The alarm sounded off at 3:57 a.m., and after some last-minute packing, I was headed down the driveway at 4:54 for the 7-hour drive to Kazabazua, Quebec.
I had only slept for a couple of hours after packing the night before, but the excitement of what I hoped was to come kept me alert as I headed north.
All went well until I reached the Canadian border, and both the United States and Canadian customs folks were way understaffed, which resulted in a 3-hour delay for paperwork in registering my firearm.
I was headed to Quebec for a spring bear hunt, and I had hoped to get to camp in time to hunt that evening. Normally, hunters are taken to their various stands around 2 o’clock in the afternoon, but the border delay resulted in my arrival at camp a little after 4 p.m.
Fortunately, there was a nearby stand that I was able to go to, and I laughed at myself when I looked down and saw that I hadn’t even had time to change out of my travel clothes, but merely slipped on my hunting boots and my fluorescent orange coat for the evening sit. It was 4:23 when I arrived at the stand, climbed up into the elevated box blind, and uncased and loaded my rifle for the hunt.
In Quebec, as with most other Canadian provinces, hunting for black bears is usually done at a stand with a nearby bait. This evening at this location, the bait barrel was located at the end of a cleared pathway about 70 yards away, and there was a mix of sapling-stage and mature aspen, white birch, cedars, and white pine trees on either side of the shooting lane. After letting me out at the blind, my trusty hunting guide, Loretta, freshened up the bait with a mix of peanut butter, corn, blueberry powder, fryer oil, icing, Jello, and maple syrup to sweeten up the attractant.
The legal shooting hours ended 30 minutes after sunset, so for this evening, it was legal to shoot until 9 p.m. I adjusted my scope for the distance I would be shooting and made sure I was in a comfortable position for the long wait.
Several Canada jays, a few ravens, and a black squirrel entertained me as I sat as quietly as possible in wait for a bear.
The only negative was the black flies that were buzzing about and occasionally landing on any exposed skin and feasting on the blood of this newly arrived hunter! I shook my head in disgust that I had not thought to pack my ThermaCell heat-activated insect repellent.
At 7:28, I caught movement to my right, and there he came. A large male black bear waddled into view a mere 50 yards away. I remained still as he reached the bait barrel, plopped down, and began reaching his paw into the barrel for a paw-full of sweets.
Unfortunately, there was a large post that was in a direct line to the bear, which made it impossible to take a clear shot, so I steadied the rifle on the ledge of the window and turned on the illuminated reticle on the scope – then tried to relax as I waited for a clear shot.
He took his good old time munching away, then finally got up on all fours and walked around behind the barrel and into the woods, where he lay down 30 yards into the woods, again not allowing a clear shot. Five minutes later, he got back up and walked back toward the barrel. He stopped short and was sniffing the ground as I settled the crosshairs just forward of his shoulder blades and gently squeezed the trigger. With the single shot from the Weatherby .300 Magnum, the bear dropped in his tracks. At 7:41, my hunt was over, and the work began.
It was a struggle to load the bear into the bed of the ATV, and the black flies were relentless as they buzzed around in a cloud all around us.
Back in camp, it was determined that the bear weighed in at 475 pounds! It was estimated that when he had gone into hibernation several months earlier, he would have tipped the scales at a whopping 550 pounds! The outfitter had this bear on trail cameras over the last couple of years, but ‘As Luck Would Have It,’ my encounter was the first time he had shown up this season!
It was definitely one of the shortest hunts I have ever been on. The hide will make a beautiful rug, the skull will make a great display, the fat will be rendered down into tallow, and the meat will provide some excellent hormone-free, government-approved, chemical-free, free-range organic meals for months to come!
