campjd.ca or campjd.com the Best bet at bear hunting in Northern Ontario

Published by Tanya on 30 Aug 2008

New Photos!

Come check out new posted photos from one of the many recent successful bear hunts!

More photos have been added today! (Sept. 5th, 2008)

Published by Pete on 21 Aug 2008

Timmins Daily Press talks about a recent successful bear hunt!

Hunters get a scare from charging bear
By ARRON PICKARD, THE DAILY PRESS
Wednesday is a day bear hunters Domanic Polfus and Larry Lenzi will never forget.

It was around 8:15 a. m. that Lenzi shot and killed a 370- pound black bear near Langmuire Road.

His friend, Polfus, lay only metres away in a ground blind with nothing but a video camera and a knife — he had used up his bear tag earlier in the week and was looking to capture some footage.

Polfus never imagined he’d come about five feet from sheer terror.

Lenzi, who was perched in a tree stand, took aim at the large bruin as it emerged from the woods. They had been listening to the bear for about 90 minutes before it decided to show itself. At one point, both men thought it might be a moose, Lenzi said.

The bear emerged about 10 feet from where Polfus lay.

“It was dark in the bush,” Polfus said. “I guess the bear thought the ground blind was another bear. It looked right at me and barked.

“After Larry shot it, it turned and charged right at me. It was only five feet away from me when it went down.”

Going into a hunting situation without a firearm is something he’ll never do again, Polfus said.

“I was a marine for eight years and I’ve never been more scared than I was this morning.”

Polfus and Lenzi are part of a four-man group who travelled to Camp JD on Highway 101 from Pittsburgh, Pa.
It was the first bear Lenzi has killed. He has been hunting bears for 13 years in the United States.
“It was very exciting,” he said. “I’ve seen many bears, but I’ve never shot any. When the bear came out of the woods, I thought it was going to run back in. But when it started moving toward the bait, my heart started thumping … I could go the rest of my life without shooting another bear and I’d be happy.”

Upon closer inspection of the bear, Polfus and Lenzi discovered a radio collar around its neck. Apparently, the bear had been trapped by the Ministry of Natural Resources in Sudbury near a doughnut shop on Lasalle Boulevard and released in Marquette Township on Highway 144.

“It’s not strange for a bear to travel that distance and they’ve been known to travel further than that,” said MNR information officer Ben Legouffe.

“There has been a really bad berry crop in Sudbury this year so this bear was likely following the berries north,” Legouffe said.

The tags on the bear’s ears revealed the animal had been released Aug. 27 of last year.

Legouffe said anyone who shoots a bear that has been tagged in 2008 should not eat the meat because there is still likely residual chemicals in its system from the tranquilizer.

“It was certainly nice of the camp owners to let us know about this bear,” Legouffe said.

He added there aren’t a lot of bears tagged in this area this year because there haven’t been many nuisance bears.

Camp JD owner Wayne Martin said there are lots of bears in the area, but they are very elusive this year and he credits that to the fact there is plenty of food available.

“There are lots of berries so the bears are hard to bring in,” Martin said.

Rounding out Lenzi and Polfus’ hunting party were Jeff Lenzi and Terry Pavlack. They were also joined by Tom Volk. All have nothing but good things to say about hunting in Northern Ontario.

“We had a very good time and we’ll all be back,” Polfus said.

Pictures of the hunts will be displayed as soon as we receive some! We are just as excited as you are to be able to see them!