Incredible Bear Hunt with Sandy River Outfitters - Canada in the Rough
This year I got the chance to head back to Manitoba, Canada, one of my favourite provinces to hunt spring black bears.
I was also getting the chance to head back to hunt with good friends Harry and Angie Walker of Sandy River Outfitters. A few years back I got the chance to hunt whitetails with Harry and Angie and had a great time with my father who joined me for the hunt.
Back After Manitoba Black Bears!
Sandy River Outfitters’ bear hunting camp is located in Powerview-Pine Falls, Manitoba, on the banks of the Winnipeg River—about an hour and a half drive from the Winnipeg Airport. This area is actually home to the world’s largest black bear, who was struck by a car in 2001. He was a 7ft 9in bear, weighing in at 886.5 pounds!
Sandy River Outfitters recently renovated the inside of their beautiful lodge and they did a tremendous job. From a large full kitchen, decorated living room with couches and a big screen tv, a dining area overlooking the river, multiple full bathrooms, and multiple very comfortable bedrooms, this lodge has everything you’d ever want or need in a hunting camp!
Sandy River Outfitters
I arrived in camp and met up with Harry, Angie, and Harry’s son, Brendan, who would be our guide for the week. Already in camp was my guest for the week, Keith Beam. Keith is Director of Product Innovation for GSM Outdoors and would be filming a new episode of ‘Canada in the Rough’ with me.
The next morning, Angie treated Keith and I to a great breakfast of waffles and ham. Keith and I then headed out to shoot our bows. It’s always an important part of any hunt to make sure the bows are still shooting accurately from all the travel.
First evening of bear hunting
For our first evening sit, Keith was set up in a big section of woods that was fairly open, while Brendan took me to another stand about thirty minutes away. As I settled into my Muddy ladder stand, I checked out my Huntstand app and took notice that the minor peak game activity time would be from 6:26pm to 8:26pm. As if on cue, Keith saw his first bear come strolling in shortly after 6:30pm.
The bear had his fill and eventually worked off just before another bear came in. Though both bears were a bit young to harvest, Keith enjoyed his first sit in the Manitoba bear woods. I, on the other hand, spotted a good shooter bear approaching my bait at last light. But as I readied my bow, the boar paused and lingered in the dark shadows of the trees. Eventually, the bear decided he didn’t like something and retreated back into the timber.
Gone Fishin'
The next day, Keith and I decided to try some fishing. Though Sandy River Outfitters do offer boat and motor fishing options for trophy northern pike, walleye, and smallmouth bass, we decided to see how we could do from the shore. After a few hours fishing we had both landed several good pike.
Before we headed out hunting, Brendan showed Keith and I some new game camera photos from a number of bait sites. They had many good bears hitting their baits. With this new intel, Brendan decided Keith would hunt the same location as the previous night, as it had some heavy bear traffic over the last few days, but he’d be moving me to a new location.
Bears, bears, and more bears!
Keith ended up having what he said was “the most exciting evening of bear hunting of my life.” He had bear after bear stop by his bait. In the end, he figured he’d seen at least seven or eight different bears. At one point four different bears occupied the bait at the same time. The biggest bear, possibly the 400-pounder that Brendan had identified in the area, stopped short of entering the bait. Keith was able to see him travel through the woods briefly, but he never came within shooting range.
Meanwhile, I enjoyed some encounters at my new stand. I had one young bear come in early in the evening and he returned later on. As the sun was setting, I spotted another bear through the woods and I immediately readied my bow. It was a decent bear—one I would have a hard time passing later on in the week—but not quite the behemoth that had been captured on trail camera, so I let him walk. It was an exciting day for both of us, that’s for sure!
Eat good, hunt good
On day three, Keith and I were spoiled with another amazing meal ahead of our evening bear hunt. This time, Angie cooked up a big meal consisting of steak, corn, baked potatoes, mushrooms, and salad.
Keith Beam ended up hunting a new location that our guide Brendan said had some new giants recently using it. Sure enough, as the sun began to set, Keith noticed a sizeable black bear sneaking into the bait. It was a roller coaster of emotions, but Keith made a perfect shot, harvesting what he called the biggest black bear he’d ever taken. “I’ve been doing this for thirty-one years, and I still get such a thrill when bow hunting these animals.”
After guest Keith Beam’s success, I was anxious to get back into the stand for my own Manitoba black bear.
Back in the action!
This whole week had some unseasonably warm temperatures, and it seemed to have kept many of the big bears Sandy River Outfitters was capturing on trail camera hidden in the cool bush. But I was still hopeful I would get my opportunity at a mature bear.
I returned to the same bait that a big boar was frequenting with a sow. As the sun went down, I watched two bears enter the bait together from my left. The first was a smaller bear—it looked like the sow from the pictures. As I watched the second bear work its way through the woods, I was able to confirm this was one of the target boars from the trail camera. This pair had actually come in earlier in the day.
I slowly grabbed my bow and watched as the boar approached the bait. The sow was already feeding, but she ran off as he approached. I waited for him to get into a good shooting position, but he strolled in, grabbed some food and abruptly turned and walked away without presenting a clean shot.
Second times the charm!
I didn’t want to believe what just happened. I stood there, as still as a statute, replaying the boar walking in and leaving and thinking about how we only had ten minutes of light left. That’s when some movement caught my eye. Sure enough, the boar was working back into the bait. As he got into my shooting hole, I silently drew my bow and, after letting the pin settle, I let the arrow fly.
Brendan arrived only minutes after I climbed down from my stand. Together, we set off to recover my bear. We first found the blood-soaked arrow and began tracking the blood trail. Although the blood trail was clear and promising, we followed it farther than we expected. Since it was a cool night with a low chance of spoiling the meat, we determined it would be best to return first thing in the morning to continue tracking. We did not want to risk pushing him further.
So, I marked the position of the last blood on my Huntstand app and returned to camp. It was sure to be a sleepless night.
An awesome end to an amazing hunt
First thing in the morning, Brendan, Keith Beam, and I picked up the blood trail from the last spot we marked. Luckily, it didn’t take us long to find the bear.
As we approached him, we realized this wasn’t the big bear we had previously captured on camera earlier in the week—though he was the same bear that had visited the bait earlier that day. It turned out he had very similar markings on his fur and body structure as the really big bear, but he was much smaller than the true giant we were after. This happens a lot when bear hunting, as bears are arguably the most challenging animal to judge when it comes to size—especially at low light. But even though he wasn’t our number one target bear, we were still thrilled with him, and happy to bringing home some great meat!
On our last night in bear camp, we were treated to a dazzling display of the Northern Lights—a spectacular way to conclude an already spectacular week.
If you ever wanted to take part in a great bear hunt, I can’t recommend Sandy River Outfitters enough. The class of bears they were capturing on trail camera and the number of bears was very impressive. I can’t wait to return one day.
To book your next bear-hunting adventure at Sandy River Outfitters, visit their website today! SandyRiverOutfitters.com
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