Same old bear headaches...

[Fishdeer]

MAN do I hear you guy's., Ive hunted bears for some time now and I run into the exactly the same problems every year. I hunt public land and hunt the same area every year. This year someone grabbed my exact spot wich was legal for them to do so , they beat me out there this year , but i would think out of respect they would say to themselves that well someone hunted there last year ,ill leave this area alone , unless its into the season and if that area isnt baited then ill try it. I tell myself this all the time , if i know a general area is hunted year after year i leave the area alone and go somewhere else .different if someone just didnt know but they knew they hunted in my area last year and they knew exactly where i was. And for 4 wheelers , why cant the dnr restrict like they do during the deer season time of operation ,especially the first week or so. And another problem ive been having is people and there pistols target practicing right at prime time,whats with this! They will go as far as to park right by my vehicle and set up a target and start shooting. One year some kids parked by my 4 wheeler and for fun i heard them say lets see if anyone is down that trail i could hear them from my stand , and all of a sudden bam they shot there gun , I was shaken and scared because i was out there all alone and i didnt know how to approach them or if they'd been drinking or what. Another problem im having is everytime i go to the dnr offices and ive tried a few , they are never open or nobody is around . I always have the hardest of times trying to get the bait registration papers nobody has them ,takes forever to get ahold of one. Something has to change , im all for one bait per person or something to that effect. sorry i had to let it all out been bruing in me for years, at least im feeling good now my ripley tag just arrived. And my bait is hit good and im primed , im so glad i was born with alot of patience. Everyone good luck and have fun.

[GerrySchoolcraft]

My dad and I also hunt public land and have hunted the same 2 sites for about 10 years. Never had any problems. Now I know some hunters wait to bait until a week before opener. What we ran into is a fellow hunter has put bait next to ours, within a hundred yards, and has to walk by our bait to get to his. It looks like he just dumped a huge pile, probably won't check it again until Friday of the hunt. And we had just gotten our bear to cooperate. My dad baits everyday and the bear are hitting in the day light, perfect. But now with the new bait in the area we are afraid it will put a damper on that. We are thinking of loading up his bait. We just don't want him to show up when we are at full draw on a bear and we don't want to waste a night of hunting to wait on the road for him to show up. Just a frustrating year. Darn acorns started to drop and the baiting has slowed slightly, not cleaning up the bait. I just had to also vent a little. Good luck hunting this Friday.

[almostthere!]

It's just plain unethical to walk by another bait and set up on of his own. However, if he entered the area from another location and did not see your bait, then all I can say is, "pray that the bear show up at your site first."

[CANOPY SAM]

Now it's down to who has the choicest bait selection. The really insatiable smells will win out, and hold the best bears. Don't let the station run out of bait now, or your bear is going over to the neighbors!

NWBuck. I'm not being argumentative here, just an observation, and something to consider. You noted that your best bear hunting was back in 97', and that it has gradually gotten worse in following years. Not that this hasn't been affected somewhat by motorized intrusion, but it also no doubt has to do with the overall bear population.

1996 was the year of the bear in Minnesota. I had a friend who's uncle up on the Rainy River had 26 nuisance bears dispatched from one oat field. ONE field. There were bears everywhere in 96', and many left-over in 97'. Since then the bear population has declined significantly. We still have good numbers, just not as many as during the mid-90's. The public land battle still wages though.

At one of my most remote sites I began baiting on the first day of season - alone. There are now at least three other stations, that I know of, within one mile of this site. Some are only a few hundred yards away, and we can follow bear tracks going back and forth between the stations! This remote site now looks like a super highway with human tracks, wheeler tracks and truck tracks. I only hope that the good bruin in the area shows up at my stand tomorrow evening before making his ROUNDS!

On another note, you guys were right about the caution signs. We thought that they were lawful, but a DNR officer we contacted about these signs informed us that they are not - unless we were actually baiting at both sites where signs were posted. Needless-to-say, we took them down immediately. We did have good intentions.