One 'mother' of a bear shot near Oak Grove Camp

Ken Johnston
Editor

“It could very well be a record sized bear for Ontario!” said Larry Budreau, owner of Oak Grove Camp near Rainy River.
Budreau had a hunting party in from the United States last Thursday that shot a big black bear under the guide services of Shane Gulbrandson. However the bear, which weighed in at 714 lbs., did not fall right away after being shot like most bears do.
In fact the hunters had to track it most of Friday. When they did find it they had to shoot it 8 more times to kill it. “Every time they got near it, it would get back up. Luckily it did not go after the people,” said Budreau.
In all his years of operating the camp, Budreau said he has never seen a black bear this big. “They usually average about 200-250 lbs. I have seen them upwards of 400 lbs., but never this big.”
The bear, shot by first time bear hunter, Bobby Wayne of Selina, Kansas, stood 7 feet 11 inches high. Weighing the animal was a task in itself. “We hauled him in on a flat bed trailer to Saw Bones Meat Cutting, but could not move him onto the scales,” said Budreau. So they hauled the scales out to Oak Grove and used a tractor to lift the bear. It tipped them at 714 lbs.
To determine if it is a record sized bear the taxidermist will remove the skull, let it dry for 60 days and send it in to determine its place in the Ontario standings. Budreau is confident that it is at least a record black bear for Northwestern Ontario.
The size of him made Budreau think that there will be some big bears coming out of the region in the years to come as his offspring grow up.
The bear was finally killed a mile back in the bush from the bait station. Being so big it took the better part of a day to get him out of the woods.
Wayne plans to have a full body mount made of the bear. Budreau said, “I don’t know where he will put something that big in his house!”