As far as hunting bragging rights go, Madison Nimmo has already staked out some pretty elite territory.
A giant black bear she took down north of Peace River last September while hunting with father, Glenn Nimmo, landed the then 13-year-old who lives on an acreage near Red Deer in the Boone and Crockett Club’s record books.
“In my 25 years of hunting I’ve never achieved anything near what she has,” said her proud father, who has taken Madison on hunting trips with him since she was a toddler. “It was quite a feat to make the North American records.
“It’s a once in a lifetime.”
Madison said the bear was actually the second she shot on the two-week moose hunting trip to the Hawk Hills area last fall with her father and family friends.
“Every time we turned there was a bear on the corner,” said the Hunting Hills High School student. They saw 15 bears in their first three days of the trip, including one monster black bear.
After getting the first bear, they went into the nearby community of Manning to get another tag just in case a good prospect came along.
It was the fourth day, when she and her father spotted again the huge bear they had the seen the day before.
The big creature got wind of them and she fired off a shot without her trigger stick, a stand to hold the rifle steady, and missed. Her second shot at 150 yards hit the bear, but it got up and started to run, before she hit it a second time.
They thought the bear was dead when it got up again and she hit it a third time from 350 yards with her Remington seven-mm-08 rifle.
Madison said once they got up close they were in complete shock at the size of the animal, which judging by its worn teeth was a wily veteran.
It was a struggle just to flip the bear over to tag it. It turned out to weight about 290 kg (650 pounds) and stands 2.4 m (eight feet) tall.
The bear was so big the taxidermist didn’t have a mount big enough so he had to modify a grizzly mount for the trophy, which now stands in their living room.
Capping off her experience, she was honoured, along with other youth hunters, at a special awards dinner in Reno, Nev., last month.
pcowley@www.reddeeradvocate.com