Newfoundland Archery Bear Hunt

Neilson  Friday, July 9, 2010

Adventure Review

I was bored.  I was bored and wanted a new eXperience.  I was looking for something to hunt after I got out of my teaching school year and a bear hunt was just the ticket.  Now all I had to do is find the right outfitter for a late June hunt. 

Sitting 16 feet up in a small group of aspen trees, I was being slowly lulled to sleep by the gentle swaying of my lofty perch when the woods got suddenly quiet.  My senses hit red alert as I knew another predator had to be somewhere close to get the birds to be still so quickly.  I glanced down to see a pair of bears walk slowly under my stand.  At 12 yards, the largest bear turned and gave me the perfect quartering away shot.  The arrow flew true and the bear spun around and stood still looking for the source of whatever had stung it.  I knocked another arrow and laced the bear again through the lungs again. 

The bear tore through the woods and as I started to watch the bear leave, my attention was torn to a sound to my left.  There, not more than 10 yards away was the second bear staring at me eye-level from the next tree.  A  tense standoff began as I was not about to climb down and look for the bear I had just shot with a very alive and unhappy bear behind me.  This area has a 2 bear limit and while I could have easily shot the second bear, I felt I should find the first bear before chancing a problem of 2 wounded bears in the woods.  After 30 minutes the smaller bear showed no inclination to move.  I began to gather my gear and hoped the commotion would chase the bear away.  No such luck.

I finally climbed down and searched the area quickly for any sign of the first bear.  I did keep one eye on the bear up in the tree while I searched for the other bear.  With an hour of light left, I moved to the shoreline of the lake and waited for the boat to pick me up.  Walking along the bank, I was staring at a bush when a small bird came flying out at a rapid rate. I thought that was pretty odd and looked around.  There 15 yards away was the smaller bear standing on his hind legs.  I estimated his height at about 5 feet.  Great a young bear.  Young bears mean curious bears and this one wanted to know what type of eXperience this Hoosier boy was having in Newfie.  I picked up some rocks and managed to scare the bear away.

15 minutes passed before I sensed that I was being watched.  Looking around the smaller bear was back and this time it was popping its jaws.  Not a good sign.  I started to talk to the bear in a loud voice as I moved to put some distance and some fallen logs between us.  I had my back to the lake as the bear slowly appoached. It was at this point that I began to swear and told the bear in no-uncertain terms what I would do to it if it took one more steps.  I knocked an arrow and drew down on the bear.  Interestingly Canadian bears understand American profanity because the bear dropped to all 4’s and dissapeared into the bush.

20 minutes later the boat picked me up and I re-told the story.  4 of us went out the next morning to recover the bear which squared 6 feet and had a perfect hide.

On this particular trip, I chose to drive to Newfoundland (I know it’s an island) with 2 of my former students.  The drive took 40 hours one way with a 6 hour ferry ride to the island.  The drive was tedious and we took turns driving.  I doubt I’ll ever do that kind of driving again.  I would prefer to stop somewhere and relax before and after the hunt.

On a side note, as we re-entered the United States, we failed to stop at the border crossing and actually drove past the building.  I turned around and explained to the American guard that we had just re-entered the States and failed to stop.  It took almost 45 minutes to explain what had happened at the crossing to the Americans first and then the Canadians.  Apparently there wasn’t a lot of love between the two guards and we got caught in their fued.

I’d use this outfitter again and would use him for moose, caribou as well as bear.

The full story can be read in either of my books, Class Dismissed; I’m  Going Hunting, or, We’re Gonna Need More Arrows!