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 10^th 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 9^th 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 5^th 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 8^th 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

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!

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!!!

2009 SPRING BLACK BEAR HUNTING REVIEW

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

2009 Fall Black Bear Review

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**

2009 Waterfowl Hunting Review

From start to finish, birds and more birds! The migration on the central flyway was way behind due to the warm weather but we still had lots of local birds and some birds from the North to really give us some awesome bird hunting the first couple of weeks. Even though we had a very late and cold spring, local ducks and geese still had a great hatch. The non-resident season opened this year on September 28, so from September 20 the scouting, servicing waterfowl equipment, fixing old blinds and establishing new ones started.

Limits of greater Canada geese and mallards were abundant as every group was limiting out on both on grain fields. Due to the warm weather, diver ducks were slim up until October 8, but on October 9, a wicked cold front that saw snow all day (2 inches) and more to the north, brought divers by the thousands down. What a sight! Our divers were back and the start of the heavy migration started. More Canada geese and puddle ducks found their way down too, giving us lots of "new" birds to hunt! Lots of mornings throughout the waterfowl hunting, groups of 4-6 hunters were limiting on Canada geese and mallards in 20-30 minutes!

On October 4, water temperatures were plus 8 Celsius and by October 12 had dipped to plus 1 Celsius. The fishing throughout September and October was absolutely amazing with many walleye over 28 inches caught and released, what a bonus! Considering we had such a cold and late spring, I was worried our ruffed grouse wouldn't have a good hatch, but to my surprise, grouse hunting too was unreal as lots of hunters brought limits back to the lodge in the evenings - waterfowl, grouse and walleye. What a treat when all 3 cooperate! The last 5 falls have been like this and 2010 looks to be the same.

As the end of October rolled around and the waterfowl hunting/fishing was nearing another end, the migration was still happening as on October 29, thousands of new birds where arriving. Greater Canada geese, puddle ducks and divers were everywhere. Not only was the hunting still good, fishing just as amazing, as anglers to this day (November 30) are still enjoying this great fishery.

Field hunting and hunting over the water were both amazing and absolutely incredible this fall. Watching these birds decoy or choosing to pass shoot points for divers for those that choose to do so, were both good. A good number of banded birds were taken too and also a couple red heads with numbers barely visible, probably being older birds.

Once again we hosted well re-known outdoor writer and dog trainer Dennis Anderson from the Minnesota/St. Paul Star Tribune and Casy Hawkes from Idaho on a hunt through "Hunt of a Lifetime". (Please see Agassiz News on Dennis Andersons article/video clip and some pictures and write up of Casey and his hunt through "Hunt of a Lifetime. Thank you to our guides/scouts for all your hard work and hoping this fall is another great one! We'd also like to extend a big thank you to all the farmers who let us on your land to hunt birds. Much appreciated!

Happy Hunting,
Rick

Agassiz Outfitters

2009 Whitetail Hunting Review

Above average temperatures really played havoc with our rut. From Spring Bear on I was worried that this was going to happen, as our spring was very late in arriving. With temperatures around plus 10 Celsius the second and third weeks of November, it really affected our rut. The rut was very slow and drawn out and as I write this review (November 25) smaller bucks are still chasing with the big bucks moving more at night. This weekend the rut may kick in high gear as cooler temperatures are expected.

Deer hunters still saw lots of deer and bucks from the 120-130 class were still common, with some bigger ones presenting no shots. We still have no snow, which also made it tough seeing deer moving through areas. So far, the deer are in really good shape and should winter well depending of course what happens from now on and into spring. An early or average spring should see the deer winter well. Most deer all have twins with them this fall which is great for the future too if winter is good to them.

I started putting deer stands up on October 19, rubs and scrapes were at a minimum. Lots of new areas and areas hunted in the past weren't showing any signs of even the pre-rut. By November 10, slowly more rubs and scrapes were appearing but were really behind. My prediction is that most of North America where trophy deer hunting is big, reports will be the same. Deer numbers are good and hopefully we'll get a heavy rut in 2010!!

Happy Hunting,

Rick
Agassiz Outfitters