Once again Ralph and Vicki headed up to British Columbia with Batnuni Lake Guides & Outfitters for spot & stalk spring black bears, but three out of the four bears taken weren't black! Wow!
We were joined by Jim Bruno from Traditions Firearms and POSSE member Dan Wallace from Ohio. We all met up at O'Hare airport and flew up to Prince George, BC together, where we met up with our guide Jim Linnel. All of our luggage made it except for our muzzleloaders!! Our first bear hunt with a muzzleloader, and they didn't make the connection in Vancouver!! So we went and had dinner and waited for the next flight to come in with our muzzleloaders. (Don't worry, they did show up!) We arrived at camp late that night, the next morning we all took our guns up to the range and made sure our Nikon scopes didn't get moved during the flight. Then it was off to go and try to spot and stalk some bears! 
We saw a chocolate colored bear relaxing on a beaver house on the edge of a lake and Ralph was up first. We stalked as close as we could without going into the water, which ended up being about 82 yards from the bear. We sat there for almost three hours waiting for the bear to present Ralph a good shot, then the bear decided to slide into the lake and swim away from us!!
Don't fret, we went back the next day and he was back on the house and as soon as he gave Ralph the opening, he took it! He was shooting a Traditions Pursuit LT muzzleloader with 100 grains of powder and the bullet was 250 grains. The bear didn't go far, the only problem was that we need to go get a boat to retreive him! So we went back to camp, got the boat and went back to  get Ralph's bear, the one thing we didn't realize was that most of the ground around the beaver house was actually a floating bog!! Ralph and Jim got wet, Vicki had to stay in the boat to run the camera :) and don't worry, I caught it all on film!! Congrats Ralphy!!
Next was Jim Bruno's turn, Jim and Dan did a lot of stalking up on bears, and of course the wind would change or the bear decided to go a different way. They did finally spot a nice black bear in the middle of a green field and put on the stalk, the bear started to get a little nervous, but Jim pulled it off! He made a great shot on the bruin, and see how this was Jim's first bear hunt, he was pumped!! Congrats Jim!! He was shooting the same set up as Ralph & Vicki, except his bullets were 270 grains.
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 After Ralph got his bear, it was Vicki's turn to try to hunt. We did a couple of stalks, but never connected until the one morning we drove about 80 miles (really only about 20) and Ralph realized that the battery was dead in the camera and the extra one was back at camp! So we had to turn around and go all the way back to camp, and Jim Linnel didn't Ralph forget about it! We picked up the battery and went back on our way, and I guess everything happens for a reason, because if Ralph didn't forget the battery we would have been to early to see the beautiful chocolate bear that I put a stalk on and got! We saw him up on the side of an old logging road, eating the new green grass and dandelions. We got up to about 112 yards from him, and got set up for the shot.
The shot hit true and the bear didn't go more than 40 yards! Vicki's hunting set up was identical to Ralph's, heck we used the same muzzleloader! This is Vicki's first chocolate bear and her first animal taken with a muzzleloader. Congrats Vicki!!
Well, we only had Dan left to go for his bear, we did get up on some smaller bears and we put a good stalk on a big black bear, but he (the bear) decided to go back into the woods and not come back out! But Dan didn't give up! The next day they spotted another colored bear out in the middle of a giant green field, and it wasn't chocolate, this one was more cinnamon colored. Dan, Ralph and Jim Linnel put a great stalk on the bruin! They walked about a mile across the field to get with in muzzleloader range without the bear ever knowing! When they got as close as they felt they could, Dan made a great shot on the bear and dropped him in his tracks!  Congrats Dan!! This was Dan's first colored bear, he has taken a bunch of black bears with his bow, but never a color!
All in all, we had an awesome week of bear hunting!! Like I mentioned before, this was the first time Ralph & Vicki ever went on a bear hunt and left their Hoyts at home. We weren't sure what to expect, but it was great!! Our adreline was still pumping and we still got all shaken up! How many times do you wish you could reach out and touch that animal, well on this trip we did! Unfortunately, Ralph's bear was a little bigger than Vicki's!! :(
We want to thank Jim Bruno for joining us up there and sharing camp with us! We also want to thank Batnuni Lake Guides & Outfitters (Jim Linnel and Lyle Barsby) for having us all up there and for all of the laughs! Thanks also to Marlene for the wonder ful cooking, I'm sure we gained weight on this trip!!
For more information about Batnuni Lake Guides & Outfitters contact Jim or Lyle at 1-877-BATNUNI (877-228-6864).
THANKS AGAIN!!
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