[Stringwacker]

Two fellow members from my hunting club and I leave tomorrow for Minitonas Manitoba on a truly different adventure. For those not familiar with Minitonas, it’s pretty close to Swan River. Still confused?.…how about near the Porcupine or Duck mountains? I doubt any of that helps a great deal. I guess that’s a good start on how you define an epic adventure…you go to some distant land that you never heard off and witness first hand a culture that is completely different than your own. It’s often said that hunting isn’t really about the kill; but about the journey of discovery which encompasses the entirety of the hunt; from the travel, the people, meals, and of course the actual hunting part. Having been blessed to make many trips like this on over the last four decades, I can say that while I do remember loosening my grip on the arrow on past hunts and everything associated with it; my fondest memories and stories I tell of are the places I visited and the people I met. The hunt merely gives you a good reason to go.

Which brings me to the subject of hunting bears….lots of good folks don’t have any interest in it. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are against it…rather it’s just not near the top of their bucket list for any number of reasons. The fact that they are predators makes eating them a non-starter for some people; though I think it’s quite good….not to mention the fat can be reduced to cooking oil that is highly regarded. Still, when I went to Alberta many years ago to hunt them; I remember the resident cost of a bear license was $35…and you got 5 tags! Bears have a respect problem.

This is a baited hunt. Frankly, I have always had an uneasy feeling about the practice of baiting as a hunting method. That said, I just don’t see my own personal ethical standard that I give other game animals applying to predators like coyotes, hogs, bears, etc. However, bears do start to balance on the peripheral edge of this view point; so I’m not sure I will ever make another baited hunt for them. Frankly, at my age this could be my last one period so my intention to hold out for a P&Y class bear; a lofty goal which probably will leave me just looking at the dead bears that other people have shot. I’m okay with that for this particular hunt. Go big or go bust!

Let’s get on with the trip! I’m anxious to see some northern lights in the sky and hear the wail of the loons on the lakes. It’s been too many years since I experienced these northern latitude joys. With a little luck, I can give an update closer to the Canadian border in the next couple of days

 

[8upbowhunter1]

Ya'll be safe in your travels and have fun on the hunt. A kill is always exciting but not a necessity for great hunt, looking forward to reading about your adventure.

 

[mossyman]

Good luck String…looking forward to your updates!

 

[lilwhitelie]

Maybe it’s just me being old school sometimes but actually reading the stories that you post are much more entertaining than a YouTube style video. I used to wait for that old Outdoor Life magazine to arrive every month to simply read the “this happened to me” stories. Thank you for letting us be part of your journey.

 

[Stringwacker]

That’s a very nice thing to say. Thank you.

Just sitting in the back of the truck trying to rest some before my drive shift. We are nearing Springfield Mo. We are now hearing of major floods in southern Canada and our outfitter has given us a new route to work around the washed out bridges.

It’s going to get interesting.

 

[Stringwacker]

For those of you have endured the 24 hour slog to Colorado; I think you can appreciate the excitement of the arrival of where you decide to spend the night. I’ve been up 36 hours without even as much of a nap so the old man is tired Tomorrow-is a great day as we will make the one hour trip from our overnight stay in Grafton North Dakota to the Canadian border. Our last 8 hours north of the border will be undertaken with a good night sleep and high anticipation. The area we are going has whitetails, moose, elk….and of course bears.

The flooding is incredible here and I will attempt to post what I I was looking at an hour or so ago. The interstate runs about 12” higher than the water on both sides of the road the last 20 miles.

On a final note; the topography on the eastern edge of South and North Dakota looks a lot like the Mississippi Delta. I wasn’t expecting that! Things are going to change tomorrow as we alter our route from the flooding flatlands to the mountains.

 

[8upbowhunter1]

Did the non stop Colorado drive 3x and the North Dakota one 2x so I know how you feel. A good nites sleep will recharge you though.

I didn't realize the flooding you spoke of early in the thread was in North Dakota, I was thinking it was across the border.

 

[Stringwacker]

The floods are in both Canada and North Dakota. The bridges are out on our route in Canada so we are going to detour our route to the west of the Duck Moutains.

We just crossed the Canadian border. The guard was tougher than we really expected and one of us has to take a Covid test within 24 hours!

Weather forecast isn’t the best for this week as snow and rain is in the forecast for later this week. The attached picture is the Pembina-Emerson border crossing

 

[Stringwacker]

It’s almost 2pm and we are about 2 hrs from our destination. It’s crazy country now. Snow is still pretty much around and the temps are in the upper 40’s. The area from a climate perspective is like early February with nothing budding out and a trace of emerging green grass except in the valleys. We just left Riding Mountain National Park and we saw several bears and whitetails. The attached picture shows a bear that was more than content to let me take some pictures!

 

[Rancher]

Good luck ole boy!
That’s funny you gonna have to deal with snow and I was sweating my tail off building a deck at camp this weekend!

 

[8upbowhunter1]

Good luck ole boy!
That’s funny you gonna have to deal with snow and I was sweating my tail off building a deck at camp this weekend!

I was thinking the same thing lol.

 

[Stringwacker]

I will post something off the stand later today.but Thursday night the forecast is for an inch of snow and on Friday up to three more inches. Fridays high is 36 with a 25 to 30 mile an hour wind. I would guess that would create a wind chill of about zero!!! I don’t think I packed clothes for that extreme temp!

We will have an hour drive plus a 15 mile ATV ride to the stands today. We should be on the stands about 5pm and hunt until 10 pm. It only stays dark about 7 hours per day.