# Here's a kill since we haven't had to many lately



## Killinstuff (May 24, 2014)

Albert spot and stalk bear. Just like hog hunting but with a bit more bite and claws.


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## SELFBOW (May 24, 2014)

That's a stud! Tell the story.....


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## robert carter (May 24, 2014)

Good deal CJ. Been waiting to hear the tale on this one too.RC


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## ngabowhunter (May 24, 2014)

Nice bear. I agree with the two above me. Let's hear about it.


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## Butchhe (May 24, 2014)

That's a real nice bear.


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## JBranch (May 24, 2014)

Fine bear!!! I'm with the rest of the crowd, let's hear the story.


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## Barry Duggan (May 25, 2014)

Nice un...story please.


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## sawtooth (May 25, 2014)

Congratulations! That's a fine bear.


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## Hammer Spank (May 25, 2014)

From someone who has hunted bears a lot, thats a brute!!


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## Al33 (May 25, 2014)

Time for Killinstuff to start tellin'stuff.  Congrat's on the bruin!!!


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## Killinstuff (May 31, 2014)

Sorry guys, I got back to the world after this hunt and had to attend to life again. I shot that bear in Alberta on the 19th of May. Spot and stalk then chased it down when it tried to get away. I have a longer version on tradgang if you're interested. Way more details and adventure. It was a fun hunt with lots of ups and downs.

CJ


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## Apex Predator (Jun 1, 2014)

Most of us don't visit that other site.  Oh well.  Why do you post here?  Just curious.


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## Barry Duggan (Jun 1, 2014)

Read your story last night. Was a good un.


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## Blueridge (Jun 2, 2014)

That's a big un. Congrats !


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## dm/wolfskin (Jun 2, 2014)

A good one it is, congrats.


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## robert carter (Jun 2, 2014)

CJ and I have hunted pigs together more than once. I told him about this place a few years ago after a hog hunt we went on for 3 or 4 days. He is good people and a fella I would hunt anywhere with.
  I would expect he post`s here because of all the good people here.RC


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## Killinstuff (Jun 2, 2014)

Yep Robert is right on.  I love GA and lived there 30 years ago for a short time and when the kids get out of school I'll be down there full time again. Kinda of a crappy comment Apex by the way but whatever.  The story is long and to repeat it would take a lot of time but I can copy and paste.


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## Clipper (Jun 2, 2014)

I read your story on Tradgang and loved it.  What an adventure.  It would be a good bit of copy and paste work but folks here would appreciate reading it.


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## Killinstuff (Jun 3, 2014)

OK Clipper I'll do it later today if I can. Been busy with work and kids since I got back and have to get on the road again early this morning. I'll can do it bits and pieces like I did on TG.


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## Killinstuff (Jun 3, 2014)

I flew into Edmonton on the 18th and drove the 7 hours to Worsley Alberta. I usually like the long drive through new country but I tell you what Edmonton is rather nondescript and the country in between isn't spectacular. No offense to those folks in the area but there just not much to see. As I drove into Worsley it was still mostly large flat farm land more suited for deer then bears and just didn't know what to expect. 

Camp is three 10'X12' cabins with gas lights, gas heater and 4 bunks to a cabin. Warm and clean. There is a large cook shack that served up good meals and hot coffee. Bev and Louis where the outfitters and are good people in all regards.


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## Killinstuff (Jun 3, 2014)

Just a little more about camp. They hunt all day here. I've been in camps where it's mostly afternoon til dark hunts and I'm not one for sitting around camp waiting to get out. They also let you hunt how you want to hunt. They like to post guys on clover fields for sits but I like to walk old roads and walk I did. This is oil lease country and the oil companies have roads cut in the boreal forest for their use. Some guy complain about roads in wild places but trust me, the game uses these openings extensively. Moose, elk, bear and countless deer were seen daily feeding on the clover and grass the oil companies drop for erosion control. Wolf and grizzly tracks are right there as well. Without the roads, a guy would be hard pressed to hunt. It's a two bear hunt at a very reasonable rate with no extra costs involved for sticking bear #2. Shooting two is not difficult   . I was the only bow hunter in camp with 5 rifle hunters I never met before. 

Worsley has a beer store and I happen to like beer plus a grocery store and fuel if needed. Nice folks in that neck of the woods. 5 miles north the farm land gives way to the boreal forest and the game.


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## Killinstuff (Jun 3, 2014)

I didn't think I was going to be making this hunt. Back in October of 2013 the company I worked for was bought out and I found out around Thanksgiving that I would not be retained after the transition as of February 2014. I was a little depressed but also was looking forward to the time off from working 30 straight years. I went pig hunting a couple of weeks down at Ft Stewart, - I AM A POTTY MOUTH -- I AM A POTTY MOUTH -- I AM A POTTY MOUTH -- I AM A POTTY MOUTH -- I AM A POTTY MOUTH -- I AM A POTTY MOUTH - around the house and thought about a lot of things in life. I even put this hunt up on the dangerous game forum to see if anyone was interested in a discounted spot and stalk hunt in Alberta. I'm glad no one answered that post. I found a new job, life is back on track and I went hunting bears after all.

Day one, May 19 about 9 am. Driving out to the woods, slowing down as we pas openings and old roads just incase a big black spot is feeding. "Hey, is that one down there about a mile?" my guide Chris ask. Why yes it is.......................


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## Killinstuff (Jun 3, 2014)

I was riding with an older gentlemen named John from Medicine Hat, Alberta who was a rifle hunter. His health was on the decline and at 76 he wasn't keen on a mile walk and sneak on a bear so it was mine to try to get in close. Off I go up the opposite side of the road that the bear was on tying to keep a swirling wind in my favor the best I could. I slipped into the woods for a bit more cover but the bush was thick and loud and I ended up back in the ditch off the side of the road. The new grass and soft ground were dead silent. The bear was feeding as bears do with no particular heading, just biting off the the tops of the clover that was closest at the moment. I made it to within 75 yards fairly quick and slowed down to let things happen keeping contact by watching the top of his back as he feed. I'd see that nose of his periscope up now and then testing the air and I think that that swirling wind was sending trace amount of human scent his way. Not a full face full of smell just a wee bit otherwise he'd been gone. He kept feeding but was starting to get edgy I could tell. I moved toward him and he feed my way. 50 yards, 40 yards, 30 yards. I'm kneeling low to the ground almost flat, arrow knocked, heart rate, well you know, and the bear is coming my way. My only cover is the crown of the road. I'm being still and if he keeps feeding the way he's feeding he will be parallel to me at 12 yards. Oh yeah, and at about that time I noticed he was a rather large bear


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## Al33 (Jun 3, 2014)

You have my attention! Looking forward to the rest of the story.


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## Killinstuff (Jun 4, 2014)

Then that nose goes straight up, works the air current and he knows that smell is a bad, bad smell. He turns and heads for the woods 5 feet away and as he hits the trees I jump up sprinting like Jesse Owens making deep woofing sounds as I hit the spot where he entered the bush. I'm about 20 yards in and stop but don't see him right off. I scan 90 degrees to my right and there he is standing up leaning against a tree 10 yards from me looking right at the thing that ran after him with bad intent. Fight or flight was on his mind but I made up his mind for him and sent a boardhead tipped cedar shaft through his chest. With those front legs up on the tree there where no big bones in the way just soft ribs and the arrow landed 20 yards past where he was standing. The blood trail was a bit wet to say the least. And short. 30 yards and 20 seconds later, dead bear.

I walked out to the road and waved Chris and John to come on up the road. They where more then surprised at one, I got so close, two, I chased the bear down, three I killed it and four I killed it so cleanly and quickly. They don't get many stick bow shooting guys in this camp.


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## techfire55 (Jun 4, 2014)

Great story and a very nice bear. Congrats.


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## Al33 (Jun 4, 2014)

Mighty fine ending to a great bear hunt story. Thanks for sharing it here!


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## Killinstuff (Jun 4, 2014)

There's more to the story Al and the ending isn't as happy.


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## ngabowhunter (Jun 4, 2014)

I'm enjoying your story and looking forward to the rest of it. Thanks for taking the time to share it here with us.


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## Hunting 4 Him (Jun 4, 2014)

Awesome story...


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## Munkywrench (Jun 4, 2014)

Can't wait to read the rest. Thanks for sharing


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## Killinstuff (Jun 4, 2014)

My bear was the 5th biggest killed last week out of 9 bears. All boars. A rifle hunter killed a 7 footer and a 7 1/2 footer and I'm not stretching the truth on that. The 7 1/2 footer was the biggest bear I'd ever seen and the hunter plans on having a full mount done. He will need a Grizzly form to have it done. The shoulders and front legs were massive. All told around 900 lbs of dead bears he had to deal with between the two of them. If it were me trying to tree that bear by running after it and woofing, the chase would have been really short because the bear would have simply turned around and ate me. Now this camp is not the big bear paradise of the north, just a once in a lifetime occurrence I was a part of. The week before no one killed a bear more then 6 feet and a little, squared. I just hit it when the clover was really starting to grow and the rut was kicking off. We seen a few bears getting busy and one got shot with a smile on his face. 

OK, the rest of the story, I got two tags right? More stalking. More close encounters with bigger bears and more excitement. Guys that know me know I'm a straight up guy and don't - I AM A POTTY MOUTH -- I AM A POTTY MOUTH - so here goes...............


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## Killinstuff (Jun 4, 2014)

I was shooting my Jack Harrison HHC 66"60#@28", 600 gr cedar arrows with a Mangus I broadhead. The weather was pretty nice, almost to warm for walking 15 k a day with spotty rain now and then. And the bugs were not bad, just a few skeeters. 

We pulled the bear out of the bush and I'm used to getting to work on my kills right then and there but Chris was the "guide" and said he had do something besides drive the truck so I got out of his way. He did the gutting and we loaded the bear into the truck so he could take it back to camp for skinning. He did an excellent job on removing the back straps and boning out the ham, very clean with no hair on the meat (I should have tipped him more   ) John was dropped off at clover field for a sit and I was dropped off on a road not used anymore for a nice slow walk. John gun killed a fair size bear and I saw only deer and one moose the rest of the day.


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## Killinstuff (Jun 4, 2014)

Day two, more walking, more deer and moose but no bears until the afternoon. They were on the move, sows and cubs hitting the green stuff and boars doing a little feeding and little sniffing around for receptive sows. I was walking up a steep road to an oil lease area starting to think all this walking is getting old and there's another bear just past the lease about 100yards. The oil leases are maybe 4 or 5 acres with a pump jack or two pumping oil. They are mostly bare except for the edges but there are a number of them where the equipment has been removed and the ground seeded with grass and clover. This lease had equipment and it was working. You really don't need to worry about making a sound with those jacks pumping since they are kind of loud. 

The wind was wrong for a stalk and this wasn't a huge bear but I had nothing better to do. I decide to try to sneak up on it anyway, maybe just to pull it's tail. I circled around and played the wind the best I could and did get to within 25 yards of it before it figured something wasn't right and bolted. About a 150#-175#, nice bear but I didn't want to kill something smaller then what I already had. I gave chase trying to tree it but my woofing just made it run faster. Hmmm, a small bear that is out in the early afternoon feeding and hightails it out there when chased? He must have been chased a few times before by something a little bigger then him I'm guessing. I make mental note of that.


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## Killinstuff (Jun 5, 2014)

Thanks guys but here comes the ugly. And I only write this because it happened, not because I'm happy or proud about it. There are many aspects to hunting that extend beond being skillful with a bow. This part of the story is the mental side of it 

It's few hours later around 8 pm, I'm maybe 2 miles away form the spot I chased the bear earlier in the afternoon and I get picked up by Chris. I'm beat, tired from walking in the heat and would like nothing more then a cold beer or two but I have water instead. We start driving to were John is posted and happen to look up a hydro line (pipeline to us from the US) and at the very top of the hill 1/2 mile away is a bear walking across the 100 foot opening. Guess where he's heading? The same direction as the lease area I chased boo boo a few hours before. He looks big. We have to drive around the hill to get there and on the way we pick up John then head to the base of the hill. Chris stops at the bottom of the hill, grabs a sandwich, takes a bite, looks and me and asks what am I waiting for? Go shoot a bear. I'm beat and thinking "could you have parked a little closer or further up that hill" but I was just thinking it as I baled out and got a move on.

10 minutes late I am almost to the top and come around the corner to the lease and sure as poop there's a bear in almost the same spot as the first bear was but this ain't boo boo. This one is full size and bigger then my first bear. Now, why did I need to kill a second bear? I wasn't thinking that at the time because I'm hunting and in that mode but if I go back again I'll only shoot one. I like to hunt bears and like the meat but have enough skulls and hides laying around the house. Sometimes it's best to just be happy with what you have. Anyway, back to the story. I circle the lease pretty wide and and come up to a containment berm a few feet high. I peek over the top and there he is snatching mouthful of clover like a black angus steer. I admit it was pretty cool to just sit there and watch him being selective in his feeding. He only ate the clover, not the grass and he was kinda smacking his teeth together I could hear. Oh, I was about 30 yards away is why that is all so clear. I like 30 yards but 15 sounds better. His back is to me so up and over the berm I go. My cover? A 6 inch log, not all that much to hide behind if you're 6' and 185#'s. But what's the worse that can happen right? So I'm inching along getting closer and he's just eating away. He stops, I stop. I get to about 20 yards and I'm flat out in the open, no cover with a full size boar that has me by a few pounds unawear I'm going try and stuck an arrow in him. I roll to my knees waiting for the shoot and here it comes, he's turning right to left giving me a quartering away shot, I'm drawing, picking a spot and it happens. He turns his head and looks right at me for the first time. You know how everyone says look at the spot you want to hit and you will hit that spot? That's pretty much how I shoot. I was looking at his face just as I released and hit that big rascal right in the nose! Straight up the beak. I can still see that arrow flying in slow motion and that thought in my head ohhh nooo and whack, right square on the black of the nose. 

Well at least he's running away and not toward me I as thinking as I jumped up and tried to tree him. But he kept moving across the flat and down the hill to the thick stuff. I picked up my arrow and 9 inches was missing and it had blood 5 inches up the broken shaft. He was leaking pretty good to. I just couldn't believe I lost it like that and shot him in the nose.


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## Al33 (Jun 5, 2014)

I sure like the way you tell a story. Waiting on the rest of it.


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## Killinstuff (Jun 6, 2014)

So here comes the bad. I have my arrow minus the front 1/3 of it and a really poorly hit bear to deal with. I walk out to the road far enough for the guys in the truck to see me and wave them up. Chris is pretty excited at first as they drive up and see a broken bloody arrow but the mood changes when I tell the story. Bears are tough critters and after 35 years of running the camp, those folks in Alberta have seen it all when it comes to bears surviving bad hits from hunters. One bear they killed a few years back was missing it's lower jaw but it was fat and happy. Its tongue just developed to be more of a mouth part becoming thicker and stronger. But an arrow up the nose? I'm not so sure. It's getting late and I want to take care of business right now and end the suffering if the bear isn't dead yet. I ask John if I can use his rifle and Chris grabs his 45-70 and we slip into the bush. Blood is very heavy and my hopes are high the use of the rifle is just not going to be needed. He's going down hill and not using the bear trails. That's a good sign, taking a direct route down hill means he isn't thinking to much and that's the direction of water. If he stuck to the trails he has he's wits about him and thinking things out, not a good sign. I'm on the blood and Chris is watching whats in front of us. We didn't plan this very well and I didn't grab my pack from the truck that has my basic stuff in it for this kinda work and neither did Chris. Matter of fact I found out later he only had one bullet for his gun! He did say it was in the chamber though   . We don't find a piled up bear after about a 150 yards so we back out and plan to continue this in the morning. 

The sun comes up early this time of year that far north and I'm always up at the break of dawn. No one else in camps ever seem to get up as early as I do so I'm the official coffee maker and tidy thinks up from the night before guy usually waiting on people to get moving. It's aways the same kind of camp talk on bad hit animals no matter where you go. Some guys are encouraging and positive trying to ease the hunters mind saying they bet the animal is dead and others tell stories of surviving critters like the bear with no lower jaw. Me, I just keep seeing that bears face as he turns and looks at me, the arrow spinning through the air and me saying a loud 100 time, "I can't believe I shot him in the nose".

Back on the track and I have my bow now, no rifle, along with my pack and Chris has a gun full of bear medicine. I'm on the blood again and Chris is covering what's out front and down the hill we go. Again the bear is just busting through the thick stuff and every once in a while I can tell where he shakes his head spraying blood but he doesn't bed down. Bad sign. 800 yards from the shot and he is on flat ground in the creek bed and my blood trail is getting real thin. The creek bed is an animal highway. Bear trails, moose tracks and deer rubs are abundant. If I hunt this camp again I'll still hunt this bottom and get off the roads. But the blood, it has ended and with no dead bear at the end. We know he came to the water so Chris goes down stream and I head up stream. We bird dog the bottom and side hill a bit trying to pick the blood again. We are poking around in the brush piles and blow downs for about a mile up and down the creek. At about noon we meet up and do a final side hill walk looking for the trail on either side of the creek in case he climbed back out but no blood. And no dead second bear. 

So I'm done hunting for the week. I do drive out to the spot where I took the shot that night and the next just in case he comes back to eat but there is just a big sow and three yearlings. More bears are brought in by the gun hunters but none had a broken off arrow up the nose. I have always told folks that if you hunt enough sooner or later you'll have a situation like this. We want to bring it back in for a "redo" but what's done is done. Learn from it. 

I've bait hunted bears maybe 7 or 8 times and sneak hunted them 4 or 5 and there is no comparison to the thrill of being on the ground. I haven't made up my mind on next years spring bear but I might go back to this camp. The size is above average here plus they run about 50/50 on colored bears to blacks and I've only killed blacks. I like hunting different areas too so I'll start my research and maybe find another camp where I can S&S big bears. Sorry for the wounded bear, it happened and there is no sugar coating it. Just have to do better next time.


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## oldways (Jun 6, 2014)

Great story This last week I came to work and followed this hunting tale everyday thank you for sharing.


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## GAstumpshooter (Jun 6, 2014)

great bear and story


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## Munkywrench (Jun 6, 2014)

That was extremely well written, thank you for sharing. Sounds like it was a bitter sweet trip, but I'm glad you took some wisdom from it. Sorry for the lost bear, I know the feeling of losing an animal and it sits heavy in the pit of your stomach


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## Ellbow (Jun 7, 2014)

Awesome bear kill!
El


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