Black Bear Utopia

Some of the best hunts I’ve done are ones that happened spontaneously, and as Brad Fenson and I jumped in my pickup truck to head for Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, I knew this was going to be one of those. Pat Babcock, owner of Cree River Lodge, was just opening a new outpost camp and he’d invited Brad up to do an exploratory black bear hunt/fishing trip. As it turned out, Brad was already committed to a Saskatchewan bear hunt in the fall, so he called and asked me if I’d be interested in this spring hunt. Of course, I was. Brad and I have done many trips together and they’ve always been great adventures and I was certain this one would be no different. Not all exploratory trips I’ve done have been successful but just the opportunity to hunt and fish where few have been before is a powerful lure. Cree River Lodge is noted for being one of the best trophy black bear and northern pike destinations in North America, so odds were good that this new outpost would be equally productive.

Pat had acquired the outpost camp, called Pilots Lodge, several years earlier, in partnership with a mutual friend, Jason Peterson. Unfortunately, Jason was killed in an ultralight accident in 2018 and it took until 2023 for Pat to get the new camp up and running. He decided to run a couple hunters through it the first year, just to test it out, before booking regular clients in for 2024. I was happy to be one of the guinea pigs. Brad was eager to come along to see the new camp, enjoy some fishing and thankfully run a video camera for me, as we’d be filming the hunt for Outdoor Quest TV.

Pilots Lodge sits on the banks of the Fond Du Lac River, only about 50 miles from the Northwest Territories border. It’s a long way north and bears are in their dens for over half of the year. As a result, they aren’t huge bodied, but what they lack in body size, they more than make up for in skull size. Pat’s hunters routinely take bears in excess of 20 inches out of his Cree River camp and we expected no different at Pilots Lodge. The bears in this far-northern part of Saskatchewan have some of the biggest average skulls in North America. It was late June when Brad and I headed north but he assured me that the hides would still be prime.

Eight hours of driving and two flights later, and we found ourselves touching down in a heavy downpour. Our guide Dante and camp caretaker, Norm, were waiting to greet us. We wasted no time in getting our gear unloaded from the Otter floatplane and then took a short ATV ride up to the lodge. Once settled in our cabin, we sat down to dinner and made plans for the following day. There were three bait sites on the main river that Dante suggested we hunt first and if they didn’t pan out after a couple days, there was another a short ATV ride away and then two more on a lake that was a two-hour ride away. Dante showed us pictures of an absolute giant black bear that came off a trail camera at the distant lake. If we didn’t find anything closer, we’d head there for a few days. There was a cabin we could stay in.

We spent the first day checking and replenishing each of the three baits near camp. There was a sow and cubs on the camera at the first bait but nothing else had been there. As we beached the boat near the second bait, I grabbed my rifle and followed Dante up the steep rock slope. When we were about 50 yards from the bait, a large, dark shape could be seen just to the left of the barrel. As we moved closer, the bear rose to its feet. It was obviously a boar and anywhere else, a definite first-day bear but he didn’t compare to the pictures of the one Dante had shown us earlier. We’d spent several more minutes studying the big bear and he seemed oblivious to our presence. It was obvious that we were likely the first humans he’d seen. As the bear had been sleeping next to the bait, it was unlikely there were any bigger bears around. We left without checking the camera or replenishing the bait. Dante indicated he would return later, and do it once the bear had left.

The third bait was a long boat ride away and it was later afternoon as we walked up on it. It didn’t appear to have been touched and the camera confirmed our suspicions. We spent the rest of the afternoon fishing for walleye, which were plentiful. While bear hunting was the only excuse I required to make the trip north, the promise of great fishing was a bonus. We kept a few of the fatter ones for dinner. I was anxious to go explore a few of the back bays for large pike and there were apparently some rapids downstream of camp where you could catch arctic grayling but that would have to wait until after we’d taken a bear.

Day two was relatively uneventful. We checked a couple baits from the ATVs but the cameras only revealed sows and cubs and a couple mid-sized boars. Dante suggested we pack up a couple days’ worth of supplies and head to the other lake. There had been one hunter in camp previous to us and he’d taken a big blonde bear at that lake and the big black was still likely in the vicinity. After seeing pictures of that bear, it was hard to think of anything else.

The previous owners of the lodge had left several old Honda Big Red three wheelers when they sold to Pat and Jason. While manufactured in the mid to late 1980s, the machines were like new with limited miles on them. It had been a long time since I’d ridden one, but it didn’t take long before I was keeping up with Dante, who was in the lead, pulling a trailer laden with our supplies. The two hour-ride to the cabin passed quickly. We got settled in, had a quick dinner of walleye and headed over to the nearest bait site. It had been cleaned right out and the camera had been torn off the tree, so there were only a couple photos from several days earlier. They were of the big black bear. Dante refreshed the bait and reset the camera and suggested we sit for a few hours. Being so far north, it was light until 11:00 pm. Nothing showed that first night. We hoped the bear hadn’t moved on.

We were back at the bait early the next morning and were relieved to see it had been hit. We’d noticed some smaller bear tracks on the beach and figured it was likely that bear, but the photos revealed it had been the big bear. He’d come in during the night and spent a couple hours at the site. While Dante refreshed the bait, Brad and I built a makeshift blind out of spruce boughs about 30 yards away. We decided to settle in and spend the day.

It was around 11:00am when Brad motioned for me to look behind us. It was the big bear and he’d circled around to get the wind before coming in. He was sitting on his haunches about 50 yards away. He looked enormous. Brad moved to swivel the camera in his direction and the bear walked away and slowly melted into the thick trees. We waited with bated breath for the next few hours, but the bear did not return. I was worried we’d squandered our one opportunity. Brad was much more optimistic about the bear returning later that day. We decided to go catch some walleye, have an early dinner, and then sit on the bait until dark.

When we returned later that afternoon, the bait had not been touched but the wind had switched and was now blowing directly toward the barrel. Brad and I fashioned a new blind to take advantage of the wind. There was a large swampy area directly down wind of the new blind and it was unlikely the bear would come from that direction. We settled in for the evening sit. It was about two hours later when Brad caught some movement in a stand of young spruce. It was our bear, but he took one look in our direction and then was gone. I felt defeated.

A few minutes later, the bear reappeared in the same spot. His attention was focused directly on us, and we remained motionless. After several minutes the big bear moved toward the barrel. I found him in the scope, but he quickly disappeared behind the barrel. He sat motionless for several more minutes, staring in our direction. Finally, he moved slightly to the left. Fearing he was going to leave, I frantically searched for an opening to thread a bullet through. He was head on and his chest was obscured by branches, but a portion of his neck was visible. I found it in the crosshair and wasted no time squeezing the trigger.

The big bear bolted to the right, but I could see a red mist spraying from his neck with each pump of the heart. He only made it a few feet before cascading to the ground. He let out one long bawl and was done. I took my first breath in what seemed like several minutes. Brad gave me a thumbs up from behind the camera. After hours of waiting, it came down to only seconds to place the shot. I had imagined the entire scenario being much more relaxed, but I’d made the best of the situation.

As we walked up to the big bear, the skies opened and poured rain on us. No one was overly concerned with the weather as we admired the big bruin. He was every bit as enormous as he’d looked on camera. Brad extended his hand and said, “congratulations, you’ve got yourself a book bear.”

When we got back to the cabin, Pat was waiting there to meet us. He’d flown in earlier in the day and rode out to see how we were doing. I could tell he was pleased with how the exploratory hunt had gone. We rounded out the week exploring the area by boat and catching fish at nearly every stop. I managed to land a 42-inch pike in one bay and Dante followed that with a fat 45-incher. There were walleye virtually everywhere we dropped a jig and the fabled grayling rapids certainly didn’t disappoint. I’ve been on many trips to northern Saskatchewan over the years and the fishing and hunting never disappoints but this place was something special. I recalled Jason being so excited about this place and now I knew why. It was sad that he couldn’t be there to share the moment with us, but we all lifted a glass to him.