewater and more than 400 lakes line the roads. Wildlife is everywhere and this is far from your average Canadian bear hunt.
Day Two and Three: We hunted the same stands looking for a monster bear that had taken over the site and had excavated a huge hole next to the tree stand. We had a bear come close near dark but darkness saved him this day. The hours always pass very fast here because there is literally never a time where there is not some type of animal to watch.
During the morning hours we spent a lot of time shooting in camp and Luke was really tuned in. He was shooting a Black Widow recurve at 56 pounds and a Carbon Express Nativ two blade head. I knew any shooter bear that ventured into his range would be going home with us.
Day Four: Luke had begun to urge me to hunt alone because he feared my filming him would prevent my taking a bear but I did my best to help him to understand that watching him take his first bear was really what I was there for. We changed stand locations this day and as we approached the bait the decision to stay with him became easy to understand. Not one but two bears were at the site and we quickly set up the camera arm knowing that it would not be long before they returned. Forty minutes into our wait I spotted the bear coming down the ridge and it was on high alert. It began to circle us and for nearly an hour it made two full rotations around us. During this time another bear paced the ridgeline popping its jaws and snapping limbs. Finally, the bear decided to approach the bait. This is always a difficult time for a first time bear hunter. Even nerves of steel can come unglued at the last moment. Luke showed great patience as the bear provided dozens of marginal shot opportunities that he passed on. Finally, the bear presented the perfect broadside shot and the Luke began to draw. Let me stop the story for a moment to tell you folks that when an animal comes in on me when I am alone, I am all business and consider myself a very serious predator. However, when I am watching Luke doing the shooting I fall apart every time. I have seen him take nine species with his bow but I am like a first time bowhunter every time I watch him come to full draw. I still coach him to pick a spot and clam down but now he just politely gives me the “OK dad I got this” look and then always makes the shot. I guess that he will just simply always be my little eight year old boy on his first bowhunt.
As Luke drew the bow I said a quick prayer as always for a clean and quick kill and watched an absolute perfect shot with a complete pass through. I knew the bear would go less than 50 yards and that was the case. Seconds later, the death moan drifted back to us accompanied by the sounds of another highly agitated bear on the ridge above Luke’s bear. We quietly switched shooting and cameraman positions and continued the hunt. The final two hours of this day would have three more bears approaching our stand and while two presented 15 yard shots, with two days left to hunt I decided to pass and go for a really good bear.
Day Five: We returned to the same stand as the previous night and got to watch a pretty good bear show. Two bears came into chip shot range but were not what I was looking for. We also listened as a boar ran some cubs up a tree and had them just a bawling for their mother.
Day Six- The final day: I had made the decision to go all out this day and pull an all-day hunt. These 14 hour hunts mean getting your mind (and your rear end) right and then just gutting it out. I felt very confident for a number of reasons. The rut was now really starting to get hot and the stand I was going to hunt was showing signs of a true monster. Last day bear hunt heroics have always happened for me and five times I have taken bears during the last half hour of the last day. Now, having said that, after 13 hours on that stand and a grand animal total of 250 red squirrels and chipmunks my confidence was beginning to be tested a bit. The sun finally began to set and the wind went to dead calm. I had that feeling that something very good was about to happen. The first of two bears rolled in but were not something I wanted to take. They were nervous and left the scene. With less than 10 minutes of camera light remaining a squirrel up the path told me that something was coming in. I was stunned at the speed of the approaching bear and it took me off guard. This is when things started to come unglued just a bit. I had difficulty engaging the camera and by the time I was able to pull the bow from the hanger, the bear was at 9 yards. The bear presented a great shot but as I attempted to draw my bow the string came back but the arrowed did not. A tiny amount of sap from the spruce tree had transferred from my glove to the arrow and it caused the mishap. It also made the slightest of sounds that the bear picked up and it decided it did not want to be there. It turned to walk away and offered a 20 yard quartering away shot. Unfortunately this put the bear behind the one spruce limb in the shooting lane. This required that I drop to a squatting position to make the shot. I was shooting a 55# SAIII Black Widow recurve and a custom made Dendy Cromer chundoo wood shaft topped with a 45 year old bear razorhead. The quartering shot hit just ahead of the hip and angled to the fletch into the bear’s chest. I will never forget the sound of that wood shaft smacking those birch trees as the bear left the scene. I watched as the game tracker string peeled away for about 40 yards and after a few seconds came the death moan. That sound always impacts me in some very primal way but it also brings me the relief of a quick, clean kill of the animal.
We captured both hunts with video and it was my first time shooting our hunts with HD cameras. I was really pleased with the jump in video quality.
I have hunted bears for nearly 35 years in a lot of places from Maine to Alaska, and I would easily rate this as my favorite hunt. Being there with my son and watching him experience the North woods and the wonderful people and culture of Quebec was very special to me and one of the best Father’s Day gifts I have ever received. If you know me at all you have seen the passion I have for hunting Canada and Alaska. There is so much more out there in this world than sitting in a tree stand hunting whitetails. Yes I love my deer hunting but to be there and to hear that twig snap behind you and turn to see a moose, bear, wolf or whatever is something that you need to have happen to you just one time in your life. Hunting bears in the Mastigouche Reserve and the wild places like it in Canada is something everyone should experience. The place will enter your soul and never leave you.
Many of you that know me know that I guide for a living but more importantly that I live to guide. Over the years, I have had offers to guide in some wild places but life just seemed to get in the way. Well this time I have accepted the offer and will be running a bear camp there next spring. If anyone wants to experience this wonderful and rare place or just needs a bit of help planning a trip anywhere up there, please contact me. I am always willing to help. I hope some of you will dare to make one of these wilderness adventures a reality. You would never regret it.
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A black bear hunt has long been on the list of adventures that I wanted to share with my 14 year old son Luke. This hunt would be extra special for a couple of reasons. The location of this hunt was the Mastigouche Wildlife Reserve in Quebec. Much famed for giant bears due to the fact that only 30 or so permits are given out here on the more than 900 square miles. Biologist estimate 750 bears roam this one reserve. I have hunted bears countless times from Maine to Alaska in some really wild places but this place was special. I have never encountered bear densities like this and the number of huge bears was amazing. This is an incredibly huge, beautiful and wild place of moose, wolves and monster bears. What would make this trip most special; however, is that it would mark the 36 year anniversary of my first bear hunt with my father when I was also 14 years old. I look back at that hunt as a defining moment for me in both my hunting career and my life. I have always had a burning desire to go to the lands hunted by Fred Bear, Howard Hill and my other childhood hunting heroes but that first bear hunt in 1977 sparked a burning desire to carry my bow into distant lands that has yet to fade even one little bit.
Day One: We left Atlanta at 06:15 and after landing in Montreal, made the 2.5 hour drive to the reserve. We set the bows up and were off to the bear stands. Talk about a culture shock- Atlanta, Georgia to a Canadian bear stand in just a few hours! My plan was to film Luke taking his bear and hunt my bear with any remaining time. We did not have to wait very long for bear #1. It never ceases to amaze me how a bear can get that close to you without making a sound, but there it was at 14 yards. I judged it to be a sow in the 140 pound range and Luke decided to pass on the shot. The bear gave me a wonderful opportunity to talk with Luke about how to judge bears. Along with the dozens of squirrels, chipmunks and snowshoe hares we were entertained for the rest of the evening.
The next morning we got a taste of how huge and wild the reserve really was as we visited 8 or so of the 25 bears stands. The stands are a minimum 5-7 miles apart with some as close as 5 minutes from camp others are as much as a 1.25 hour drive away. The drive between baits has you awestruck with the beauty of this place. Beautiful wild rivers with spectacular whitewater and more than 400 lakes line the roads. Wildlife is everywhere and this is far from your average Canadian bear hunt.
Day Two and Three: We hunted the same stands looking for a monster bear that had taken over the site and had excavated a huge hole next to the tree stand. We had a bear come close near dark but darkness saved him this day. The hours always pass very fast here because there is literally never a time where there is not some type of animal to watch.
During the morning hours we spent a lot of time shooting in camp and Luke was really tuned in. He was shooting a Black Widow recurve at 56 pounds and a Carbon Express Nativ two blade head. I knew any shooter bear that ventured into his range would be going home with us.
Day Four: Luke had begun to urge me to hunt alone because he feared my filming him would prevent my taking a bear but I did my best to help him to understand that watching him take his first bear was really what I was there for. We changed stand locations this day and as we approached the bait the decision to stay with him became easy to understand. Not one but two bears were at the site and we quickly set up the camera arm knowing that it would not be long before they returned. Forty minutes into our wait I spotted the bear coming down the ridge and it was on high alert. It began to circle us and for nearly an hour it made two full rotations around us. During this time another bear paced the ridgeline popping its jaws and snapping limbs. Finally, the bear decided to approach the bait. This is always a difficult time for a first time bear hunter. Even nerves of steel can come unglued at the last moment. Luke showed great patience as the bear provided dozens of marginal shot opportunities that he passed on. Finally, the bear presented the perfect broadside shot and the Luke began to draw. Let me stop the story for a moment to tell you folks that when an animal comes in on me when I am alone, I am all business and consider myself a very serious predator. However, when I am watching Luke doing the shooting I fall apart every time. I have seen him take nine species with his bow but I am like a first time bowhunter every time I watch him come to full draw. I still coach him to pick a spot and clam down but now he just politely gives me the “OK dad I got this” look and then always makes the shot. I guess that he will just simply always be my little eight year old boy on his first bowhunt.
As Luke drew the bow I said a quick prayer as always for a clean and quick kill and watched an absolute perfect shot with a complete pass through. I knew the bear would go less than 50 yards and that was the case. Seconds later, the death moan drifted back to us accompanied by the sounds of another highly agitated bear on the ridge above Luke’s bear. We quietly switched shooting and cameraman positions and continued the hunt. The final two hours of this day would have three more bears approaching our stand and while two presented 15 yard shots, with two days left to hunt I decided to pass and go for a really good bear.
Day Five: We returned to the same stand as the previous night and got to watch a pretty good bear show. Two bears came into chip shot range but were not what I was looking for. We also listened as a boar ran some cubs up a tree and had them just a bawling for their mother.
Day Six- The final day: I had made the decision to go all out this day and pull an all-day hunt. These 14 hour hunts mean getting your mind (and your rear end) right and then just gutting it out. I felt very confident for a number of reasons. The rut was now really starting to get hot and the stand I was going to hunt was showing signs of a true monster. Last day bear hunt heroics have always happened for me and five times I have taken bears during the last half hour of the last day. Now, having said that, after 13 hours on that stand and a grand animal total of 250 red squirrels and chipmunks my confidence was beginning to be tested a bit. The sun finally began to set and the wind went to dead calm. I had that feeling that something very good was about to happen. The first of two bears rolled in but were not something I wanted to take. They were nervous and left the scene. With less than 10 minutes of camera light remaining a squirrel up the path told me that something was coming in. I was stunned at the speed of the approaching bear and it took me off guard. This is when things started to come unglued just a bit. I had difficulty engaging the camera and by the time I was able to pull the bow from the hanger, the bear was at 9 yards. The bear presented a great shot but as I attempted to draw my bow the string came back but the arrowed did not. A tiny amount of sap from the spruce tree had transferred from my glove to the arrow and it caused the mishap. It also made the slightest of sounds that the bear picked up and it decided it did not want to be there. It turned to walk away and offered a 20 yard quartering away shot. Unfortunately this put the bear behind the one spruce limb in the shooting lane. This required that I drop to a squatting position to make the shot. I was shooting a 55# SAIII Black Widow recurve and a custom made Dendy Cromer chundoo wood shaft topped with a 45 year old bear razorhead. The quartering shot hit just ahead of the hip and angled to the fletch into the bear’s chest. I will never forget the sound of that wood shaft smacking those birch trees as the bear left the scene. I watched as the game tracker string peeled away for about 40 yards and after a few seconds came the death moan. That sound always impacts me in some very primal way but it also brings me the relief of a quick, clean kill of the animal.
We captured both hunts with video and it was my first time shooting our hunts with HD cameras. I was really pleased with the jump in video quality.
I have hunted bears for nearly 35 years in a lot of places from Maine to Alaska, and I would easily rate this as my favorite hunt. Being there with my son and watching him experience the North woods and the wonderful people and culture of Quebec was very special to me and one of the best Father’s Day gifts I have ever received. If you know me at all you have seen the passion I have for hunting Canada and Alaska. There is so much more out there in this world than sitting in a tree stand hunting whitetails. Yes I love my deer hunting but to be there and to hear that twig snap behind you and turn to see a moose, bear, wolf or whatever is something that you need to have happen to you just one time in your life. Hunting bears in the Mastigouche Reserve and the wild places like it in Canada is something everyone should experience. The place will enter your soul and never leave you.
Many of you that know me know that I guide for a living but more importantly that I live to guide. Over the years, I have had offers to guide in some wild places but life just seemed to get in the way. Well this time I have accepted the offer and will be running a bear camp there next spring. If anyone wants to experience this wonderful and rare place or just needs a bit of help planning a trip anywhere up there, please contact me. I am always willing to help. I hope some of you will dare to make one of these wilderness adventures a reality. You would never regret it.
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Looking forward to the details and pic's.
