Originally Posted by johnnyHunts

My question. How is that hunting?

There are many different types of hunting that differ depending on the region. For instance in the South, including your state of Georgia, people sit in blinds and shoot deer in man made food plots (which is a form of baiting) and they also hunt deer with dogs. Neither of these methods is used in my native CO but are legal in your GA. So is hunting a deer over a food plot and shooting it from a blind hunting? What about shooting one being run by dogs to a hiding hunter?


Am I missing something?

Yep. See the above for an answer.


First, why are they using attractants?

Bear in the spring want to fatten up after hibernation and in Canada where this was filmed the cover is often very thick. So they use attractants to bring the bear out and to allow a clean shot. Wounded bear in heavy cover are dangerous. Plus in spring hunts only males or barren sows are legal. Baiting allows them to look over the animal and be sure there are no cubs.

Now, why do hunters in the South hunt deer over food plots when there are hundreds of thousands of acres of acorn producing oak trees and thousands upon thousands of square miles of crops to hunt? Why do they send packs of dogs into the thick woods and swamps to run deer to the hunters? Can't they just stalk into the woods and swamps for their game? Answer those questions.


And why do they hunt the bears in the first place?

Because it is legal, it employs a lot of people and it is fun. Why do you hunt deer or rabbits?

Do they eat them?

Yes. Even though the program may not have shown it, bear meat is utilized. I've hunted bear in Canada and every scrap of meat was salvaged. In many areas it is required to be.

Does it thin the herd so bears don't starve like deer?

Man has tipped the balance of nature so just about all game animals need some management. Do you realize that in many areas of Africa they have to aggressively manage the elephant herds because they can no longer migrate like they used to and elephants will destroy ecosystems if not thinned? So, yes they need to mange bear populations. By the way, bear don't form "herds" they tend to be loners for the most part unless there is a big food supply in one area.

I can eat a deer and thin the population but I just didn't get the bear hunting on this show. It looks pointless and unsporting (if you can have such a thing killing animals.)

Probably because you're sitting in GA and trying to judge what they are doing in another country despite the fact you really know nothing about it and have obviously never tried it. Assumption is the mother of all screw ups.