swampsnyper
Well-Known Member
Went to Ontario with some good friends. I wouldn’t say we were with a guide, just an outfitter. For a non resident to hunt there you have to be under an outfitter. He has a territory of queens land, I guess that’s what it’s called. I think locals can hunt it like public land. The way I understand it, as an outfitter he has so much territory he can outfit on the queens land. He has bait sites all over. When he has a group coming he baits 2 sites per person a week or so before we come up I think. Anyway, all he did was show us a few bait sites and signed our legal paper work and we were on our own after that. We ran cameras, baited and hung stands or saddle presets and didn’t need to contact him again until we killed for him to fill out more paper work. It was as DIY as I think we can get in Canada and that’s exactly how we wanted it. We rented a cabin in a near by fishing guide’s camp ground. We rented a boat from them to fish the lake near by between hunts. Our plan was to run bait as needed and check cameras in the mornings then hunt the afternoons while fishing in between.
We slaughtered the small mouth. We never fished northern fish before and had no clue what to do. But we figured it out quick! We could only keep 2 under 13.75in and let me tell you, that was hard to catch. The 1st day we caught over 50 small mouths and most were over 3#s. We caught 3 musky. Apparently a good day of fishing musky is to get one to follow your bait. The guides were impressed and asked us all kinds of questions. We said we don’t know what we are doing, just fishing. We didn’t even know if we were doing good or that was just normal. Then when we started bringing bears back to camp they just watched in awe. We would lay them down on the picnic table and knives were slicing and dicing. One guy said “Wow! Y’all are some real outdoorsmen!” Lol they would call their buddies over, “y’all got to see these coonasses”. Lol we got a kick out of it.
Back to the bear hunt. My buddies had tagged out and one of them filmed while the other fished. I just couldn’t get on a shooter but the last 30min of the hunt one came out and of course the wind changed and it got nervous. Took about 3 steps toward the bait and spun around to leave. I drew as it passed behind some saplings trying to squeeze in a shot. It was headed behind a thick spruce and that was my last second to release. It was quartered away headed to cover. I shot, and through the cover the last time I seen my arrow, I saw the white fletching passing by the stomach. I said I hit gut! I was disgusted! Then I heard it coughing up blood and the high fives and fist bumps began. The fletching must have been by the stomach but the broadhead was perfect. Arrow was stuck in the ground with blood sprayed on the ground. It didn’t go 50 yards.
The whole week was fantastic. Couldn’t ask for a better trip. Seen sooooo much wildlife. The 1st evening reality sunk in when the truck left me at the drop off spot. I was like oh oh, I got to walk out from a bait station where we got pics of bears and wolves. We had no service except on the top of one hill that we would drive to to check in with Home. So we had no communication between us. 1st night I’m sitting in stand and see something down the trail the size of a doe. Then I see it’s head. It’s a big ass cat! But no tail. I though for sure it was a cougar. Then I see it again and it’s running right to me. It was a huge linx. I figured I was gonna die so I might as well video it so my kids know how I died. Lol It stopped under my tree, looked at me, then left. It was a little scary that 1st night but after seeing bear and walking up on them in the woods and they run away, I got use to the idea of being in such a remote area with so many big teeth.
It’s gonna take a while for me to get a video together. I got pics and video all over the place from different sources. Hopefully I can get something nice together.
Last edited:
