Idaho fall bear
12-13-2019, 05:54 AM
#11
Fork Horn
Join Date: Oct 2019
Posts: 454
I am a dedicated (and addicted) bear hunter, and I usually hunt over bait. Up here in New England, the only method more effective than bait is hounds. The difference is substantial - 80% success on hounds is not unheard of. Baiting seems to be more in the 25% success area.
Spot and stalk or still hunting bear in the thick woods is an exercise in futility. Most of the people who tag bears this way are deer hunters who happen upon a bear by chance.
For your first bear hunt, give baiting or hounding a try.
Spot and stalk or still hunting bear in the thick woods is an exercise in futility. Most of the people who tag bears this way are deer hunters who happen upon a bear by chance.
For your first bear hunt, give baiting or hounding a try.
01-30-2020, 11:19 AM
#12
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 15
Idaho bear hunt update. Where to start? LOL
Car barfed on me for 9 hours in Missouri. No explanation for why it quit in the middle of the night and made me push it off the road, no explanation for why it started again the next morning right before the tow truck got there. Three days of driving up. Set up baits in a few likely spots. It got real interesting after that. I could not keep up with the baits once they were being hit (2 took 24 hours, 1 was hit the first night). One of them was dug out 6+ feet deep and 12' long in one night where I had poured some strawberry syrup down the stump hole.
I called for the rest of the day after setting out my baits. Called up half a dozen coyotes, a very nice mountain lion and 2 bobcats (they were together), I guess they could have been lynx as I was not close enough to tell the difference. No bear and no wolves. I had intended to get up before dawn and listen for wolves up near the peaks of the mountains but I was too tired and never did.
Went to check my baits again the following morning and all of them needed replenishing. After I replenished the last one I went back to the first one only to find the gate to the road locked. It was washed out about half a mile past my bait. I put on my pack and walked the mile in to it. Not paying any attention and not knowing exactly where it was, I walked up on and spooked two large black males. I sat down and watched it for about 20 minutes and a large male comes into it. I watch him for 10 minutes or so and he stretches up against a tree and I squeezed a shot off right between his shoulders. He went back to all fours just as a fired and I shot right over him. I walked the mile back out as it was getting dark and was at the ranger station the next morning. After explaining my dilemma to the ranger he gave me a visitor's permit and a key to the gate so I could retrieve my bait. I went back there and sat for a while but no bears. At lunch I went and checked my other baits. I gave up on one of them because I was unable to keep up with the demand and replenished the remaining one.
I had been carrying a .308 semi and a pistol but I was carrying more bait in so I opted for a bolt action and left the pistol in the truck. I went back to the truck, ate lunch and went to sit the bait for the afternoon. In the 15 minutes that I was at the truck, the largest bear I have ever seen in my life had moved in on the bait. I sat and watched for a while as the wind was right and here comes three little 35 pound fuzzballs. I was thinking there was no way that bear could be a sow but it was. I continued to watch them for 30 minutes. The wind shifted and I knew she was going to wind me and she did. The three bobble heads went up a tree and she went into a frenzy. I don't think she could see me but she was making a mess of the place huffing non-stop, running off for 80 yards or so and running back down the mountain to the bait area. I got tired of it and was going to move out to the truck and go to another bait. She had other ideas. the first charge started at 30 yards and ended when I fired a round into the ground between her front feet at about 10 feet. That stopped her but did not run her off. She proceeded to tear down and stomp into pieces every tree in a ten yard area less than 8". She and I had a yelling match, a calm conversation, a screaming match and then another calm conversation. I fired another round into the ground between her feet when she charged me the second time at about 8 yards. She went back to the bait and sat down on top of it. I tried easing out but she blocked me again and I had to be ready to shoot if needed. I could not back up the mountain to my truck with my chair in hand so I ended up leaving a perfectly good chair in the woods when she finally let me ease out after a two hour standoff in a thicket on the side of a godawful hill in Idaho.
When I got to the truck, I took off my hunting gear, put on some khakis and a knit shirt and drove home. I still wanted a bear rug but not bad enough to kill a bear and take it off of it. At that point in time, all I wanted to do was go home and hug my family. So that's exactly what I did. I left three days early - lol. All told I saw 11 bears including the three cubs.
Now - someone help me find an antelope hunt.
Car barfed on me for 9 hours in Missouri. No explanation for why it quit in the middle of the night and made me push it off the road, no explanation for why it started again the next morning right before the tow truck got there. Three days of driving up. Set up baits in a few likely spots. It got real interesting after that. I could not keep up with the baits once they were being hit (2 took 24 hours, 1 was hit the first night). One of them was dug out 6+ feet deep and 12' long in one night where I had poured some strawberry syrup down the stump hole.
I called for the rest of the day after setting out my baits. Called up half a dozen coyotes, a very nice mountain lion and 2 bobcats (they were together), I guess they could have been lynx as I was not close enough to tell the difference. No bear and no wolves. I had intended to get up before dawn and listen for wolves up near the peaks of the mountains but I was too tired and never did.
Went to check my baits again the following morning and all of them needed replenishing. After I replenished the last one I went back to the first one only to find the gate to the road locked. It was washed out about half a mile past my bait. I put on my pack and walked the mile in to it. Not paying any attention and not knowing exactly where it was, I walked up on and spooked two large black males. I sat down and watched it for about 20 minutes and a large male comes into it. I watch him for 10 minutes or so and he stretches up against a tree and I squeezed a shot off right between his shoulders. He went back to all fours just as a fired and I shot right over him. I walked the mile back out as it was getting dark and was at the ranger station the next morning. After explaining my dilemma to the ranger he gave me a visitor's permit and a key to the gate so I could retrieve my bait. I went back there and sat for a while but no bears. At lunch I went and checked my other baits. I gave up on one of them because I was unable to keep up with the demand and replenished the remaining one.
I had been carrying a .308 semi and a pistol but I was carrying more bait in so I opted for a bolt action and left the pistol in the truck. I went back to the truck, ate lunch and went to sit the bait for the afternoon. In the 15 minutes that I was at the truck, the largest bear I have ever seen in my life had moved in on the bait. I sat and watched for a while as the wind was right and here comes three little 35 pound fuzzballs. I was thinking there was no way that bear could be a sow but it was. I continued to watch them for 30 minutes. The wind shifted and I knew she was going to wind me and she did. The three bobble heads went up a tree and she went into a frenzy. I don't think she could see me but she was making a mess of the place huffing non-stop, running off for 80 yards or so and running back down the mountain to the bait area. I got tired of it and was going to move out to the truck and go to another bait. She had other ideas. the first charge started at 30 yards and ended when I fired a round into the ground between her front feet at about 10 feet. That stopped her but did not run her off. She proceeded to tear down and stomp into pieces every tree in a ten yard area less than 8". She and I had a yelling match, a calm conversation, a screaming match and then another calm conversation. I fired another round into the ground between her feet when she charged me the second time at about 8 yards. She went back to the bait and sat down on top of it. I tried easing out but she blocked me again and I had to be ready to shoot if needed. I could not back up the mountain to my truck with my chair in hand so I ended up leaving a perfectly good chair in the woods when she finally let me ease out after a two hour standoff in a thicket on the side of a godawful hill in Idaho.
When I got to the truck, I took off my hunting gear, put on some khakis and a knit shirt and drove home. I still wanted a bear rug but not bad enough to kill a bear and take it off of it. At that point in time, all I wanted to do was go home and hug my family. So that's exactly what I did. I left three days early - lol. All told I saw 11 bears including the three cubs.
Now - someone help me find an antelope hunt.
Last edited by SounderPounder; 01-30-2020 at 11:26 AM.
