SNA Winners Find Newfoundland To Their Liking
06/20/2008 8:21 pm
By: Randy Dillon, SNA Prostaff Director/Field Producer
For anyone in the US, Newfoundland is not going to be your premier vacation destination. But, if you want to hunt some of the most pristine, beautiful wilderness in the world, this is your place. The island is chock full of black bears, moose and woodland caribou. This SNA Adventure found lucky winners Brandon Brown and Dwight Henke looking to harvest big Newfoundland black bears.
Brandon is from Arkansas and Dwight hails from North Dakota so both of them were a “long way from home”. I met up with both of the winners in Deer Lake, Newfoundland at the Deer Lake Motel. After spending a comfortable night in our lodging (not so much for Dwight, his flight plans went awry), we were met by Parson’s Pond Outfitters for our hour and a half ride to our new home for a week. One thing that really stuck out during the ride was the areas that still were clinging on to snowfall. This was June 8th and there was still snow on the ground....amazing.
We finally arrived at our comfortable cabin and settled in for the evening. One thing was evident when we arrived, we were not going to go hungry. We were fed immediately, always a good sign. On this trip I was going to be accompanied by good friend Mike McCabe so we could film the hunt winners. Because of Mike’s accident, I was on my own (he was sorely missed). I hooked up with Brandon Brown first as he was going to try to harvest a bear with his bow. This was Brandon’s first bear hunt ever and I could feel his excitement as we went to the stand that night for the first time. Dwight was also hunting black bear for the first time and was going to be rifle hunting from the ground.
The first night had us immediately visited by a small bear. Figuring him around 100lbs, he entertained us all night and provided some good footage as he acrobatically climbed in and out of the dryer drum used to hold the bait. Brandon was excited to have bear action the first night of his hunt. Dwight was also visited by bears that night but he judged them all to be too small and did the right thing and passed on the shot.
The next few days seemed to be deja vu of the first except for the weather. If you don’t like the weather in Canada, wait five minutes. Mother Nature decided to hit us with some colder weather that also included some interesting horizontal rain. My camera for the rest of the week was covered not only by a tree umbrella but an improvised garbage bag in an attempt to keep it dry. Both Brandon and Dwight saw bears the next few nights including a monster that Brandon was at full draw on five times and just would NOT give him a shot. The bear came to the bait in the pouring rain and as big bears often due, just would not come in fully and present Brandon with a good broadside shot. I gave Brandon my praise for NOT taking an iffy shot. At 23 years old, I was proud of him for doing the right thing and being patient.
Finally Friday rolled around and I was still filming Brandon with his bow. Dwight had yet to pull the trigger on his 270. As we were driving to the baits that night, Frazer, our guide, said out loud that “two bears are going to go down tonight”. Little did he know but his prophecy was about to come true. Brandon and I immediately had action on Bait #15. The small rubbed bear we had seen all week came strolling in not long after Frazer left the bait. He was famous for grabbing a bagel and running into the woods to dine. The rubbed bear soon left in a hurry. We soon found out why....a larger bear came to the bait and plopped down to start eating. We soon decided that this bear was a “shooter” and Brandon’s heart rate increased. As the bear ate, another bear of the same size soon came into view. After studying the two bears, we decided the one sprawled out at the bait was a sow and the other a boar. Brandon was soon focused on the boar. As he slowly came in and stopped broadside, I gave him the go ahead that the camera was ready for the shot. To say Brandon made a perfect shot was an understatement....he absolutely drilled that bear. The boar only traveled 20 yards and expired in seconds. Brandon was one happy Arkansas dude.
After all the hero shots and LOTS of pictures, we had time to relax and waited for Frazer to pick us up. Just as Frazer was coming into view, we heard a shot. As we approached the stand the Dwight had picked we saw him with a smile on his face. Dwight had also connected on a nice bear that looked like a twin of Brandon’s bear. He had also made a perfect shot with his rifle and the bear had traveled only a short distance. Both SNA winners had killed their first bears and were both very happy hunters.
I did have one full day to hunt but Mother Nature again decided to stick it to us. I had schooled Brandon all week in using my new Canon XH-A1, and he took to it like a fish to water. The weather was 42 degrees, 40mph wind gusts and we again had the wonderful horizontal rain. We did see a small bear but it was not to be for me on this hunt. Oh well, I was just happy to see two first time bear hunters have the time of their lives and be a part of it....good stuff.
