Can someone explain bear hunting to me?

[SalmonSlayer]

Let's just say all the recent press about the "researcher" in Ely has me wondering about bear hunting. I'm not looking to stir up any controversy, just curious and looking for answers from actual bear hunters. What do bear hunters find sporting about hunting over bait? I hunt waterfowl and upland birds and fish, I'm all for harvesting animals to eat, but I guess I just don't see the fair chase aspect in bear hunting. Do guys spot and stalk bear, or is it just done over bait sites? It just doesn't seem very sporting to me.

[matchset]

try bear hunting. thats the best way to convince yourself. we can blab, throw ideas about personal opinions and about the sport of it. but until you try it, you won't truly understand.

personally. i hunted bear three years in a row. i ran many bait sites, followed all the rules, had plenty of bears hitting my baits but i NEVER harvested a bear. NEVER EVEN SAW A BEAR; while hunting.

why? bait is not a guarantee, its a way to lure/place yourself in an area that bears "might" frequent... bears are wary and independent animals that do not congregate or follow patternable daily routines to the degree that other animals so.

spot and stalk? its an option, but the Dense thick cover of the minnesota northwoods are not conducive to this method of hunting. regions out west where visibility is much greater, this option is more apt to be used.

[leech~~]

Let's just say all the recent press about the "researcher" in Ely has me wondering about bear hunting. I'm not looking to stir up any controversy, just curious and looking for answers from actual bear hunters. What do bear hunters find sporting about hunting over bait? I hunt waterfowl and upland birds and fish, I'm all for harvesting animals to eat, but I guess I just don't see the fair chase aspect in bear hunting. Do guys spot and stalk bear, or is it just done over bait sites? It just doesn't seem very sporting to me.

I've taken a few. 1) It's harder then he11 to try and find and stalk bear up in the thick areas they live in. 2) Try sitting over a bait a mile back off the road as it gets dark knowing you have to walk out of there in the dark when bears are heading your way! It can be just a bit exciting. I've had them so close in the dark to hear them growl and pop their jaws! You aren't going hear that in a boat or duck blind!

[AndersonOutdoors]

Im a bear guide and theres nothing more heart pounding then sitting in a blind on the ground 10 feet from the bait with your recurve bow and putting down a 350 pound bear.

[SalmonSlayer]

I'm not doubting that it would get your heart pounding. I guess I'm just hung up on the bait thing. The bear hunting shows I see on tv make me sick. Bear ambles up to a garbage can full of bait and some schmuck blows them away while they're neck deep in the food. Say what you will about food plots, but we don't 'bait' deer or turkey or any other game that I can think of. I think most people would agree that that wouldn't be fair or ethical, why does bear hunting get a pass on that?

[mrklean]

bear are very nonturnal and baiting is one way to get them to come out in the day light, tv shows are a very poor example of real life hunting. Bait guarantees nothing, we put out corn early seaosn where we deer hunt and 90% of the deer on the cameras hit the corn at night, the bucks are were there at night. Many feel that baiting makes hunting a slam dunk bu that means nothing. Many forget that hunting isnt there just to help make the state money, its population control as well. Many of those anti's dont understand bears arent all nice and gentle like the seem to always say on the Lily facebook page, last year was the first year i bear hunted and shot my bear 20 min before dark, if those bears were so gentle we wouldnt have tracked it with a 45 to protect ourselves.

[SalmonSlayer]

Sorry if I'm coming off as an anti, believe me, I'm not. I've got a freezer full of wild game to prove it. I'm not advocating no bear hunting, I'm all for it, it's just that something about the current method of hunting bears just doesn't sit right with me.

I agree, bait doesn't guarantee anything, but you are hunting over the bait right?

I appreciate the posts, this is exactly what I was looking for. An explanation from real bear hunters.

[Bowfin]

Baiting is the only feasible way of getting a legitamate chance at a MN bear because of the dense woods they live in. One example is the hundreds of hours I've spent bowhunting in the fall for deer for the last 25 years in prime bear habitat. This is the time bears are most active as they are wondering and eating to bulk up for hibernation. During that 25 years I only saw 2 bear off my bow stand and I wouldn't have gotten a shot at either one even with my rifle.

Baiting is not as easy as it sounds as the bears, especially the big ones, know what your up to. I've hunted bear 6 separate seasons and have shot 3 smaller yearling bear. I have yet to get a real nice one. The only large bears I have had a chance at have been sows with cubs which I let pass. Harvesting a big boar is tough even with bait.

[Bowfin]

I am all for fair chase. When I feel I have an unfair advantage over the bears it will stop seeming like a challenge to me and I would stop bear hunting. This hasn't happened yet - at least not for a nice big bear as they have eluded me for 6 separate seasons - even with my prime baiting methods!

[BRULEDRIFTER]

I'm with ya Salmon! Seems trashy to me. Throwing out piles of garbage into the woods and habituating an animal to come out to it so you can blast it. Not my cup 'o' tea, that's for sure. HOWEVER, I fully understand why it has to be that way, I guess. Don't see why the bear hunters can't use dogs in MN like the cheese curds do. Seems a little more sporty to me, I guess.

I'm all for it though either way. We need to manage the bear population, so what ever works best, have at it. It's just not for me and I won't knock anyone who does it, I just don't care for it. JMHO!

[mrklean]

haha you think chasing bears with dogs is more sporting then sitting in a tree stand over bait? haha thats a new one for me

[SalmonSlayer]

Well put Brule. Thanks for saying what I was epically failing to coherently get out. I have no issue with it, or with anyone who does it, it's just not for me. Not sure what I think about subjecting a dog to going toe to toe with a bear though. I couldn't ask my pup to do that.

[matchset]

until you try it. you'll never know.

[matchset]

bear hunting takes weeks, if not, months of preparation. compiling bait, days off work, and time and gasoline too and from your hunting area.

its not easy, believe me. spend a day baiting, and you'll feel it for the next week. a 4 wheeler only gets you so far, then you have to hoof it the rest of the way.

its not comparable to other sports, and its not glamorous. but i will tell you that you won't find many half-a$$ bear hunters. unlike sports where you get multiple blasts at an animal. it takes dedication.

[Bowfin]

One more point. I've always been a do-it-yourself baiter. A lot of blood, sweat and tears go into running a productive bait line for my group of 2-4 hunters. Some of my group have shot decent sized bears. Scouting during spring/summer, lining up plenty of bait, selecting and preparing bait sites and keeping the sites baited is a lot of work - but fun. I always figure about 3 baits per person as some may be claimed by sows with cubs, some will have nocturnal bears, some will be screwed up by other hunters. It is so much work that I have taken a few years off from bear hunting to raise my small kids and stuck to something far less work - deer hunting!

My son will turn 13 next month and has 1 deer under his belt. I will probably get back into bear hunting in a year or so to see if he likes it.

[bobbymalone]

Whaddya mean you have got to use bait? Troy Gentry didn't use bait

It's def not for me, neither the technique or the quarry, but like others on here have said there aren't many other options for a successful hunt. Baiting sounds a lot more sporty than running dogs or snaring them, IMHO.

Obviously some differences (importance of calling, likely not a habitual thing, etc) but it doesn't seem to be a whole lot different than sticking a sexy hen decoy up and waiting for the toms to come in or running two dozen mallards in out in the marsh.

It's better to give somebody a chance at some meat, a rug, and a little adventure than have the population managed by road kills and conservation agents.

[PerchJerker]

I got "sent" on my first bear hunt and really wasn't looking forward to it all that much --- I had the same thought as salmonslayer and maybe some others about not too sporting and not too exciting. But I loved it --- I mean really loved it. And I've done more bear hunting since that 1st trip.

As others have pointed out, baiting is just about the only way to see bears in the dense woods. It IS fair chase and it's far from guaranteed success. And just because a bear comes in does not mean that you have to shoot it.

On my first bear hunt I shot a bear on the 5th night. It was the 9th bear I saw. Very exhilerating to say the least. They are very wary and cautious, even when coming to bait. Don't let the schmucks on TV give you the impression that what they're showing is a good representation of what really happens.

[Random guy]

Now most TV shows for bear hunting are filmed in Canada. Why? Because in Canada you have a spring hunt and they are allowed to use a wide variety of products in the bait; this includes garbage cans and basically trash. Not to mention they have a ton of bear that are very hungry after coming out off the den and I am pretty sure a film crew is going to be put on the most active bait they have where bear amble up constantly. I know that’s what I would do if I had a film crew coming to advertise for me. Either way if put my clients on hunts like that I would not be around very long as they are a sad excuse for a sporting hunt.

I watch these shows and to be honest they bother me as they paint a very poor picture of bear hunting. Especially bear hunting in Minnesota where our laws are strict and getting tighter every year. The Minnesota bear hunter is a true hunter that MUST be ethical due to laws and regs, this poses a challenge for even the savviest of bear hunters. Add the Ely Pet Center (so called bear center) along with its affiliates pumping out a steady stream of misleading media about tame bears that have little connection to any true bear and its wild habits bear hunting is getting a bad rap.

To help understand bear hunting in Minnesota let’s take a look at the target species. This is an animal that has been documented tracking a scent/kill for over 22 miles. It can detect a human up to 18 hours after a human has done as little as pass by. A bear has pinpoint night vision that make deer look like blind fools in the dark along with the fact their eyes are set in predator fashion giving them all the vision aspects of any hunting animal and their vision can be utilized to the fullest both day and night. I am not going to even get started on a bears hearing but trust me you are not going to sneak up on one unless you can float in mid air. These are not dumb animals coming to eat garbage. Once you get to watch a few bears around the baits you will soon realize they are not the dumb ones in the woods.

What gives bears the slow and dumb stereo type is of course the young ones, they do dumb things. Just as fawns, pups, kits, the 13 year old daughter or any young offspring do some pretty dumb stuff and these are the stories you hear about; not very often you are going to find a guy bragging about how he was outsmarted by four different bear but he is going to tell you the story about the yearling that tried to get in the stand with him because he was curious about humans. This also paints a picture or a easy to hunt animal.

Another problem that does happen with bear hunting is people often see the nuisance bears. This is a bear that has grown used to humans and human food sources. It could be garbage, feed troughs, bird feeders or any array easy accessible food located within proximity of modern society. Many times when you ask about bears people will tell you the story of the one in the backyard up a tree or the one tipping over garbage cans in the park or the ones the warden had to shoot while it was stealing oats out of the horse feed. This also paints a poor picture as to what bear hunting is all about.

Now to me bear hunting is about perfection and attention to detail. It is so easy to screw up a hunt or bait site for an entire season; one mistake and its over. Bear espiacailly boars are very smart animals that are ultra aware of their surroundings. For one to take a boar or any bear of size takes weeks of dedication, not just days. You have to play everything from the local food sources to the wind. Quality bear hunting is like hunting deer with super senses. I have stalked deer and harvested them , I have hunted deer in the wrong wind and taken them and I have even stood in plain sight and had deer walk up to me; these things do not happen in bear hunting. Bear hunting is truly in a category all its own as yes they are baited but to be honest that just gets them moving in your area more often, you still have to deal with a very wary animal that does have the option to eat you if needed. Bear hunters are a dedicated group of sportsman that actually got bored with other hunts and took up the challenge of bear hunting. I know I become uninterested with hunts that involve whacking a deer walking to the hay field, shooting a grouse eating the clover planted on the trail, harvesting the coyote coming to the sound of a easy meal, pulling an elk in to the sounds of an artificial mate or foe, harvesting a turkey that strutted into the sounds of a challenger and his mate …huh looks like just about any type of hunting involves a food source, lure or attractant.

[leech~~]

Wow, JP. Good morning. Good stuff. Have some coffee and breakfest now!

[BobT]

Quote:

I hunt waterfowl and upland birds and fish,

Your question is curious considering this statement you made. Don't you use decoys for waterfowl and lures/bait for fishing?

[jentz]

I'm not doubting that it would get your heart pounding. I guess I'm just hung up on the bait thing. The bear hunting shows I see on tv make me sick. Bear ambles up to a garbage can full of bait and some schmuck blows them away while they're neck deep in the food. Say what you will about food plots, but we don't 'bait' deer or turkey or any other game that I can think of. I think most people would agree that that wouldn't be fair or ethical, why does bear hunting get a pass on that?

Try hunting one with a camera,Post your pics here.I guess we should expect some soon,"its so easy"

[ac777]

Your question is curious considering this statement you made. Don't you use decoys for waterfowl and lures/bait for fishing?

+1 Don't let those animal loving peta freaks get inside your head OP! if you hunt/fish for other things with bait/lures/decoys, there should be no argument about the ethics of using bait for a bear.

[InTheSchool]

I have hunted bear over bait, over crop fields, and spot and stalk. I can't say there really is much difference. My name for bear is "black ghost". You can live in the same woods with them for 30 years and only see a couple. Or you can find what they are eating and see 10-20 at a time. If you hear one it is because he knows you are there and is trying to pinpoint you. But food is the key. When you have to consume enough calories for 365 days in as little as 150 days... Baiting is very effective in drought years where ther is little natural food. But if there is an acorn crop...forget about seeing a bear untill every last acorn is gone. One thing I learned in B.C. is there is a rut and that concentrates the males. They wander roads and trails eating the lush clover growing there defecating and leaving scent looking for a female. Early out of the den they are confused hungry and horney and relatively easy to sneak up on. And seeing 12 grizzly in one drainage munching berries, or 12 bear in 15 acres of oats, or 8 crossing the trail you are watching going into the corn is pretty cool.

But for me the thrill is the months of planning , weeks of baiting, days waiting for the right night with the right bear...That's what gets the adrenelin flowing.

[CANOPY SAM]

As always, a well thought and articulate post Jon. You should really consider running a guide service!

I've hunted bear over bait, and spot and stalked bear, and had limited success with both methods. Spot and stalk hunting is certainly not impossible, but you really need the right conditions to have any measurable success.

As most bear hunting is done in the large Coniferous forests of MN, spot and stalk hunting is a nearly impossible. Surprisingly, bear are very hard to find, or even see, simply wandering around in heavy cover. Baiting offers an opportunity, not a guarantee, that you might bring an animal into range for a clean shot.

Spot and stalk hunting can be done in areas of MN where heavily forested areas are broken up by agricultural land. Early season scouting can reveal fields or crops that bears are feeding on, and "setting up" in the right areas can be affective, but as stated earlier, these animals have extremely keen senses, and one mistake will likely result in never seeing that animal again.

I too am not a huge "fan" of baiting, but I know from experience that this process significantly ups your chances of putting meat in the freezer.

[LightningBG]

Your question is curious considering this statement you made. Don't you use decoys for waterfowl and lures/bait for fishing?

+2, some could even consider using dogs for upland hunting against "fair chase", but you wont find me saying that.