Three local hunters trekked up to Canada for a weeklong bear hunt, and two returned with kills. Now before we go on, many of you are probably picturing three burly guys hunting with guns in the Canadian wilderness.

Erase the image from your mind, because this story revolves around three women who love the outdoors and went after black bears with archery gear.

To add a further twist, one of them had never hunted big game of any sort with a bow and none of them had ever pursued bears. Not only were two successful, but the third hunter passed on a bear she originally thought was too small.

Ellen Benitz, regional director for the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF), was joined by Karla Ledom and Sherry Hill, both fellow NWTF members and avid outdoorswomen.

The trip offered some interesting experiences and lessons.

First, the owners of Bearpaw Landing, where the women hunted, told them to take shirts to the stands that they had worn on the trip and leave them so the bears would grow accustomed to their scent, said Benitz, who shot her bear on the trip’s second day.

Ellen recalled the excitement as her bear came in and out of the bait crib three times before settling in. He even took a few seconds to check out her shirt and decided the scent wasn’t much of a threat. Big mistake.

When the bear offered a shot, Ellen drew back. But the bear caught movement and scurried off about 10 yards. After a while, he took another sniff of her shirt and settled back in on the bait sight.

Ellen drew her bow a second time and sent her arrow a mere 7 yards, hitting its mark perfectly. Unfortunately, the bear made a sprint into the thick woods without leaving a great blood trail.

Ellen notified lodge owners Carl and Susan Seek, and it wasn’t long before they recovered Ellen’s first bear, which tipped the scales at more than 200 pounds.

Ellen said she was torn about taking the shot. “I thought there about waiting for a larger bear, but I knew if I took this one, I could continue to go out and hunt with one of the other gals,” she said.

She also realized that if she passed on it, another opportunity might come.

“Bear Paw really catered to us gals,” Ellen said, “from putting in extra steps up to the tree stands and doing everything humanly possible to get us a bear. They did all they could to make the week a success.”

While Karla Ledom wasn’t fortunate enough to take a bear, she had the chance.

“I actually saw one after several days of him tapping his teeth in frustration and circling behind me,” she said. “The day he came into the stand, I thought he was a little small.”

The three hunters had been told by the lodge owners that if a bear is bigger than the five-gallon bait bucket, it was big enough to shoot. The young bear came in but left too quickly, without offering a clear shot. Karla named him “Fast Food.”

Ten minutes later, Karla saw what she thought was another bear 50 yards away through the brush in a blueberry patch. As it stood up on its hind legs and looked toward Karla, she thought “Geez, he’s huge.” That’s when she realized it was “Fast Food.”

Apparently he was hanging out and keeping an eye on his bait sight because every time the squirrels and jays made a ruckus, he would look up and check things out, she said.

As the sun set, Karla decided to head in. As “Fast Food” lowered his head out in the blueberry patch, Karla climbed down. As she reached the ground, she discovered “Fast Food” was now standing a mere 10 yards away and staring at her.

“It was then that I was very certain that I could definitely shoot a bear. His head looked huge from that perspective,” Karla said.

She quickly scrambled back up into the stand but unfortunately it had gotten too dark, and she had to wait until the bear left the area to make her exit.

“As soon as I saw his furry rear end going back toward the berry field, I scampered back down and got the heck out of the woods — looking over my shoulder the whole time,” she said.

Although Karla didn’t take a bear, she had a great time and is considering going again next year.

Sherry Hill sat the full week before a bear came within range during shooting hours. For the first-time bowhunter, seeing a bear in the wild was breathtaking and having one within archery range made it even more thrilling.

A different bear had come under her stand four days earlier, but it was too dark to take a shot. Sherry and lodge owner Susan Seek had to climb out of the stand that night with the bear standing a mere 10 yards away.

On the last day of their hunt, another bear arrived. Sherry said, “I was amazed at how calm I was when drawing back and shooting. OK, I was terrified and trembling and was sure the sound of my heart beating would scare him away.”

Knowing she had only one shot was a little disquieting. But at close range with no obstacles, she knew her chances of making a killing shot were good.

Sherry kept her composure and made a fantastic shot, dropping her 185-pound bruin within 40 yards.

“Ellen told me I must have had an angel with camo wings helping out,” Sherry said.

One of Sherry’s favorite parts of the week was coming out every evening and meeting up with her friends to swap stories.

“We were hunting in a (Bear Mangement Area) 36 (kilometers) down a rough gravel road, and our trips back and forth to the lodge were filled with laughter,” Sherry said.