hows it going for bear in northern minnesota

[nmnhunter]

Just wondering how people are doing in Northern Minnesota, specifically LIttlefork/International Falls area ???

We have four stations out ... all getting hit... I think one is a roamer and I think most of them are night bears. Still have time to get one so hopefully one of those night bears will decide to come out a little earlier to eat.

Would love to hear how you are all doing this year.

[maros91]

I have a buddy who hunts by Bigfork and his party have harvested 2 bears so far. I believe they are 2 for 5. Both bears were around 130lbs.

[fallfrenzy1]

What part of Northern Minnesota? When I registered last night I was informed that mine was only the 9th bear so far. The comment was that this has been the worst year that he has ever seen so far.

[89Bronco]

I believe it. I've got nothin' so far near Virginia. I have a pic of one at the bait on Sept. 2 at 4 AM and my other baits haven't been touched.

[Dock Boy]

Talked to a bear guide near Kabetogama/I Falls area last night. They have gotton some bear, but have put forth lots of effort to locate and keep them hitting. Lots of forage left in the woods was his comment, so things are slower.

[nmnhunter]

We are hunting the Int'l Falls area. There are still berries out in the woods. Wondering if that is detering the on and off bait hits. Hopefully as time goes on the hunting will get better. Wonder if the bear population is down or what is going on.

[Dock Boy]

It's not so much the woods, but the swamps still have lots of big blue berries along with the hazelnuts it's making it tough.

[89Bronco]

Lots and lots of natural food. The last weekend in August I picked a small bucket of raspberries in a clearcut I walked through, but I could've been there for days....raspberries as far as you could see...big, fat ripe ones. Not to mention the blueberries and hazelnuts as Dock Boy mentioned. I'm sure if there were oak trees in my area, they'd be dropping tons of acorns as well.

[harvey lee]

From the reports I have seen and read, Jonny P and his dad are only 2 bears away from a 100% season and this is pretty early in the season for a success rate that good.

Check out the Upper red lake report by Jonny and Kelly P

[kelly-p]

We ended up with 1 hunter that hunted 3 nights that did not get a shot but he had trouble seeing in dim light and was out of the woods real early each night. Everybody else got a shot. It was/is a different year. Good old reliable sites didn't do much while sites that have never been very good had multiple bear hitting them. Our average weight is way down. Some hunters were impatient and took the first bear that came by and the hunters that had chances at real big ones missed their shots. There are a lot of chokecherries out there yet in this area. Everything seems to be 3 weeks later this year. The real strange thing around here this year is that the bear are not hitting the cornfields.

[Random guy]

We ended up with 1 hunter that hunted 3 nights that did not get a shot but he had trouble seeing in dim light and was out of the woods real early each night.

Gotta love that hunter, he hunted hard just couldn't see well. I had to laugh one night. Kelly and I wait in close proximity of our hunters so we can react quickly to a downed bear or emergency if one would happen. When the start of that majic time when bear start to show up I rolled down my window to listen for shots and there was the hunter standing along side my truck ready to go home.

All in all a good season with alot of happy hunters and one fustrated but happy hunter going home to take a good hard look at his bow sights.