Black Bear Hunting Success
Summary of 2012 Spring Bear Hunts
River Camp
We started off the season on a very sad note our trapper/guide, Harry, passed away suddenly in Costa Rica. He is sadly missed by all that knew him. The hunters who were scheduled to hunt at our Trappers Camp moved their hunt to the Fly In Camp. We did not hunt the Trappers Camp this spring, not formally anyway. Harry had barrels of bait cached in the woods before going to Costa Rica. I went to the bait caches in late April to clean up and had a father and his twelve year old son helping me. We put some of this bait at three of our bait sites for the first time this season and the next morning we had bears at all the sites. We sat at one of these sites that evening and our first time twelve year old hunter, Koltin shot a beautiful brown-blonde color phased bear with his dad's vintage 1885 Winchester. Check out the video of this hunt and witness the excitement of the hunt.
Click here to see more video testimonials
Fly In Camp
We had a great camp this spring with plenty of bear action. Our fifteen haunters harvested 28 bears with 8 going into the record book and three color phased bears.
| Edmon Peveto |
As for my experience, I'll tell you this was by far the BEST outfitter hunt I've ever participated IN! Everything from accommodations, to Mel's fabulous meals, the willingness of Greg and Darcy to just make everything as hunter friendly as possible and the new friendships we established was just top rate. I harvested a 17 5/8 inch boar on the first evening (probably around 250 lbs.) and saw a total of 10 different bears for the week. Of course we were all looking to top Tim's first evening bear, a 19 1/2 inch, 400+ lbs MONSTER. I was startled the last evening of the hunt in "Beans' Blind" when a small bear climbed the ladder as I was holding on another bear on the bait. Oh well, next year will be another great year I'm sure, we're all looking forward to returning next year.
We certainly appreciated the hunts, the experiences, the stories developed and the friendships established between everybody. I'll certainly pass on your website as a favorite although I'm not real happy with letting the secret out just how great an experience it really was, Thanks again! |
| Bill Davis |
| "Me and Wesley both had a good hunt and saw a lot of bears. The first day we were there we saw bear and some each day. The first day I saw a good color phase bear but he didn't give me a good shot and the next day he came back and I got him. That same afternoon, Wesley got a good black bear. The next afternoon I didn't see a bear in the stand but Wesley got a color phase bear. Wesley sat with me the next afternoon and saw one good bear but he had began to rub and some of his hair was rubbed off so I let him go. The next day we sat together (Wesley is filming for me) we saw 8 bear, I let a good boar go. Later on in the afternoon he came back and we decided to go ahead and take him. Now we both tagged out and had a couple days left. We saw two different sows with cubs (3 each), the cubs looked healthy and in good shape. Only saw 2 color phase bears, the ones we took, but saw between 12-20 bears. There seems to be bears around all the stands and everyone should tag out. I sent some pictures of the bears we got. I got about 4-5 people wanting to go now." |
| Steve Bigham |
"I had an awesome hunt/adventure. I personally saw 22 different bears and harvested two excellent ones for myself. I was tagged out by Thursday night. The first was not a large bear, but had a perfect coat, which was what my wife wanted for her rug. It's skull green-scored 16 7/8". My second bear was a brute and green-scored 19 1/2". I saw one color phase (blonde/choc mix) while doing a bait run with Darcy and another right outside camp early one morning as I walked out of my tent. One of the other hunters in camp harvested a nice blonde also. His dad Steve took two bears also (17 5/8" and 19 1/8") Greg/Darcy and Mel were outstanding. I can't think of a better group of guys to be in a hunting camp with. I hunted 3 stand sites and saw multiple bears every night I sat. I just wish I was more of a wordsmith to be able to describe what an unbelievable time we had. It was everything and more we could have expected. We wanted an adventure and we got it. This was definitely a memory of a lifetime." |
| Mike Giangreco |
"I can't even begin to explain what a wonderful time I had. I was a little concerned about having too high of expectations and being let down. Well, that was not the case at all. My expectations were not only met but were exceeded. I ended up with two nice bears and that in itself would have been enough. I feel like Steve and I didn't just go on a fantastic hunt, but we felt as if we were hunting with guys that we had known for years. It wasn't a couple of guides and a cook at camp, it was a couple of buddies that we bonded with.
I saw approximately 12 bears. I harvested one on the second night that had a beautiful coat with a perfect white "V" on her chest. It was exactly what I wanted even though it was only a 16 1/2". That's the one that I wanted no matter what. The 3rd and 4th night I was skunked again. No bears, but not at all discouraged. On the 6th night I harvested a 17 1/8" boar.
With all that being said, Greg, Mel, and Darcy were awesome and the hunt was great. Thank you for everything and I hope this is not the last adventure with you... I've attached a couple of pictures, enjoy.
Thanks again for everything." |
| Lorenz (Switzerland) |
It was a great trip.
Bears:
Saw about 17 bears in 6 days.
I shot two bears (nice size, nice fur)
Both were P&Y record book bears!
Camp
Great camp!!!!!!
Almost too much luxury (wooden floor, electricity in tents, warm shower)
Bait sites/guiding
Very well maintained bait sites, lots of food for the bears
Bait sites looked after regularly
Greg and Darcy and Mel made every effort for us to have a great hunt!!!!!
PR
You can give my email address to potential clients (especially from Europe),
I will recommend you strongly! |
| Raymond Maddox |
| Greg and Darcy are doing a really great job at this camp!!!! Lots of bears up there. I think I saw right around 25-30 bears for the week and some were the same ones of course but still very active baits. Yes, I did get two bears. Passed up a lot of large bears just waiting for the monster to come in. Thank you once again for the great land that you gave me such enjoyment to hunt in and such great people to be around. Other than this it was all anyone could ever ask for in a hunt. |
Summary of 2011 Spring Bear Hunts
River Camp
Jay returned for his 4th bear hunting trip with us and was accompanied by his wife. He harvested two nice bears with his bow. He and his wife saw approximately 35 bears in five days of hunting. Ted only had three days to hunt but harvested two nice bears in two days of hunting. He saw 8 bears on his hunt. Doc also returned for his 4th trip to hunt bears. On his first night he harvested a good blonde bear. He was only able to hunt a total of two days as a nearby forest fire caused us to evacuate our hunting area. He saw a total of 5 bears in two days. All of our other hunts were postponed as our hunting area remained closed due to the excessive smoke from the fire.
Fly In Camp
After setting out our baits and making preparations for the spring hunt, we had to postpone all hunt at this camp due to the excessive smoke from the nearby forest fire.
The good news is that all of the bears are now one year older and bigger for the 2012 season.
Summary of 2010 Spring Bear Hunts
We had an unusually early spring and the bears were very active and hungry before we started baiting for our hunts.
Our River Camp was very successful with every hunter harvesting bears. We had a high number of bear sightings and several record book bears were harvested with two making the B&C book. It was also a good spring for colored bears.
Our Remote Fly In Camp was a great success. The float plane ride in; the landing on our small lake and tying up to the dock; the camp and the active bear baits made this a success. We found more bears than expected in this new area with several hunters seeing over 30 bears. We had a limited number of hunters this spring as this gave us time to set up the new area and really get the baits fired up. Our first hunter harvested a P&Y bear and a good cinnamon boar with his recurve bow. His buddy also got a good bear with his bow. We also had an outdoor writer from Denmark who saw 32 bears and now has many more stories to write. Our last week we had the Muzzy Bad to the Bone TV crew in camp. They harvested two good bears with a big boar over 8' with a 22 1/4" skull. They wanted to try a different hunting method. They sat on the ground about 4-8 yards from the bait against a tree with no cover. The camera man captured all of the adventure and close encounters. They saw 21 different bears in three days using this method. Definitely not recommended for everyone! Try not to miss this show.
Book your next Alberta Black Bear hunting trip
Greg Letkemann
Trophy Book Outfitters
Box 557 Acme, AB T0M 0A0
Phone: (403) 631-2393
cargreg@msn.com
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