Bear
 

Okay guys, in the interest of learnin, sharing and just general discussion, tell me your thoughts on bears. The season is open here. Just waiting for the lazy little fellers to wake up . Weather is unreal hot, skunk cabbages have been in bloom for quite awhile but not one bear in any of my spots. Weird.

Anyway, what method you guys use for hunting them? I mostly like spot and stalk. Try to be above them.

This year I wanna smoke my bear in a smoke house. Gotta build the smoke house first. :)

=keith=

RE: Bear
 

Hmmm, no bear hunters here huh?

I wonder why? Is there no bears in the areas you can access or is something ya never thought of?

It is a lot of fun. They can look dumb and clumsy but they really ain't. There nose is extremly good and their hearing is to be envied. Some say their eyesight is pretty poor. Well it works. Ya gotta move careful. When a bear wants he can ghost through the brush and he can move fast, make Ben Johnson look slow and they can do it uphill or down. For adrenelin there ain't too much better than stalking a bruin on foot.


=keith=

RE: Bear
 

Never been bear hunting, but would like to try it one of these days. Very few bears in MS, and you would get put under the jail if you were caught harming one.

Chad

RE: Bear
 

I probably like bear hunting better than deer hunting. I have only hunted them over bait, but would love to try spot and stalk. I have been fortunate enough to shoot 3 bears, 1 of which was with a bow. I am hoping this year I will draw another tag, and be able to hunt with my longbow.
I have set up several people for bears, and our biggest so far is a 520 pound dressed male that was 18 years old. Suprisingly, he was just as good eating as the younger bears.
The last bear I shot, I cut the normal steaks and chops, and then used the rest to make summer sausage. That stuff was excellent. I took 25 pounds of that sausage to deer camp, and it was gone in no time, so I guess everyone else liked it too.

RE: Bear
 

if you can put out some grease, dounuts, fish...

RE: Bear
 

Im in southeast alaska and there are lots of critters wakin up and moving around. Been a few spotted right on the outside of town. Heard of a nice 700 pounder was shot north of town at the sports shop here. Not bad for a spring brown. Got to fly in a supercub and see lots of tracks of them coming out of thier holes. Hoping to try and stick one with my bow this spring or fall.

Kev

RE: Bear
 

Kip, have you tried it smoked? I am going to build a smoker this year. Bear is awesome smoked. I had a buddy up in Atlin, he smoked the whole bear.

Mysticguido, rendered bear fat makes the best donut cooking grease there is.

Kev, glad to hear the bears are waking up in your part of the world. I am sure they are here as well, just not in my hunting areas yet.

I like to find them on the high slopes and get above them and come down on them. Keep the wind from them to you and go slow and silent.

They will come to a predator call also. I got a buddy who makes a bear cub call and brings the boars right in to himself. I am hoping to get him to teach me that one.

Chad, I hope you get an opportunity at them one day.


=keith=

RE: Bear
 

They're starting to poke their furry noses out here on the BC coast. Haven't hunted them for several years but I think I'll pick up a tag this spring (gotta love OTC :D) as my daughter wants to try for one. Spot & stalk here, but I have called bears in with a fawn in distress call. Smoked hams are great, as is jerky, sausages, pepperoni...

RC

RE: Bear
 

Biggest bear I've ever seen while hunting (about 350lbs) came in to a rabbit squealer. Unfortunately, he never offered a clean shot.

RE: Bear
 

Hey tuffcity, I am just up the Island aways. I was out again this afternoon and still no sign in my areas. Grass is tall and the skunk cabbage flowers are falling over.

That is very kewl your daughter wants to shoot one. Hope she does okay.

I have called them in with a rabbit in distress call also. Wanna get a fawn call, it will work on Mountain Lion as well.

=keith=

RE: Bear
 

lcoast,

A friend of mine's son, who lives in Hardy, reported bears out over a week ago up there. With the weather we've been having they should at least be working the tide flats by now. I'm going to take a drive Jordon River/Renfrew way next week and have a look around. Fully expect to see a few "calling cards" on the road. :)

The call I used to pull the bear in was made from 2 pieces of cedar about 3" long X ~1" wide X ~1/2" thick, file or sand a bit of a hollow in each piece, stretch a piece of electrical tape long wise on one piece and then secure the other one on top by a couple of wraps of tape on each end. Kind of like putting a blade of grass between your thumbs and making it squeak. Cheap & easy and works on blacktail bucks too (just bleat instead of squeal)

RC

RE: Bear
 

Tuffcity, good idea with the call. I will have to give that a whirl.

There should be bears all over the place here. But I just keep looking in my spots and for what ever reason, they ain't there. Last year and the year before they were in the skunk cabbage end of march in those areas. We had really late salmon though and I wonder if that has anything to do with it. There were salmon in some of the creeks in January and we did see bears then.

Bears are being sighted over in Parksville area as well. If I get some time this afternoon I will take a look at some different country.

=keith=

RE: Bear
 

To verge off topic a bit, but what is the collective guess on the size of this guy? I ambushed him with my camera while moose hunting last year and after the flash went off he decided to come over and visit.



Here's another one I took just before I dropped my camera, grabbed my bow and backed up the bank.

For referrence, that road is just wide enough for 2 pickups to sqeak by on.



(didn't think it was that dark when I shot the photos)

RC

RE: Bear
 

He looks pretty tall. Not super fat. Wish there was something else to compare too. I would guess about 450.

I really dislike them brave blacks. Some of them are weird. I had to do a lot of yelling at one a couple of years ago to get him to back off. He knew what we were. Sucker had scars on his scars from scrapping. Kind of a Mike Tyson of the bear world I think.

Was gonna ask you Tuff, how old is your daughter? And what does she shoot?

=keith=

RE: Bear
 

Keith,

My daughter turned 10 just before Chrismas so she's elligible for the junior licence. (for any one reading this who's not from BC- a child between 10-14 can get what's called a junior licence which allows them to hunt under close supervision of an adult. But any big game they shoot the tag has to be cancelled off the adult's licence. They don't get a quota of their own.) She does shoot a 'curve but isn't strong enough to pull the 40# minimum required to hunt with. I bought her a T/C contender carbine last fall that she hunts with. We did some deer hunting after Christmas and was pretty cool to watch her on the stalk as the effects of adrenalin kicked in! She didn't get one but we came reaaalll close.

She's hooked :D

RC

RE: Bear
 

Tuffcity, right on. Good on you and good on her. Man I hope she gets a bear. Doggone, don't leave your camera at home! Your wife must be a keeper too. :)

I drove about 30 miles of logging road and spurs today. Not one pile anywhere I went. You know how they like to pop their heads over the grass covered berms on the edges of the road. Lots of grass, lots of skunk cabbage. Maybe tomorrow. :)

=keith=

RE: Bear
 

He's a shooter, for sure! A boar, from the way he walks; maybe 375-400.
Question is: did you let him walk or.......

RE: Bear
 

trkytrack,

we both survived unscathed. :) Hadn't bothered to pick up a bear for starters... After the last picture he finally stopped coming at about 10 feet, and I discovered you can actually stay at full draw for quite awhile. I was prepared to give him one more step before he wore 31" of carbon, who knows what would have happened after that... fortunately I guess he'd had enough of the yelling and turned and circled into the willows behind me. I quickly got my stuff and moved up the road about 1/2 a mile to wait for my ride.

RC