June 03, 2011
By Mike Schoby
Like the swans of Capistrano, when the weather warms each spring, I am drawn north to Canada in search of bears. Â Today I jumped on a plane in Chicago. Â Two short hours later, I touched down in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Â A short plane ride to a seemingly different world. There I met up with Bob Kaleta from Zeiss, a bear hunting junkie and someone I find myself sharing a truck with this on this type of misadventure more often than i care to admit.
We grabbed a rental car and pointed it north. Â Three hours later we pulled into Bob's favorite camp, Agassiz Lodge near the village of Waterhen Manitoba. Â Owned by Rick and Colleen Liske for the past decade, Bob has spent his springs here almost as long. Â It is a Mecca for big bears but more importunately color phase big bears. Â Photos of cinnamon, blonde and brown bears take up as much space on the walls as big headed blackies. Â After a couple of late night 5% Molosons to celebrate our arrival Bob broke out his computer to show me video from last year and got me more excited than I already am for the following day. Â The first video he shows makes my jaw drop its of a massive brown color phase bear. Â Great video, great bear, but the question must be asked "why didn't you pull the trigger?" With a sheepish look Bob says "I misjudged him at first glance, then I just filmed him for 45 minutes. Looking through the viewfinder, it is hard to tell. It wasn't until I looked at the video later that I realized how big he was....don't even say anything, I'm still kicking myself." Â Hopefully this week, Bob can assuage the pain.
I roll into the bunk, looking forward to the following day.
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