Our first Bear Camp

Dave Bohn 9-12-2013

A year ago I booked a fishing and bear hunting trip with Richard and Michelle Carpenter at Ten Mile Lake Camp. They run a drive-to     camp, one hour north of Ignace Ontario, Canada. They also have fly-in cabins available.

I received a list from the Carpenters of items we should bring. I had most of the items listed but wanted to be sure I had more than what we needed to have a great trip.

The guys we deer hunt with have been to Ten Mile Camp numerous times so their pointers helped take the guess work out of this trip.

We booked hotel rooms in International Falls, Minnesota for our trip up. This would allow us to be well rested when we arrived at camp on Saturday afternoon.

Richard called the week before to update us on fishing and bear sites. He also said to make sure we all had Thermacells. I highly suggest if you spend any time in the outdoors, spend the money, they are a lifesaver against mosquitoes and black fly’s.

When we arrived, we checked in to very clean and well-equipped cabins. Richard had bear stand sights picked out for us and was ready to go. Our Big Dog tree stands set up flawlessly as usual. There were a few things we found out about bear camp: 90 degrees and windy, and a full moon are not a bear hunter’s friend.

At my stand, I had a red squirrel harassing me. He would sneak around behind me and let out a blood-curdling scream. After a couple of the screams, I contemplated harvesting that red squirrel instead of a bear. Out of our group of six, four were hunting bears. Thanks to a group of trespassing ATV riders, only one bear was seen the first night. Richard has the sole bear hunting rights to 10 by 15 miles of some of Canada’s most remote “bush”.

Day two, Sunday morning, we were up early catching limits of walleyes and northerns. With the drastic temperature changes it took us a little while to dial in to their feeding patterns. The best bait we found was a perch blade crawler harness with a Gulp leach. The 13’ to 18’ contour seemed to hold the bulk of the non-slot fish.

Richard told us what time we would need to be ready to bear hunt. He shuffled us around to get us on the best stand for the heat and wind. Again only one of us saw a bear. When I returned to camp my son Trevor met me at the truck and said he harvested the “Bat Bear”; very nice trophy with a white bat crest on its chest.

Day three, another morning of exploring the never-ending waterways. Walleyes and northerns galore, morning and noon, the time didn’t matter. Again we were given a time to report for the evening bear hunt. I went first because my stand was the farthest into the bush. I followed Richard in one of his pick ups. He had a pick up with a trailer and his Ranger ATV. When we arrived he explained that I would be driving us 1.5 miles back to the site, he would put out fresh bait, and I would drive him back to the truck, and then take the ATV back to my stand. Part of the trail had 6 foot brush for 50 to 60 yards, I wasn’t sure I could find my way out after dark. I didn’t say a word because just as I was thinking that, Richard said he had a woman hunting back there last year and she had no problem finding her way out. So now I had to do it, this really added to the excitement of this stand site.

 He also told me to be ready when I came into the opening, because I would be 15 feet from the bait and a bear might already be there. I parked the ATV about 50 yards from the bait site, 6 foot bush so thick you cant see anything separated me from the bait site.  The ground was covered with bear, moose and wolf prints. This site also has a tent blind so that I would be up close and personal with the bears.

I climbed into the mosquito filled tent and got situated. The Thermacell was ignited and the tent was cleared of biting insects. 90 plus degrees, sweating so much I was soaked, and wind blowing sending my scent swirling in every direction. I doused myself with scent killer and picked out a line to give me a minimum height limit for a shooter bear.

About 20 minutes later a bear appeared from my left. As I reached for my gun he was gone. I can’t believe I blew it, not a sound and no visible movement.  He must have smelled me.

Then I saw a bear coming around the brush pile behind the bait. Wow did I really get a second chance? Calm down, breath, my heart is going to jump out of my chest. He is taller than my line. Wait for him to step forward giving me a perfect shot at his vitals. Breath, aim...Boom! I hear the brush between my tent and the bait site crushing like a dozer is coming through. I cycle a new round and aim at the crashing coming at me. The crashing stopped 15 feet from my tent. I thought I heard his final breath. After waiting a few minutes, I looked for my bear. No blood, did I miss? I went back to camp to get Richard.

Richard went to work in his Clint Eastwood of bear camp way. One liners

that made us laugh, and stealth like a ghost, appearing out of no where, then gone.

After following a fresh path a bear ran off on, he just said, “no blood”.

Now I feel I missed. He found another dozer path, again no blood.

I thought the sound ended much closer to the tent than the two trails he followed.

We found the bear 15 feet from the tent. 3 bears came in at the same time, the thick brush kept them hidden from my view. The old mans’ Ithaca Deer Slayer also works on bear.

After tagging and gutting we had a long ride back. I asked him if he ever saw a Big Foot. he said no but…you will have to have him tell you the story. It is based at the site I was just at. I thanked Richard for waiting to tell me the story until after I harvested my bear.

Everyone had an opportunity to harvest a bear. One hunter decided to pass on two different bears, holding out for a large one.

Richard retrieves, guts, skins, and quarters the bears. We brought along a vacuum sealer and processed the meat on site. This makes it much easier to take home small packs, not frozen bear quarters.

The rest of the week was filled with fishing and eating fish.

When we returned to Wisconsin we dropped our trophies off by Jeannie at Trails End Taxidermy in Big Bend. She is a full service taxidermist that specializes in bear mounts and rugs.

Thank God that He has created a great outdoors for us to enjoy, and that he has given me an awesome son to enjoy it with.

Feel free to email me with any questions or comments about the story:

Dave Bohn widbohn@yahoo.com

Trevor Bohn with Canadian Outfitter Richard Carpenter of Ten Mile Lake Camp in Ontario with Trevor’s ‘Bat Bear’.

Wisconsin Hunter Dave Bohn with his bear taken from a tent blind hunting with Ten Mile Lake Camp in Ontario.  Fishing was also tremendous.