As most of you are aware I love bear hunting. Manitoba makes it easy to bear hunter, so it's just a natural fit for hardcore bowhunters. This past spring I got an email from a potential client. They sent me a ton of emails in quick succession. I noticed that the bottom had Chinese lettering, so I thought I should just talk to this person on the phone.It was a female voice on the other end. Yes, the population of female hunters is growing, which is good because I have 3 daughters. Anyways I assumed she (Qian) was asking about the hunt for her father or boyfriend. Well, I got that assumption wrong and just made an ass out of me! Qian told me how she is a student at one of the local Winnipeg universities and wanted to try to hunt. She had started fishing a year ago and really enjoyed it, so her friends (non-hunters) suggested she try hunting. I asked her how she found my information, she said through my YouTube channel.
The problem was Qian didn't have a weapon to use and only had time for a 1-day hunt. Luckily I had just received a new cross-bow for friends and family, so it would work out perfectly. We arranged a day for the hunt, and the plan was to get her to practice before walking in. Cross-bows are extremely easy to shoot, so I had no worries that she wouldn't be proficient. Before the hunt, she watched my tutorial on how to shoot bears, and I did encourage her to watch other videos as well.
We met and drove out to the spot. I set up a target with a tripod as a rest for the cross-bow. Her first shot was not good, I started to have second thoughts. After a few adjustments to the tripod, Qian was able to hit the center every time.
As we walked in we spooked a bear, we never saw it just heard it. At this bait a few days earlier I noticed a sow in there with 3 toaster-sized cubs. I suspected that it could be the sow. About an hour into the sit a sow with a unique face walked in, she was off-limits. She came to investigate but took off shortly after like she was shot from a canon.