After the muzzleloader portion of my Alberta black bear hunt and the extreme encounters I was having on the first segment of my bowhunt, I was ready for anything. Bears were definitely not timid including the yearling that attempted to climb into our blind. One bear even bit into the dining tent at one point during our trip and nobody is sure how, or when it slipped into camp and left its toothy-tear on the door. 

One bait in particular caught our attention. First, it was getting visited more than a McDonald's giving away free Big Mac's. Secondly, it had plenty of sow sign meaning boars would be circling soon for breeding rights.
Finally, a small hump above the bait offered slightly higher ground for more visibility to spot incoming Yogis.

Our ground blind building went smoothly the first night until we had a surprise visitor. A boar marched in oblivious to the ongoing carpentry work for the purpose of his downfall. The bear soon sensed urgency, raided the bait, and left in Olympic record time.

Realizing we needed to finish, our outfitter Jeff Downing started tossing gear to us inside the blind so he could hustle down to the bait and retrieve the bait buck and his daypack.
Unfortunately it was too late. A sow was now in line for the buffet.

The nearby boar sensed the sow's presence and rushed back onto the scent to defend the buffet. The sow raced off in a flurry, but the big man needed one more bite and it gave me the seconds I needed to find a shot opening. When the boar leaned into the bait I drew my Mathews Z7 Xtreme Tactical and released a second later with a 9-yard shot. The Rage broadhead performed even better than expected. Blood shot from the wound and the big boar died within 30 steps.

I took a moment to regain my composure and take in the unbelievable encounter I had just experienced. Bear hunting is unnerving due to the nature of hunting big predators, but my hunt in Alberta was downright crazy.

Cutting to the front of the food line is frowned upon and I hope you learned your lesson.

 
On the Trail with Mark Kayser blog archive