Spot and Stalk bear hunting in the mountains with a bow and arrow brings some serious challenges, but everything about the hunt was exhilarating. Oh, and I shot the 43rd bear I saw.
By Bernie Barringer
What makes a dream trip for a die-hard bear hunter? I suppose a dream trip is different things to different people. To you, it might be an exotic hunt in a far off place, or the opportunity to shoot the biggest bear of your life, or maybe the chance to experience new sights, sounds and smells while bear hunting. A dream trip for me may be a combination of several of those things.
If a dream trip for you means a rustic lodge in the heart of stunning mountain scenery, seeing multiple bears a day, waking up to loons calling, catching a rainbow trout on literally every cast, and moose steaks on the grill, then read on, because I found your dream trip.
My trip to Eureka Peak Lodge in the Cariboo Mountains of British Columbia was first and foremost a bear hunt. I shot the 43rd bear I saw. I’ll relate the events of shooting that bear in a moment, but since this trip was so much more than just a bear hunt, let me tell you the story from the beginning.
Just getting to Eureka Peak Lodge is an adventure in itself. I was in four airports during my trip, and the airplane that flew me into Williams Lake, BC was a small one. Let’s just say that every seat is a window seat! From Williams Lake, I was driven nearly three hours back into the mountains, about half of it on winding gravel roads. I was told I would typically see my first bears on the drive to the lodge. I saw three.
Like so many of my bear hunts, this one was characterized by rain. It rained six of the seven days of my hunt. The outfitter, Stu Maitland, expressed that we I would see the majority of bears when the sun was out, and that proved to be true. When the sun would peek through the clouds the bears would appear.
My first day hunting with my guide Joe Morhart was rainy nearly the entire day. We hunted from breakfast until 5:00 p.m. when we headed in to have supper. Our cook Cherie had seen four bears on her drive down to her house about an hour away. One of them was a cinnamon that she had seen on the entrance to a deactivated logging road just a few miles from the lodge.
After a great dinner, we headed back out to hunt for a few hours until dark and our first stop was that logging road. It had been more than an hour since Cherie saw the bear but Joe said the bears don’t move far when they are feeding, so we should go have a look. We walked about 200 yards down the old logging road when we came to a fast-flowing stream. I looked up on the other side and sure enough there was a cinnamon bear. He moved out into the open 60 yards away, and if I was hunting with a rifle instead of a bow, my hunt would have been over right there. But with the stream in between us, we couldn’t get close enough for a shot and my cinnamon moved out of sight.
I need to relate how disappointing this was for me. You see I have this silly idea that I want to shoot what I call a “Grand Slam of Color Bears.” My grand slam would be each of the four major color groups: Blonde, chocolate, black and cinnamon. I need the blonde and cinnamon to complete the slam. One of the primary reasons I booked a hunt in this area was because they have a large number of color phase bears in this geographical region. So I was really disappointed to let this cinnamon get away, but it was only the first day.
The next few days were spent cruising logging roads, glassing the logging cuts, and walking deactivated logging roads. In the spring, bears love to graze on the lush greens that are found along the roads. The woods are thick with little sunlight getting to the forest floor, so the food is found wherever the sun can get through. That means along roads and in logged off areas referred to as “Cut Blocks.”
The best way to encounter a lot of bears is to cover a lot of ground; that means driving a lot of these roads. If you see a bear, you slam on the brakes and plan your stalk. We alternated that strategy with hiking down roads that had been removed from use. These roads grow up into grass, dandelions and clovers, the exact things bears love in the spring. It was a nice combination of exploring these old roads in the pickup, mixed with hiking up the slopes and glassing. It’s quite a fun way to hunt.
The bears proved Stu’s theory right. It rained off and on, mostly on, for the next five days, but when the sun would peek out, we would start seeing bears. Some of the bears bolted off into the brush when we saw them, and some were sows with cubs. Some were in position where we could make a stalk but they were smaller specimens and after all I was looking for a cinnamon or a blonde. We attempted a stalk on a handful of big ones as the week wore on and the list of bears I would not shoot began to shrink. Steve, another hunter in camp who was bowhunting Grizzlies with Stu as his guide, came back to camp one evening with photos of both a blonde and a cinnamon and of course they teased me to no end about that.
On the fifth evening Joe told me we were going to go on a “grand adventure” the following day. He was not kidding. We drove two hours to the shore of Quesnel Lake and loaded Joe’s ATV on the front of an 18-foot jet boat. Lake Quesnel is the deepest lake in North America at 2300 feet deep and that thought was with me as we headed across the lake with the “Quad” in the front of the boat. The scenery was stunning and it was nice to finally have the rain clouds lift so I could see the snow-capped mountains in the distance.
We spent the day about six miles up the lake on Joe’s registered trapline. We cruised logging roads and glassed cut blocks again, and since there is no road access to this area, I was a little bewildered about how they built the logging roads and hauled the logs out. Joe explained that the trucks and equipment is hauled up there on barges, and the logs are strapped together in big rafts and floated down the lake with tugboats.
We stopped off for a few moments at a pristine mountain lake and ate our lunch, then pushed a canoe out into the lake and did a little trout fishing. There were so many times I just had to pause a moment to drink in the gorgeous scenic views.
When we saw a big black one feeding across a valley, we had to make a try for it. But we came to a river that was pretty high from all the rain. Joe took one look and said we could make it so we plunged in with the Quad. About half way across, the quad began to lose its footing but Joe gunned it and we hit the opposite bank. I had to bail off the quad as it seemed like it was going to tip over backward going up the steep bank. Climbing back on the quad after Joe got it up on level ground all I could think about was how we were going to get back across, especially if we had a big bear with us.
We didn’t have to worry about that problem because when we got to the area, the bear was gone and we never did see him again. We spent a few hours hiking and glassing that side of the river before coming back across. We did find a couple moose shed antlers while looking for bears. Now you have to realize that there was a small falls and then rapids about 20 yards downstream from the river crossing. I was not looking forward to trying to get back across that river.
This time it was worse. When the quad lost its footing in the middle of the river we began to be swept downstream and the quad turned sideways. Somehow Joe kept it upright while we were swept up against the boulders on the opposite shore and I grabbed my bow and climbed out onto the rocks just above the falls. Joe tossed me my back pack with my cameras and then gunned it, making his way upstream against the raging current to a point where he could get his wheels on dry ground. We were both wet up to the crotch with the cold, snow-melt water but happy to be safe. Grand adventure, you aren’t kidding.
After a long day of hunting in this remote area, we headed back to the rocky beach were we had left the boat. We discovered that the wind had come up during the day, splashing over the transom of the beached boat, filling it with water and sinking it to the bottom. It took a lot of bailing but we got it back afloat and got the motor started. We got back to the lodge well after midnight and I had to get a fire going or suffer hiking in wet boots all day the following day. Finally, I fell exhausted into bed.
The following day was the final day of my hunt and I had decided I needed to shoot the first representative bear I see. I didn’t want to go home without a bear; the time for being picky was over. We saw some smaller ones and attempted a stalk on a nice big black. But the swirling mountain winds betrayed us.
Early in the afternoon, we were heading towards an area with more logging roads we had not hunted before, when we rounded the corner and there was a bear on the side of the road. It was not a really big one, but it looked like it had good potential for a stalk. In fact, it just moved off the road a short distance and sat there.
Earlier in the week, I had given my rangefinder to Joe and asked him to use it to give me a range right before I shot. I had also asked him to video the shot. But when we bailed out of the truck, I grabbed my bow and in the excitement, Joe forgot both the rangefinder and the video camera.
The bear made a half circle and came back to the side of the road. It was clear he wanted to cross, so we started sneaking up the road, trying not to make too much noise crunching in the gravel. The bear came to the edge of the road again, but soon disappeared. We hurried a little farther and sure enough, he appeared at the side of the road and I drew my bow. I asked Joe the range and that’s when he realized he would have to guess. He said “40 yards,” and then suddenly the bear was moving across the road. Joe tried to stop him with a call but I had to shoot at the bear as he was walking quickly and I didn’t lead him enough so the arrow zipped through him just behind the rib cage.
I hate that feeling, but Joe was convinced we would get this bear. He said the bear would run about 100 yards and hang up. We drove down the road a little ways and then Joe said, “let’s go in right here.” Well I was skeptical but I have learned never to guide the guide. Sure enough, we got about 50 yards into the thick bush and Joe threw up his rifle and said he could see the bear through the scope. The bear was sitting there sniffing the wound on his side when I crept within range and put the finishing shot into him. Another lesson in trusting your guide.
This truly was a dream trip for me. The natural beauty of the Cariboo Mountains, the incredible fishing, the accommodations, the food and the hunting were all terrific. With the benefit of hindsight, I would have bought the second tag (this is a two-bear area) and shot the cinnamon with a rifle on the first night, then bowhunted for the second one. This is one dream trip you really should put on your bucket list.
Bernie, thanks for the advice. I’ve been thinking about ways to do this more as a diy hunt than fully guided.
I’m interested in swap hunt. I have access to hunt hogs and coyotes on 500 acres beautiful Texas land located 80 miles east of DFW airport. I’ll pick you up at DFW or Love Field airport, and take you to an existing 3 hours night hunt.
I provide you with AR15s with thermal scopes. If you want to keep any of the hogs, you will have to take care them.
In return, I want to hunt bears.
Hello sir where are u located for hog hunts in Tx ?
You should check out 3riversguideservice.com . They specialize in black bear in northern Maine
In 86 hunted kodiak in terror bay. Stayed in tent terrifying. Nope done checked that box. I was stationed in adak friended coast guard in kodiak. Great experience, dinosaur hunt terrified but got it notched.
An other option for bear hunt is a swap with people in Québec Canada …like me ! I do that almost each year for deer hunt in the Midwest and save lot money for both !!
Great Idea! I’m sure there are people who will swap bear hunts in the US too.
Well if somebody are interested ,I am willing for !!
Christian, id certainly be willing to hear what you can offer. you can send me a direct message on twitter at @APBoz. I’ve got a primitive camp in Southeast Ohio with access to over 26,000 acres of Wayne National Forest. its full of whitetail deer and eastern wild turkeys.
Hi Andy That would be more easy by phone to explain my set up ,and how it work ,because my cabin is Inside a reserve ,I’m not perfectly bilingual ,but enough to talk with u .Tell me when is the best time to call you ! We may communicated by e-mail too .Chris
Andy are you still running a camp in Southern Ohio?
I realize your message was posted a couple of years ago but I’d definitely be interested in this trade. Message me back if you happen to see this.
Sent you an email.
Great article Bernie. I have a great Guide for a semi-guided hunt in Minnesota. Been with him for a long time(whenever I can draw). When you find an honest guide or outfitter, stay with him.
Thank you so much for the great article, it was fluent and to the point. Cheers.
None of the links in this article work, and the Havik Lake Camp was closed for a year by the time this article was published. Not very helpful info…
I was at Havik Lake Camp just three months ago and it was open. I’ll check the links, this article was published several years ago.
Bernie i was at havik lake spring 2019. Still there. VERY hard to get ahold of Ed the grandson. Ed sr. has passed. Ed jr. Is a great guy and i had a great time. Just cant get ahold of him this year!!! Any help???
I have not had any contact with him in over a year.
Joseph, what sort of hunts are you looking for? I have access to some lands that frequently are over run with hogs. What sort of hunt would you being willing to swap?
Semi guided hunts are cheaper for sure but it will limit where you can hunt. I live in Michigan but own an Outfitting business in Saskatchewan. Non resident hunters have to go through a guide in Saskatchewan. Some of the states have no color phase bears. That’s where I draw some hunters. I get guys looking for color or like the 100% opportunity on good bears. To each his own. I chose to become an outfitter because I love to hunt. Good luck to all hunters out there. Shoot straight!
Chris please send me your contact information as I’m just starting to look for a quality bear hunt for a working class employee. Thanks
I would love to hear more about your outfit up north
Sorry, but I,m old school. Me, nature and the animal, be it deer, bear, etc. It,s called ” hunting”. Not sitting in a tree stand, spraying bait. Shooting a animal 15, 20 feet above at a range of 15 feet. That is not “Hunting”. Baiting a animal is “cheating”. This new generation wants everythung made easy. How can you feel satisfied baiting an animal. Try learning and using “Hunting” skills.
You should do a little research on bear hunting and familiarize yourself with bear hunting and baiting before you express an opinion on a subject you know so little about.
Hunting Bear in dense forest is very challenging –much more than putting a donut in the trail and sitting by it. It takes dillegence in scouting for bait sites preparing the site then tending the site for sometimes weeks before they are comfortable to risk coming in. Bears have an incredible sense of smell , hearing and site– you are not going to sneak up on one easily. Getting them to show themselves is much more a challenge than to shoot a rifle at long range and long range is not an option in the woods. Check the statistics for bear harvests in states like Minn and Wisc. percentage of license holder success is low for these reasons.
Great points.
Bungalow Outfitters in Idaho offers hunt over bait 7 days all inclusive with guide $2,000 per person.
Ronnie here in North Carolina .I have some private land loaded with bears .I would like to trade a bear hunt.we have harvested a bear on this property the last 5 years.There is a 95% you should be able harvest a bear.Feel free to call me 919 542 7848 if anyones instrested
hey an the bear hunt , is this a trade or can we offer you a guide fee thanks
I have started guiding, here is the info: /bear-hunting-outfitting/
I have a 5.56 NATO would that be enough to bring down a bear ?
I PERSONALLY think it’S A BIT LIGHT NOW YOU WITH THE RIGHT SHOT PLACEMENT CAN TAKE DOWN ANYTHING. BUT TO FACTOR ALL IN I’D like SOMETHING BIGGER.NOW YOUR TALKING TO A BOWHUNTER SO YOU MAY THINK WHATS HE TALKING ABOUT IT TWO DIFFERENT WAYS OF HUNTING BUT A GUN REALISE ON KINEDIK ENERGY AND THE BOW WORKING A BIT THE SAME A ARROW MAKES THEM SUFFOCATE IN STEAD OF ENERGY SHUTING DOWN ORGINS.JOHN SCUDDER
I recommend .270 for a all around effective caliber for larger game. Some outfitters won’t allow 5.56 too small for quick kill.