Bear Baiting
Idaho DIY: The Best Tough Hunt Ever
Sometimes the tough ones are the most memorable
By Bernie Barringer
The closure of Canada to outsiders was disappointing to me on many levels. For several years I have done at least one spring bear hunt in Canada, and I travel to Ontario for fishing, camping, and generally spending time in the bush multiple times a year. In 2020, I exchanged my Canadian bear hunt for a Wyoming hunt, which was loads of fun and culminated with a nice chocolate bear. During the winter of 2021, it became clear that Canada wasn’t going to open the borders any time soon, so I began to scheme and plan about another spring bear hunting adventure—or two—in the US. I ended up settling on two hunts for May and June, one in Idaho and one in Maine. I’ll explain the unique spring Maine bear hunt in a later piece, but for now I want to relate the experiences I had in the mountains of Idaho, which would become a hunt fraught with difficulties and drama that you just can’t make up. -Bernie Barringer-4 Hunts, 4 Color Phases, 1 Outfitter
Roger Driesenga got the color phase grand slam in a most unexpected way
By Bernie Barringer
Roger Driesenga is an unassuming man from the little village of Zeeland, Michigan. At 78, he’s one of the most active people you’ll ever meet. He has his own museum of nearly 400 animals, big and small, that he mounted himself. It includes mostly animals that have been taken on hunting trips across North America since his retirement. Roger got the idea that he needed color phase black bears for his museum, since most people in Michigan, he says, don’t even realize they come in colors other than black. A couple years later, he came across the Canadian Wilderness Outfitters’ literature again. Scott’s brochure had color phase bears on it, so Roger called him up and set in motion one of the most remarkable experiences any bear hunter could have.Tommy Dale Lane | @tommydlane
The author gets too close to comfort to two Arkansas black bears.Marlene Odahlen-Hinz
The author is going after her 25th bear on an outfitted hunt in Canada.
Although the Great White North would not qualify as a traditional western black bear destination, it certainly should be on any serious black bear hunter’s shortlist come spring. And as I begin planning for yet another adventure, it’s hard not to look back at the numerous other hunts I’ve enjoyed in the north country over the years. Manitoba, Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta were all adventures highlighted with exceptional encounters and even better experiences overall, but it was the sheer number of bears I witnessed that made Saskatchewan a top-tier destination—and an affordable one as well.