Every animal is "hunt able", as long as time isn’t a factor. But most of us only have a certain amount of time to get the job done. I’m not making excuses only stating a fact. After all we do have to pay the mortgage.

This springtime Canadian Bear bow hunt would be seven days long with six full days of hunting. It would be a bait hunt and most would think you would at least see a bear at the bait during this time. Well that’s simply not always the case. Bear hunting whether with bait, dogs or stalking is challenging and success rates average 30 percent or so. It’s by no means a gimme.

We arrived at camp in late May just like we did the year before. This was a "do it yourself" hunt with previously baited stands. We would be staying in a house boat far from the outfitters place. The outfitter baited the stands for about two weeks until we arrived. Than we took over baiting. We new the deal because we hunted here the previous year. I missed a bear that year and was bound and determined to make up for it.

I was hunting with friends John and Steve. They were brothers. Steve didn’t hunt with us the year before and had never shot a bear. John shot a 200 pound bear the previous year and decided to let Steve sit in his old stand. That stand had a natural bear trail that paralleled the shoreline next to the bait.

If you’ve never taken a houseboat trip your really missing something. The house boat can take you far from the lodge and a stones throw from good fishing and hunting. This was my second trip to Dan Luce’s Lake of the Woods Houseboats and if I have it my way it won’t be my last.

The boat comes equipped with everything but the kitchen sink. Wait a minute; they even come with a kitchen sink. Ours was a fifty-two footer and had a screened in front porch with a thirty gallon live well and a hundred pounds of ice. The rear deck with a gas grill. It came with a hundred gallons of gas along with a gas pump and case of two cycle oil to fill up our small boats that we pulled with us. We brought two sixteen foot boats with 25hp motors on them to bait with and use for fishing.

All the comforts of home were here. There were only three of us but the boat could easily sleep eight. It had a full sized refrigerator / freezer, stove / oven (that we cooked frozen pizza in one night), large kitchen table, a couple couches, a few chairs and a shower which is almost a must on any bear hunt, as a bears nose is phenomenal.

The outfitter marked a spot on the map for us to park the houseboat. We were tied down on a small island for the week. We chose not to rent a generator as we wanted to keep the noise to a minimum.

Sitting on the houseboats rooftop watching the northern lights and listening to loons and beavertails slapping the waters surface having a cold beverage after the days hunt can hardly be described with words or pictures.

I chose a different bait station this year. There was a place we named POW creek bait. Most bear hunters have names for their baits and this one was named because back in the Vietnam War the army maintained a POW camp here. On a peninsula out in the middle of nowhere was a large field. At the north end of the field a creek flowed into the lake. The bait was down an old two track about a quarter mile into the bush. It was being hit everyday.

We used pretty much the same ingredients for the bait as we did the year before. We would hang pig skin on wire in between two trees about six feet high and burn it with a propane torch creating a bacon like smell floating through the woods. Than for desert we put three or four donuts in a zip lock bag and poured a half jar of honey into it. We would wrap the bag around a tree with wire and poke holes in the bottom of it letting it ooze down the tree. After strategically placing my stand I left to shower and shoot a couple practice arrows.

John dropped me off at the waters edge for the five hour sit. As I walked across the field the outboard noise slowly faded away. The silence was a bit eerie as I entered the woods. I entered the thick bush and felt like I was being watched. Like every animal around knew I was here. When I arrived on stand I was relieved the bait hadn’t been hit yet. Nobody wants to sit for five hours on empty bait. I climbed into my stand and felt a sense of relief.

As the sun faded I was disappointed I hadn’t seen anything. I climbed out of my stand and placed a trail timer at the bait so tomorrow I would know what time the bear came in. On my way out of the woods I again got a weird feeling I was being watched. I heard the boat approaching and looked at my watch. It was 9:30pm.

On the way back Steve had told us about the small bear that nearly climbed up the tree he was in to look at him. The bear was only a hundred pounds or so but Steve said if the bear showed up again he was going to take him. It would be Steve’s first bear and he definitely didn’t want to go home skunked.

The next day to my stand I got the same feeling I was being watched. I stopped before entering the woods along the shoreline of the lake. It was thick and I couldn’t see the water. I just had a feeling something was there. I snuck through the trees and parted the leaves away. Standing not fifteen feet into the water was a cow and yearling moose. Awesome I thought as the huge animals bolted out of the water and into the woods. It amazed me how animals that large can disappear so quickly into the brush.

I arrived at the bait sight and looked at the trail timer. It read 9:30pm. Wow, that’s a coincidence; I got to the shoreline last night at 9:30pm. I climbed into my stand and after an hour or so I heard a low growling noise. I figured it was maybe two bears and one of them was growling at the other. A few minutes later I heard the unmistakable popping jaws of a bear. I couldn’t see him but new he was in front of me maybe fifty yards. Than nothing for an hour or so. I peered deep into the woods and could have sworn I saw something black move when I heard the popping again. Now the bear was to my right and directly upwind. Darn it. He must smell me by now. There was only a few minutes of light left and I knew this bear wasn’t coming in.

I was stuck in the stand. I didn’t hear the boat yet so I waited. It was completely dark. I looked at my watch and it was ten o’clock. I hadn’t heard the bear in awhile so I slowly got down out of me tree and walked the half mile or so back to the shoreline. The whole time I felt I was being watched.

As I waited at the shore for the boat I noticed it was 10:30pm and figured John or Steve must have got a bear. While sitting in the dark a half white beaver came within two feet of me on shore. I don’t care what kind of wild animal it is, two feet feels a little freaky.

Then I finally heard the motor. I could hear them laughing and talking loud. Sure enough Steve had shot the bear he had seen the night before. Although happy for him I was sure my bear had me pegged and I contemplated going to another bait. I didn’t want to waste time hunting a bear that new when I was there. He couldn’t be lying at the bait or he would hit it before I arrive every day. Still he must be close. Since I had four days left I figured I’d give him one more day.

I scrubbed down good before the next days hunt and told Steve that after he dropped me off to wait in the boat about an hour. Maybe the bear would think I left and then come in. I checked the trail timer and it read 10:25pm. That bear hit the bait five minutes after I left. He must be close to the bait and just waits until I leave. I must damn near walk right past him.

About an hour before dark I heard a loud "WOOF". It sounded more like a dog than a bear and I thought maybe it was a wolf. I did have a wolf tag but that idea quickly vanished as the bear started popping his jaws again. Again dark came and no bear. I had to see this bear. I heard the boat motor pull up to the shore but I didn’t come down. Even though it was to dark to shoot I wanted to see if he was worth hunting.

10:30pm and no bear. I hadn’t heard him for a half hour so I quietly started down the tree. Slowly I crept down the dark two track. Suddenly a loud crash from a mere twenty yards, I looked, and their he was, running towards me full boar, I reached for my knife and just as I struggled to get it out of the sheath the bear stopped turned and ran the other way. My heart was going a thousand miles an hour and I quickly went to the boat. I told John and Steve about the bear and it looked like a pretty good bear. It was dark and all I could tell was his back seemed to be at my waist. Maybe 250-300 pounds.

Was the bear doing a bluff charge or did he just wind me and take off running, than saw me and ran the other way. Who knows? I was going to give it one more shot.

The next day I had Steve walk in with me and sit for a good hour or so than loudly leave the baited area trying to again trick the bear into thinking I had left. Steve was a little nervous about sitting on the ground next to the bait so I gave him a shotgun to sit with. I didn’t get that feeling of being watched as I walked in this time and was bummed to see the bait wasn’t hit when I arrived.

After Steve left I was optimistic of the evening hunt, but as darkness approached I never heard the bear and my hopes of scoring dwindled. I never did see that bear again and went home empty handed. Steve was the only one to harvest a bear that year making it 33% success two years in a row.

I did have a great time as usual on the houseboat as well as caught lots of Lake of the Woods fish. I needed more time to hunt this "unhuntable bear" and hopefully will get another crack at him someday. Now it’s back to work so I can pay the mortgage.

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