I was on the road.
I headed north the short distance to the border, telling the border guard that I was going hunting and had guns with me. She "invited" me inside and said in an accusing way that they were going to run a background check on me. No worries - people who's lives are as boring as mine really don't need to worry about background checks. (Right?)
The border took less than 15 minutes and I was on my way. I wanted another cup of coffee but didn't want to stop so soon. I figured I would get one down the road a ways, but that didn't happen until I got gas near bear camp.
Canada's Southern roads were nearly empty. I hit a bit of rain, but it was light. I meandered north and west toward bear camp. Roads were good until I hit Ontario (or is it Manitoba?) 44. The first stretch of this was patched and repatched with more patches into a brutal bump-fest. I remember this from my last bear hunt throwing me all over the place in the Tacoma; the Ridgeline's independent suspension ate up the bumps better, but it was still pretty heinous.
After stopping for gas I made the last leg to camp. The area immediately around the last turn wasn't quite like I remembered it which is a little scary. I'm sure they haven't completely redone the roads which makes me wonder what I am remembering - or misremembering.
Camp was a zoo. Even though Labor Day isn't a holiday for the Canucks, it must bring in a bunch of Yanks.
I said Hi and talked a bit with Vance and Maureen - but they were very busy. So I threw a lure into the water for a while. I was pretty pissed that I lost one of my few spoons and one that I remembering being pretty good the last time I was up here. Oh well - what the Canadian Shield takes, the Canadian Shield does not give back.
I did end up bringing in one hammer handle pike. It was small, but the first fish is the first fish and is critical!
One of the things used for bear baits was popcorn popped in old grease, and between that and some nearby fires, camp had quite the smell going. The popcorn bait smell carried to the stand later in the afternoon.
Introductions were made at lunch. As of this writing, I don't remember most of their names but there were three guys from Arizona, two from South Dakota and four from Missouri, Kansas, and somewhere else near there? So including my lonesome self, there were 10 in camp - a pretty good mix of people; a few big talkers; a couple others which seem a bit more interesting.
My cabin was ready with barely enough time to get ready to head out. Normally Day 1 isn't a hunting day, but the other people in camp have screwy schedules. At some point I'll probably have to have an awkward conversation with Vance as to whether this means I'll be getting kicked out early too?
A quick shower, into camo, ammunition into my pack and we headed out in the boats. Carter and M? took the two Arizona guys and me out. I was dropped off in Petruski Bay. The afternoon was brilliantly sunny with tolerable gusts of wind. I was in my stand and ready. It was wonderful. It was bear camp.
The first couple hours passed anxiously. Birds of all sorts and squirrels were fun to watch eating what they could from the bait. A few micro-naps helped as well.
I caught the movement of a bear leg ahead of me and watched a bear come in - 4:30 on Day 1 is good! It was a smaller bear but made short work of the logs in the bait barrel. It was mostly oblivious to me and spent about 20 minutes eating popcorn and watching movies (what kind of movies to bears watch?). At one point when I was moving stuff in my pack it did turn to look at me and sniff the air, but it didn't seem very concerned with me. With all the bears I saw it almost seemed like could have done jumping jacks in the treestand. Unlike some areas where bears interact with lots of people - these Manitoba bears are quite content with a minimal amount of human intrusion.
It moved on and around 5:30 another bear came in. This was a very small bear. While I was mentally telling bear one to leave to allow bigger bears to come into the bait, this little guy needed all the food it could get. And it did eat. And eat. And eat. For two hours it munched away. Even though it was a small bear, it was really fun to watch, especially since the squirrels started to piss it off and it started to go after them. But squirrels are faster than bears.
The little bear headed away and almost immediately a third bear came in. This one was definitely more interesting. It had a bit of a belly and some bear swagger, but I couldn't decide if it looked better because it was really better?
Or if it just looked better in comparison to the first two since they were small. Ultimately I decided that it was a decent bear, but not a first day bear. It is always possible I'll regret this on Day 5 - I know this...
The third bear hung around for a while until bolting out of the area - I knew this meant another bear was coming in. As the fourth bear came in, I had more second-guessing on the third and the fourth. This fourth bear was slightly taller, but definitely more narrow. Like the third, it wasn't a Day 1 bear - or should the adage be to not pass on a bear on Day 1 that I'd shoot on Day 5? I love hunting but I sometimes wonder if a chronic overthinker like myself should be doing this.
It was getting dark so I never even tried to get a picture of the fourth bear. (And frankly, most of the bear pictures I took were pretty crappy in the thick, dark, Manitoba brush). That fourth bear hung around until I got picked up well over an hour after dark. Since it stayed in the area - I just hung out on the stand. Hearing that bear chomping away in the pitch black was a little unnerving as I could misinterpret it as chomping on the bones of its enemies. Maybe that is going to far.
Back at camp lots of guys (one of the Missouri hunters is a female - so I'll use the term "guys" to generically describe people - no offense intended in the overly sensitive times) saw bears, and several saw many bears. But everyone passed up on everything. One guy did have at least one really nice bear come in, but his contacts gave him trouble to where he wasn't able to shoot.
We had a Thanksgiving dinner (that just couldn't be beat) while talking about the evenings adventures before everyone turned in for the night.
I turned in second guessing that third bear.
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