Black Bear Hunting Trip to Saskatchewan Featuring Wes Weisner

How are the accommodations at camp?

Oh accommodations are great, you know I’d put them at five star. I mean the facilities, wonderful, all of the help is they’re helpful, they take care of you, cook is great, you eat well. I’m going to gain some weight up here no doubt about that.

Shooting Range:

[Guides talking] Shot. Okay, perfect for right left. Shot. Perfect.

How did the first hunt day go?

Well once we got out into the bush you know it was it was very interesting we were looking you know, nearly every puddle had had ducks on it you know and that was pretty cool to drive up right beside some big green heads and have them flush up right beside you. Got into where the stand area was and it was a real good setup and of course you you’re baiting the bear so they’re coming in.

Tell me about day two.

Oh next day we got there and we were hunting for a longer period of time but after I’d been there about an hour, saw a bear coming through the bush around one of the trails and he looked pretty good and he came up to a tree and stood up next to that tree and I guess the guide had put some some kind of spray or something on that tree ’cause it was like he was marking his territory. He came up eventually he worked his way all the way out into the feed spot, to the barrel, and he started eating the the oats out of the barrel and in just a second his head went up and he looked back down the trail he’d come in on. Took off ran right under the stand went about another 50 yards and turned around and started looking back toward the the feed barrel and I knew there was something else coming.

You know there there was no way for that behavior that that wasn’t happening and the other bear body-wise he was a really big bear.

He got up to the tree that the other bear had stood up on and he did the exact same thing stood up and sniffed around and it looked like to me he was probably a foot and a half to two foot taller than the first bear and he did exactly like the same the other bear he came in but he stood behind some timber and I couldn’t get a real good look at him and then finally he came out. When he came out he walked straight to the food barrel and I couldn’t get a shot, he never he never got broadside for me. When he got to the food barrel he flipped around and I was looking at his his butt the whole afternoon for 45 minutes he laid there with that barrel knocking knocking feed out of it so I couldn’t I couldn’t I didn’t want to take a shot at him at that kind of angle and headed straight away from me. Of course I had my gun on him, the crosshairs on him, the whole time and I was beginning to think I was going to have to try to whistle or slap the stand or something to get him to turn where I could get a good shot. But he he kind of turned had a little quartering angle to it but not much. I put the crosshairs on him and I had both eyes open so I was looking at it when I watched the bullet hit so I knew he was hammered, and he kind of took on off and uh texted the guide and let him know and he told me he’d be about about an hour or a little longer before he could get there.

What happened when the guide arrived?

He was baiting another station and eventually he got there and we got out there and started looking found a little blood found a little more blood and tracked him down and he was maybe he went maybe 50 yards. He was all piled up and uh fortunately he was right by the road almost and after we got a bunch of pictures we cleaned out a little area and back the Can-Am in and sucked him up in the back and headed back. Really good hunt.

How did it feel when you first put your hands on your bear?

You know the the fur this time of year is so it’s perfect, there’s not any marks or any places they’ve been rubbing or fighting with another bear. It’s just a beautiful hide. And my bear you know I think he ended up weighing about 350 but he had a, of course, he was black, dark black but he had a blaze white patch on his chest and so that’s going to be really neat I’m sure I’m going to do maybe a half body mount so that the white patch is visible.

How close did you come guessing the bear’s weight at the bait site to the weigh in at the skinning shack?

I guessed 325 and ended up it was 347 or 348 something like that. I’ve drug a lot of whitetails and I knew he was his weight was on up there.

What is your weapon of choice?

I was shooting a a gun that I won at a DU banquet probably, probably 25 years ago and and I’ve killed a few things with it but I it’s not, I don’t, I don’t use it a whole lot. It’s a 270 Winchester short magnum and so it’s it’s real hot and it’s zipping about 3200 feet per second. I was using Remington Corelocks and they always perform for me. Sometimes they’re not the most precise round I’ve got but they they do the job and we got uh that gun uh had a Leopuld scope on it and and it turned out well, it did the job.

How did your guide help you out?

My guide was Dave both days. He did a great job. You know when when the bear was down he knew what to do. He’s done it I think for quite a while, and we got pictures and then we got that bear loaded up and uh headed back. It was a really good hunt