any of you guys ever go on a bear hunt? i like the idea of going to canada where i can get two bears. Ill probably book a hunt at the Dallas Safari Club show. Any suggestions or anybody yall have used.

I went to Manitoba a while back and shot a nice 6ft bear with Southside Outfitters. I don't know if they are at Dallas Safari Club but it was a great experience and I would say go for it.

was it a pain getting a gun into canada?

This was back in 2001 in the pre 9/11 days but at the time you had to fill out some declarations, have the rifle locked in a case and stored apart from the ammo and that was pretty much it. I actually got grilled more getting back through customs on the US side. The guy asked me a few questions like when I purchased my rifle, from where, and then how much I paid for it.

The only other thing to note is that if you hunt over bait you need to have a good imagination since you can spend quite a bit of time on stand. I got my bear the next to last night of the hunt and during those long afternoon/evenings on stand I had pretty much solved all my exisiting problems plus many of the world issues, LOL!!

I book most of my trips through TARSPORTING.com

They were in the N.E. somewhere but are now in Texas near Dallas. They have an exotic ranch in TX but the owner is also an African PH. I went on their bear hunt in Maine one year and took a nice one. I also went on their Eastern Canada bear hunt and got a big one. Canada was a pain to get to but the outfitter took care of everything when we landed, and the rifle permits were taken care of by them too. I can't find the # I had but I think the office # is 469-338-0071. Good luck!

how many bear would you see while hunting over bait?

When I hunted with tarsporting in '05 and '08 I saw several bears. On the '05 trip I shot the first one I saw the first day. The next day I went out with camera and saw one more on a different bait. In '08 I saw three small bears the first night. They moved me to another stand and I saw two and shot the second one. One guy in camp with me that week saw five at once and one with a radio collar. Both trips everyone got a bear in the 3 days but I think if I definitely had to get a bear on that trip I would book the 6 day trip to make sure.

did you get a rug made or full mount?

I got a full mount on the ME trip. The outfitter took care of skinning, freezing and FedExing to Keep it Real Taxidermy in Castroville, TX. That taxidermist had been bear hunting before and had some experience with bears. A lot of the smaller taxidermists around had never done a bear before. On the Canada trip I took the skin over the border with me and sent it to a guy in New York that was recommened. It came out nice and was shipped to my house in TX when it was done.