You want lots of excitement & good hunting opportunity? Come with us on a black bear hunt. Here in the Swan River Valley area of Manitoba nestled between the Duck Mountains, Porcupine Mountains & Kettle Hills we can easily boast high bear hunting success. These dense forested areas surround some of the highest quality agricultural land in Manitoba. We also provide a food source for our bears Spring, Summer & Fall to capture their interest. Good habitat & food source is what gives us these big bears. Manitoba black bears can come in "color phase" of brown, cinnamon and chocolate colors & often times our experienced hunter is looking for this.

SPRING or FALL BEAR HUNT

We hunt from mid May to Mid June then again end of August to mid September. When is the best time? Depends on your schedule & what you want in a bear. There is no size difference between a Spring bear skull and a Fall bear skull. However, there are major seasonal differences in weight and fur conditions. A bear can emerge in the Spring from its winter den weighing 30% less than it did in the Fall. While a bear dens he is living off his fat reserve. It is essential that during the Fall prior to denning a bear must gorge himself to put on all this extra weight. Therefore, that Fall bear can be huge due to this massive weight gain. Fur conditions also vary from season to season. Most hunters believe a bear’s fur is finest soon after den emergence in the Spring. That is when the guard hairs are the longest & the under fur the thickest. It is during the Spring that hunters must look at the condition of the fur carefully before shooting. Bears will scratch & rub themselves to help shed this heavy coat of fur leaving rubbed marks. A hunter may see a bear that has bare patches on their hind quarters or behind their front shoulders. A Fall bear fur will be sleek, dense, & shiny with no rubs. The benefit of being able to "look a bear over" while on a bait is that you can observe for the quality of the fur. Most hunters are hunting bears for the "mount", so good quality fur is the most important factor. Because a bear emerges from the den very hungry he is immediately attracted to our baits which makes Spring baits very active. The food source is plentiful in the Fall so baits may have fewer bears but they tend to be much larger.
Bear hunting requires some knowledge of bears. We try our best to educate our hunters about judging bears for size, fur quality and sex. When you arrive we have "Bear School" where we discuss methods of baiting, hunting, recovering bears, our routine and the reasons for it, usual bear activity, how to judge bears and most important the killing shot. You must remember, there are old boars, young boars, sows, sows with cubs. We want to shoot boars, we do not shoot sows with cubs. Boars are bigger than sows, young boars may be smaller than sows.. For the first time bear hunter, all bears look big but there are some methods of judging size and noting a bigger bear. Size compared to the bait barrel, size of feet, smaller looking ears, shorter looking nose, crease in the forehead. Again to stress that quality of fur is much more important than size. A big bear with terrible fur does not make a good mount, but a smaller bear with perfect fur and perhaps color phase makes a tremendous mount.

BEAR HUNT WOUNDING POLICY

If you wound a bear and it is not recovered you can continue your hunt but you will remain at the same bait on which you wounded your bear. If you wound a second bear, sorry your hunt is over. We have hunted bears over 20 years and know all about wounds and killing shots. You must take the all important 2 lung shot to kill a bear; one lung or shoulder shot and he will live on, liver shot and he won’t die for 24-4 8 hours. Tracking a wounded bear only sends him further away. A 2 lung shot will put your bear down within 50 yards of a bait, a one lung shot or shoulder shot won’t put him down, a liver shot will keep moving as long as he is being followed. A liver shot bear who is not tracked will bed down usually within 200 yards of a bait and die.. .to be found the next day. The benefit of hunting over bait is that you have the opportunity for good shots. Do not shoot a bear walking into or out of a bait. Do not shoot a bear that is lurking in the bush surrounding the bait. Wait for the bear to be on the bait for several minutes or more so that you can look over the fur, ensure there are no cubs and judge for size. After you shoot the bear watch the path he takes and listen. This makes our tracking of the bear much easier and safer. Hunters mistakes include not being quiet around the bait, shooting without clearly visualizing the bear for shot placement & quality of animal, and shooting when it is too dark.

Typical routine is continental breakfast anytime, then the work of the hunt (recovering bears, skinning bears, preparing baits). Lunch may varey from meal at camp or bag lunch to take with you to the stand, leave camp around 2-4 pm to have all hunters settled into their stands by about 4-5 p.m. We hunt until dark which is about 10-1 1p.m. Then back to camp and a meal about midnight. We access our areas by pick up then quads and walking. Our stands are about 12 feet off the ground, or ground blind and are between 10-75 yards from the bait depending upon what weapon you are shooting; gun or bow. Try to obey good hunting principles of keeping scent to a minimum, limited movement while in a stand, don’t spread your scent in the area and quiet while entering, standing on & leaving a bait. Our wilderness tent camp is at the base of the North slope of the Duck Mts. We utilize canvas tents with hard floors & walls, bunk beds with good mattresses, electric heat, shower house, outhouse, rifle and archery range with meals in the main tent cabin.

THINGS TO BRING