2013 MN Archery Bear Hunt

[Scoot]

Four years ago I started accumulating preference points for a MN bear hunt. This past season I was lucky enough to draw a tag for the unit my mother-in-law has a lake cabin in. Below is a mostly photo essay of my archery bear hunting experience. For the record, I've never hunted bear in my life and the whole process has been a learning experience for me. It's been fun, and at times frustrating. However, time in the tree and out in the wild is always a beautiful thing!

After snooping around and looking for a place to bait, I discovered that the guy who lived right up the hill from the cabin had about 80 acres of private land that butted up to public land and google earth showed a trail that went right to the edge of the public land. I went to talk to him to ask him if I could drive down that trail and bait on the public land. As it turned out, I had met the guy many years earlier and he'd actually invited me to bear hunt on his land back then. What a crazy coincidence and stroke of good luck! He and I talked and it turned out he didn't have anyone planning on hunting at his place that year, so he asked if I'd like to hunt on his land. He baits bear every year and most years nobody even hunts there- he just enjoys baiting and seeing pictures of bears. This was far too nice of an opportunity to pass up, so I happily accepted his generous offer under one condition-- he had to teach me about baiting, let me run as much bait as I could, and let me do as much grunt labor as I could. I didn't want to have him serve as an unpaid guide and me just show up on opening day and hunt. That was definitely not the way I wanted it proceed.

So, I ran bait two weekends and once during the week and he topped off the bait once during the week. Since that time he's been busier than heck and has been able to top off the bait a couple times, but mostly I've added bait on weekends and when I was able to during the week. It's been a great deal for me for sure.

The baiting went well and multiple bears were coming to the bait. The bigger ones were usually at night, but not always. Below are some trailcam pics of what we were seeing at the bait.

This little guy didn't need our freewill offering- he could catch food on his own just fine!

[Scoot]

[Scoot]

Before we knew it, it was opening day. My eight year old son Ryan came with me, and we had my brother and his son Austin along to see the show as well. We got to our stand and all looked ready to go. I was excited and I have to admit- I had a feeling this might be a really short hunt! With lots of bear on the camera I was very optimistic. Here's a shot of the stand we were sitting in.

Interestingly, when I climbed up the stand to get situated, I found that a bear had recently done the same thing and let us know what he thought of us hunting him.

Ryan was really baffled by this. "How did a bear get his p00p way up here?" LOL- I explained it to him and I'm pretty sure he thought I was teasing him.

Ryan

Rod and Austin in hang on stands in a tree about three yards behind us.

Here's a good way to keep a kid's attention in the stand: catch a toad on the way in and give it to him in the stand!

Here are a couple looks at our view from the stand.

Around 6:30 that night all heck broke loose behind and directly downwind of us. Judging by the sound of it, a bear was coming in to the bait, go 50 yards downwind of us and smelled us, and bailed out of there in a big hurry. After that, we didn't see or hear a thing.

[Scoot]

The next night I sat by myself. Again, here's my view from the stand.

Other than this guy, I didn't see anything at the bait that night.

The wind was very shifty and unstable this evening- frustrating!

[Scoot]

I sat on Wed after opening weekend and had to swap which side of the bait I sat on. With an East wind, I hung a portable on the West side of the bait.

You can see the permanent stand a little better in the pic below, which is located on the East side of the bait.

Again, all I saw this evening was this little guy.

[Scoot]

Another East wind the next time I sat, so I hopped up in my stand on the West side of the bait.

This country is pretty incredible- it's so dang thick it's ridiculous! Looking at my surroundings, there's almost nowhere besides the by the bait that I can look and differentiate the ground from all of the foliage that practically fills the space from where I sit 13' feet up and the terra firma.

A look South

West

North

Thick stuff! Odds are good I won't see a bear until it's inside of 20 yards, and more likely inside of 10 yards! There's tons of branches and stuff for a moving critter to crack and break as they walk in to the bait, but I keep on hearing how quiet that bears move through the woods. I'll be curious to see if I can hear one coming before it gets in close to me.

More swirling winds and no bears once again was the report this night.

[Scoot]

My next chance to hunt was over the weekend when my wife had a training in Minneapolis. The kids and I decided to give it a go. We set up a ground blind on the East side of the barrel. Here's my crew of bad mamajamma bear hunters!

Here's what my view out of the blind looked like.

Note the tipped barrel- I couldn't check the camera because of wind direction and me not wanting to walk all over the bait site, but the tipped barrel meant a bear had been there recently.

Here was Morgan paying careful attention to her surroundings.

...and here's Ryan looking carefully for a bear.

The kids were quiet and very well behaved, but the only thing that showed up was this guy.

I nicknamed him "goiter" for obvious reasons!

I sat one additional time after this outting- I went by myself and all was quiet until the end of the night. With about 20 minutes of legal shooting time left I could hear something stirring in the brush about 20 yards from the bait. It moved left and right and seemed to be hesitant to come in to the bait. Finally, with about 10 minutes of legal shooting time left I could hear it approach. It cracked several sticks on the way in and clearly had made up its mind it was coming to the bait. Struggling to see well with the fading light I was finally able to see him stick his nose out into the opening by the bait. Racoon! Dang!!! I watched him and three of his buddies head for the barrel and then got down from my stand.

That brings everyone up to speed on how things have gone for me so far. The acorns have dropped in very large quantity and I'm having a very tough time competing with them. I went from multiple bears on the bait every day to nothing at the bait for days on end. My hope is that I'll have better luck in a week or two when they gobble up the acorns and the bears are headed back to the bait barrel. In the meantime, I unfortunately have to leave town for work (first) and play (second) during the middle of next week. I'm hoping to hunt at least once over the weekend, but I'm not certain I can pull that off either. If I do, I'll report back here before I disappear for ten days for my trip.

[sticknstring]

Nice summary Scoot - sure would have been neat to have one come in when you guys were in the blind. Hopefully the next time out!

[DonBo]

Nice read Scoot. We're still holding out hope for a happy ending.

[bmc]

Looking forward to the rest of the story Scoot!!

Bears are hard to judge by trail cam pics, but it looks like you have a couple nice ones coming in. The last pic in your 1st post, just the head shot looks like a good one and the second pic in your 2nd post looks like another good one.

Hope one of them cooperate with you!

Brian

[mrklean]

Always a great read scoot

[LindellProStaf]

Nice job Scoot. Good luck and keep us posted.

[Bear55]

Great story scoot!

Also a tip for next time you draw. Bears will tolerate human scent to get at your bait (they have to) but new or multiple scents near the bait can really spook them. Learned that from a hard care bear hunter. Could have made the difference that opening night, however as you know friends and family are more important.

[muskiemanAD]

Always enjoy reading your adventures!

[DonBo]

Hey Scoot, tell Ryan this is how that p00p got up in your stand.

[Scoot]

Bear- yes, I've heard the same thing and I was aware of that. Like you said, though, I was willing to risk it given my bro and nephew wanted to come with and I was happy to have them come along. It was worth the risk to me and I don't regret it one bit.

DonBo- Ryan is home sick with me today and I showed him the pic. He really got a kick out of it! LOL.

[Archerysniper]

Does a bear [PoorWordUsage] in the woods? Nope they [PoorWordUsage] in Scoots stand

[Scoot]

Friday brought the kids and me back to our familiar location in hopes of finding a bear. We got in our familiar spots and saw our oh so familiar view. While in the blind I checked the SD card from the trailcam and found that a pretty good bear (by my novice bear hunting standards at least) was at the barrel right at the end of legal shooting time on Thursday night. This gave me a revitalized sense of hope.

As you can see, bear hunting is serious business to us.

Friday came and went with nothing to report. Saturday it rained cats and dogs most of the day. I told the kids we should go to a movie, go bowling, or do something else- it would be sloppy, muddy, and pretty miserable out hunting. Ryan pointed out that we'd stay dry in the ground blind. I argued against hunting that day, but the kids would have none of it. I love it!

It was indeed sloppy and wet.

However, I had a good feeling about this night. The wind was good and I just had a feeling. Morgan, on the other hand, had a better handle on our likelihood of seeing a bear this day.

We all should have slept, because no bears showed up.

On Sunday I said maybe we should take a break from bear hunting and skip it. Again, the kids would have none of this talk and all but demanded we go bear hunting. I'd already explained to them that this was the last day for about two weeks that we could bear hunt, so they refused to miss it.

The wind was perfect and again I had a feeling that we'd finally get our timing right. Again, Morgan was interested in other things...

Ryan kept the squirrels on their toes.

Unfortunately, Sunday came and went and we didn't see a thing besides a couple squirrels and some bees buzzing in and out of the barrel. So, that again brings you folks up to speed on the happenings of our bear hunt.

I was frustrated before this past weekend and contacted boar (who many of you know from his bear hunting adventures on HSO in the past) to ask him if it is even worth it to hunt this weekend. He thought I might be wise to wait a while and I was frustrated with it and kind of felt like I was ready to sit it out for a while too. The more I thought about it the more I decided that if I could talk my kids into going, I should go- I've never had a bear tag before and I want to do the tag justice. Not many bears are shot from a couch, bowling alley, or movie theatre! So, I decided that it couldn't hurt to hunt at least once over the weekend. Then boar sent me a text which basically said, "Heck, give it a shot- what can it hurt?" So, we ended up sitting all three nights- Fri-Sun with nothing to show for it. All I really hoped for was for the kids to see a bear, but no such luck. At least I can say I tried hard and put in my time. Importantly, I got to spend some really precious time with my kids in the outdoors, so it certainly wasn't wasted time by any means.

I'm off to DC for work then MT for play starting mid-week. I'll report back in when I get back and get situated. Until then, good luck to all of you bowhunters out there.

[huntnfish]

Like you said Scoot, not many get shot from the couch. Good luck out west. I'm sure a lot are like me and are looking forward to the report.

Oh, and don't even try to pass that Hello Kitty coloring book off as Morgan's. We all know the truth.

[bwana_d]

Trust me, taking your kids along at that age will pay huge dividends later, that is if you want them calling you from college and saying - "I just asked for the weekend off, I want you to take me bow hunting for deer" like my daughter does, of course you need to be prepared to drop everything.

I have bear hunted with my son when he was young in blind as well, we never saw a bear when he was with, his first year sitting in stand by himself, he saw more bears than I did and havested a nice one. I also agree it is good for them to see that it takes work and does not always pay off, but when it does, it is just that much better.

[Scoot]

Oh, and don't even try to pass that Hello Kitty coloring book off as Morgan's. We all know the truth.

Quiet Nate- I've got a "tough guy" reputation to keep up! LOL

Bwana, I totally agree. If I can instill the ability to enjoy and respect the outdoors in my kids, I'll be a happy guy. Both kids are off to a good start in that regard, which I'm excited about. It sounds like you've done something right with your kids- congrats, very cool!

[Scoot]

A quick report on my MN bear hunt- the kids and I went out today and checked the camera on the bait barrel. The barrel was full of bait and nothing had touched it for quite a while. It looks like a nice boar was on the barrel from 9/19-9/23. However, he never came in before 9:30 PM. So, that means that it's been over one month (if my memory serves me correctly) since a bear was on the bait during the daylight. Eeeesh! I'm sure glad I went to MT!!! I'd really be pulling my hair out if I had been home waiting for a bear that would never come. I've got one more week before the season is done, but I'm really not sure if I'll even go back out there again if things don't dramatically change.