When most hunters think of Saskatchewan, visions of big-bodied, heavy-racked whitetails go prancing through their heads. While the No. 1 typical whitetail of all time, the 213 5/8-inch Milo Hanson buck, indeed hails from Saskatchewan, this province to the north of Montana and North Dakota more than holds its own when it comes to producing record-book-quality black bears.
In mid-May, digital managing editor Justin McDaniel traveled to Dore Lake in northern Saskatchewan to fish its waters and hunt spring black bears on its shores with Tower Lodge Outfitting, CVA Muzzleloaders, Konus Optics, Hodgdon Powder and Realtree. While making the record book is a matter of arithmetic, you don't need a tape measure to know that big bears prowl the boreal forests north of Saskatoon.