The exposed view left no doubt the bear was a boar, and although some hunters might laugh at this, it was a real dilemma, as there was a sow also using the site that was practically the same size. He was comical in the way he came in to the bait, and pictures showed him stretched out on his back as if lying down to enjoy the warm rays of the spring sun. In fact, I almost wished Pat hadn’t shown me the pictures, as it would be next to impossible to pick just one of the locations to hunt. Almost every site they had established just weeks earlier had a dominant boar - or two, or three - that would make any bear enthusiast drool with anticipation. My jaw dropped to the floor, and I stood in disbelief. Pat pulled out his laptop and started showing me trail camera photos of some of the bears working their sites. Jason and Pat were able to acquire licenses and tags to outfit in the area, and this was the first year they had established bait sites. It truly is untamed territory, where bears die of old age without ever encountering a human. The area is remote, with no roads for hundreds of miles to the north or east. Jason has killed more trophy black bears than anyone else I know, and had come to the same area the previous two years to hunt bears on his own. Pat was working with Jason Peterson, a well-known bear outfitter and the host of the television series Jason Peterson’s Into the Wild. We eventually arrived at the lodge, parked the boat, unloaded gear and bags, and found the cabin in which I would be staying. We entered the bottom end of a set of rapids, and Pat wove his way through the rocks and current, making it obvious he had done it hundreds of times before. It wasn’t long before we were motoring down the river, watching eagles soar along the banks. The trip was starting to remind me of the classic movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles - all the changing transportation and encountering different people and wildlife was reminiscent of John Candy and Steve Martin trying to get home for Thanksgiving. When we arrived at the river, we loaded my gear into a boat. We weren’t five miles out of town when we slowed to look at a mature boar standing on his hind legs, his front paw against a power pole to get a better look at the traffic. ![]() Pat was used to the road conditions, and I sat back and listened to his stories of huge fish and even bigger bears. To say it was rough going would be an understatement thanks to the heavy truck traffic and the freeze-and-thaw cycles in the far north. He had a large van he used to shuttle people to the river, about an hour’s drive away. It was late in the day when I arrived in Stony Rapids and was met at the quaint, one-room airport by Patrick Babcock from Cree River Lodge. The plane ride was a milk run in every sense of the word, stopping at several small communities to drop off people and cargo and pick up more. From there I took a flight north to Stony Rapids, situated just south of the 60th parallel. My journey started two days earlier when I left home and drove six hours to Saskatoon International Airport. It was all part of a great adventure, going deep into the remote wilderness of northern Saskatchewan in search of trophy black bears that had never encountered man. As we passed the spot where the bear had been eating, the stench of rotting fish overwhelmed our olfactory senses. Our presence sent the bear hightailing it through the dense black spruce forest. We’d just careened our way into the narrow waterway when we came face to face with a big black bear feasting on dead fish along the shore. If you have any questions please contact us.Our jet boat powered into a steep turn, taking us off the main lake and onto the river. Let Big Paw Outfitters provide you with big game memories to last a life time.
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