Saskatchewan’s lady bow hunter tells her story
By Joan Janzen
Judy Bergen is a petite woman, adorned with short silver locks who regularly sports a friendly smile. Aside from her usual camouflage attire, one would never guess that Judy has earned extensive awards as a bow hunter. However one glimpse into her cozy apartment in Kindersley, reveals Judy’s passionate love of hunting.
Lined up around her living room are statues of bears in various sizes. Her walls are festooned with bear, coyote, fox and badger pelts, antlers and an impressive mounted bear head, all of which make it apparent that Judy has a story that needs to be told.
She grew up in Vancouver. “I was a city kid, but I was a very good tom boy. I hated dresses and having my hair done,” she explained. “I loved motorcycles. I had a Harley Davidson and a dirt bike. While all the girls got dolled up and went to the beach, I went dirt biking in the country and came back with mud on my face. To me that was life!”
In 1978, Judy moved to the prairies, to Luseland, Sask. where she raised her family. She had always enjoyed watching westerns on television, and so she was thrilled to be able to start riding horses. “That was my life long dream - to ride horses,” she said. She also learned how to break horses and how to rope, but that’s not all. Judy learned how to hunt.
When she was given the opportunity to go hunting in the late 1980’s, she decided to give it a try. “I found a bow as big as I was, and I taught myself to shoot a bow,” she said. “And I had a back up gun in case something happens.”
“When I first started I went with a group of friends. We went hunting in the Loon Lake area, hunting for black bears, moose, elk,” she said. Judy pointed to the bear hanging on her wall and said, “That’s my first bear. His name is Boomer. I listen to a lot of westerns and I love that name; it’s off a bear in Gun Smoke.” Boomer made his way on to Judy’s wall some time in 1989.
Now Judy prefers to go hunting alone, or with her daughter. About two years ago Judy went bear hunting at Moose Country Lodge, located between North Battleford and Meadow Lake. “I take the truck out to a certain point and then I walk in,” she said. Sometimes she will set out bait for the bears and check on it every day. “But I prefer walking. I can get up to five or ten yards from a bear. I always go in fairly noisy so they know I’m in the area. If they know I’m there, they’re not threatened, and they have a chance to get away. Sometimes they’re curious about me, so they stay around and watch me and I watch them.”
She explained how she can tell the difference between a male and female bear. “You can tell it’s a male by the way the bear walks and holds its head. The female’s sound to alert their cubs is different than the male’s sound,” she explained.
After Judy has successfully hit her target, she needs to get the bear to her vehicle. “I can’t lift it, so I skin it and de-bone it out in the field. Then I pack it out to the truck in a back pack, and hope no wolves or bears are behind me, because they smell the blood. I am fortunate I have never had that encounter,” she said. “It takes a few trips and I carry the hide out last.”
There have been times when this lady hunter recalls having had a close call. “I shot a bear once and it came after me. I climbed a tree, somehow, and the bear slumped over and died at the base of the tree. That raised the hair on the back of my arms!”
How does Judy stay safe? “I know God is beside me all the time, protecting me because I could have been mauled many times. That’s my church - in the woods,” she explained.
Judy has accumulated a vast number of awards that are tucked away in a large plastic tote. Her list of awards is extensive: Best Antelope 1995, Best Mule Deer 1998, Best White Tail 2000 and 2009, Best Moose 2008, Best Elk 2008, Grand Slam 2008, Bow Hunter of Saskatchewan - 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, North American Bow Hunter - 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, Saskatchewan Lady Bow Hunter from 1988 all the way until 2009, and North American Top Bow Hunter.
“I’ve got a jacket with all the awards on it,” Judy said, and proceeded to get the coat out of her closet to show me. She held it up proudly and said, “This coat is my pride and joy.”
Her most recent hunting experience was in October of 2021 when her daughter took her hunting. “She drove the truck and I went on foot after the moose,” Judy explained. “The cow moose was watching the truck, so she didn’t notice me. I was about ten yards away and then I got her. I like to get my animals at ten yards or less. She went five yards and dropped; it was a clean shot. That’s my meat for all year round.”
When asked what she loves most about hunting, Judy replied, “I love putting the big one down. It’s not the work I enjoy, it’s the shooting it and having it go down instantly.”
Judy may be small and petite, but she’s courageous and has some big stories to share.
Photos by Joan Janzen
Judy Bergen holds up her coat with all her awards written on it. “This coat is my pride and joy”, she said.
This is the first bear that Judy ever shot. She named him “Boomer” after a bear on the old western TV show Gun Smoke.
