Our good friends from Open Season TV have been flat out getting work done for bear season. Check out three success stories from Chuck Paddock, Rusty Jackson and Mike Burks as they rock the best hunting packs on the planet. A big thanks to Open Season TV for always rocking Badlands during their hunts. We’re proud to be a small part of their amazing success.
Story by Chuck Paddock
My season started in early May in Alberta with Sherwood Outfitters I was a little worried that it may be a little early & the weather may affect the hunt & I was right. We battled 20 degree weather & 8” of snow & even though we had those conditions we still had hunters shooting bears while I was there & a couple wolves were taken but after 4 days of hunting I had to head for home unfortunately. I was planning on coming back in late May after my trip to Manitoba or so I thought. Even though I never took a bear we gave the opportunity for a couple of our intern cameramen to hunt together & film & they both took their first bears with a CVA Accura V2 & the footage was outstanding.
Now off to Manitoba a couple weeks later. We get up to camp on Thur & we begin that night right after we get there. Not an hour in the stand & we have a bear come in & then another one 30 min later so I had high hopes because both bears were nervous & I thought it was because of a bigger bear but what I found out was the ladder stand I was in kept cracking & popping which was driving me crazy. I sit the stand for the next 3 days with not one bear coming in but after I would leave they would be in 30 min later so I knew they were onto us. Meanwhile the other guys were seeing a lot of bears & I had also had truck problems on Sat which turned into me staying in Canada for 10 days & $,4,000.00 later but we will get to that in a min. So its day 5 & I told the outfitter look I have to move these bears are not coming in because of that stand I am convinced of it now so we make plans to make a move to a stand that had no camera by it so we had no idea what was hitting the bait but I was willing to take the risk. We get settled in & several hours pass by & right before dark her comes a small bear he gets about 40 yds gets nervous & just leaves & I am like what the heck I know I didn’t move & he didn’t smell us but what I didn’t know is there was a bigger bear around & he was coming in behind us about 10 min later this brute comes in to our left makes a circle & comes right to the bait with about 4 cameras rolling I draw my bow & settle my pin & touch it off & down he goes 9 days of bear hunting & my first big game kill was complete.
Now what I didn’t know is that my truck that was being worked on by the mechanic he was actually damaging the truck & when he couldn’t get it fixed I towed it 40 miles & 5 days later I was on my way home I had never been so glad to see the American border in all my life I was broke but I was alive with a bear in the truck.
Gear Used :
Bow : Mathews Chill R
Sight: Spot Hogg Hogg-It
Arrows : Victory Archery VAP’s 350
Rest: Vapor Trail Micro Elite
Broadheads: Dead Ringer Trauma
Optics: Vortex Razor HD 12×50
Bowcase: SKB
Release: Tru-Fire Hardcore Max
Boots: Lacrosse Areohead 7.0
Backpack: Badlands 2200
Camo: Realtree
Harness: Gorilla
Trailcamera: Covert Scounting Camera
Online Tracking: Huntforce.com
Scent Control: Dead Down Wind
Stabilizer: Dead Center Archery
Cooler: Grizzly 400
Story by Rusty Jackson
Last fall I was able to harvest my first black bear with Bloodvein River Outfitters and I experienced a great hunt with them once again this year. The hunt started off great as expected. On the first afternoon we saw five bears and came to full draw on a great bear. Unfortunately my cameraman, Brad Faulstich, didn’t have the same angle as I had and he had to call off the shot. We had several good encounters with bears over the next several days, but were not able to close the deal until the final day of the hunt.
On the last afternoon the weather was perfect and we had already seen several bears when this bruiser showed up. He came right in then left quickly and unexpectedly, not giving me a chance for a shot. After wandering around a little he came back through offering a perfect quartering away shot. I drew back my bow and settled the sight right on the boiler room, pulled the trigger on my release and watched the arrow hit its mark. The massive bear only went 40 yards and the blood trail was phenomenal. Low and behold, the bear we were able to harvest was the same bear I came to full draw on the first afternoon! The bear has a scar on his nose so this is how we knew it was the same bear. It was an awesome experience and I can’t wait to get back to Canada!
Gear Used :
Bow : Mathews Chill R
Sight: Spot Hogg Hogg-It
Arrows : Victory Archery VAP’s 350
Rest: Vapor Trail Micro Elite
Broadheads: Dead Ringer Trauma
Optics: Vortex Diamond Back 10 x 42
Bowcase: SKB
Release: Tru-Fire Hardcore Max
Boots: Lacrosse Areohead 7.0
Backpack: Badlands Super Day Pack
Camo: Realtree
Harness: Gorilla
Trailcamera: Covert Scounting Camera
Online Tracking: Huntforce.com
Scent Control: Dead Down Wind
Stabilizer: Dead Center Archery
Cooler: Grizzly 150
Story by Mike Burks
We were originally supposed to be in camp at Amyot Lake Outfitters in northern Saskatchewan to bow hunt bears on May 9th, but luckily our schedule was flexible and after waiting on the weather to clear, we arrived 9 days later. The winter was exceptionally long this year and Brad said the big boys were just now getting out of their dens. After a 2000 mile drive we pulled into camp, unloaded our gear, shot our bows, grabbed a bite to eat and hit our bunks. Up bright and early the next morning , we spent a lot of time during breakfast going over trail cam pics of different bait sights looking for the biggest bears we could find. After deciding who was on the bow first, we headed out to a bait called “Ricky Bobby” since it looked liked it had a nice big black coming in on a regular basis. We got setup around 3:30p.m. and within an hour had our first bear come in. It appeared to be a 18-19″ boar with a nice big body, but he styed out about 40yds never offering a shot. Every hour for the next 3 hours we had a nice 225-250lb black come in and grab a bite, just nothing that was big enough to shoot. Around 7:45 I heard a stick snap on the trail that we walked in on and we went on alert. My cameraman then whispered “Shooter bear, get your bow”…..without even offering a glance, I turned on the Go Pro and picked up my bow just in time to see a huge black blob walk by the blind at 12 FEET ! As the giant headed on into the bait, he offered me a perfect broadside shot at 10yds so I went to full draw. As luck would have it, he stopped behind the beaver cage, completely covering his vitals…..then sat down on his rump and stared right at me, still at full draw. My cameraman was whispering “let down” but there was no way without him seeing me. He finally stood and circled the bait offering me a 9yd broadside shot and I let it fly. After watching the footage I was at full draw for 70 seconds…..and eternity it seemed. The big bruin spun and ran into the swamp to our right, crashing a breaking limbs as he went. After a couple minutes the noise stopped and we waited till dark to sneak out of the blind and return to camp. After a sleepless night and a quick breakfast we went back and found the 450lb B&C bruiser after a short tracking job. 150yds and 3 hours later he was out of the swamp, tagged and headed to the skinning trailer. It was truly one of the most amazing hunting experiences of my life and I owe it to my hunting partner Travis Parker for his generosity.
Gear Used:
Bow: Mathews Monster Chill R, 72lbs…28″ draw
Sights: Spot Hogg Hunter
Broadhead: Dead Ringer Rampage
Arrow: Victory V3
Optics: Vortex Diamondbacks 10×42
Scent elimination: Dead Down Wind
Footwear: Lacrosse Aeroheads
Camo: Realtree
Backpack: Badlands Super Day
Rest: Vapor Trail
Stabilizer: Dead Center Archery
Release: Tru Fire Hardcore
