Hunting Black Bears in Canada

When considering a black bear hunt in Canada, you have many options. If we consider expense, then let’s start at the low end and drive to Quebec. (Ontario once was a great spring bear destination, but animal activists in Toronto wiped out the $40 million a year that rural people in northern Ontario obtained from bear hunting when the spring season was eliminated.  They do however, have some very  good fall bear hunting). You can find spring bear hunts in Quebec for as low as $700. In those situations, you provide your own lodging and food, while the guide provides active baits for you to hunt. But all inclusive hunts can be found there for $1000-$1500. Does Quebec have as many big bears as mid-western and western Canada? Probably not, but they offer decent bear hunting and good fishing during the time you aren’t sitting on a bear stand.

Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta are all great destinations for black bear hunting. From the first week of May to the second week of June, airplanes from Minneapolis to Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Edmonton are one-third to half full of bear hunters. It is a huge industry for those provinces. For example, two thousand bear hunters head from the states to Alberta each spring, creating thousands of jobs for rural Albertans. The law requires one guide per two hunters, plus cooks, and a couple of assistants thrown in. As many or more hunters go to Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

There are several differences found in these three provinces as compared to Quebec. First, driving is more difficult because of the distance. You can drive to southern Quebec in one long day. But it’s a grueling two-day drive to Manitoba and even more when you go to Saskatchewan and Alberta. It’s a rare West Virginian that drives there to bear hunt. We fly.

Another difference is cost. Bear hunts in these three provinces will usually start around $2000 and can go as high as $4000. I’ve bowhunted for bears in these provinces many times, and although I haven’t taken a $4000 bear hunt, I know folks that have. The higher cost is simply because those guides limit the hunters and this allows the bears to get older. A bear will reach Pope and Young status in those provinces at four years of age. In the very expensive bear camps the harvest is very low, the camps are fly-in and remote so there is very little hunting pressure, and bears commonly get to age seven and higher. Those are big bears.

Another difference is the presence of color phase bears. In parts of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta you have as many as 40% being chocolate-colored bears. And there are variations from blond, to cinnamon, to dark chocolate. Seeing these bears makes the experience all the more memorable.

Hunting in Canada, for the most part, means hunting over bait. However, that is not allowed in British Columbia, so stalking is done. I bowhunted in British Columbia in the fall of 2007, chasing grizzly bears on the mountains. But one day we hunted the lowlands, spot and stalking black bears. I was with Jeff Lander of Primitive Outfitting (780 436-7726, cell 780 907-4576). Even though it wasn’t the best time to be doing this, we saw eight bears one morning. We got close to several, but passed because they were too small or sows with cubs. I had a friend go their last spring and he saw 22 bears in one morning and took a dandy with his bow. For a unique hunt, check it out.

Bait hunting is not what people think, at least not with the bow. If you are willing to pass up small bears, then you get to see a lot of bear behavior that you couldn’t see in any other way. Let me tell you a story that puts this in perspective. I know a woman who was a member of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA. She is a wonderful person, but was opposed to hunting. One day she mentioned that she might like to shoot a bow, so I got her shooting, and then asked her to join us on a bear hunt to Saskatchewan that spring. I told her that I’d sit with her in a tree stand and we would not hunt, we’d just observe bears. So that’s what we did the first night. Two bears came in. One was a huge black bear, the second a smaller light cinnamon phase bear.

When we got back to camp, she decided that she wanted to hunt that cinnamon bear. So we got the license and the next night she shot that bear and she has bowhunted ever since. As some of you know, I had a surgery in December 2007 that didn’t go well, and unless there is a miracle, my tough hunting days are over. My bowhunting friend sent me this email about my health issue, wherein she described how that first hunt over bait got her into hunting and how that activity has allowed her to more fully appreciate wildlife and nature. Here is what she wrote. "......the incredible gift I was given in the process of learning to hunt was the "love of nature." Nothing will ever take that away from me, walking in the woods, sitting under a tree, driving by a herd of elk or mule deer gives me an inner thrill and peace of mind with such a grateful thankfulness to God that I have been so richly blessed to feel a part of nature."

Will everyone obtain such life lessons about hunting via hunting bear over bait? I doubt it, but it sure opened up the eyes of a former PETA member and bowhunting obviously affected how she viewed wildlife and nature in a positive way.

One last point. You can also hunt the far North in the fall, early September. I did so last year, hunting with Jamie Balan at E & D Outfitters, on Olha, Manitoba. Their area borders a national park and the bear hunting is exceptional. That hunt runs around $3500 and includes room, board, and license. Super bears, and they have openings for this spring and next fall. (Jamie's cell phone is 204 720-2963). I know there is an opening or two, because I had to cancel my scheduled May hunt due to my health. As the saying goes, try it, you’ll like it.