spring bears?

[longcruise]

So, what's going on with the bear hunters this year?

 

[hanshi]

When I first read "spring bears" I started to ask what they were arrested for. :hmm:

 

[longcruise]

:rotf:

 

[bigbore442001]

Here in New England the only option is to hunt on one of the Indian reservations in Maine using one of their licensed guides. The state of Maine eliminated the spring bear season around 1980 or so. But since the Indian tribes have sovereign rights over their lands they can establish their own rules.

 

[longcruise]

Undwerstand that!

It has been eliminated here for many years as well. No bait allowed either. Not even scents as I understand it.

Funny thing is, the bear harvest has gone up steadily since bait and spring hunting were eliminated. Not saying it went up because eliminating spring bear bait hunting allowed the bear population to expand. Just many more people took up bear hunting than had hunted when there was a spring season.

 

[ncmtmike]

No spring bear here in NC :shake:

 

[Ron LaClair]

I sure miss the spring bear hunts in Ontario. It was a ritual every year. The only thing I don't miss is the black fly's and mosquito's :td:

 

[Sean Gadhar]

Undwerstand that!

It has been eliminated here for many years as well. No bait allowed either. Not even scents as I understand it.

Funny thing is, the bear harvest has gone up steadily since bait and spring hunting were eliminated. Not saying it went up because eliminating spring bear bait hunting allowed the bear population to expand. Just many more people took up bear hunting than had hunted when there was a spring season.

Here in Colorado the Bear/pet & Bear/person incidents are many & there is a LOT of crop damage (OLATH Sweet sweetcorn isn't just liked by people) Bears seem to knock down three stocks pull one ear eat two bits from it & knock down three more stocks

Some Californian group called C.U.B came here dumped $$ and got spring hunts & bait & dogs outlawed.....we have spent $$$$$$$ ever since trying to keep the bears out of the ski towns.

Meanwhile we DO have hound hunting for Mt. Lion and surprise surprise we have vary few Lion pet lion person encounters :hmm: Gosh it is almost like animals that are hunted with hounds are loth to come waltzing into a place that has people & dogs. No No that couldn't be it :idunno:

 

[The Baron]

NWTF Longhunter...

The Ontario spring bear season is back in a limited number of WMU's (13, 14, 29, 30, 36, 39, 41 and 42) from May 1st through June 15th this year. Looks like it's only open to resident hunters though.

I tried a little spring bear hunting when I was younger and the mosquitoes/black flies were just too much for me! :surrender:

 

[Patocazador]

I know the Thermacell works on mosquitoes but does it work on black flies?

I quit hunting turkeys in the spring because of all the bugs until they came out with the Thermacell.

 

[The Baron]

Yes, the Thermacell is a great invention! Great to have for spring turkey. We have both mosquitoes and black flies here and it seems to help a lot for both.

I'm not sure if odour would be an issue for spring bear and using a Thermacell(?). I've got basically no bear hunting experience to know if you need to be scent free for spring bears (over bait) or if you can setup in such a way as to manage your scent with the wind.

 

[longcruise]

I always wondered too about scent on a bait stand. The bait itself should stink enough of humans to scare them off. Never hunted over bait so it's completely foreign.

I had one guy who was impressed with his own knowledge tell that the bear knows you are there! Seems odd, but having had mucho experience with garbage dump bears, it may be so.