If you want to kill big bears consistently there is a lot more to it than just throwing a few baits out and crossing your fingers.
I have been hunting bears in northern Minnesota for about 6 years now. (Many more years in Wisconsin ) You used to draw a tag almost every year, now its every other year or so. The hunting is not easy, there is a lot of pressure, and some of that pressure is not to friendly to non-resident do-it-yourselfers. Seems like there are guiding operations running out of almost every camp ground. Some of the areas we map scouted we found baits already right where they should be...
Baiting bears is all about location. You need to be where bears want to be. Near there bedding and away from humans. I spent a great deal of time studying topo's and aerials of the area and then making scouting trips to look for actual bear sign, and hunting pressure.
I took 3 hunting friends and my wife Carol with me, two with tags, and 2 to help. Bear hunting is tough, and so is running a bear camp. Tyler came with to camp and help get bears out of the woods and to help film my hunt. . He would like to earn his way to come along next hunt with a kill tag. Carol came to cook, and guard camp from the "unfriendlys" while we hunted. Steve Pagal ( owner of Forge bow company ) came to hunt. He was invited along because he is a pretty dang good bear hunter and its a way to pay back for all he has done for me as a sponsor. John Kitscha was invited along because he is a good friend, has helped me a ton with product design ( like my camera arm )
It was a long 8 1/2 hour drive (one way) for us to bait. In Minnesota we can only bait for a couple weeks prior to the season
and thats a good thing... Despite our best efforts, it was disappointing to only see one good bear and one small bear on our cameras when we returned a week later to check cameras and re-bait. My best spot only had a lone wolf hitting it.
We went a little heavier with the scents and used bear scents "cherry" attractant on the second trip and were pleasantly surprised by all of our baits except a couple getting hammered when we returned to hunt.
Steve called the DNR to ask if we could hunt each others baits within our group and found out we could. He had two baits that never got touched, and one that was on fire. We put down over 200 pounds of bait on that one, and it was cleaned up in 4 days. Steve told me he was really just looking for an average bear that he could say he baited and killed himself. He had 3 different bears pounding that bait in daylight and they appeared to get bigger each time they came in.
Steve has bad knees and could not use the portable Lone wolf stands I use. He needed a ladder stand, so against my better judgement we set it up the day before the hunt. We set it up right along the baiting trail so the bears would not smell us walking around. I was sure that Steve would get a bear.
I let John choose which stand he wanted to hunt and he chose one where a decent bear was coming in with a large white "V" on his chest. John has about 6 bears under his belt, but none with the bow, and decided to finally get over that hurdle.
John was using a Mathews bow rather than a Forge so we set him up so close he could even kill one with a Mathews :lol:
There were good bears coming into all the baits, and I have taken my share, so I decided to go after the biggest bear, despite him not showing in the evening in daylight hours yet. I figured he would though, cause he was showing daily right after shooting hours and was camped on the bait all night.
When I got to my hunt area I was really disappointed by the number of other hunters on ATV's and in trucks driving down the logging road till almost 6pm... The bear did not show.
When I got back to camp I was greeted by Steve who had a big smile on his face. "I got the bear I wanted Dan" he said to me... He said he shot the 160 - 180 dressed boar we had seen on the camera and he had already dragged it out of the area in case I wanted to hunt the bigger one. I shook his hand, slapped his back and we sat down to eat and waited for John who showed up shortly and he to had a big smile... He said he was feeling pretty down when he got to his bait and it had not been hit. But about 20 minutes before closeing a bear came in and just as John was going to shoot it, it grabbed a doughnut and ran off ( maybe his Matthews bow creaked? :lol: ) A little while later it was back and grabbed another doughnut and ran.
The 3rd time it came back it stopped to pull a log off and exposed its vitals giving John a 7 yard quartering shot. Of coarse he got the bear, cause you can even make that shot with a Mathews bow :lol:
Fortunately, both bears were easy to get out and near a road or logging road...
The next evening I really wanted to hunt the "remote" stand, which had really picked up in big bear activity but the wind was wrong... A check of the cameras showed two days of a big bear in daylight at another bait, so I hunted there. I think the bears circled the bait cause the camera showed lots of daylight activity with small bears as well as the big one, but none showed.
At that point both the successful hunters had to head back to work and I was reduced to 3 stands. The wind was right, so I hit the remote. The camera showed 4 different bears hitting it the day before, two shooters were in daylight so I had high hopes. However, now it was Tuesday and the holiday weekend was over. Seems a logging operation I was unaware of was working within 3/4 of a mile from me... I new the noise would interfere with the bears, and figured that must be why the low hits the week before. We sat it out till 5:00 pm when the loggers quit for the day... I figured it probably scared off the young bears that were hitting, but not the big ones, they must be used to logging operations. I figured after the noise calmed down one of the big boys would come sneaking in... About 45 minutes before closing time while the woods were dead silent I heard a loud snap of a branch and just new it was a bear. 15 minutes later in a different direction I heard it again. Then a little later somewhat down wind... As usual, the big boy was trying to circle down wind. We were in a pine swamp that was pretty thick and we were losing light fast, I asked Tyler if he still had camera light and he said it was iffy. I figured it best to sneak out since the bear was not coming directly in and get him another day when we have camera light. ( we have pic's of the bear coming in at 4 and 5 PM ) So I popped my arrow off my quiver and was pulling up the bow rope when Tyler says he heard something coming from behind... We both stare in that direction but see nothing.
Finally I said lets just get out of here... I turned around and there stood the bear 10 yards in front of me and he was locked on me staring at me. I whispered "Tyler, BEAR, don't move!" The bear slowly started walking directly at me while staring up at me. As he came thru some brush I popped an arrow off the quiver and slid it onto the string. He stopped and stared a little longer then he turned back for the bait. I pulled back and settled the pin right on the last rib so I would quarter into the far shoulder which was not easy cause I was sitting in an awkward position when caught off guard. At the shot I saw the arrow hit right where I was aiming and heard Tyler whisper "great shot" and then... "That was a huge bear"
Despite having a little light, we decided it best to go back to camp and let the bear have some time. I was a little nervous cause I did not hear a death moan, and it sounded like the bear may have ran a long way. Tyler kept telling me it was just the bear making his death thrashing and he did not get far... I thought he was down close but was not sure.
We went to camp and told Carol we would be tracking, ( always best to let someone know where your going in the big woods ) got lights and compasses and headed back out after a light meal. It was hard to eat thinking about the bear...
When we got back there was no sign of the arrow. We did find where the bear dug into the ground when he ran, and a little further a fresh broken branch, then where he rammed into a dirt pile and knocked a piece a few yards.... Then there was no sign of him. I followed the bear trail he appeared to go down looking for any sign. Found nothing. Then I scoured the area we last heard him at. Found nothing. We spent a few hours searching then with heavy hearts, headed back to camp... There was little said on the ride back to camp. Just that we would look again in the morning...
Carol was waiting up at camp to see the big bear, and word had spread to the camp next to us making even harder to hold our heads up... I just kept thinking, that shot looked good. I had to of killed him.
In the morning we had breakfast and headed out to look again. Having once had a bad experience with a bear my son shot in Wisconsin, I strapped on my Glock when we left the truck. We got to where the bear was hit and started taking a closer look. Still no arrow, no hair, no blood. All I was able to find was the same sign I found the night before.
I started down the same trail we walked the night before then I wandered a little towards the area I last saw him... I turned to my left and saw a large bear staring at me close up. I pulled out my Glock instinctively, but it was not needed. The bear had died up on top of a stump in a position that made him look alive with my arrow sticking up out of him like a tip up... It was his last chance to get even with me. I must have walked right past him the night before.
Thanks for the help Tyler!
I would like to plug my bow sponsor, but really, at 10 yards I could of even killed it with a Mathews :lol:
Maybe it was that great blue plaid camo.
I new we were going to have issues when I saw the size of the bear... I would estimate the weight at between 450 & 500 pounds. I field dressed him and got our military medic cot to get him out with. He was so long the feet were hitting Tyler while the head hit me. We could only get it about 10 to 15 feet at a time and then we would drop it and have to rest. The camp next to us offered help, but I was not about to show anyone this location if I did not have to. We just inched the bear a little at a time the long, long, treck back to the truck.
We took the bear to a trout stream and washed him out to cool him as we were worried about spoilage.
After registration we returned to camp where people from the other camp were waiting to see the bear. Thankfully they helped us maneuver it for pictures and get it into the freezer.