Here are some pictures from the hunt.
Skinning Shed
Ed helping Kristie flip many eggs over-easy for breakfast! Great Fun! She say “My Flipper”
Another Ed – Practice makes perfect!
Bears Down!
Skinning a bear!
Crazy for the honey pot
Who’s bigger? Wanna fight? Two bears go at it.
ORV Essential Transportation
A Carved Two Bear Seat.
Big Color Phase Bear
Saddle Hill Outfitters is a Trophy bear camp owned and operated by Rob and Kristie Sawyer. https://www.saddlehillsoutfitting.com/
I hunted June 1 to June 6, 2025.
In camp were eight hunters, including myself. Most hunted with rifle. A few of us came with bow and I came with my 10 Point Turbo S1 crossbow. I also rented a Savage scoped rifle in .270 Winchester for backup and for wolf. Yup, I had a wolf tag too.
We hunted from 5PM till dark, in Alberta’s Saddle Hills County. Guides drove us many many miles to each baited stand. In most cases, hunters and guides communicated via phone text.
The Hunt
Rob and guides place white tipped stakes at bait sites so we could see bear shoulder height as the bears walk near. If the bears shoulder height was equal to the top of the stakes or higher, you had as trophy boar in your sights.
Trophy bear were taken by lucky hunters. The largest was around 300 pounds taken by Cason with 6.5 PRC rifle. Holy mackerel! What a trophy bear!
Some hunters misjudged some bears and harvested a few sows to the chagrin of the outfitters. The sow is essential for producing and caring for the cubs and the future adult bears.
Harvested bears are skinned and measured. Rob is a taxidermist and can create your mounts or you can take you skinned bear home to your own taxidermist.
I was not that lucky but observed many lesser black, cinnamon, and blond bears during the week.
I double lunged a smaller boar with my crossbow during the last 3 hours of my hunt after observing over a dozen bears during the hunt. At the shot, the boar ran 20 feet up the nearest tree, only to discover he was clearly hit in both lungs. He fell 20 feet straight down like a heavy sack of potatoes only to emit his erie death moan.
Encounter with “Angry Bear”
Upon getting the bear back to camp, my hunt friend excitedly said, “Ed, you shot Angry Bear!”
I responded, “Say what?”
He said, “You shot the bear that attempted to attack a sow with three cubs and aggressively attack me in my treestand a few days earlier. I had to fire my rifle to get him away from me, but after 5 minutes he came back snapping teeth and growling.
And he was trying to kill the three cubs with the sow at the bait.” The cubs climbed nearby trees!
The mother bear chased the angry bear up a tree three times, all the while the boar was growling and popping his teeth.
After hearing this crazy encounter, my hunter friend was so glad I had killed that bear with my Swhacker 2 1/2 inch cut mechanical broadheads. Love those swhackers!
Mother bear also climbed up the tree-stand to check out the hunter. Peek-a-boo I see you!
Hunters, be aware that most of the bears I observed will climb up tree stands to see who is in it. I shout hey! The bears leave the tree but remained to eat the bait.
Below, my crossbow view overlooking the bait site of Angry Bear. On the ground behind the bait barrel lies Angry Bear. Quite dead!
Hunting black bears with bow or crossbow requires some study of bear anatomy for correct shot placement. When I taught bowhunter education years ago we focused largely on whitetail deer. My Outfitter will cover shot placement as well.
The National Bowhunter Education Foundation sells small synthetic 3D black bears, deer, etc. ($65) where the anatomy can be seen and a pin representing the arrow can be inserted to see what vitals were hit. The next best is a special target sold by Amazon. The company is called “ethikill” anatomy targets. On one side is a broadside bear and the opposite side is the anatomy, bones, heart lungs, liver and intestines. The hunter can shoot it and see the opposite side, e.g., what vital organs were hit. Many experts prefer a slight quartering away shot so the arrow enters and penetrates forward.
The downside is that bears don’t often stand quartering for such a shot for any length of time. Broadside is still a great shot.
A video from “Bowhunting road” does a great job to educate. Here it is…
The Ethikill target is excellent for broadside shots.
A double lung hit and your bear won’t go any distance at all, sometimes just feet.
Good Bear Hunting!
This is a slow motion video of a freehand crossbow shot at 18 yards. The arrow is traveling 360 fps. Dead foam bear!
I Like this cinnamon brown where I am hunting. Can you say BIG!
The clock is ticking. Getting excited! In just a few weeks I will be in a bear camp. Some folks have a Vacation, but Albertans “and guests” who hunt have a Bearcation.
I shoot my fast 10 Point crossbow daily and play with arrows, fletching and broadheads like a kid in a sandbox with a toy dump truck and bulldozer.
Recently, I watched a video of a family with three generations of bear hunters. Many are teens and 20’s seen whooping dancing and stomping like american indians prepping for the hunt in a large garage below. The senior dad is hunting with his crossbow, like I will be doing.
Sooo much fun watching the hunting spirit of this family.
Western Canada has tons of big black bears. Success rates are typically very high. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario are chockablock full of ’em. And as a meat-eater that makes my day.
My grandkids have just started deer hunting with their dad and me. Maybe get them out on a bearcation in a few years.
Get Excited! Adventure – Go Hunt!
My upcoming Alberta black bear hunt will be among color phase bears. What does that mean? Fur color can be black, chocolate/brown, cinnamon, and blonde. Blonde is perhaps the most rare of the color phases. I have not targeted a bear color per se. For me, what is important is a larger male representative of the species. If a large cinnamon presents itself and its coat is prime. We shall see…
Of interest is this video below on color phases across North America.
Good Hunting!
Most crossbow companies sell “arrow speed” to sell Crossbows based on say, a 400 grain arrow/bolt.
Yes, sure, that 400 fps equates to delivered kinetic energy to game but what about penetration?
Will a 500 or 600 grain arrow get more momentum thus deeper penetration. On a target butt, you won’t see a dramatic difference because it is the target butts job to stop the arrow. It is not flesh.
The same crossbow will lose some speed with the heavier arrows but gain in penetration.
African bowhunters on really big game use say 800 to 900 grain arrows. Bolts are shorter but a 500 to 600 grain bolt will carry more momentum thus penetration.
An exit wound for an arrow provides the all important blood trail.
If hunting moose or larger, for example; With crossbow, use a heavier arrow.
Below is what Fred Bear said on the subject; https://www.arkansashunting.net/threads/what-did-fred-bear-say-about-heavy-arrows.95210/
Good Hunting!
I have always been looking for an excuse to buy a metal detector. Costs range from $79 to many hundreds. Mine was $147. Over the years I have lost arrows in fields. Today my crossbow arrows cost $10 or so per arrow. Finding them was not difficult with the metal detector. I found the head of a golf seven iron too. Maybe you need an excuse to buy one. Amazon delivered mine in a day. Assembly was easy.
Have Fun!
I am both a bowman and a rifleman and I shoot both very well. Todays crossbows can launch an arrow/bolt at sizzling speeds of over 500 fps, faster than the best compound bows.
Most crossbows today shoot bolts typically in the 300 to 400 fps but the 500’s are out there now. I own two crossbows, a Grizzly recurve from Excalibur which shoots at 300 fps and has taken wild boar and turkey. Full penetration.
My main crossbow is a 10 Point Turbo S1 which launches a 425 grain arrow at around 360 fps. Fast enough and with enough momentum to penetrate the largest of wild game.
Both rifle and bow are great hunting tools. We just need training and practice to master them!
Good Hunting!
I happen to own a great shooting tripod, a Bog Death Grip. But it doesn’t pack well for air travel especially with my crossbow and hard case.
Lots of hunters want a tripod that grips your bow or firearm like an extra hand. For several years the Bog worked for me with that vice like clamp. My search has found a new more compact tripod and clamp from Fooletu on Amazon. It has a saddle clamp and 360 deg. ball and height adjust from 25″ to 75″ high.
Pictured, is the new tripod holding my crossbow steady at chair height and stand up height. The clamp works great.
I can swivel and tilt at will. Cost $129.00 with a fabric case. That is a great price for the engineering that went into it. And it fits into my new hard bow case adding 4.4 pounds bringing my loaded bow case to around 40 pounds for air travel. See the fabric tripod case Below. Fits perfect in the case!
Safe Travels!