Can someone explain bear hunting to me?

[pikestabber]

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.

So in the interest of "fair chase" you fish with plain hooks and hunt ducks without decoys, I hope...

[broman]

He's not hunting ducks with bait, just decoys. Bear hunters use bait, not decoys. If you're going to try and make a point against him, at least use even examples.

[LightningBG]

He's not hunting ducks with bait, just decoys. Bear hunters use bait, not decoys. If you're going to try and make a point against him, at least use even examples.

The point is, what is fair chase?

[lichen fox]

but we don't 'bait' deer or turkey or any other game that I can think of.

We don't?? When did they change that?

Just kidding...I have hunted bears over bait for 20+ years and I can't find any words to explain it any better than Johnny P's....

[bearbait]

Well I dont know if I should laugh or be mad its just funny what some people think .But at least this topic gives me something to do since we got piled with snow again.Jonny P. that was a great post I loved it .Ive been hunting bear for 10 years and have only shot 1 boar and pasted on 3 sows .I gave up bow hunting deer to bear hunt just because it is more challanging and exciting and heart pounding fun plus u do it with friends u get great times.After u hunt bear it makes a person think that if a bear can be so elusive could there be a bigfoot out there get that in ur head when ur walking out of the woods in the pitch dark have to walk 3/4 of a mile back to ur 4 wheeler without [PoorWordUsage] yourself tell me that isnt most exciting thing u have done my heart is pumping know just thinking about it cant wait till fall.

[pureinsanity]

I by no means am a bear hunter, nor have experience doing it. I am not here to rile up anyone, but bait or not, its really not much different than they guy who sits in a pond waiting for that duck to land that feeds in that pond. Or the guy who sits on a game trail near a food plot, man made or natural because he knows a deer is coming. Or they guy chasing after a rooster working a shelter belt and next a corn field.

To each there own. technically using bait on your fishing hook is no different than bear hunting over bait.

[pureinsanity]

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

I don't blame you for not saying that. I would hate to put a bird in my mouth and bring it back to you lol

[croixflats]

Can someone explain bear hunting to me?

I feel this is a fair question to ask. It helps clear up preconceptions that may be out there. I feel the responses were very thoughtful and insightful in answering the question for the most part. If we don't ask these questions how are we to understand? I have always been fascinated with bear hunting never done a bear hunt but have been entrained by the stories over the years by friends that do bear hunt.

With that said;

What drew me to the thread was every time the thread pops up on the right column out of the corner of my I it reads "Can anyone explain beerhunting to me." that dyslexia of mine gets me every time.

[Dylan33]

I feel like Salmon is being attacked by all the bear hunters here...wierd...salmon being attacked by bears....anyway...I don't think the attacks are justified. The guy asked a question, and many of you did a great job of answering him. i just wanted to come to Salmons defense here...he never said you shouldn't do it, or it was immoral or anything...he just asked WHY YOU like to do it.

[jwmiller33]

I feel like Salmon is being attacked by all the bear hunters here...wierd...salmon being attacked by bears....anyway...I don't think the attacks are justified. The guy asked a question, and many of you did a great job of answering him. i just wanted to come to Salmons defense here...he never said you shouldn't do it, or it was immoral or anything...he just asked WHY YOU like to do it.

I agree with Dylan, I don't think the attacks are justified. It's not hard to wonder why people question the ethics of hunting over a pile of bait. I think some of the responses in this thread answered that question nicely (Johnny P specifically), but the attacks are not necessary.

[lichen fox]

...What do bear hunters find sporting about hunting over bait?...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.

No, he didn't ask Why?? He asked what we find sporting about it and is that the only way bear hunting is done?? And he went on to say...in his opinion it's not very sporting...but I would take that as...he does admit that it could possibly be somewhat sporting...but as discussed earlier...first we have to define sporting...I think some may have taken a little offense from his final statement...."It just doesn't seem very sporting to me."

[leech~~]

I feel like Salmon is being attacked by all the bear hunters here...wierd...salmon being attacked by bears....anyway...I don't think the attacks are justified. The guy asked a question, and many of you did a great job of answering him. i just wanted to come to Salmons defense here...he never said you shouldn't do it, or it was immoral or anything...he just asked WHY YOU like to do it.

Stop trying to dodge the fish baiting question dum-it! Is it fair to bait fish instead of stocking them with "bear" hands and grabbing them!

[pureinsanity]

Excellent post Dylan, but you have to look at it from other peoples aspect too. They are sharing with what they think is no different then duck hunting with decoys, or chasing roosters threw corn fields or hunting bear over a bait station.

To some people it is their passion, to others its a past time, and to some its well simply hunting.. Ive been ducking hunting a handful of times. Sure it beats a day at work, but I simply do not enjoy it much. It just doesn't appeal to me. Just like bear hunting over bait doesn't appeal to Salmon.

You either enjoy it, or you don't it is as simple as that. Even with bait, it still is a hard animal to harvest. They got a good nose on them, they probably even know you're at the bait or near by before they even get close to the bait. Hence why lots of people have been doing it for years and yet to harvest a bear.

No one is attacking him, they are just using examples in different ways

[LightningBG]

I agree, I dont see anyone attacking the OP. People are just stating comparable actions that are similar to baiting bear.

People bait deer in WI. Scents and sounds in MN for deer. Food plots. baiting a hook. Using a dog for birds and rabbits. electronic calls for coyotes. Bait for bear. Its all the same in my book.

Edit: And they are all OK in my book.

[lichen fox]

O.K. lets make an analogy...(I think that's what it's called)...

Instead of hunting bears over bait with modern day archery equipment,or firearms, how about if we hunted them with baited hook? We could have the hook attached by a long rope to a winch mounted in the back of our 250 horse powered pickup truck...we would keep the rope just a little taught so we could feel any tug by an unsuspecting bear trying to get away with the our baited hook...we would also have and oudoors camera at the site that we could monitor from our pick-up...when the bear takes the bait...we feel the tug...see it's really a bear on our monitor...and bam! We start reeling him in with our winch...while the fight is on we would drag him along over rocks, tree's through the weeds, etc....then when we got him close enough to the truck we would hoist him in the box and keep him alive until we were ready to cut him into steaks...doing it that way would surely make bear hunting more like fishing....and more sporting I presume...

[Dylan33]

Great idea Fox...THAT would make for some entertaining TV!

[motley man]

Hunting over bait for bears is no different than food plots for deer, or hunting in farm land with crops in fields. Most shows on TV are on ranches, hunting clubs, and private land with fences and only certain deer are shot. As with any fishing , hunting , or other things you will always have someone that does not know anything about it cry about it. Please do your rescearch on how things are done before knocking it.

[lungdeflator]

Like people have said, its just something you have to try. There are no guarentees. Its just the preferred method of hunting bears. Every critter has its different ways to be hunted and this is the bears method. If you look at the success rates of bear hunters they are pretty small. But look at the success rates of deer or bird hunters who dont use bait and they have high success rates.

Maybe baiting should be forced upon all game to make it "fair chase"

[lichen fox]

Dylan, I was just trying to help you answer Leech's question about fish baiting...hope it helped...

[jwmiller33]

Is it fair to bait fish instead of stocking them with "bear" hands and grabbing them!

This isn't a good comparison. You can release a fish after you catch it... It's hard to release a bear after you blast it with a gun.

[lichen fox]

Yes, we can release fish after we've slammed a sharp hook through thier mouth...fought and dragged them over boulders, tree stumps and through weeds...and completely exhausted them...but why would you want to let one go after you spent all that time and money trying to get it...they are very tasty!!

[pureinsanity]

Yes, we can release fish after we've slammed a sharp hook through thier mouth...fought and dragged them over boulders, tree stumps and through weeds...and completely exhausted them...but why would you want to let one go after you spent all that time and money trying to get it...they are very tasty!!

[jwmiller33]

Yes, we can release fish after we've slammed a sharp hook through thier mouth...fought and dragged them over boulders, tree stumps and through weeds...and completely exhausted them...but why would you want to let one go after you spent all that time and money trying to get it...they are very tasty!!

to me, fishing isn't all about catching, but to others, it is.

[LightningBG]

to me, fishing isn't all about catching, but to others, it is.

What is it about? I surely dont get up at 4am in the rainy cold to "get in touch with nature". I'm there to catch some fish.

[CANOPY SAM]

Bearbait, please excuse me, but you find what many of us are saying, or asking funny, but you admit to being afraid of Bigfoot while in the woods at night? Sorry man, but ya' gotta admit, that's kinda funny....

Salmon has the right to ask this question. Although initially saying he wasn't trying to start an argument, latter posts kind of hint toward a somewhat biased opinion. But we're all entitled to an opinion.

Please keep it civil. I think it's a good question. It's just disconcerting when the tone always shifts toward an argument on this thread.

It's a hot topic to some people. I think it deserves open, unbiased discussion. But that's just my humble opinion.