Bowhunting With Rick Philippi

Our plane was finally descending and making one last turn before we landed in  Thunder Bay, Canada.  I had been thinking about this hunt for the last six months and I couldn't believe it was becoming a reality.   

I booked the hunt with a good friend of mine from Chicago, Fred Lutger who has run wilderness bow hunts for years in Canada.  He knows as much as anyone when it comes to bowhunting black bears. Fred has taken over 25 bears in his years of hunting and guiding for this elusive creature. Another big factor in Fred's corner is that he is a veteran bowhunter and knows how to set baits so a bowhunter can get the shot he or she needs.  This is a very important detail.

Landing in Thunder Bay, we met our ride and began the two hour drive north to Hollinshead Resort, which we would call home for the next nine days.  The gentleman who picked us up was a nice guy named Dave.  During the ride, I 
hammered him with questions about the bear hunting prospects at Hollinshead.  

Dave told me there were an over abundance of bears in the area and that they were tearing up the baits.  THAT'S ALL I NEEDED TO HEAR! 

We arrived in camp and I was greeted by Fred and another good buddy of mine,  "Donald Duck" Beckwith.  Fred asked, "Do you want to hunt tonight?"  I was not planning on it due to the fact that I was dog tired from the long trip.  But once Fred told me he had a great bait where some big boys were tearing it up every night,  sort of helped me a get a second wind.  I put on my camo and was ready to sit on this hot bait. 

Fred and Don drove me out to my hunting location which was located 38 miles from camp.  Fred walked me in as I had never been to the stand.  The bait was only a minute walk from the truck.  I climbed into the stand, Fred wished me good luck and told me he would be back after dark to pick me up. 

Getting situated I couldn't believe I was finally bear hunting and there in 
front of me, 12 yards away was my bait.  The blood and adrenaline flowed thorough my veins with excitement as I sat in anticipation of seeing my first Ontario bruin.  

The evening temperature was pleasant, probably around 60 degrees. The bugs were out in full force.  I was glad I was in my bug tamer suit.    

Darkness was hovering all around me and as I glanced at my watch I was 
surprised to see it was closing in on 10:00 p.m.  I stuck it out for ten more 
minutes.  I could hardly see, so I decided to call it a day.  I started to 
lower my bow on a string.  When the bow was half way down,  the brush 
exploded behind me.  Looking over my shoulder I saw a big black body crashing off into the dark timber.  It was a bear.  It was amazing how close the critter had gotten to the base of my tree without making any noise.  I 
climbed down and walked out to the road.  Fred and Don were hunting about ten miles from me and I knew they would show up shortly.  I thought I would catch some Z's so I laid down in a ditch by the road.  I actually dozed off.  It was now 12:00 and still no Don and Fred.  Finally, I saw the headlights of Don's truck.  

They pulled up and Don had a big smile on his face.  I asked "did you get 
one?"  They told me to look in the back of the truck.  There laid a beautiful 
black bear.  After a quick celebration of hand shakes and high five's we 
headed back to camp.  I couldn't wait to hit the sack as it was all I could 
do to keep my eyes open.

The next morning came too fast.  Following breakfast, a good friend and I thought we'd try our luck at fishing for northern pike and walleye.  I know 
why everyone always talks about the great Canadian fishing.  After four hours of fishing we decided it was time to get off the lake and head back to camp for dinner.  The fishing was awesome, in fact out of control.

After dinner I got in the truck and started the 38 mile drive to my stand.  

Arriving at my location I could see my bait had been hammered. There were 
logs scattered all over.  Some of the larger logs had been tossed at least 15 
yards from the bait site which led me to believe there had been a pretty large bear in the area.  I added some fresh bait and started the chore of putting the logs back in place.  Before getting up in my tree stand I thought I'd try a little extra incentive with a bacon burn.  I took a couple cans of sterno and my sterno stove from my backpack.  I put a coffee can with some bacon grease in it on top of the stove and started what I call a bacon burn.  
 

Perched in my tree I let everything settle down since I had made quite a bit of commotion baiting my site.  Half an hour elapsed and I could see and smell the aroma of the bacon burn.  Heck, it made me hungry.  The smoke of the burn  was drifting towards me.  I thought that if there was a bear in the area, the smell of the bacon would get his attention.

An hour into the hunt I heard something making noise directly behind me.  

Slowly I looked over my left shoulder and noticed this big black ball of fur 
rolling through the bush directly towards me. IT WAS A LARGE BLACK BEAR.

The big guy walked up to the base of my tree and sat down and glared directly at my bacon burn.  I practiced some self talk, telling myself to cool out and take advantage of the opportunity that might unfold.  The bear stared for a minute when he then decided to lay down on his belly and continue his intense glare at the bacon burn.  The bear was directly under my stand and did not give me the good shot angle that I wanted.  I sat up in my stand and enjoyed watching this beautiful animal in his world.  

Two minutes went by.  The big bruin got up and walked directly up to the burn which was located ten yards from by stand.  Watching the bear intently he stuck his paws in the can of grease.  Though he was close I still did not have an opportunity for a good shot.  Five minutes passed and the big bruin decided to walk over to the bait located under the logs.  

As he got to the bait, he gave me a good quartering away shot.  Slowly I raised the High Country Supreme to a shooting position.  The AFC shaft tipped with the 100 grain THUNDERHEAD was now on it's way.  The shot was good.  

The bear had only  gone 25 yards when he went down.     

I decided to back to camp and get some help.  On the drive back I saw Fred coming my way in Don's truck.  We both stopped and I didn't have to say a word, the smile on my face told the story.  Fred said he was on his way to video Robert Hoague's hunt.  We decided to get Robert  so the three of us could drag the big bear out of the bush before dark.
 
We parked at my bait and walked over to where the bear was laying.  His coat was thick and jet black and his head  was extremely large and blocky -- like a bowling ball. Fred thought he would easily score Pope and Young.  I was excited as I knelt by the big bruin.  There was also a some sadness and respect for the big guy in my heart.  I thought to myself what an awesome experience, to be in the Canadian Wilderness and actually take a big black bear with the bow and string, FANTASTIC!!!!

BEAR HUNTING IS AN AWESOME EXPERIENCE!!

Good Hunting,   
Rick    

For your information: I used a High Country bow, we hunted with Fred Lutger's Wilderness Bowhunts in Ontario, Canada, and my camouflage was Sticks N' Limbs.