Local man to be featured on buddy’s TV show

The two men grew up in Big Falls, but hadn’t seen one another until Newberg returned to Big Falls for a visit after 18 years. Newberg is a 1983 graduate of Littlefork-Big Falls High School and now lives in Bozeman, Mont.

“We’d kept in contact, emails and texts, talking and Christmas cards, and we met up five years before this and went fishing,” explained Treat.

Treat was invited in February to hunt in May in Alaska with Newberg when another person canceled. When Newberg called a week later to confirm, he told Treat to just bring a sleeping bag and long underwear, because the other equipment would be provided by sponsors of the show.

The trip included Newberg, Treat and a cameraman. It was Treat’s first trip to Alaska and he said he was impressed with the scenery, the hunt and the success.

Treat flew from International Falls to Seattle and met Newberg there, where they flew to Juneau, Alaska. A smaller plane was taken from Juneau to Petersburg. A deHavilland Beaver float plane was taken from Petersburg 100 miles to Kuiu Island, a part of the Tongass National Forest and isolated area that boasts on a website of having just 10 residents.

Newberg sailed from Juneau with a relative and brought a boat to use during the hunt. Treat, Newberg and the cameraman stayed in a U.S. Forest Service cabin.

Newberg’s show features non-guided hunts and the website claims “Any hunt you see on our show is a hunt you can do.”

The first three days of the trip saw low temperatures of 35 and highs of 45 with rain. “The weather was terrible,” he said.

Treat and the cameraman scouted for bear the first couple days of the trip while Newberg, who suffers from a liver condition, rested after the grueling sail trip.

Treat has bear hunted in Borderland, but not harvested one. “The bear, when they come out of their dens, are looking for food,” he said. “The bear we saw were on a beach.”

The tide changes 16 feet in a day and he said it played a huge role in the hunt. The tide also requires extra care with the boat, which was tied carefully so it wasn’t left high and dry, as it was one day.

As the tide recedes, it exposes beaches full of grass that has washed in, drawing bear to feed on the grass, he said.

“We would float around in these bays with big beach areas and you would see a bear,” he said. After determining wind direction, they would bring the boat to shore downwind of the bear and attempt to get close enough for a good shot at the bear.

The part of Alaska Treat hunted has so many black bear that the season is open all but one month. Treat said he saw 39 bear in the seven-day trip.

Newberg’s show attempts to feature the hunt of the guest. And, Treat said, the pressure was on to be successful as the days wore on.

The last four days of the trip “were awesome,” said Treat, as the rain stopped and temperatures rose into the 50s with little wind.

Treat said he was amazed by the huge trees, which he said “looked like the magical forest of ‘The Hobbit’ movies. Everything is brilliant colored and moss covered.”

An attempt to harvest a bear didn’t go well, he said.

“I felt really bad,” he said. “One, I screwed up on.”

Treat said they saw what they believed to be the same big bear, estimated to weigh about 400 pounds, three times and the wind was right when they came into shore. Newberg stayed with the boat as the tide was going out and Treat and the cameraman attempted to get close to the bear.

“I thought the bear could see me,” he said, noting the bear was about 600 yards away on the shoreline. Treat said he didn’t know that bear have poor eyesight and rely on their sense of smell.

“They would lay down and grab and scoop up the grass,” he said. At 350 yards, the bear walked toward the men. During the hunt, the cameraman and Newberg wore ear phones to communicate.

“The whole time Randy is in the boat watching and the cameraman tells me that Randy is cussing. Here he is trying to tell us to get closer because the bear can’t see us. If they smell you, that’s the bad thing.”

Treat said Newberg was a little frustrated by the lack of success by Treat and the cameraman, both inexperienced in the hunting of bears.

“He is under pressure,” he said. The previous year he had hunted the same area and didn’t harvest a bear. “He was a little quiet for a while in the boat,” said Treat.

As they left the area, they saw a bear on an island exposed by the receding tide, which caused Newberg’s mood to lighten.

“I am riding on the nose of the boat to land on rocks and try to keep the boat from making noise,” said Treat. The clarity of the water deceived Treat and he entered water that was over his head in front of the boat. “There was no bottom and I had the gun in my hand and the boat is almost running me over,” he said. “I scrambled up to shore and the camera guy is filming me.”

Treat said he doesn’t enjoy having his picture taken and feels a little funny about being on TV. “Of course, one of the big things will probably be me in the water — comic relief.”

Cinched waders kept one of Treat’s legs dry, but the other was soaked as they began to stalk the bear that they figured would have been spooked away by the commotion of the boat landing.

“The bear was still there, we got set up and the bear turned and sat down,” said Treat. “He was trying to figure out what he was smelling.”

With advice from Newberg to aim for the front shoulder, Treat shot. “It flipped over, ran about 20 yards and died on the edge of the wood line,” he said.

“It was so exciting,” Treat said. “I never thought I would be excited to shoot a bear; it was the sixth evening before I shot a bear.”

That’s when it became very apparent that the hunt was being filmed, said Treat. The cameraman videoed the shot from behind Treat, but then wanted footage of the men stalking the bear.

“We had to go back so he can video us coming from the boat and we hadn’t even got close to see how big the bear was,” he said.

Treat said he was also reminded by the cameraman of the details. For instance, if a glove is taken off, such as Treat did to pull the trigger, the glove must be put back on to film the recreation of the walk from the boat prior to the shot.

“I was so excited, soaking wet, smiling, and he’s wondering where my glove is and when I took it off,” said Treat.

For the safety of the cameraman, the rules of Newberg’s show don’t allow the hunter to walk with a shell in the chamber of the gun until they are ready to shoot. “I said you’re going to have to remind me to put a shell in the chamber because that’s not normal, because normally you just take the safety off and shoot,” Treat said he told the cameraman.

Treat said he could tell shooting the bear took the pressure off the other two men.

“It was like the weight of the world was off their shoulders,” he said. “They were so excited. I didn’t realize it was such a big deal.”

As the tide receded, it left a few feet of water allowing the bear to be easily placed in the boat and taken back to camp. The bear was skinned, the meat removed and the skull kept. Only bones of the carcass, which was placed in the deep water, were left 12 hours later as the receding tide showed.

In the last two days, the trio saw several bear and the grass was greening because of the sun and Treat said they were confidant Newberg would also shoot a bear. Within 80 yards, Newberg passed up a bear, hoping instead to shoot “Hank the Tank,” a nickname he’d given a large bear seen earlier.

On the last day of the hunt, boaters in the first boat seen during the trip reported that a huge bear was right around the corner from the men, while they were taking a break on shore.

The bear was eating grass when the men approached to about 260 yards when the wind switched, allowing the bear to smell the men.

Newberg shot the bear just as it turned. It ran into the woods shaking its leg. Treat, who wasn’t carrying a gun, and Newberg followed the blood trail into a blowdown of the huge trees, providing a lot of cover for a wounded bear.

“I’ve never been scared in the woods, but,” he said.

The bear was not recovered after five hours of searching, with the men on their hands and knees during the last hour of trailing.

That was the first time Newberg had shot an animal and failed to recover it.

“He was really upset about it and he even asked me to leave while he filmed it,” said Treat. “He was really emotional about it.”

Treat said Newberg planned to make two shows of the trip: one of Treat’s successful hunt and the other that may be televised next year that discusses the highs and lows of shooting a bear and not finding it.

“You’ve wounded an animal and that’s always hard,” said Treat. “When you hunt a lot, it’s going to happen.”