WEBVTT - Ep. 480: This Country Life - Cinnamon Bears and Chocolate Gravy 0:00:05.080 --> 0:00:08.719 Welcome to this country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:12.600 from coon hunting to trotlining and just in general country living. 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:14.400 I want you to stay a while as I share 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:19.040 my experiences in life lessons. This Country Life is presented 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:23.320 by Case Knives from the Store More Studio on Meat 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:27.400 Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you the best outdoor podcast the 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:31.319 airways have to offer. All right, friends, grab a chair 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:34.640 or drop that tailgate. I've got some stories to share. 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:44.360 Cinnamon bears and chocolate gravy. Good night, nurse. We got 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:46.840 a lot to talk about this week. I left y'all 0:00:46.920 --> 0:00:49.959 hanging just when the action was getting good. The wait 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:52.920 is over, the fishing to go bear hunt, Meet me 0:00:53.000 --> 0:01:03.080 at the fire and let's get started. Last week I 0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:05.480 told you the story of the struggle of getting me 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:09.560 in all my plunder across the border into tim Hortonland. 0:01:10.400 --> 0:01:12.319 It wasn't really all that hard, and it could have 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:14.440 been a lot worse had it not been for a 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:18.240 couple of employees of the airline everyone up north seems 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:23.639 to love to hate. They took an unsolicited interest in yours, truly, 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:28.240 like them or not. The unnamed lady in Toronto and 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:32.360 Joscelyn and Saskatoon sought me out in an effort to 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:36.800 offer assistance after I'm sure seeing a look of despair 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:40.600 on my face. If you miss that one, go back 0:01:40.640 --> 0:01:48.040 and listen. We'll wait for you right here. We ain't 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:51.480 waiting on nobody. They'll catch you up. So now that 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:54.360 the slackers are out of here, let's get into camp, 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:57.720 meet the rest of the cast, and start chasing bears. 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:04.960 I introduced you to Nick Goss last week. Nixa a 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:08.760 young man and a professional lineman who builds the big 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:12.760 power transmission lines that push electricity through the endless miles 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:17.320 of Saskatchewan, the big suspension towers that supply power to 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:20.160 the bubbs around the rinks where all the little hockey 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:24.320 players practiced really hard to come in second place at 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:28.960 the Olympics. He met us back in Stony Rapids and 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:31.959 flew with us. Waiting there to help get our gear 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:36.840 unloaded was Spencer Richards. Spence is a native of Nova 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:41.360 Scotia and a wildlife by alogists working on his master's degree. 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:43.720 Spence is smarter than a lot of folks. I know. 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:48.600 He's quite reserved, and his muscles have muscles. I thought 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:50.560 I was gonna have to take steroids just to watch 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:54.160 him in the kitchen. He would serve as our chef 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:56.760 in camp and was a college football teammate of our 0:02:56.800 --> 0:03:02.239 host and lead guide, Dante Tobaku. The three of them 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:05.400 ranged in age from twenty five to twenty seven, and 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:08.400 I'll admit when we pulled into the dock and started 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:11.840 unloading our stuff, I had mixed thoughts about the kind 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:14.720 of week we'd be having. I was in the guiding 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:18.400 business for a long time with my brother Tim Hunting 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:22.000 camp atmosphere usually coincides with the folks that run it, 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:26.160 with the COVID era of college sports, giving these boys 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:29.960 some extra rounds of college life. I dreaded the thought 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:34.800 of that lifestyle all over again. I wasn't worried about 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:37.680 Dave Gardner and I. We were there to do a job. 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:44.520 Turned out I didn't need to worry about anything. Dante 0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:48.000 Tobaccu's father was a Romanian immigrant who met Dante's mother 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:51.400 in the Land of the Living Skies thirty years ago. 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:55.080 And while Dante's only been present on this spending or 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:57.840 we all called home for the last twenty five years, 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:02.400 the last decade he's been guiding in one fashion or another, 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:05.680 with each passing year being more in depth as he 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:09.839 deald further and further into the business and the lifestyle. 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:16.240 Dante played quarterback at a Kadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:19.839 quite possibly the greatest college town name in the Milky Way. 0:04:21.160 --> 0:04:24.320 Why their mascot is in a wolf is a complete 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:28.000 mystery to me. But during the off season Dante came 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:32.760 back to Saskatchewan to guide fishermen and hunters. A few 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:35.920 years ago he partnered with Patrick Babcock and has been 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:40.279 operating this part owner of Pilot's Lodge. We were in 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:44.279 what I affectionately referred to as Fort Fondelock, the remote 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:47.320 cabin and area I had just flown into. That's part 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:52.240 of the bigger concern headquartered over at Cree River. The 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:56.040 log cabin was built in the sixties, seemingly with plans 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:59.919 drawn up by Dick prinike And that would be our headquarter. 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:02.320 And if you don't know who mister Prinikey is, do 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:06.320 yourself a favor and look him up. Anyway, the main 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:09.599 cabin housed the kitchen in the rooms for Dante, Nick 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:14.000 and Spence. David I would share an a frame bunkhouse 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:17.800 with separate rooms for each of us. Dave's entry door 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:21.640 faced the long cabin mine faced the river. On the 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:23.600 east side of the a frame was a tool and 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:26.520 equipment shed. Adjacent to that was a metal building that 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:31.040 sat on a concrete foundation. Concrete that was flown in 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:33.559 a few bags at a time until the requisite number 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:38.839 was obtained. Inside there, bar bait was stored, secured with 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:41.760 a heavy metal door hinged across the top that took 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:44.200 two folks to safely open and tie it off, or 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:48.520 an ATV winch. If you were there alone, And if 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:52.920 you were there alone, you were most assuredly by yourself 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:57.000 as far as humanity went. The closest community of people 0:05:57.080 --> 0:06:01.680 were forty one miles away by air. I think that's 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:05.640 like six hundred kilometers or something, not really sure. But 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:08.960 by yourself as far as nature went, No, sir, you 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:13.240 were in the very hub of activity. Underneath the doorframe, 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:16.239 where it sealed against the concrete foundation of the bait shed, 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:19.440 was an eight inch trench dug out by bears trying 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:21.880 to get into the bait cache of oats and Greece. 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:25.719 How do I know that bears did that? I saw 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:28.960 him do it. The second morning I was there. But 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:31.840 I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's let's take it back 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:34.440 to the walk around. North and east of the main 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:37.560 lodge was the privy or the outhouse. Now we'd call 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:40.040 that a two holder where I grew up, and a 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:44.960 plywood wall separated each seat. It was more than reasonably 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:49.240 comfortable to tend to one's business there. One side had 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:52.320 a door for the more modest guest, while the other 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:55.839 offered a more scenic view of Saskatchewan as that portion 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:58.640 that had been repurposed for a casting deck in one 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:03.000 of the boats tied up along the dock. The absolute 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:06.559 can do spirit of true Canadian outdoors men and women 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:10.000 always brings a smile to my face and warms my 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:13.680 heart as they thrive among the elements, making do with 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:18.240 what they have and using only what they need. It 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:21.640 is a common thread between all of the Canadian provinces 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:24.720 and the people I've been blessed to meet and interact with. 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:28.000 On the west side of the log cabin was a 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:32.000 shower room. West of it was another bunkhouse. So that's it. 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:35.600 That was it. That was the whole camp. An easy 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:38.200 football pass from one end to the other, sitting on 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:41.000 the north side of the Fonderlaut River, less than seventy 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:46.760 miles from the southern border of the Northwest Territories. Dave 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:48.680 and I got unpacked and we made a plan to 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:53.080 actually start hunting that afternoon. Dante said we had plenty 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:55.680 of time and the bait site he wanted to try 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:58.920 first was less than thirty minutes away up river by boat. 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:01.800 We wanted to grab a bite to eat. I needed 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:04.040 to shoot my boat, and Dave had to get his 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:09.400 cameras operational time was not of the essence. We were 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:12.520 in no real hurry to get going for the evening hunt, 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:15.360 even though it would be after two PM when we 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:19.280 decided to load up and hit up river. It's late 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:23.120 June and northern Saskatchewan where it never gets dark enough 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:26.160 that you can't see how to get around in the 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:28.840 darkest portion of the night. You wouldn't need a flashlight 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:33.520 and open terrain to tell man from beasts. My boat 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:35.760 seemed to be dialed in. I shot two groups in 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:38.280 camp the same distance I'd be shooting at that bait. 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:43.080 Both groups were where I was aiming, and Canada may 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:46.079 have temporarily misplaced the case with my boat, but they 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:50.839 hadn't allowed any misfortune to bother the sights. The weather 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:54.599 was warmer than I expected, and at times the mosquitoes 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:58.680 were worse than I remembered. I deal with mosquitos in Arkansas. 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:02.080 As a matter of fact, the worst experience I've ever 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:04.959 had with mosquitoes was an hour away from my house 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:07.959 on the White River levee on an August coon hunt 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:11.800 a few years ago. I have never seen them worse 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:16.120 than they were then. The dogs and us were absolutely 0:09:16.160 --> 0:09:18.640 covered if we stood still on the levee for any 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:21.199 period of time, so we kept on the move, and 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:24.679 they weren't nearly as bad down in the bottoms away 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:28.440 from the high ground here, though they seemed to be 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:32.280 worse in different spots. Thermo cells did a great job 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:34.720 of keeping them at bay when we were out on 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:36.560 the bait, and if the wind picked up enough to 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:41.040 make those less effective and blue mosquitoes away, so it 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:44.960 worked out. The only time I really ever noticed them 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:47.280 is when the thermo cells weren't running and the wind 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:52.720 wasn't blowing. But inside was a different story. I burnt 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:55.400 a cord of mosquito cours the week I was there. 0:09:56.679 --> 0:09:58.840 Normally i'd get back to camp, and about an hour 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:02.000 before I take a short piece of coal and let 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:04.080 it fog up my room like a cheech and chong 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:06.240 van while I sat in the cabin with the rest 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:10.600 of my contemporaries. By the time I retired for the evening, 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:13.800 the coal was burnt out, and so were the mosquitoes. 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:18.760 The floor was littered with enemy combatants, the likes of 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:21.240 which I took great pleasure in sweeping out the door 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:24.680 each morning, along with any sand I attracted him. The 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:32.440 evening before our first evening hunt started a little after 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:35.040 six when a young black bear walked into the bait. 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:40.520 He was totally aware of our presence and absolutely unconcerned 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:43.520 with us being there. He took up position at the 0:10:43.520 --> 0:10:48.400 barrel and began to feed. Here's the deal of hunting 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:51.160 bears over bait. I'll say it here and will not 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:55.280 entertain any discussion to the contrary. Anyone can argue against 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:58.080 it all they want, and I, along with members of 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:01.400 my family, served the nation where you have the freedom 0:11:01.480 --> 0:11:05.680 to oppose it. I have zero concern over any opinion 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:10.480 saying it's unethical or cheating on any chance. Meeting with 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:13.160 this bear on a spotting stalk where time is on 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:16.400 their side, and decisions have to be fast as whether 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:19.720 you shoot or don't shoot. I'd have probably started flinging 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:23.720 arrows at him. Having him stationary at the barrel and 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:26.400 being able to really look him over good allowed us 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:29.160 the opportunity to judge his age, the size, and form 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:32.600 an overall opinion that this bear had some growing to do. 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:38.160 So we just sat and watched him. Even at twenty yards, 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:41.560 using binoculars really gives you a good look. You just 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:44.480 wouldn't get any other way other than walking up to 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:46.560 him while he stuff just galloped full of oats and 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:49.920 cooking on the latter of which he'd more than likely 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:52.960 take a fence at. But giving him the once over 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:56.760 with the buyos revealed huge bite marks and puncture wounds. 0:11:57.520 --> 0:12:01.040 Some were very fresh and and what can only be 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:07.800 described as looking like gorilla glue. It was nasty and brutal. 0:12:08.920 --> 0:12:11.319 He had puncture wounds on his head and his throat, 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:16.520 his chest, and his shoulders. Stark reminder that regardless of 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:19.839 the perception of black bears being in contrast to grizzlies, 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:24.040 which in most cases they undoubtedly are, they could still 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:26.000 open up a can of who flung the chunk when 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:29.240 they want to. And there was another bear out there 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:33.560 somewhere that had opened one up on him, and that's 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:37.800 the one I wanted to see. It wasn't long before 0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:40.920 Bear number two showed up, another black colored bear, about 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:43.720 the same size as the chewed up one, but way 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:46.960 more timid. He didn't have a mark on him, but 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:50.520 he wouldn't commit to the bait while the battlescarred bear 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:53.960 was there, and he showed no signs of leaving. As 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:56.760 a matter of fact, he got in so relaxed that 0:12:57.080 --> 0:13:00.560 a couple of times he went to sleep. Bar number 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:02.680 two slipped around behind us and out of sight in 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:05.480 the bushes and was whining a kind of low key moaning. 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:08.920 I never deciphered if it was directed at us or 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:11.280 the snooze and bear that was laying on the groceries. 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:15.120 He eventually he ambled his way out from behind us 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:18.840 and back toward the barrel, bypassing it and the napping 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:22.319 bear to disappeared for a while down the ridge toward 0:13:22.360 --> 0:13:26.320 the water. The bait was located at the back of 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:29.960 an unnamed bay off the fond of Lock River, thirty 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:33.160 yards from where we parked a boat and fifteen feet 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:36.040 above it, in the elevation where the gentle slope wouldn't 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:40.280 peak until reaching another thirty feet higher one hundred yards 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:45.199 beyond where we sat. Our blind was makeshift and built 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:48.720 from dead limbs and fresh cut jack pines, piled and 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:53.280 stacked around like a fortification. There was no roof, and 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:55.840 we were subject to whatever fell upon us, just as 0:13:55.880 --> 0:13:59.240 the as the bears were. As far as the piled 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:02.760 up limbs went, they were mostly there for esthetics and 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:05.920 peace of mind. The bears one hundred percent, No, you're there, 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:09.320 and a wastehil pile of bramas ain't going to keep 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:10.800 them out if they want to get in there and 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:15.200 rummage through your plunder. I tell people who asked me 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:17.640 for advice about hunting bears from the ground that the 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:20.440 best thing to do is to not look like you 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:23.320 taste good, or at least not as good as anyone 0:14:23.360 --> 0:14:28.880 sitting with you. That's worked for me so far. Those 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:31.640 two bears hung around, rambled back and forth, and eventually 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:35.480 moved away. By now, light was fading a little and 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:38.640 the sun was dipping behind the ridge to our southwest, 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:41.560 and it looked more like it was really cloudy than 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:47.760 actually getting dark. I checked my watch. It was ten PM. 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:50.480 We loaded up gear and called it a night. We 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:53.720 were a day ahead on gathering content. The hunting wasn't 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:57.680 officially scheduled to start until the next day, but because 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:00.680 of a smooth transition flight from Saska to Too Stony 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:03.680 Rapids and then a floatplane hop that got us in 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:08.680 camp plenty early enough, Dante said we could go. Dave 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:11.760 and I were there to hunt and tell a story. 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:15.480 So we went to work. Supper was ready when we 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:17.760 got back, and that's the way it would play out 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:21.200 the following days. We'd go out, sit and look at bears, 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:23.560 just waiting on the one that would stand out as 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:26.640 the one I wanted to take home with me. Another 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:29.320 part of the daily routine was looking both ways before 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:33.120 stepping outside. Every morning. There wasn't a day that went 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:35.240 by that I didn't either wake up to a bear 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:37.800 in camp or see one out the window before the 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:41.000 coffee got ready. And by outside the window, I mean 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:45.880 right outside the window. They've got drone footage of the 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:49.920 barris in camp. It's a statement for what Dante and 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:52.120 the folks at Pilot's Lodge have done for the game 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:55.640 in that area, which is mostly leaving it alone, hunting 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:59.800 it with very minimal pressure, making as little impact on 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:04.840 the land as possible. Now before anyone gets their drawers 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:07.960 in the not thinking okay, here comes Brent's commercial for 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:10.800 Pilot's Lodge. Since they let him come up there and 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:13.680 hunt for free. Well, number one, you ought to know 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:17.280 better than that, but now, and number two, that ain't 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:21.280 the way we do things here. I paid what everybody 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:24.560 pays to hunt there. I don't owe them anything for 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:27.520 us filming there. If it had been a bad time, 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:31.600 I'd be telling them that story instead of this one. 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:35.400 But it wasn't a bad time. We made a team. 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:41.760 From the beginning. Supper conversations were about hunting and strategy, 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:44.120 for sure, but that was only part of it. I 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:46.640 learned about Spencer and his family and the work he 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:49.600 has left to do on his master's degree, along with 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:53.240 the research he's done in connection with salmon that he 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:58.280 calls salmon. There's an l plainly end of spelling there, Spence, 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:03.040 So I hope that's not a question your master's degree test. Anyway, 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:06.440 he should be a guest on Steve's podcast with the 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:09.080 facts and the figures and the interesting stuff. He was 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:13.280 spitting out at the supper table, Spence learned some stuff 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:17.160 about Dave and I. One story was when New York 0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:20.080 State born Dave Gardner was down in Arkansas filming a 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:24.040 squirrel hunt with me and Clay. We went to a 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:27.239 cafe for breakfast one morning and Dave saw biscuits and 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:31.920 chocolate gravy on the menu. Chocolate gravy is as southern 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:35.919 as it gets. If you're unfamiliar, that's a whole other 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:40.200 podcast for another day, so just relax. Anyway. I showed 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:42.880 them the picks of Dave's face as he tested his 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:46.199 first biscuit in chocolate gravy, and according to Dave, it 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:49.879 was a life altering event and all for the better. 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:54.240 I tell you that story to tell you this. One 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:57.960 one evening, after coming in from hunting, Spence had looked 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:01.320 up a recipe for biscuits and one for chocolate gravy 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:04.680 and had them waiting for us when we got there. Now, 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:09.439 how cool is that Not only had he been paying attention, 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:13.680 but he nailed the chocolate gravy recipe. His biscuits were 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:16.639 good enough, but the gravy was what made the effort 0:18:16.760 --> 0:18:20.800 shine like a diamond. And the coons behind. Then there 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:24.760 was Nick, an accomplished fly fisherman and fishing guide himself 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:28.399 with a little girl of wife back home in southern Saskatchewan, 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:31.840 counting the minutes until he got back to him. I 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:34.280 never saw him when he wasn't smiling or looking for 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:38.119 something to work on, clean up, cook or improve. He 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:41.600 showed legitimate concern for the success of our hunt and 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:45.440 reminded me of my brother Tim, easy going with a 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:49.240 big laugh and telling one story after another about guiding 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:54.399 and dealing with people. The concerns I had upon a 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:58.159 rival was short lived. Each of these guys had roles 0:18:58.200 --> 0:19:01.840 to play, and they played them very well. It made 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:03.960 it very easy for Dave and I to do our work, 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:06.199 which was to tell the story while waiting for a 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:09.760 good bear and allowed the story to play out on camera, 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:15.280 and then try to bring a bear back to Arkansas. 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:20.400 We sat at another bait further upriver, but something always 0:19:20.480 --> 0:19:23.880 brought us back to the unnamed Bay. It was our 0:19:23.960 --> 0:19:26.359 third sit that the action peaked for us. It was 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:30.120 two hours before we'd really expected to see anything when 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:33.400 Dave heard a bear from over four hundred yards away 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:36.680 across the opposit side of the bay. Slashing through the water. 0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:40.520 We watched through by nos as he slowly but steadily 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:46.040 made his way purposefully in iron direction, crossing the swimming streams, 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:48.280 hugging the edge of the bay as he closed in 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:51.680 on where we sat. It was the one that had 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:55.560 been there on day one that wouldn't commit. He repeated 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:59.080 the same thing this time as well. Heventually moved off. 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:02.679 A short time later, the first bearer we'd seen their return. 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:06.840 His wounds didn't look any better or worse, but he 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:10.640 also didn't appear to have any fresh ones. He only 0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:12.639 stayed a fraction of the time that he had the 0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:15.439 first time when we saw him come, before leaving at 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:19.760 a steady pace with plenty of food left. Now the 0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:24.320 bear hunters listening are probably thinking, oh, some bickers coming 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:26.639 for him to abandon his post like that. I was 0:20:26.680 --> 0:20:31.919 thinking the same thing, and we were both right. The 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:35.320 bears in the northern Saskatchewan do not carry the weight normally. 0:20:35.359 --> 0:20:38.720 The bears in the south do. They have the frames, 0:20:38.760 --> 0:20:42.720 but they're more lean. As a rule, they make up 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:46.000 for poundage with bigger skulls. That's not unusual for a 0:20:46.000 --> 0:20:48.200 two hundred pound bear there to have a twenty inch 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:51.280 skull or better. There's just not a ton of calorie 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:53.880 rich food sources for them to choose from up there. 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:57.560 That's what makes the baits such a good source to 0:20:57.640 --> 0:21:00.280 choose animals in or past their prime to take off 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:05.240 the landscape. Killing bears comes with a cost and responsibility 0:21:06.400 --> 0:21:09.520 that would be validated about twenty minutes later, after I 0:21:09.560 --> 0:21:12.840 looked up to see a mature, cinnamon colored bear approaching 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:16.680 the bait from the direction that the last bear had left. 0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:20.639 That bear walked from behind the bait, passed the barrel 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:23.879 and stopped a few yards between it and where we sat. 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:27.000 He could see us sitting there and could smell the 0:21:27.040 --> 0:21:29.600 bait bucket if we'd sat less than ten yards away 0:21:29.640 --> 0:21:32.959 to our back right. I came to full draw as 0:21:33.000 --> 0:21:35.240 he walked to our left, and at less than fifteen 0:21:35.320 --> 0:21:40.080 yards he stopped. Dave whispered that there was a tree 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:44.240 between the camera and the bear. Now, if I had shot, 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:46.760 it would have defeated one of the purposes that we 0:21:46.760 --> 0:21:50.760 were there. The story that we were telling was how 0:21:50.840 --> 0:21:53.320 I had transitioned from behind the camera to be in 0:21:53.320 --> 0:21:56.159 in front of it, and then when Dave told me 0:21:56.240 --> 0:21:59.160 not to shoot because he couldn't see it. I knew 0:21:59.280 --> 0:22:02.160 the position, and he was in I'd been there before. 0:22:03.920 --> 0:22:06.360 I let my bowt down and watched that bear disappear 0:22:06.440 --> 0:22:08.320 to my left and the bushes where the barrel on 0:22:08.359 --> 0:22:12.800 the first day had gone and stopped and stayed behind us. Well, 0:22:13.440 --> 0:22:16.520 this bear didn't do that. I could see the tops 0:22:16.520 --> 0:22:18.919 of the small jack beares and willis shaking as he 0:22:19.000 --> 0:22:20.960 made his way through them on a course that would 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:23.560 have him come out within a few feet of where 0:22:23.560 --> 0:22:28.280 we sat. He didn't stop, he never even slowed down. 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:31.120 He kept the same face as he had when he entered, 0:22:31.119 --> 0:22:34.200 and he walked behind us within fifteen feet and stopped 0:22:34.200 --> 0:22:36.879 at the bait bucket, where he promptly stuck his face 0:22:36.960 --> 0:22:40.959 inside to clean up what was left. And there we 0:22:41.000 --> 0:22:46.440 all sat Dante. To my immediate right beside him was Dave, 0:22:46.520 --> 0:22:50.280 and fifteen feet behind Dave was a wild Northern Saskatchewan 0:22:50.359 --> 0:22:53.760 cinnamon colored bear running the search warrant on what was 0:22:53.840 --> 0:22:57.480 left of the bait for his next trick. He got 0:22:57.520 --> 0:23:00.280 up and walked down to the boat, climbing inside and 0:23:00.359 --> 0:23:03.560 messing with bags of oats he had stashed in the back. 0:23:04.680 --> 0:23:06.439 From there, he made his way back up to the 0:23:06.480 --> 0:23:09.600 bait barrel. I came to full draw and at twenty 0:23:09.720 --> 0:23:13.760 yards a liver shot. The prettiest color face barrier I'd 0:23:13.800 --> 0:23:17.440 ever seen in the wild. Now, I was less than 0:23:17.480 --> 0:23:20.680 excited about the shot placement. That I torqued the bow 0:23:20.800 --> 0:23:25.240 by squeezing the grip. I don't know. I didn't know. 0:23:24.800 --> 0:23:28.240 All I knew was that I didn't gut shoot him. Now, 0:23:28.280 --> 0:23:32.840 that's a very distinctive pop, and this shot didn't have that. 0:23:33.000 --> 0:23:36.120 It was one hundred percent liver shot. That was confirmed 0:23:36.160 --> 0:23:38.320 thirty minutes later when we went over and looked at 0:23:38.359 --> 0:23:44.280 the air, dark livery blood, and zero gut smell. The 0:23:44.320 --> 0:23:46.320 blood trail started not far from the bait, and it 0:23:46.480 --> 0:23:49.879 was considerable for about sixty yards and then it stopped completely. 0:23:50.800 --> 0:23:54.159 It was like you'd cut the faucet off. It's not 0:23:54.400 --> 0:23:57.160 uncommon occurrence. When the raw goes in and comes out 0:23:57.520 --> 0:24:01.080 on the same plane. You know, can seal off the 0:24:01.119 --> 0:24:04.760 exterior holes, and long thick hair can soap up what's 0:24:04.800 --> 0:24:07.479 coming out, and unless the bear rubs up against something, 0:24:08.040 --> 0:24:12.159 there could be little to no blood to see. For 0:24:12.200 --> 0:24:15.320