My friend Daryl and I went south of Calgary and fished one of the well known locations on the Bow River. We had not had a lot of good early weather this year and nice fishing days were rare. You can see in the picture that the ice behind Daryl is still very deep. We both caught a few 15- to 18-inch fish before Daryl hooked this 26-inch plus beauty on a #10 San Juan worm. The fight was very exciting on his 5 weight fly-rod. Too bad the photographer couldn't think clearly enough to get out of the way of the light. Of course this fish was released unharmed. - Rob Brown

2002 was the first year I ever tried hunting bear. I had bought a bear tag in 2001, but only kept it with me "in case". Out here in the Rocky Mountain House area you are allowed to bait bears, and since having only seen one bear in the three years I've lived and hunted here, I decided I'd try it.
  I knew of a good spot so I set up my bait station with some scraps from a butcher shop as soon as the season opened. The first couple weeks went by without any hits. I mentioned this to a friend and he suggested that I try using some oats and molasses.
  Monday night after work, I went down to the grocery store and bought a bag of quick oats and a couple little cartons of cooking molasses. I went out to my bait site and added the contents to my barrel. However, I didn't think I had enough molasses, so the next night I bought two more little cartons.
  I parked my truck at a lease, grabbed my browning .270 and the shopping bag of molasses and headed out towards my bait station. Walking through a small clearing and over a rise the first thing I noticed was that the deadfall I had placed around the barrel had been knocked down. My heart jumped as I realized my bait had been hit. Next I noticed the barrel on its side a few meters from where I had placed it. It took a couple of seconds for me to realize that the bear was right there, about 20-25 yards away, eating from the barrel. I dropped the shopping bag I had, realizing later that that might have been a mistake for the sound it made. I just stood there for a couple of minutes, running over the rule book on bears: #1; can't shoot a sow with cubs. Okay, no cubs around. I raised my rifle and all I saw was a black blur as I realized my scope was set at 9X. I dropped the rifle down with a brief exclamation, turned the power down and re-sighted the bear. Okay Mike, try to relax, breathe and squeeze the trigger. BOOM! The bear jumped and started running. I quickly loaded another shell in the chamber, but the bear ran away from me. He only ran about 15-20 yards before collapsing against a tree.
  I had some friends come out to help me with my bruin, and we measured him at roughly 6' 2" and estimated him at about 375 pounds. One of the guys is an outfitter and he told me my bear was a big bear for the area, and a visitor of his said he didn't think there were any more big bears in the area where I got him.
  Guess I was lucky. And I still have the two other cartons of molasses.

Mike Duff
Rocky Mountain House, Alberta

- Thanks, Tyler W.