Once again, and as always, our waterfowl hunters experienced “World Class” Waterfowl hunting at its best!! Although the fall was extremely warm (breaking records for Hi’s during the days) and the migration way behind, the snow and Canada geese along with teal, redheads and canvasbacks made for some great shoots! The mallards were very late this year and I think the mallard numbers are way down too due to bad spring flooding and a late winter snow storm on May 1st that dumped over 2 feet of snow, nonetheless, hunters still had some awesome mallard shoots towards the end.

This fall, we limited out on either greater or lesser Canada geese every morning except for 2 mornings and that is over a 6 week season. We even had groups of up to 10 limiting out on Canada geese three mornings in a row!!!

The first week of our season, we had the pleasure once again to hunt with a variety of good friends/hunters in the likes of Ted & Bud Burger (Founders of Burger Brothers Sporting Goods), Jim Crowley of Hook and Hunt TV and repeat hunters and good friends for 15 years, Jeff & Duane from Minnesota, and what a week it was!! My youngest son Jordan was thrown out in the field with the Crowley/Ohman party and great bird hunting was done by all! Also that night, the teal hunting was so good, I had my youngest son Jordan take our “New” and youngest lab “Henry” out to get a feel for it with Jim of Hook & Hunt TV. Let’s just say, “Henry” needs a lot of training still, ha ha! Like I’ve always said Jordan, those young legs were “made for walking and that’s just what they’ll do”, LOL!!!

As temperatures remained hot, surprisingly the waterfowl hunting remained awesome!! Limits of geese/ducks kept coming back to our main lodge and if limits of ducks weren’t had in the mornings, the divers out on the river made up for it in the evenings. Although a lot of divers remained to the North, many were down and made for some awesome hunts. By September 30th, some cold weather was finally in store and by October 1st, divers really started to come down along with more geese! Not only was the waterfowl hunting great, walleye fishing on both rivers heated up and anglers were catching limits in record time. A lot more “Master Angler” (MA) walleye were caught/released in this world class fishery!

By October 4th, snow geese littered the fields and the migration really started to heat up. Redheads were down by the thousands and this kept the bird hunting excellent for the rest of the season.

Despite our extremely warm fall, hunters/guests still saw “World Class” Waterfowl Hunting at its best! Major scouting is a big factor in successful bird hunts and many miles had to be put on by all, but paid off big time! I have heard over the years from a lot of hunters that have been to other operations that scouts won’t go further than 10-20 miles looking for birds. We don’t care and will drive were we have to, too get great shoots. Sometimes 5 miles, other mornings 30-60 miles. If it means getting up an extra ½ hour, who cares, you have to be were the birds are!

Thank you to all the farmers around Dauphin & Ste. Rose for letting us hunt your land as always, much appreciated by all!! Last but not least, thank you to my Dad and both sons for being a big part of our success this past fall with all your hard work out in the fields and around the lodge!

Happy Hunting,

Rick

Agassiz Outfitters

*As always, some great feasts of waterfowl stir fry’s and fresh walleye were had by all guests in our main lodge, and it doesn’t get any better than that!!*

I started baiting for this fall’s black bear hunts on August 2nd and as usual, bear activity was abundant around most bait sites as I arrived for the first time. By August 17, all my baits around the Waterhen area where done so on August 21st headed to my remote outcamp Tan Lake to start baiting that area. Arriving to Tan Lake, greese buckets that I had stored in our storage shed were found empty all over camp. Bears had broken in by smashing the door off and had been having a hay day for sometime now on the deep fryer greese I had stored over the past month. However, beside all the greese gone, the door smashed, the only other damage done was a tear down the screen by a big paw on our cook camp. Not to worry, I had the screen and frame out in no time and back to the main lodge and fixed in no time!

By August 25th, all baits that we were going to hunt were done, the checking and re-baiting began. Not surprised at all, all baits from both camps where getting hit hard and lots of big sign already!

The pressure was already on the first week of the season, as first time guests, a husband and wife hunting couple, where part of a group of 6 other re-peat bear hunters. Mike and Chris had been on two previous black bear hunts in different Provinces and never had seen a black bear! To keep this short and too the point, they couldn’t believe how important I stressed scent control and noise around baits as they were told by past hunting guides that had smoked taking them into areas, that scent control didn’t matter!!! (Hard to believe, but this stuff does happen!)

Scent control paid off for Chris the first night as she shot a big 6 ½ foot black bear that scored 18 12/16. Many bears were seen by all that night and by Wednesday; Chris’s husband Mike, shot a huge 7’ black bear that scored 19 8/16, making the all-time Manitoba Record book. Passing on several bears that night, Mike’s patience paid off with this monster. As happens a lot, as Mike sat in awe of this bear he had just taken, a much bigger one circled the bait and walked away quietly into the dark spruce!!

By the end of the season once again we had a 100% opportunity and the biggest bear was a monster 7 ½ footer that scored 20 5/16 net! This fall bear was 692 lbs and was a bear any black bear hunter would be proud of. Congratulations Jim!

Topping off everyone’s “World Class” black bear hunt this past fall, was once again the incredible fishing most hunters had the opportunity to take advantage off! Some real good walleye over 28 inches were once again caught and released and a lot of good fish fry’s were enjoyed by all in the main lodge!

Congratulations to all of our black bear hunters on you success this past fall!!

Happy Hunting,

Rick

Agassiz Outfitters

*Please watch for our ½ page ad in Bear Hunting Magazine out now and the next 2 issues as well.

**Last spring, I had the honor and privilege to guide one of my all-time favorite big game hunters/outdoor writers, Mr. Mike Schoby, Editor of “Petersens Hunting Magazine”. Watch for this story; “A Blonde Moment” out anytime now!!!

*** Next spring, we are pleased to announce the return of Mr. Mike Schoby and our great friend and avid bear hunter, Mr. Bob Kaleta of Zeiss Optics. Joining them on this hunt is big game hunter and outdoor writing legend, Mr. Larry Weishurn!!!

****Last but not least, next fall black bear season, will see another good friend, Mr. Jim Crowley of Hook and Hunt TV also pursue a big black bear in the Manitoba wilderness. Jim is combining this fall bear hunt with a waterfowl hunt too.

In all the years I have guided spring black bear hunters, the spring of 2011 was probably the most challenging ever, due to all the nasty weather good ol “Mother Nature” threw our way. Not only where we faced with a very late and wet spring to begin with, the snow still in the bush on April 13th was still making it difficult to access most of my bait sites. This was the first spring ever that I was making it to a lot of the bait sites before seeing any sign of bear movement, which meant only one thing that they were still held up close to their dens. On April 20th, I finally came across 2 bear tracks all day while out baiting and finally by April 27th, the baits where starting slowly to get hit! Although some bears where starting to get more active around the baits, there was still no indication of any of them starting to feed yet.

Finally, when all started to fall into place and the bears starting slowly to get active, on April 29th, Environment Canada issued a “winter storm” watch, which started with heavy rain and turning into a real heavy/wet snow. When the storm was all said and done on May 1st, a total of two feet lay on the ground and drifts as high as the lodge and cabin roofs. Just great, snowed in!! What a great start to the season! This system that saw wind gusts up to 90 km/hr, shut down the bears for the whole first week of our spring season. A couple small blacks and a wolf where seen this week.

Our second week didn’t get much better, as the bush remained extremely wet and more rain was on the way. On May 10th and 12th, cold fronts with more snow and 40-50mm of rain fell making it even wetter, if that was possible!!! A gorgeous 6 ½ foot cinnamon with a blonde v and a big black bear where taken on Monday and Tuesday and a big chocolate missed on Tuesday as well. Some other good bears where seen this week also including another big cinnamon that didn’t present a good shot.

On May 15th, finally some sun and it looked like we were in for a great week of bear hunting. Hunters on May 16th started seeing lots of bears and another cinnamon bear with the bow was taken and a huge black bear that squared 7+ feet was also taken with the bow. Even while we were out baiting and checking baits, we were seeing bears and a lot of great sign which meant that the remainder of the season should be awesome!

On May 18th (usually prime by now), another big black was shot and all hunters had tons of action all evening. Another wolf was seen by an archery hunter while watching 4 bears at his site at the same time. The wolf wandered through at 30 yards spooking the bears a little. The next day saw the bears get even more active and the fish started to bite real good, which was a good sign also. On May 20th, 2 more big blacks that squared 7 ½ feet with skulls that grossed 20 6/16 and 20 3/16 respectively where taken. Two chocolate colored bears were also seen. The next day saw my good friend Bob arrow a real good black bear on the last night, after passing up several different bears throughout the week. Walleye over 28 inches where common and being caught and released daily.

The following week (May 27th) saw my good friend, Bob Kaleta of Zeiss Optics shoot a monster black that also squared 7+ feet with a 20 inch skull. Mike Schoby of Petersen’s Hunting shot a gorgeous blondish/cinnamon bear which will make for a great story which will be in Petersen’s Hunting Magazine spring of 2012. During this week, we had 4 good bears down in one night which made for a great ride back to the lodge from our Tan Lake Lodge. Also during this week while tracking a huge black bear with a white v on his chest, another bear took my gloves off my quad and decided to chew up my seat on my older Honda quad. While tracking this big bear, which wasn’t very far, we saw lots of other good bears and the bear trails in the bush around this area, looked like “grizzly” trails in the moss, they were so worn down. This bait site is actually a new site which didn’t take long to get this active. What a week!!! Bears, bears and more bears!!!! Also, while tracking another bear this same week, we saw 3 wolves and found the den which was only a mere 100 yards from the bait. One of the wolves was a big white one and didn’t seem to like it we were in the area. I have posted pictures of this wolf den on my Agassiz News page. Pretty amazing finding a wolf den like this. The only other time I came across a wolf den to the extent of this one was up in the tundra in northern Manitoba caribou hunting.

By the last week (week 5) a lot of new bears where starting to show up at baits. While walking in a hunter who was hunting with his muzzle loader, he shot a good black bear before even getting to his stand. I noticed this good boar walking toward us with his nose in the air and told him to get ready if he had a good shot, as I knew it was a shooter. We waited patiently as this bear decide to turn and run the other way, obviously winding us. Little did we know that he was going to try and circle us. I caught some black movement between the poplars to our right. Making sure it was the same big bear; he made a great shot dropping this black ghost in its tracks. This week also saw more heavy winds and rain but didn’t slow down the bear activity too much. The rut was not too far away (which ended up being approximately 2 weeks behind). This last week saw some more huge bears taken with 3 more going 7+ feet. This week was also the first time I guided a bear hunter from Alaska and even he couldn’t believe the quality/quantity of bears our areas have to offer. He shot a nice chocolate color bear which was the first color bear he had ever seen. On the very last night of our season, another big black was taken with the bow easily making the Manitoba record books at 19 12/16. What away to finish the season!!!

What a spring 2011 shaped up to be! With the weather so nasty most of the time and the bush extremely wet, this springs average size and weight on our bears taken was way up from our other springs in the past!! Most bears measured from 6 ½-7+ feet with excellent weight for spring bears. Although some of the bears had no fat on them (normal for spring black bears), most where in great shape and considering the winter and late spring we had, I was really shocked and impressed on how good they wintered. This can mean only one thing that they went into their dens last fall in great shape!! Most sows seen again had 3-4 cubs with them which are another indication they denned up good. Great genetics equals great black bears!!!

During this past spring, we had an enormous amount of other huge black bears seen. The late rut this year is good and a lot of these big boars/legends will spread their genes. The black bear hunting in our 3000+ square miles looks and will be “World Class black bear hunting” for many, many years to come!

Thank you to all who chose to hunt with us this past spring season and we are already looking forward to seeing all of our fall bear hunters real soon!

Rick

What an awesome whitetail season!!! After our first snow fall on October 27th, the rut was on, and what a rut it was! The pre-rut was on time, leading to a hard peak and a great post rut too! On October 28, I managed to sneak away from the lodge and check out some of my old spots that had been good over the years, and wow, rubs and scrapes everywhere! That alone, was enough to get the blood pumping big time, as I knew, we were in for a great deer season, to top off a another great year of hunting at the Lodge and Outcamp.

While out on October 29 putting up stands and looking for new areas, I was seeing a lot and I mean a lot of smaller, younger bucks chasing does hard. Perfect, everything was on schedule. On this same day, just before dark, coming down an old quad trail, a huge 10 or 12 pointer ran on the trail and stood broadside, and when he turned his head, I noticed double drop times on both main beams!! This monster whitetail would easily top 190 non-typical B+C! Easy, If not more. What an animal and big enough to make any deer guide or hunter excited. After a few seconds, the huge monarch carried on his way, probably checking and freshening scrapes throughout the night.

During my day out in the bush on November 1, the greater Canada geese and northern greenheads were flying south non-stop all day. Right up until November 7, while putting up stands, I noticed numerous “New” scrapes and rubs and the rut was really turning on. Our first week of rifle saw a good hunter of mine shoot a 150 class, 8 pointer, and numerous other good ones taken and sighted. Another big buck shot scoring 173 B+C was taken. Both big bucks were looking for does with their heads to the ground. One good hunter from Ohio saw 15 different bucks on one day figuring he passed up a big 10 pointer that might have gone 160-165 B+C. Welcome to trophy hunting Tom!! Very hard animal to pass, no doubt. Another big 8 pointer was taken this week too chasing 4 does. Our highs this week were perfect and remained around 32F. Average lows this week were 22-25F and no full moon to top it off. Can you say perfect week for whitetail. And it was! Lots of deer sighted by all and great weather to sit for our hard hunting whitetail hunters.

On November 11, we received 2 inches of fresh snow and the next day, bucks were really on the move and scrapes being freshened up all over. This week was not only good for the hunting, but also for scouting and finding some real “New” hot spots for the fall of 2011 and 2012. By the 14th of November, the rut was crazy as bucks were chasing hard. Just walking in to get hunters at dark, I had bucks walking and chasing by me grunting out of this world. Reports that night from hunters revealed the same. On Monday, November 15 and Tuesday, November 16, 2 big 10 pointers were missed. Both hunters saying they had never seen bucks this big. WOW!! Wonder how big they were! That same Tuesday morning, on my way back to the lodge after getting hunters in their stands, at approximately 7:15 a.m., a doe ran across the road and right behind it, a monster 10 or 12 right on her. What a buck! Another big 160-170 class! Also, on that same day, I watched another big 10 pointer with my Zeiss binoculars make a scrape on the edge of a big swamp. I watched him for a good 10 minutes. What a beast! His neck looked like a 45 gallon drum with a very light color rack which was extremely high with a lot of mass! One hunter from Maryland saw 5 wolves this day, shoot a coyote and then a huge, 13 pointer that grossed 177 B+C. What a day hey Travis! Way to go! Another big 8 pointer was also taken. Good job Brent! This day however, another big 10 pointer was missed as he came by chasing a doe hard at 11:30 a.m. Just think “Butch”, he will be much bigger next year!

In closing, the 2010 Fall Whitetail hunting season was unbelievable. Finally, a hard rut which was on time. This past season saw us go 100% opportunity on a 135+ buck! Congratulations to everyone, especially those that could keep it all together when watching these magnificent beasts come through the bush, lol! That one was for you Decker party!! Ha, Ha! I even got lucky again this year on a big 10 pointer grossing 165 B+C and watched both my sons make great shots on nice bucks. Our oldest son Brendan, shooting a nice 10 pointer, with his .270 WSM fitted with a Zeiss Conquest scope, from 250 yards and our youngest son Jordan, a nice 8 pointer at 100 yards with his .243. What a finish on another great year!!

Happy Hunting,

Rick

Agassiz Outfitters

Outfitter/Guide

** As I write this review, we have approximately 10-12 inches of snow and has been fairly warm for us this time of year. I have 14 deer at my feeder right now, 1 a nice 8 pointer and1 a nice 10 pointer and they are all in great shape after this years intense rut. If our winter stays like this and “mother nature” gives us a nice spring, the 2011 season looks to be another banner year for whitetail!**

**Please see our “New” ½ page Hunting/Fishing ad in the “new” Manitoba Travel Hunting and Fishing Adventures Guide. These will be distributed all across various trade shows throughout North America, including Reno, Nevada**

The Manitoba Youth Waterfowl Season opened up on September 1, so on this day and September 2nd, I had the opportunity to take my 2 sons Brendan and Jordan out both mornings. The first morning saw us hunting a flooded barley field with our younger black lab “Tracker”. Seems like every year, the number of local birds are greater and greater, and these 2 mornings proved to be no different. Mallards and Canada geese filled the sky at sunrise, and in no time, both boys where limited out (16 Canada geese/16 mallards) and both muddy and wet. What a shoot! The next morning, we sat up in another part of the same barley field with our 11 year old black lab “Hunter” with the same results. Watching our old “bird dog” and knowing it could be his last fall retrieving was hard, but again, what a shoot! Both boys done and limited by 9:00 a.m. The fall waterfowl season was shaping up to be another “World Class Waterfowl” Season!

The non-resident waterfowl season opened up on September 24. With the extremely wet summer, the 2010 waterfowl season looked to be awesome, and that it was! Up until, September 23, local birds littered the skies. Snow geese finally started coming down on the 23rd just in time for our opener. To top if off, the walleye were very aggressive and had started their annual fall run a week earlier. Opening morning saw the world famous “Burger Brothers” Ted & Buddy and friends, limit out on their geese and ducks. Although due to the warm weather, no divers were down yet, the geese(Canada’s and Snows/Blues), mallards and pintails were plentiful on the flooded fields. This first day of limits of both ducks and geese (both Canada and snow geese) was pretty much how our whole waterfowl season went, which we ran until October 31. Like I said earlier, what a waterfowl season! With our waterfowl hunters limiting out on everything in the mornings, most enjoyed the unbelievable grouse hunting and/or walleye fishing on the historic Waterhen River.

By September 30th, the redheads started to arrive, as many were coming through the night. From September 24 to September 30, all hunters had daily limits of mallards and Canada/Snow geese every morning. To top it off, walleye from 28 to 32 inches were common and being caught and released quite often. The smaller ones made for some delicious treats, deep fried in the main lodge. The big walleye were really tearing up the rapalas. Our old lab “Hunter” on September 28, did 48 retrieves on mallards, which in his prime, was a slow day for him. The next morning was very tough on him, as he had a hard time getting up. However, a quick Advil, and he was gone again. The “old boy” still had it in him! As we entered October, the bird hunting all the way through was un-real and wouldn’t have been better anywhere. On October 13th-16th, it was an absolute honor to host and have hunt with us, Jim Crowley and his camera man Kirk of Hook and Hunt TV. These 2 hunters and now very good friends of ours, are 2 of the classiest and appreciative guys you will ever meet. They really reminded me of all of our great guests who hunt with us every year. We really look forward to hosting Jim and Kirk once again next year and thanks to you Jim for getting me on the “Big Foot” Guide program.

By October 17, the water temp. had fallen to +7C and the walleye fishing even got better, if that was possible. By October 14, all groups from this day until October 31, limited on greater Canada’s and the big,fat northern greenheads. By October 22, divers were down big time, as our young lab “tracker” fought the strong current in our river doing double retrieves non-stop. On October 27th a winter storm watch was issued and winds topped 70 km/hr. The next day saw the river full of divers.

All in all, what a waterfowl season!! All guests witnessed “world class waterfowl hunting at its best”! Both Colleen and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our hard working help during this time and especially our valued guests who keep waterfowl hunting with us every fall! Also, last but not least, a huge thank-you to all the farmers for letting me on your land to hunt waterfowl. We are all very grateful and appreciate it very much to be able to hunt your great land! And finally, thank you to our valued bird cleaners for your hard work during this crazy time of year. Your hard work makes our jobs much easier!

Happy Hunting,

Rick

Agassiz Outfitters

Outfitters/Guide

**Please watch for: Jim Crowley’s article on his waterfowl hunt with us and our brand new ad in “Midwest Outdoors Magazine” due out soon. Please check them out on Twitter, Face book, You Tube and HooknHunttv.com **

**We are also pleased to announce that we will have a new addition to the “Agassiz” Waterfowl team for the fall 2011 waterfowl season. We will have pick of the litter come this spring/summer on a “new” black lab puppy. We are so excited and looking forward to his arrival to join “Hunter” and “Tracker”.**

Wow! What another awesome 2010 Fall Black Bear Season!!! All of June, July and August saw rain and more rain pretty much every day and just could have been the wettest summer on record. Having said that, I knew that the bush was going to be extremely wet and getting to most baits wasn’t going to be easy.

I started baiting this fall on Sunday, August 22 in a wind storm and yes, hard rain. The rain fell all day Monday and Tuesday too and finally let up on Wednesday. Great, more rain! Chest waders, check; rain suit, check and Argo, check; off again. Un-like last fall, I noticed the leaves and tamarack needles where starting to change quickly. Berries were pretty much non-existent except in some of my areas further to the North. While baiting from Wednesday, August 25 to August 31, I had bears coming to baits and walking down quad trails checking these baits already that hadn’t even been baited yet! Sunday, August 29 saw more rain and this system didn’t let up till Wednesday, September 1. Little did we know, most of September and October were going to be very warm and dry things up a bit. Finally!

On Friday, September 3, checking most baits and re-baiting and deciding which baits to start Monday with our first group of hunters, the baits were being hit extremely hard as I was once again started seeing some big black bears while on route to most baits. Bear tracks every where in the mud, in most spots, also indicated the fall hunt was going to be excellent, pending the weather of course. First night proved this, as a big black was taken that squared 7 1/2 feet, 600+ pounds and scored 21 2/16 B&C. Another hunter, the same night, shot a big 500+ pound black which squared 6 ½ feet with a 19 12/16 skull. When I brought this bear back to the lodge, my wife who was guiding the other hunter, said that the other bear was still lying in the bush and that her and my oldest son Brendan couldn’t even roll it over. I laughed and thought that it was all a joke. Myself, 3 of our other hunters and Brendan all went to load this big bear and they were’nt joking. The five of us had a hard time loading it into the back of my quad trailer. What a bear! Everyone this week saw lots of good bears and some that where color too. We had our first frost on September 7 and the leaves that where already changing fast, changed faster and started to fall. Frost would hit hard again on September 13 and September 16. Heavy winds brought the leaves down quick. With the walleye biting hard and bears moving good, the fall was shaping up to be another banner year.

On September 13, another huge black was shot by our good re-peat hunter Ron of Maryland and a monster of a chocolate missed by another good re-peat hunter of ours from Wisconsin. Sorry Dave, had to! J Again, we ran a 100% opportunity and some huge bears were seen too that wouldn’t present good, clean shots. Again, throughout the whole fall, I baited but didn’t hunt 30+ baits, making sure they are ready for our 2011 Spring Season. Most of these baits had huge boars on them also, but with good management of our sites, the black bear hunting and quality will be there forever!

Congratulations to all of our guests, new and re-peat for making the 2010 Fall Black Bear Season another incredible fall! We look forward already to our spring 2011 season and can’t wait to see all of our guests again next spring.

Happy Hunting,

Rick

Agassiz Outfitters

Outfitter/Guide

**Please watch for our “NEW” Black Bear ads in Bear Hunting Magazine this November/December,
January/February and March/April issues.**
**Next spring, we look forward to hosting our good friends Bob Kaletta of Zeiss Optics and Luke Hartle of
North American Hunter once again in pursuit of the elusive black ghost. We are also very excited to
announce, accompanying Bob will be editor of Petersen’s Hunting, Mr. Mike Schoby. We feel very
honored and privileged to be able to host Mr. Schoby on this hunt and also to have him visit our
lodge. Can’t wait!!**
**Please watch for our ½ page ad in the “New” Travel Manitoba Hunting/Fishing Adventures guide
soon to be out. **

Please click on the link below to view the tv episode of North American Hunter featuring Luke Hartle’s Spring 2009 Bear Hunt with Agassiz Outfitters.

http://www.huntingclub.com/video/articletype/articleview/articleid/12773/episode-8–spring-bear

Trophy Black Bear hunting at its finest!! All of our bear hunters had the opportunity and experience to see first hand, awesome bear hunting, once again this past spring. And what a spring it was!

Since I can remember, this spring was one of the earliest I had ever seen. March 10th saw very little snow in the bush and lots of local Canada geese and mallards back around the lodge. April then saw one of the warmest on record, and the bush by now was extremely dry and the threat of forest fires loomed over our region. The river was way down, as very little run off all spring, due to very little snow all winter. These conditions would change very quick by the end of May as rain would set in and not stop!

With the extremely warm April, I new that we might be in for one heck of a rut come the middle to end of May and one on time, compared to last spring (2009) that was extremely behind with boars chasing sows still into late June/early July. By the end of April, both camps had tremendous sign around the bait sites, and such is the case most springs, more young bears than older bears first, but it was just a matter of days the big boars would be getting more active. My “Bushnell Trail Cameras” already had pictures of some huge black and color boars during the nights. One bear for instance I have called “The Tan Lake Tank”, a big chocolate weighing an easy 500+ lbs in the spring, would show at 11:00 p.m. and leave at 5:00 a.m. His pattern changed a bit once the rut started and presented a shot to my good pal and re-peat bear hunter Russ a.k.a. “Uncle Rusty” from Minnesota. “The Tank” came in at 9:40 p.m. but the shots that he presented, where not good at all, during his 15 minutes around the area. Yes, “The Tank” will spread his genes again this spring! A bad shot of course on a bear is not good nor recommended and thanks Russ for showing great patience! This bear is a living legend and will only be taken with a good clean shot hopefully one day. During the same time frame at another bait, Russ’s nephew Brian had arrowed a huge P&Y bear. But “Uncle Rusty” of course could not be out done, the next night hunted a different bait and shot at the 9th bear he saw and was another tremendous black. After waiting the usual half hour to look for signs of a good hit, Russ was chased up his stand 2 different times by 2 different bears. He was very glad to see his guide Alan at dark. Congratulations to all of your group including Steve who’s big black bear grosses 19 14/16 and squares 7’.

This past winter I actually talked my wife into getting her guide license. She had always wanted to try it as she was fascinated with the stories at the lodge when everyone returns in the evenings. Her first night guiding “Lucky” Luke from North Dakota and “Rapid Fire” Mike from Wyoming was one they all wont soon be forgetting! Getting to both baits is an extremely “Wet” walk through swamps and/or beaver pond and having the comment “who did you p**s off to get stuck taking us into theses baits“. After enduring the walk in and getting very wet with water filling up in her hip boots she managed to get Luke to his stand dry, she walked out slow but left the hip boots he wore under his stand. Luke arrows the 5th bear he sees, and after watching 5 more all take turns eating and putting holes in his waders. By the sounds of it, Luke was so excited he didn’t need them to get out as he ran across the top of the water? I think his laughing can still be heard around that area! Myself, my youngest son Jordan and Alan all stayed dry using the Argo to retrieve his bear at 2:30 a.m. She still doesn’t see the humour in this one! LOL! She did however go 2 for 2 as Mike also had arrowed a nice black that evening. I will never forget getting back to the lodge that night with her smile and saying “My hunters are both done!!” Yours?? In the midst of all the bears and excitement every night, we had 2 huge chocolates which I had pictures of too from my cameras missed cleanly. Both these chocolates would top 400 pounds and are both true 7 footers. Both searches lasted 4 hours each with no signs of a hit. Hopefully they will turn up at another bait somewhere real soon!

I also had the honour and pleasure to guide for the third year in a row, my good friends Bob Kaleta of Zeiss Sports Optics and Luke Hartle, Associate Editor for North American Hunter. Both are excellent bear hunters and both had great opportunities and saw good bears and also some awesome video. Bob let a good 350-400 lb chocolate walk after 20 minutes of video the first night. Luke takes a great red bear with his bow again and videos the whole thing.

Congratulations to Earl of Michigan, who was up for a color bear. I had Earl where I had pictures of three different cinnamons at one bait. However, a huge black that squares 7.5 feet and grosses

20 2/16 presents a good shot right a 9:00 p.m. While we are winching him out of a swamp, a much heavier and aggressive boar is bluff charging us the whole time! He did not like this other bear around his territory. Earl is 80, a fighter pilot of 37 years, a general and his best friend and potential NEW bear hunter next spring, an Apollo 9 astronaut. Seeing the smile on his face was amazing as a guide and all he asked of was “How did everyone else do?” I was more worried at the time about the aggressive bear only 10 yards away, Lol! I still wander how big this bear must have been and wish I had a better look at him than just his eyes!!

This spring marked 21 years of guiding fisherman & hunters for me as I have been enjoying my passion since I graduated from high school in 1989. During these 21 years of guiding, I have learnt to feel out a hunter and therefore listen good when they tell me they have made a shot. I had been in contact with my hunter Bruce, North Dakota via hand helds which he told me he shot the 8th bear he had seen that night, which was a beautiful chocolate bear. On my way up to get Bruce, I noticed one of our other hunters on the trail(flashlight) and figured he must of shot at one too. Sure enough he did, but myself and Greg(other guide) had to get Bruce, his bear and another hunter first, then on our way back, look for his bear which hopefully wouldn’t be to far. After about an hour search, we never noticed any sign of a hit. After listening to his story carefully on the way back to the lodge, I told him what I thought had happened. Then, again, I asked him; “Are you positive this bear is hit and do you feel good about the shot?” There was no second guessing as he swore this bear was definitely hit hard and laying somewhere close. I knew than out of respect for this bear and my hunter(Gerry), we had to go back in the morning, spread out, and look in the daylight. With 3 more bears to get pictures of and skin that same morning, I decided to stay back with Alan(other guide) and help skin. Greg(guide), Gerry and his two hunting buddies ventured back to look for this bear. After an hour, Greg was about to call off the search when he heard: “Over here, I found it!” Gerry tripped over his 6 ½ foot black laying approximately 100 yards away in real thick cover, making a big circle and not one drop of blood. Way to go guys!! Good job! 21 years of guiding and I stuck to my #1 rule to always listen to your hunter AFTER a shot. Any second guessing or uncertainty may of just put him on another stand. This bait is a good hour from our lodge too and a good ½ hour by quad. To top it off, my good friend Jared from North Dakota from the same group shot the biggest bear this spring at a brand “NEW” bait that squares 7 ½ feet and grosses 21 B&C with his bow qualifying him easy for P&Y and MBGTA awards. Could be and will certainly be one of the biggest bears ever killed with the bow this year and will rank very high all time too. Congrats Jared! I think Alan still hears the growls of that night, Ha Ha!!!

This is just a short summary of our spring and wish, time permitting, I could keep writing about black bears. All in all we were a perfect 26 for 26 with some awesome color bears with a lot more seen. Six bears will make Manitoba (19+ inch skull), some definitely P&Y. Our biggest was 7 ½ feet and grossed 21 inches.

Congratulations to all of our spring black bear hunters this year on your success and great bears! Thank you all for choosing Agassiz Outfitters, we appreciate your support and time you spend coming to see us all. Everyone of you touch our lives in some way!

Our lodge is family run and operated and this year my youngest son Jordan, who is only 14, helped out tremendously the whole spring in the lodge and outcamp with our other good guide Alan from Skownan. Cooking, hauling firewood, dishes, hauling water, skinning, tracking bears, etc.. and he loved it! Therefore I encourage anyone to take your kids hunting and fishing! Brendan(our oldest son) and Jordan have been on the water, out in the fields and in the bush since they could barely walk. I can still remember them in my back pack checking and running baits. Memories will last a lifetime!

Last but not least a huge thanks to my terrific guides Alan from Skownan and Greg from Waterhen who showed their hard work once again. Oh ya, my new guide Colleen a.k.a. “wife” and Jordan a.k.a. “Junior Guide” & “Slim”!

Looking forward to seeing all of our bear hunters this fall.

Happy Hunting,

Rick

Outfitter/Guide

Agassiz Outfitters

*SHORT SHOTS*

1. Please watch for Associate Editor of North American Hunter, Luke Hartles, 2009 spring black bear hunt with Agassiz Outfitters to air July 5 and again in October. Watch Luke harvest a gorgeous cinnamon bear with his bow!

2. Dick Metcalf, writer of Petersens Hunting, 2009 Black Bear hunting article will appear soon. Please watch for details.

3. Please watch for our “New” bear hunting ads in Bear Hunting Magazine to appear in Nov/Dec(2010), Jan/Feb and March/April(2011) issues.

Congratulations once again to Mr. George McCoy from New Mexico who is also a Chairperson of RMEF for winning the “2010 Zeiss Experience Contest” as he accompanied Mr. Bob Kaleta, Optics Specialist for Zeiss Optics this past spring black bear season. Congratulations on your bear George and it was a pleasure having you hunt with Agassiz Outfitters. We look forward to seeing you again real soon.

We are now taking bookings for our spring 2011 and 2012 World Class Black Bear Hunts. Anyone wishing to join Luke Hartle of NAH and/or Bob Kaleta of Zeiss in 2011, please call or e-mail for details. Watch for another exciting announcement of a world famous writer coming next spring!

**QUICK NOTE**

Our average spring bears in Manitoba are approximately 250 lbs. with of course much bigger seen and taken. However, due to all the berries and acorns last fall and a very mild & short winter our bears wintered excellent and were much heavier this spring. We averaged 300+ this spring and once again all hunters saw sows with 3-4 yearlings with them making our bear hunting future very bright! All 26 bears taken this spring were boars!

Also, another bonus to the incredible bear hunting is the fantastic walleye fishing that is included once you harvest your bear. Just ask “Lucky” Luke and his dad Terry from North Dakota. Catching walleye this time of year, trolling shallow diving crank baits in 4-5 feet of water, is unbelievable!!!

Wow…..what a spring!!!! Even though we saw a crazy and weird spring in terms of weather, the bear hunting remained fabulous. This spring saw a little of everything from rain, snow and heavy winds but we wtill managed to go 100% success rate once again. All 100 plus bait sites where baited by May 1 and just over 50% were getting hit hard by May 3, with sighting of a lot of color bears on trails into baits. With cooler nights than usual for the month of May, this spring we never had any mosquitoes and barely any wood ticks the whole spring season. Bears moving good already and no bugs, we were sitting well and things were shaping up for an excellent spring.

As we started the hunting, the first 6 bear harvested were all color bears, 4 cinnamon and 2 chocolate with many more seen. Trail cameras also had awesome pictures of color bears and some monster bears that were in excess of 500 pounds working baits. A lot of these big bears were at baits between 12 and 5 a.m. proving once again how smart these big boars are as many go nocturnal.

As mentioned on “Agassiz News” earlier, we were very fortunate to host Bob Kaleta of Zeiss Optics, Dick Metcalf of Shooting Times/Petersons Hunting/Guns and Ammo/ North American Whitetail, etc… and Luke Hartle of North American Hunter who were all very successful!!! We will post on “Agassiz News” in the near future when articles and t.v. shows on these hunts will appear and come out. Please stay tuned for the features on their awesome hunts as Bob takes a true 7 foot cinnamon weighing over 400 pounds with a blonde V on its chest!!! We won’t say till then what Bob saw after he shot this huge spring bear, which would weigh anywhere from 650-700 pounds in late fall.

On May 14th a winter storm watch was issued and snow started to fall early that evening. However, for the first time in 20 years of guiding, 2 huge color bears were taken that night during the snow flurries. What awesome experiences and memories for everyone involved.

All in all, it was black bear hunting at its best!!! Eight bears over 7 feet and many other sightings during the spring of Monster bears. A good one that comes to mind, repeat and die hard archery hunter from Wisconsin who I picked up at dark and the disappointment look on his face told it all. He said, “Rick, what a night. I saw a bear right at dark that I| messed up on. I have never seen an animal that Big. What a Bear!” Long story short, big bears get big by being lucky too! As Bob stood to draw his bow, his boot made a little noise, this big beast heard, turned around and walked away! The next night, Bob shot a good 6 1/2 footer, 350lbs, and said that this bear isn’t even close to what he saw the night before!!

The color bears seen were unbelievable and with great management at our baits and area, the color will remain strong as blonde, cinnamon and chocolate sows are being seen with twins and triplets year after year. (Please see our Agassiz Trail Camera page coming this winter) Every hunter, except three this past spring had a opportunity at a color bear. As an added bonus and witnessed by all successful hunters, was the outstanding walleye fishing once again!!

Congratulations to all of our bear hunters and fisherman and fisher ladies who caught “Master Angler” Walleye this past spring. Your trip up to our neck of the woods is much appreciated and we value your support and look forward to hosting you all on your next Manitoba Trophy Black Bear Hunt!

Lastly, thank you to all our hunting and fishing guides this past spring for your hard work.

Happy Hunting,
Rick & Colleen Liske

Agassiz Outfitters

After a very late spring and a cold and wet summer, the month of September ended up being very warm and dry. Warm weather is definitely a plus when black bear hunting, however, we had the same problem as the fall of 2008, “wild berries” everywhere! Going into baits for example, my quad and trailer would be covered in berries just going down the quad trails. Bear scat around the baits were all berries and it was clear we would have to hunt the baits in areas with less berries or that had froze out hopefully from the cold and late spring. Once these bait sites were all decided on and which ones I knew would produce, I focused on and started to freshen regularly. Sure enough, bear activity was more evident as these baits heated up fast!

I started baiting on August 23, and by August 28, I was already seeing “big” bear sign around bait sites. Our first group was arriving September 6, so I now had to hold these bears at the sites. The whole month of September saw no frost, therefore, the leaves remained green making the bush very thick and in return, making it very hard to see bears approaching baits or checking areas. By September 21, we had once again had a 100% opportunity at a 300 lb. black bear or bigger! Un-like our spring hunts; every bear taken was black so far.

Spring saw pretty much all color; however, most of those baits were being baited, but not hunted, in preparation for our 2010 spring bear hunts. This is very important when hunting big black bear to rest areas in preparation for future hunts! Once again, we heard from 6 first time bear hunters who had seen more bears in one night with us than 5 previous hunts to other areas of the province.

This past fall, I also put out various new baits and this upcoming spring or fall they will be ready to hunt. On September 28, 2 big chocolates and one huge black bear were taken, and we could have had 5 in total down the one line I run. What a feeling as one of the other guides and me picked all 5 hunters up that night. Bear stories galore!!! The one chocolate was 6’8″ and the other 7′. The black went 7’4″ and to top it off, a bigger black walked in after the hunter had shot the 7’4″. He estimated the bear at 8 plus feet! This bait was baited all spring, and we didn’t hunt until fall, it paid off again.

Once all the fall black bear hunting was finished, we had 9 bears well over 6’5″ feet and 4 of them going over 7 feet. The biggest skull was grossed at 20 15/16 and should net 20 12/16 or 20 13/16 B&C. A few wolves were also seen at bait sites, and a big black wolf was missed at 2 different times at the same bait. Talk about a lucky wolf, as he was also shot at in spring 2008 in the same area. This pack has up to 7 in it, and works an area close to the lodge. During the night, they can be heard howling. What a sound!!

In closing, the fall black bear hunting still was awesome and very successful even though food sources such as berries, acorns and beavers were abundant. Some different methods were tried at sites, some working, some not. Sightings where definitely down due to the feed and bush being thick, but hunters being patient truly paid off and some huge bears were taken and/or seen!

Once again, hunters had the opportunity to try some fantastic walleye fishing and fish fry’s in the main lodge. Hunters who did the black bear/waterfowl combo’s saw both world class hunting at its finest! Not only was the waterfowl hunting great, but ruffed grouse littered the woods and also made for some fast action hunts. The last 5 years we have been very fortunate as grouse numbers remain very high.

Hope to do it again real soon!

Happy Hunting,

Rick Agassiz Outfitters
P.S. Congratulations to our great friend Jeff Ohman,MN for his awesome 350 lb. black bear and thank you Jeff for donating your bison burger and blue cheese along with the delicious bison burger stuffed with /blue cheese burger recipe that you helped prepare in the kitchen , which we grilled for all the rest of the camp to enjoy during your stay (They were awesome, looking forward to more this fall during waterfowl!!!) We also look forward to your amazing vocals on “Henry the 8th I am” this fall again and you can recite the whole song you sang to us in the kitchen (LOL)!!!!!

**Please watch for article by Dick Metcalf, writer for Peterson’s Hunting, Guns &Ammo and Shooting Times, that will be coming out soon, stay tuned to Agassiz News for details on his hunting story while hunting with Agassiz Outfitters

** **ZEISS Sports Optics has launched a “Zeiss Experience Contest” in conjunction with us , please visit our Agassiz News page for a full description of contest. The ZEISS Experience contest will allow one lucky individual the opportunity to accompany a representative of Carl Zeiss Sports Optics on a hunt in the pursuit of trophy black bear during the spring season of 2010 at the incredible Agassiz-Waterhen River Lodge in Manitoba, Canada, Good luck to all that enter!!

** **Also remember to check out our Spring/Fall Black Bear Hunting ads in Bear Hunting Magazine this upcoming winter. We appeared in the November/December issue and will appear again in the January/February and March/April issues as well.

** **Stay tuned for updates on our Agassiz News for times and dates which NAH T.V. will air their 2009 Spring Black Bear Hunt, with Associate Editor, Luke Hartle coming the spring of 2010**