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My two sons and I spent the week of June 5th black bear hunting with Mike's Outfitting.

From airport pick-up to airport drop-off everything met or exceeded my expectations.

Mike's outfitting has the land, equipment, bear management plan and most of all great people to provide high quality bear hunts.

Our hunt was six days Monday thru Saturday. I saw bears every day I hunted. On Tuesday I took the 11th bear I saw on the trip a dandy boar with a great hide and a head over 19". This was my first bear ever.....something I had been hoping for, for over 30 years. After filling my first tag, Josh my guide moved me to a new site where he had trail camera pictures of two big bears, a black and a chocolate. About 8:30 on my third evening of hunting that bait, I was fortunate to have the big black come in. He was the 20th bear I saw on this trip. After what seemed like forever to me the big bear gave me the shot opportunity I needed. The broadside shot that Mike told us all to wait for in order to put a bear down quick. I texted my guide Josh and told him I had shot a big one and was confident he was hit well. Josh texted back "the team is on the way". After what seemed like forever, Josh along with guides Cody and Gerard came rolling in on their quads. Those guys wasted no time inspecting the arrow and then looking for a blood trail. No blood trail was apparent in the thick cover at first but it didn't matter because Cody said "here he is". I don't think the bear made it 30 yards from where he was shot. When I saw the excitement in the guides I knew we had something very special. This bear pulled the scale down past 400lbs, squared well over 7' and has a head just over 21". A bear of a lifetime.

Thank you Josh Harb (my guide)for all your hard work. Thank you Cody and Gerard. These guys are an extremely hard working team dedicated to doing everything they can to help their hunters succeed.

Anna the cook kept us fed all week with her delicious meals.

It was great to meet Mike and spend the week at his lodge. When you see the mounts of the animals he has taken with his bow you have no doubt he is a very serious and excellent bow hunter. I especially liked to hear Mike talk about bears and bear hunting. There is no doubt Mike and his guides have dedicated themselves to getting their hunters opportunities at big bears in the spring.

A bonus to our trip was to share camp with Mikes brother Phil, one of Mike's nieces and two of Mike's nephews. Great people and good times for sure. Congratulations to Mike's niece and nephew on getting their first bears.

Another bonus was getting to see elk, moose, mule deer, whitetails and coyotes.

Congratulations to my youngest son Nathan for getting his first bear on this hunt. Jacob my oldest son held out for a giant but it was not meant to be on this trip. We have made plans to return in 2020 to hunt the giant bears at Mikes Outfitting again.

John Kissella (304)677-7563