Fall Bear Hunt

Hunting the black bear by the Moon River in Ontario is a patient game.

The last five days have been a blur. After taking the 20 hour Hunter Safety course (a Saturday and Sunday), which is required in order to get a hunting license in Ontario, I passed and then went up north to the Moon River, just south of Parry Sound with two friends with more experience hunting than myself. We got skunked - no bears - but had a great time. On the last day I was treated to the spectacle of my bear bait being stolen by a very industrous and completely fearless "fisher" (http://www.borealforest.org/zoo/fisher.htm). Even after cracking a .308 round above his head into the tree trunk, he simply stuck his head up out of the bucket, looked left, looked right, looked at me 80 meters away, and gave what I think was either a fisher shrug (or more likely the finger) and then dipped back down into the bucket to make off with the goods. It was almost loony-tune-esk. After that I could not begrudge him his meal and just sat back and watched him make multiple trips with his mouth full of food each time.

All around it was a good time. I look forward to going back when the nearby road construction is finished and there is no more blasting going on to scare the animals away.