2008 Hunts are brought to you by: Click on a logo to visit the sponsor's website                                                 2008 Changing It Up   By Kevin Beasley   The bears had the situation figured out and always came in downwind but out side of range. A small change in strategy brought down this big boar on the first attempt.         After our 2007 bear hunt, where all three of us killed a bear on the first night of the hunt, we had been looking forward to satisfying our new addiction with the 2008 bear season. We loved everything about it and couldn't wait to get back in the bear woods.     We were unable to go back to where we'd hunted previously but we were grateful to still have other options. Paul and I went to Temagami in late August on a three day trip that included lodging, fishing boats, home-cooked meals and great company. Unfortunately for us and the other guys in camp, the bears didn't cooperate. We had a wonderful time and met some great people anyway.     Another hunt came together with our good friend Lee Nilsen but I was unable to go because of work. Keith and Paul went and successfully came home with two bears. At this point in time I thought that the 2008 bear hunt was over for me but then, in late September, Keith ran into a gentleman from an hour east of us who said we could come down and hunt his place.     Excited about the invitation, we went and set up a trail camera on the bait pile to see what the bear activity was like and get a feel for what time of day (or night) the bears were hitting it. We checked the card on the camera after a few days and saw that there were multiple bears hitting the bait with a really good one coming in late. This was enough to make us ecstatic. This area allows second bear seals so that meant that Keith and Paul were both still in the game.     If you notice the timestamp on these two pictures, you can see that the bears had us figured out pretty well and were coming in right after we left. It was pictures like this that helped us formulate a plan that led to Kevin harvesting a great Ontario bruin.         Paul was the only one that was able to make it the first night, so he went in alone. Three bears came in that night with two that were different for sure but the last one could very well have been a repeat. They were all around 100 -150lbs and knowing that the bigger bears were around, he opted to wait.     When Paul came home and relayed his story to us we were all so excited that we picked a night that all three of us could go. Keith was videoing with Paul and I trying to shoot.     Now you have to understand that the three of us have had a lot of experiences out in the woods and we always find that the best ones are when we are all together and can share them as a family. So we took this as an opportunity for us to go together.     The hunt didn't play out quite the way that we were hoping. We got all set up and had our game plan worked out on who was going to shoot and who was going to video, but the only problem was, and the major problem was, that we didn't see any bears that night. At one point in the night we could hear one coming in and then just at that moment the wind swirled a little bit on us and ruined that opportunity. Our trail camera showed that bears were hitting our bait each night, but it seemed to be just at, or just after, the end of legal light. This pretty much sealed the deal for us in realizing that if we wanted to kill one of the bigger bears, we'd have to get closer to where they are coming from in hopes of catching them a few minutes earlier.     The next day Keith had to work and being a Saturday, Paul and I decided that we would go. Further to our thoughts from the previous night, we decided to sit on the ground just off the trail that the bears used to approach the bait. We were 40-50 yards away from the bait, but this new spot allowed us to see almost 100 yards further into the woods. We hoped this would be enough to catch them with more light. Furthermore, the new spot was situated so perfectly that there would be no way for the bears to get down wind of us and ruin the hunt.     It was absolutely the perfect night. The wind died right down so we could hear everything in the woods and the weather was just the perfect temperature. You really couldn't have asked for better conditions.     The trail cameras showed that the bigger bear had been arriving regularly around 5:30 and legal light wasn't until around 7:10. We determined that we should show up around 3pm so that could get in there well before they were moving and any disturbance we made from setting up in our new location would be forgotten by the time the last hour of light rolled around.     On this night Paul was extremely kind enough to allow me to be the one to shoot and I do thank him for it.     The first two hours seemed like forever. We knew that the bears were not on our camera until 5:30 at the earliest so I was counting down until then. Once 5:30pm came I was all set and ready. Every single squirrel I heard had my heart pounding thinking it was a bear but nothing showed. Then 6:00 o'clock came and still nothing. Then 6:15, then 6:30 and still nothing. I started to think that this just wasn't going to be our night.     By 6:45pm it was starting to get a little darker in the woods due to the incredibly thick canopy of leaves and I was just hoping that something would show up.     While the weight of the bear was never measured, the skull was officially measured at 17-10/16 which qualifies it for entry into the Big Game Records of Ontario.         We were sitting in a hardwood forest so I expected to be able to hear everything coming from a mile away. Right at 6:50pm, with about 20 minutes of legal light left but not a lot of hunting light left, Paul gave me a poke. My heart jumped because I knew exactly what that must mean and I was shocked too because I really thought that I would have been able to hear the bear coming well before we would see him.     Through the trees I could just pick out something black moving about 125 yards away. I immediately situated myself so that I would be able to get a shot off when he crossed my shooting lane at only 40 yards.     This thing was in no hurry at all and it became clear why we weren't seeing them at the bait during legal light. He would walk five steps then stop and sniff. Walk another five steps and stop and sniff. Sometimes he would pause for a solid two minutes. He did this the entire way in. It was really neat to watch him as he approached to within about 80 yards of the bait because he walked off the trail and circled right to the downwind side of it. He threw his nose up into the air a bunch of times testing for sign of danger and only when he was completely content did he continue his approach. Had we been sitting in our stands over top of the bait, he would have smelled us at that point and we would have never known he was there.     Slowly, and methodically he continued our way and then 10 yards before he hit my shooting lane he stopped for what seemed like 5 minutes and sniffed some more. It was likely more like 1 minute but when you're holding a gun up at your shoulder with nothing to rest it on and trying not to make any movement, 1 minute is a long time! When he finally came into my shooting lane, I centered the reticle of my Zeiss Conquest scope on his vitals and squeezed the trigger. He lunged forward doing a somersault and then tore off like a shot through the trees and out of sight. We could hear him running through the dry leaves before finally hearing a big crash. The big crash is usually a good sign and I was pretty excited hoping that the sound was him falling to the ground in a heap. A few seconds went by and he started into his death moans.     We probably only waited five minutes before tracking him because we were losing light so fast. The blood trail was not super heavy but it sure was short! He only traveled about 30 yards from the point of impact so the Winchester XP3's did a wonderful job. I was so excited as he was the biggest bear that any of us have ever harvested.     On our way home we were discussing the hunt and we're confident that had we not moved our location, that bear would never had made it to the bait pile while there was still light because of the pace he was moving at. Sometimes we get so comfortable sitting right on top of a bait pile, or right on top of a food source when all it takes is a little change in strategy to trick these big old boys up. It wasn't something that only a rocket scientist would think of but it was one small little decision that made a huge difference in our success.     I would really like to thank Paul for letting me have the chance to get this bear as he could have just as easily killed it.     Click on the video below to view the harvest of Kevin's record book black bear.     Return to 2008 Hunts Page