by Gayle Johnson
GAZETTE STAFF
The Manitoba Bowhunters Record Club recently hosted a banquet where one of Baldur’s own was honoured with an award for the second-largest bear shot with a bow in Manitoba!
So, who is this award-winning bow hunter?
None other than Walter Lockhart.
We were able to speak with Walter, who shared the details of his multi-year hunt with us:
“We had tracked that bear for at least six years.
“I passed him up four years ago because I was tracking what I thought was a larger bear at the time. I had my second chance the same year with what looked like a perfect shot. Unfortunately, I completely missed the bear when my arrow deflected off a branch.
“It was very disappointing!
“A couple of weeks later, the same bear crossed our paths again. This time, my son Owen took aim, but the arrow hit a little high and too far forward, allowing the bear to escape with only a slight flesh wound. It was enough to let him know there were hunters around, causing him to run off into the bush.
“He proved to be a wise bear.
“After the interaction with Owen, the bear stayed away from that spot in daylight, and we rarely picked him up on any trail cams after dark.
“Our paths never crossed over the next few years, with only a rare sighting of the beast on our trail cams.
“It’s wild to think that during the six years we hunted that bear, we had seen him quite a bit on the trail cam footage, but we only saw him maybe five times live. He was very sporadic, showing up just a few times a year.
“Leading up to the night I finally shot this long-sought-after, award-winning bear, I was actually after another bear who had been seen on the cameras hanging around the area with a female bear friend.
“I sat quietly, patiently waiting.
“Then, as if on cue, the bear I had been tracking for the past 6 years wandered into view. I couldn’t believe my luck!
“Taking careful aim, I hit him with a perfectly executed shot.
“I had to call for expert assistants (my sons, Owen and Mayson) to move this monster. We all knew this beast was big, but didn’t realize he would score as well as he did. Bears are hard to judge because of how they are scored.
“As soon as my taxidermist saw him, he knew immediately it was a once-in-a-lifetime bear.”
When the scoring was completed, this bear was the second-largest bear of all time, shot with a bow in Manitoba.
It also ranked in the top 5 of all time to be recorded by the Pope and Young Club, who have been preserving and documenting the bowhunting heritage across North America for over 60 years.
How big was this bear?
Walter said; “The largest bear on record scored 22 13/16, and mine scored 22 11/16, it was so close to number 1 in Manitoba!”
Not many of us can even imagine facing a bear, never mind one that large.
Congratulations on your award Walter!
