Bear Hunting Questions

[catmanclark]

Hey all, I've been Dreaming about bear hunting alot lately and never done it,. My question is: should i get a guide first off? Should i Just Wing it by myself and a buddy? And most importantly.. Does anyone know where i can get ahold of a few reasonablly priced guides?

Thanks

[pdog]

went last year for first time. I just set up a corn feeder for deer and a camera and got tons of bear pics.then in september i set up a bait pile with corn,donuts,mollases,and honey. Took a month and a half of hunting weekends but finally got my chance. It was awsome doing it all myself. Good luck!

[harvey lee]

I have done the baiting myself and also hired guides.

One thing to consider is if you have the time to run up north and do the baiting yourself.It takes alot of work but was probably as much fun as harvesting a bear.With the price of gas and time,money wise it would possibly be less expensive to hire a guide.

All bear guides are to be licensed by the state.I believe the DNR has a list of all registered guides in MN.

One thing I would do for sure is to ask them if they have numerous references for you to check out.

Some guides will tell you there kill rate,but I would talk to as many hunters guided by them as possible.

Also,some guides specialize in just bow hunting if that is what you are looking for.

[catmanclark]

Yeah, Those are my biggest problems right now, can i afford to travel up north every weekend with these gas prices? Plus, we've got a 7month old who's teething, so it's a bit busy. The best thing i can do is read, make some calls, talk to people, and study up as much as possible, and i'll have my day, where i can bag one. If i decided to hire a guide what does it mostly include, cause i really only need someone to bait for me and possibly help hawl.. Thanks for your info, your really helping me out..

[harvey lee]

You can hire a guide to just do your baiting,baiting and help,or staying at thier resort and going totally through him.

The 2 times I used a guide,I used him for just the baiting and did the rest myself.

One thing to remember is if you do harvest a bear,have a plan for where you are going to cool the meat.Most times the bear are shot in pretty warm weather and need to be skun and cooled fairly soon.

[Gus]

If you can't hire a guide get another guy or two in your party and take turns baiting. Have one guy go up and do all the baiting for the group. Different guy each weekend. We've done this before when schedules are crazy. It's kind of a pain to do it yourself but sometimes you just gotta do it this way to get the job done. Good luck

[harvey lee]

I will say this in regards to doing your own baiting.You will know for sure if a bait is active and its fun to go in and see the logs thrown around to get at the bait.

The years I have done my own baiting,its a rush and you really get pumped.Its like the complete hunt.

[metrojoe]

Here is a link to some good info on Bear hunting/baiting. Bear Hunting

[catmanclark]

Wow,

It's great to know this info, i think i might try do the "party baiting" where one of us go up every weekend.

I'm also going to check on a guide who'd be also to bait.. I can only imagine how exciting it is to go though the trouble on baiting and finding out that i's working perfectly, but then you stress on just counting the days till your sitting in your stand..

Thanks Guys..

[Longline]

If you are looking for a guide, I have a name of a guide for you. I have used him for the last 4 years. I have gotten bears off his baits. send me and e-mail if you want the information. nathan at amborn.com