DOUG PHILLIPS
Joshua Castellano of Schomberg , Ont ., with a nice black bear taken at Olive the Lake .
Olive the Lake owners Dave + Cara Smetana and family .
No bear , no problem
OLIVE THE LAKE HUNT SATISFYING FOR LOTS OF OTHER REASONS
There are no words to describe the look on Dave ’ s face as he walked through the door , a grin from ear to ear , telling us a big black bear was down and he was on his way to help the hunter retrieve it .
I was up in the Marten River area with my moose hunting buddy Bill Goderre for the first spring bear hunt since the Ontario government bowed to pressure and banned this hunt back in 1999 . Bill was there to fish , I was there to hunt and fish , and that we did , staying at Olive the Lake Lodge , which Dave Smetana , his wife Cara and three young boys Ryan , Evan and Cameron had bought this spring .
We arrived May 31 , and already the week before hunters had taken a 225 and 350 pounder . As soon as we arrived , Dave showed us our cabin , rustic but clean and cozy . A pleasant surprise , Tempur-Pedic mattresses for a couple of people with bad backs – it doesn ’ t get more comfortable than that . Everything in the cabin and outside worked perfectly – hot showers , fridge , stove , microwave , propane BBQ . We had a screened-in porch . The boats were 14-footers with 9.9 HP Yamaha outboards which never leaked a drop .
The only tough part afterwards was telling people I didn ’ t see a bear . While we were there , seven bears were seen and two shot , one by a fellow named Josh Castellano from Schomberg , Ont . north of Toronto , on his birthday no less . But it wasn ’ t that big a problem for me , though I did sit every night for five hours in a newly built comfortable tree stand over freshly loaded bait ,
but no bears came to me . The blackflies and mosquitoes were deafening for the first 10 minutes , but I had a head net and as soon as I turned on the ThermaCELL I knew in few minutes I ’ d be able to hear again .
14 | FISH , HUNT RIDE www . fishhuntandride . ca