Testimonial – Mike Graham
I’ve been hunting pretty much all my life, either local around Midland, MI, up around the farm I grew up on. I travel around and try to experiences new opportunities. Pretty much all over, pretty much my whole life.
Whitetail, black bear is hard, cause it’s hard to get a permit, cause it’s a draw only. But whitetail primarily, a lot of whitetail.
I’d say the biggest difference from hunting at home and hunting here is, here your gonna see a wide variety of bucks and your gonna see a lot of nice bucks. As far as bear, you’re gonna see some of the most beautiful bear I’ve ever seen. I mean, look at the bear I just shot, it’s gorgeous. Back at home we don’t have that quite of variety so your gonna have to take a lesser buck or bear.
So my first morning here I got up, we had one big ol’ breakfast. We had a lunch or almost a dinner after that. And then after breakfast we just hung around for a little bit cause we weren’t going hunting for a little bit. This man took us fishing, right here. We caught some nice fish. We caught enough variety. We got some big pike, we got some smaller pike, we got some whitefish. So it was a good morning, a real good morning. We had fun, we had fun fishing, we caught enough almost for a dinner.
My hunt was awesome. I came here for a big cinnamon coloured bear. Everybody wants a cinnamon coloured it seems like. I got in the stand and I tell ya the biggest pumpkin head of a cinnamon bear I ever seen walked out. I was there for an hour and ten minutes. I hate to tell everybody that, but it was beautiful, I mean I couldn’t have pictured it any better. I couldn’t have written a book that made it better than what just happened. The funny part is I called my kids and they said, “isn’t that exactly what you wanted dad?” and I’m like 100 percent, I couldn’t have story booked it any better.
This is my first year at Chaparral, coming here for this bear hunt, but I tell you what, I’m coming back. That’s 100 percent on that one. I’m gonna try deer hunting up here this year too I think. I haven’t been for the deer hunt here yet but I’m looking forward to that. But the bear was exceptional, that was a real incredible time. We have seen a lot of deer, a lot of deer driving around, the deer population is looking real good. Other than that, bear, I haven’t seen anything else other than lots of these ducks, swans, you got all kinds of birds around.


The fishing is going awesome, I just caught myself a 38″ pike. Personal best for me. Never thought I would catch pike that big. I think this is what, the 3rd or 4th big pike someone has caught in the last day, 38″ plus. So, it’s been awesome, awesome fishing.

When I shot the bear, I’m hunting with a bow, you always get a little nervous. Did you make the right shot? Did you hit the right shot placement? Boy I tell you, when I came down and made the walk, not even 30 yards, to see that bear laying there. What an incredible feeling. I mean that was just, a monster. Then you get to start processing and do some photos. You really get to calm down from the shakes. It gets you excited. Sometimes you look at an animal and you don’t know. Should I or shouldn’t I? Is it big enough. There was no question. When it walked in it was like oh boy, look at that, not even a thought. You gotta put seat time in to get it. I didn’t have to put much seat time in to get that bear, but I would have hunted hard all week if it didn’t happen. I would have been in that seat all week, rain, shine, that’s what you gotta do, and you gotta prep. You can’t go out there and be on your cell phone and you cant be stand up sit down stand up sit down looking behind you. You gotta be still. You gotta respect your scent. The bear know, they know you’re there. You gotta make a little harder for them to detect you. He’s got a real nice set up here. You’re up in the tree high. He explains to you about covering your scent, and moving. He explains you sizes, it really helps. Would it fit in a drum. Mine wouldn’t fit in a drum. There’s no way, I could not even have shoved that bear in a drum, he was so big. That kinda gives you a size and understanding of what you’re looking at for bear. That was a fun hunt, that was fun, that was a lot fun, even if it was short. Short is good, right?

The camp is beautiful. You got your own room, your own accommodations. You got a little kitchen you can put your stuff in. The food is, whoo, you’re gonna eat until you don’t wanna eat anymore. It seems like you’re always eating. A ton of food, a ton of snacks. It’s really comfortable. You’re not coming to stay in a wall tent and eating sardines. You’re living a little bit high on the hog plus you get to go out and experience an awesome hunt.
The bear, I remember it walking in to this day, because, once you see an animal you really want to take, you will never forget that, it’s a feeling, you are in awe.
The camp itself is great, I mean it’s awesome, you’re well taken care of. There’s an extra area you can store your gear so you cover scent control. They pick you up at the airport. Everything is taken care of, you don’t have to worry, do I have this, do I have that? If you don’t have something, odds are they’re gonna have it and they’re gonna cover on it. One guy didn’t have rain gear. No problem. Took great care of that. It’s great to come to a camp and know that you don’t have to worry about everything. Sometimes you forget something. They take really good care of you. It’s nice to come to a camp and have that experience versus sorry about your luck.