“Good luck,” whispered Craig with his thumb in the air as he and Jeremiah Johnson finished freshening up my bait site and started to ease down the trail back toward his side-by-side. It’s a phrase I’d heard in similar fashion over the past few years when parting ways with fellow hunters, but for some reason it struck a different chord as the reality of my surroundings set in that afternoon. I had just finished setting up my camera gear and turned to sit down in my tree stand as I heard the sound of the Polaris Ranger fading into the distance. With my bow in my hand and shotty cell service at my side, I was now alone in the wildest place I’ve ever been staring at two barrels full of fresh bear bait.? 

Leading up to this point, I honestly didn’t know what this experience would feel like. Videos and articles are helpful but don’t tangibly deliver the reality that sets in when you’re fully alone in the wilderness as multiple bears start to show up to your bait site. Additionally, the bears that frequented this site throughout the week were both fully aware and often intrigued by my presence. These situations are usually mostly safe, except when they’re not. It’s a thought I had to settle in my mind as I nestled into my lean-to stand and started to tinker with my camera rig. I had successfully hunted bears in the mountains with friends before in Montana and trounced around attempting to bait bears in the mountains of Eastern Oklahoma, but I’d never experienced anything quite like this.? 

As I made the 23 hour drive from East Texas up to Ochre River, Manitoba in Canada, I openly wondered about the experience to come. Candidly, I had similar thoughts about it that many people I often speak with tell me they share. Will it feel wild? Will the hunt feel diminished since I’m using a guide instead of doing something DIY? In the moment, how will I feel about taking a bear over a bait site instead of spot-and-stalk in the mountains or in a more “pure” way? Baiting bears is, at best, a controversial topic even amongst bear hunters—had I come to full conviction about what I was preparing to do?? 

I arrived late on a Sunday evening in early May. I was exhausted after a long drive alone that included a fun learning experience about crossing the border with firearms and an extra long chat with the friendly folks on the Canadian side of it when I went to cross international lines. I didn’t even make it in time for the inaugural camp supper that evening. Craig politely showed me to my cabin and offered to either stay up and chat with me or to let me crash early; I chose the latter. “Alright, man. Well just so you’re aware, you’re welcome to either rest up in the morning or come freshen up baits and check cameras with me after breakfast. I know some outfitters don’t allow that, but we like for people to see all that they want to. Your call,” Craig offered in his Canadian accent that I came to appreciate quickly. 

This trip was full of firsts and surprises for me, but the most impactful surprise was how authentic and kind Craig, Mel, their kids, and even their parents are. From the time you show up to the first delicious, home-cooked meal until you end up hugging everyone goodbye, they’re the type of people that will make you feel like a family you’ve always been part of. I know this is not unique to me because the guys I shared camp with frequent their outfit annually and expressed similar sentiments. 

Craig McCarthy has been guiding in Canada since he was a teenager with his father’s guiding businesses, and he and his wife Mel have owned North Mountain Adventures since 2014. They guide hunts, are involved with multiple local initiatives in the outdoor space, have a TV show that airs on WildTV in Canada, and their son Hayden is a very successful trapper. If you’re lucky, occasionally Hayden will take hunters from camp out to run traps with him after they’ve taken a bear.? 

Per Craig’s initial invitation, from the first morning I arrived I was able to experience multiple facets of a guided, baited bear hunt in Canada just like I’d hoped. After a light breakfast, Craig, myself, an assistant guide, and my new friend Jeremiah Johnson from Wisconsin all loaded up multiple forms of bait into the side-by-side and onto the trailer. The plan was to make multiple treks into the bait sites we planned to hunt that day to freshen up the bait barrels and check trail cameras.? 

Along the way we told jokes, got to know each other better, made some videos for social media, and had a cool experience connecting long-time Bear Grease fan, Jeremiah, with my good friend Brent Reaves over the phone. I owe Brent more than I could ever repay him, but he also never ceases to amaze me with his giving heart and consistent willingness to connect with fans and good “salt-of-the-earth” folks. 

The reality of the country I would be hunting started to set in as we drove from Craig’s farm, which was already in the middle of nowhere being 45 minutes from civilization, only to get on the side-by-side and drive another 15 minutes—sometimes more—into heavily timbered “Crown” (the U.S. equivalent of “public”) land. I was pretty far from home. After learning some bear bait tricks of the trade and a lesson or two on how hard these folks work all the time running these trail cameras and bait sites, it was time to head back for dinner and to prep for the afternoon hunt. 

After the morning’s baiting experience, I thought I was prepared for how it would feel to settle into that tree stand on my first hunt, but it was a much wilder experience than I anticipated. My preconception was that the experience would feel tame, tainted by the reality that both man, machine, and processed foods commonly painted the landscape. I was wrong. 

Bears are smart, and over time they learn that a fading engine means the human is gone and fresh food was left behind. This was absolutely my experience as Craig’s Ranger driving away directly coincided with something stirring directly behind by tree stand.? 

My first bear, a young, chocolate color-phase boar, hit my bait almost immediately. He seemed alarmingly unbothered by my presence as he came and went for the next three days. He also seemed genuinely interested in climbing my tree stand to say “hello” in an official capacity.

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Not long after he showed up the first day, a second, slightly older and slightly larger jet-black bear more cautiously entered the bait site and pushed the first bear away. Both of these bears came into my site and went straight for the beaver meat that Craig sets out on his baits as a hearty treat for his bears. These bears loved it so much that they fought over it after dark right in front of my stand that night. It was a wild and slightly startling experience, to say the least. 

As limited as my experience is judging bears and other similar animals, one notable trait that seems to be true across multiple species is that the older and more mature animals carry themselves more cautiously. They often move closer to or after dark, and when they do move they often merit the attention of the animals around them. That was the case on that first sit when a third bear arrived. The other two bears who had been frolicking and fighting around the bait site became more somber and attentive as the new, large chocolate-colored boar came into view. He took only a few steps down the trail before stopping in his tracks out of range and staring straight at me. There was a stark difference in approach amongst all three bears, who all represented different age and size classes of black bears. The largest bear quickly decided that night that he wanted no part of my bait site while I was in that tree stand. He turned and ran off quick enough that I was concerned I would never lay eyes on him again.? 

Days two and three carried almost eerie similarity. The weather was so stormy, wet, and cold that it almost prevented us from hunting at all. A late start and slow bear movement summarized my Tuesday, and then the same weather pattern and late start mirrored day three. Not getting into the stand until 6:30 and having my one daylight shooter run like the wind on sight, I was starting to ask myself how long I was prepared to hold out for a good bear. Craig started asking if I was ready to change stands for my third day of hunting. I decided to stick it out at this site for one more hunt. I’d seen one bear I considered a shooter in daylight, and he and an even bigger bear had been coming in to eat right after dark every night for a few days in a row.? 

Two hours into my third hunt, around 8:30 PM, still fully enamored by the wilderness that surrounded me and the experience of watching bears coexist on a bait site, the mood of the two bears eating beaver across from each other suddenly shifted again. The tension became immediately palpable. The jet-black bear that I had mentally walked to the edge of harvesting suddenly abandoned the beaver he was eating and sprinted off into the brush. He was back. I have both film and notes that would indicate that it took that lumbering, chocolate color-phase boar around 12 minutes to fully commit to coming into my bait site, but I can assure you it was a mental and emotional eternity.? 

Finally, after meandering, sitting, creeping, teetering, turning around, turning back around, and eventually pushing the other smaller bear off the bait site, he committed. My Matthews Atlas was at full draw, and I waited patiently while he moved right to left toward the bait barrel. I needed his front leg to move forward before my release. Thwack! He darted into the brush.? 

Incredibly, I had cell service at this moment, so I reached for my phone to text Craig while hoping the shot was as good as it felt. Before I was finished sending the text, that bear let out a death moan that rolled and echoed through the wilderness that night. I’ll never forget it. 

That would have been the end of the most interesting part of the story if Craig hadn’t forgotten the sled we were supposed to use to tote this bear out of the woods. Even though he didn’t go far, the distance measured in heaves and hoes through thick Manitoba bush culminates exponentially. It felt like the proper ending to a hunt that was much wilder and more exciting than I could have hoped.? 

Since we both harvested bears with time to spare on our trip, Bob (one of the other new friends I made in camp) and I were even given the opportunity to run traps with Hayden the next day. That’s a story for another day, but it capped what was an incredible hunt with North Mountain Adventures that I’ll always remember.