Black bear hunting without bait or dogs?

[bigbore442001]

What do you people think of this product?
[url] http://www.deerquest.com/bear.html[/url]

Here in the People's Republic of Massachusetts we cannot use bait or dogs for black bear. Keep in mind that the woods are thick and tend to be a tad brushy so spot and stalk as it is done out west is pretty useless here. Anyone care to comment on this method or product? Thanks

 

[oomcurt]

Well...when I lived back in wisconsin I believe that using dogs and/or bait was illegal also. As far as the hunting conditions...quite brushy, I have seen areas where it was simply not possible to get through unless one was a snake. Deer season and bear season ran together back then..don't know about now as that was over 20 years ago. Still, folks were able to bag a bear. To be totally honest...I don't really go for scents, dogs, or baits when hunting anything. Ok...I take that back...for rabbits or birds, yes re the dogs.

 

[cayugad]

I've heard of them. Maybe not that brand, but I have heard of the dead fish one. In Wisconsin we are not allowed to use any meat or meat by products to bait bear. You see a lot of different kinds of bait being used though. It is real thick and dense, here where I hunt also.

I heard of a person using that fish smell bait down on the Flambeau Flowage and having good luck with it. He baited water edges and took bear the walked the shores looking for dead stuff.

 

[Wehrmacht]

I don't usually give away my secrets,but being as you're a New Englander and far away,here's a little trick but you better check and make sure it's legal :winking:.

Bears depend on their noses probably more than most large game.Go to the feed and seed store and get a gallon of that fish emulsion liquid fertilizer and soak a rag about half the size of a bath towel with it.Then get a 4-6 ounce bottle of liquid anise oil from the supermarket and pour that on the rag. Tie the rag on a piece of line,tie the bitter end to your belt and drag that sucker 2-3 miles around through bear habitat. End up at your stand and see if a bear won't come in just before dark! That's the way I do it around my home in the Georgia Mountains and it works :thumbsup:.

Uh, here's another little trick. Get one of those little Sterno folding stoves that you put a can of Sterno Caned Heat under, Put about a pint of bacon drippins-you know,bacon grease- add 4-5 ounces of anise as before mentioned in a pan and cook her off! That'll pul bears in from probably two miles down wind.It works :winking:.

 

[gmww]

I've spot and stalked bear several times out west. British Columbia to be exact. Bushy? You bet. Here is what we do. During spring mid mornings were will glass logging roads and clear cuts from a high vantage point. The bear like to eat the clover on the logging roads and will often just walk the roads.

Once you spot the bear, it's time to hussle ahead of them to cut them off. The other is to glass clear cuts.

During the Fall, we often get reports from the bee keepers about bears raiding the hives. We hill try and hunt that area of high activity. Also hunt the wild berry areas or the apple orchards for black bear during the fall.

 

[Elkinde]

Sorry sir but I have to correct you. I've lived in Wisconsin for 52 years and bear hunting has always been in the spring and deer hunting in the fall. Hunting bear with dogs and hunting bear with bait are seasons which interchange starting times and rotate every other year. Hound hunters first crack, baiters next and visa versa.

 

[bigbore442001]

We don't really have logging roads in Massachusetts. Most dirt roads are off limits to driving down and I have yet to see an area in my lifetime here in Massachusetts that one can glass for anything.

We don't have a spring season. I did ask a number of apple orhcard owners and beekeepers but nothing was said about bear damage. I did find one beehive with a small electric fence around it.

 

[oomcurt]

Not saying you are wrong...but then how is it that years back when registering deer at the DNR check point I saw bear being checked also. Now, it may be that this is a recent thing...I am talking about 40-50 years ago. Even before I left WI some 20 years ago...never ever read anything like that in the regs.

 

[Mad Professor]

Not saying you are wrong...but then how is it that years back when registering deer at the DNR check point I saw bear being checked also. Now, it may be that this is a recent thing...I am talking about 40-50 years ago. Even before I left WI some 20 years ago...never ever read anything like that in the regs.

Even though we have a "bear problem" here in mASSachusetts they have not done much to let hunters work on it. The anti-hunting/traping zealots banned leghold traps (e.g. underwater sets for beavers) and running bears with dogs in 1996 via bougus voter ballot initiative (ads with kittens/puppies in traps to appeal to the numb minds in Boston).

We have a split bear season running in Sept and Nov. (arrows, big bore pistols, rifles, BP)

What I don't understand is why they don't let deer hunters get in on things as I've seen many during those seasons as have my friends (archery Oct- Nov, shotgun early Dec, BP the rest of Dec).

Arrows , shotgun slugs, and BP rifles sure will drop a black bear so it just does not make sense if they really want to address the problem.

Sorry to get off track but as stated above hunt the food sources. Corn fields, apples, beech nuts, wild cherries (Sept) and any berries that are left (Sept) are good places to stake out. Later on oak groves (whites perferably). Have seen both beech and oak "bear trees" with claw marks/broken branches were they go for the nuts. They come back to the same trees year after year if they are bearing nuts.

 

[gmww]

Sorry it took a bit to respond. Even though you don't have a Spring hunt I'd still go out and scout. I'd travel the roads right after the thaw or during the thaw. Watch for tracks and bear droppings. If you see a pattern I'd mark that area on my map for hunting season. After you find that area, check to see where the food sourse is including water and look for signs there. Anyways that just my opinion.

 

[Walks Alone]

They will respond to a predator call just fine, but can be slow to come in. Besides spot and stalk, mouth calls are a popular choice here in the west, especially in the thick stuff.

 

[Elkinde]

I think I've been working waaaaaaaaaaaay too many hours at the shop. I had it backwards and my apologies. It was always a fall hunt. Canada had the spring bear hunts.

 

[cayugad]

Sorry sir but I have to correct you. I've lived in Wisconsin for 52 years and bear hunting has always been in the spring and deer hunting in the fall. Hunting bear with dogs and hunting bear with bait are seasons which interchange starting times and rotate every other year. Hound hunters first crack, baiters next and visa versa.

--------------------------------------------
Bear Season in Wisconsin starts September 6th with bait hunters first. We start running bait stations the last week of July or first week in August. Application date deadline was January 13th I beleive.

I can not remember hunting bear in the spring in Wisconsin, only the fall. Many years ago they used to let you take a bear during deer season, but we are talking a long time ago. They were kind of a bonus for us.

And your right about the hounds and baiters switching off each year. In fact if you have a harvest tag, and you're a baiter, try and get the tag on the year you are the first. It improves your chances because onces the hounds get up here, they are everywhere....

 

[cayugad]

I think I've been working waaaaaaaaaaaay too many hours at the shop. I had it backwards and my apologies. It was always a fall hunt. Canada had the spring bear hunts.

Now we're thinking alike. We head to Canada for the Spring bear hunt and hunt them here in the fall. :grin: I just saw this post when mine came up or would not have corrected you...

 

[wjschieber]

I think I've been working waaaaaaaaaaaay too many hours at the shop. I had it backwards and my apologies. It was always a fall hunt. Canada had the spring bear hunts.

Now we're thinking alike. We head to Canada for the Spring bear hunt and hunt them here in the fall. :grin: I just saw this post when mine came up or would not have corrected you...

Anyone interested in hunting in Wisconsin should check out this site as it appers to me that different parts of the state have different rules. Hope this helps. Bill
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/wildlife/hunt/

 

[wjschieber]

What do you people think of this product?
[url] http://www.deerquest.com/bear.html[/url]

Here in the People's Republic of Massachusetts we cannot use bait or dogs for black bear. Keep in mind that the woods are thick and tend to be a tad brushy so spot and stalk as it is done out west is pretty useless here. Anyone care to comment on this method or product? Thanks

Now back to the original question. All the gimmicks in the world will not replace knowledge. If you are serious about taking a bear learn the animal first. Spend as much time as you can in his living room and not just during hunting season. Any animal has different habits at different times of the year. If you learn the animal really well you will know where it will be what trails it walks, what food it is eating, where it gets its water from and what its sex life is like. It makes no difference if it is brushy or open or what tricks you are using if you are not in the right place at the right time. Many hunters today are looking for the quick fix to replace what they do not know. Yes some things may or may not help but none of them will replace knowledge and on top of that it can be a lot of fun learning. Most of the junk they sell nowadays is just to part you from your money. As always this is just one man’s opinion.Bill

 

[BrownBear]

I've had good luck over the years in 4 states, always without dogs or bait.

The core of my success has been the most important insight about black bears: They are eating machines.

Spring or fall, almost everything they do is built around a regular schedule or routine of either finding new food sources or visiting old ones. At all times of year they spend about as much time grazing as a cow. In spring, the first fresh greens in a neighborhood (i.e., warm south-facing slopes or the northern edges of meadows and streams) will attract and hold them for long periods each day. In the fall they are going to key in on concentrations of fruit if available, whether berries, orchards, wild grapes, or mechanically harvested fields with lots of spilled or dropped crops. I bet they are hell on corn, but I haven't hunted there.

In your situation, I'd start scouting likely food sources, then look for tracks indicating regular use rather than simple travel. Once you find a pretty good spread of tracks, then it's a pretty small matter to figure out what time of day or night they are using the area, then adjust your hunts accordingly.

 

[hawk]

Elkinde ,
Got some bad news for you ,the Liberal govenment stopped the spring bear hunt
They had some presure from anti hunting types and without any resurch pulled the plug on spring bear.

 

[paulvallandigham]

This kind of fuzzy thinking goes on until a few " Liberals" get mauled or eaten by the bears feeding on their pet dogs and cats in their back yards. Then, all of a sudden, the same people who banned hunting, now want something done with all those bears! ( And, it is always someone else who is to do that something- never them!) I am still waiting for more mountain lions in S. California to take out a few mor joggers,before the bunny hugging crowd out there wakes up. In the meanwhile, the bears and cats get bigger, older, and wiser, and when a season is opened, there will be more trophy animals to harvest.