I had never been bear hunting before, so one year prior Brent and I decided to book a bear hunt in Alberta Canada. We started to anticipate the hunt as we always do, getting excited for what was to come. We practiced about three to four days per week for one year. As the hunt drew closer, we practiced in an elevated tree stand every day for two months before the hunt commenced. I had every possible scenario in my head as to what could or would happen when we got to Alberta. We knew we had a great chance to harvest a bear, so that made me even more excited and nervous about settling my pin behind the shoulder of a big bruin. We had heard that the weather could just about do anything in Alberta, so we packed everything we had anticipating the worst. We arrived so keyed up; no weather would dampen our spirits. This was new to me, I was not comfortable hunting bears by myself, I was a little nervous about the whole thing. You have to understand that I had never seen a bear outside of a zoo, so having Shane there relaxed me.

The second day of my hunt we ventured off to a different bait site. It was an eight minute jet boat ride across Wolf Lake. We docked the boat with excitement and hurried to the stand. It was pushing five o’clock. As we crested the hill, Shane stopped and pointed towards the stand where six or so big bears were milling around. We watched and I videoed for a couple of minutes, then proceeded through the heavy timber to my stand which was about 65 more yards away. I carefully climbed up and situated myself comfortably on my seat awaiting an exciting evening! Shane arranged the barrels of bait and wired them together as the bears had rolled some of them away the night before. To my left side was a fast moving creek with fish spawning. I couldn’t believe all of the beauty around me. After several minutes those same bears ambled back into range, they were all around me. I was very calm and it was even entertaining to watch the bears play, display dominance, eat and even sleep. I think I heard every noise a bear can make while watching them that night. We even had one particular bear make three attempts to climb our tree, boy that was a heart throbbing adrenaline rush. I guess he was curious, as bears seem to be.

Well the action didn’t die down a bit. Around 8:00 P.M. I asked Shane what he thought about one particular bear milling around the bait. I asked if he was a shooter or not. He replied “Christine he’s just an average bear, we have plenty of time and it only takes ONE SECOND for a big bear to come out and show himself.” So I decided to sit back, I hung my bow up and just relaxed. It was such a beautiful night; the temperature was 65-70 degrees, not much wind at all. The sound of the creeks running water was so soothing. As I sat back in my seat, I just took everything in. Squirrels were racing and ravens were talking all evening. It was just after nine o’clock and I looked across the creek where Shane had told me to keep an eye on earlier that evening, as the big bears in the past have come from that direction he proclaimed. I got a glimpse of a big black mass through the brush. I immediately knew that mass was much bigger than anything I had seen. I suddenly was nervous. Shane and I kept an eye on that direction, hoping the bear would make his way to the bait. The bear slowly made his way through the brush and was closing the distance. We still could not make out exactly how big he was through all of that brush. In the mean time, all of the other bears that were belling up to the bait scattered, all except for one. Suddenly the big black bear appeared 25-yards in front of me. I knew right then that this bear was HUGE. Shane and I looked at each other; both of our eyes were as big as saucers. The boar charged off the adolescent bear with all of the fury I expected to see in an animal that big and strong. I slowly picked up my bow, stood up, got into position and drew my bow. At this point the bruin was nine yards from me! The boar turned and faced me, as if he was scanning to see if there were any more bears in sight. I held my bow and waited for him to turn broadside for the perfect shot. He turned and slightly quartered away, I put my nose on the string, settled my pin and released. “Perfect shot” Shane announced. As the arrow pierced the lungs, the bear made a roaring/wolfing sound, snatched his head around to see what “Stung” him, the arrow snapped off and he raced into the aspen and was gone. We could not hear him crash over the sound of the rushing creek. Shane could tell that the bear was going down, so we packed up and proceeded to track my bear. As I was climbing down, my legs were shaking, the nervousness had set in. I don’t think I could believe what had just happened. I picked up the fletch end of my bright white and orange arrow. We started on the trail and saw the claw marks digging into the ground in the direction he went, so we followed his tracks to the creeks edge, looked up and there he lay just on the other side. I was so excited, and relieved to see my bear. He had only gone 80-yards. I traversed the creek, as I came closer to him I could not wait to run my fingers through his thick soft coat. I knelt down and every emotion raced through my body and mind. At last, everything I had anticipated had come true, the feeling was so good. As I sat beside my bear, all I could do was take in everything that was going on around me, it was surreal. We snapped a few pictures and headed out before the darkness fell upon us. We would come back the next morning at first light to recover the bear when we had more light and manpower. I don’t think I got a wink of sleep that night, it wasn’t long before the sun rose that morning, and we were up and at ‘em. Brent, Shane, and I geared up with an ATV, chain saw, boat, and trailer to bring my bear back to camp. When we arrived back at camp, we took plenty of pictures and started preparing the bear for shipment back to Virginia.

I have never had a more enjoyable experience anywhere I have ever been. I will have the memories of this trip in my mind forever. What a special day that was for me to cherish for my lifetime.

My bear green scored 19 2/16. After 60 days drying time the official Pope & Young score was 18 15/16! My first record book animal.