Spring Black Bear Baiting:
After taking last year off, I decided to put up the bear stand once again. If you are not aware, you are allowed to put out bait to draw in black bears. Now before anybody gets upset about this, and calling it unethical or unsporty, there are many reasons why hunting over bait in a stand is done. First of all, the place I hunt bears is extremely populated. A hunter can shoot up to three black bears a year in my area due to the need for predator control. Hunting over a bear stand increases the odds of getting a bear and decreasing the predator numbers in a particular area. Secondly, it allows a hunter to be selective. It is illegal to shoot a sow with cubs. Often times it is extremely difficult to tell if a bear has cubs if they are walking in the woods without a clear direction or 50 yards of unobstructed view for 10 minutes. Hunting a bait stand allows for adequate time and assessment to ensure there are no cubs around. In addition, bait stands allow for size selection where passing on a smaller bear can be followed by an opportunity for a larger bear. Third, bear stand hunting is a very controlled environment. The bear is moving slowly and the bear is in close proximity. This results in better shots being taken and a higher likelihood of recovering a fatally shot animal. Last, bear stands are generally easier to access and hunt for individuals who are not as capable of hiking into the back country (not the case for my stand though). Don't get me wrong, overall, hunting my bait stand is not easier (Have to hike 3 miles in carrying over 300 pounds of dog food, a heavy barrel, tree stand, and other miscellaneous stuff), but once everything is set up and the bears are hungry... success is practically guaranteed as long as you can sit in one place long enough. And at the end of the season, the hard work of removing everything must also occur.
This year I promised my friend Wilbur that I would take his son Michael to harvest his first black bear and Alaska big game animal before he was to shipped off to the Navy this summer. Lucky me, this meant I had help to setup the bear stand!
There was more snow this year than the the recent few. As a result, we had to keep pushing back the setup date (and subsequent hunting dates). When the snow finally melted enough, we made the long drive, repetitive hike, and hauled everything in we needed to.
About a week before I was to take Michael in to hunt, I decided to head down with my friend Kevin to see if we could find him one of the big, early browsing bears. Unfortunately, the trail cameras we set up showed no bears visiting the bait except for a a very odd looking sow that was out way too early and never returned to the bait. We called it an early weekend and headed home.
Michael's hunting weekend came and we got ready to head down. This was Michael's first time hunting, so I knew it was going to be an interesting experience... and he did not disappoint.
We got to the trail head in the afternoon. We took our time getting ready to head in since it was a hot day and I was in charge of hiking 50 pounds of dog food and our hunting gear in. Luckily, it clouded over a bit and we decided to start our hike.
After a good sweat and a couple tumbles, we made it to the bear stand. I knew bears were visiting the bait as there was a good amount missing, fallen trees were moved, and bear scat was everywhere. As soon as we dropped our packs, we heard huffing and brush moving beside us... there was a bear in the area. I told Michael to get in to the stand quickly and I would take care of our stuff on the ground. I could tell he was scared seeing that he has never hunted bears before and there was potentially an aggressive boar mere yards away from us (he shot up the ladder instantly). I quickly followed Michael and we sat quietly for a about five minutes. The bear didn't return so I climbed out of the stand to finish the arrival tasks. I quickly unloaded the fresh bait, pulled the SD cards from the cameras, and we climbed back into the bear stand.
This is when I realized that I may need a bigger tree stand in the future. Michael is as tall as me and let me tell you, a two person tree stand is made for "normal" people, not freakishly tall people! I got the camera SD card out and we looked at the pictures of bears visiting the stand. To my surprise, not a single brown bear was feeding at the bear stand. That has never happened since I started baiting... I still can not explain their absence (and I'm not complaining). The card showed many different black bears showing up at all times of the day. There was one very large boar that appeared to be coming to the stand daily around noon. We were at the stand too late for him, but the card also showed bears at the stand every night, so we were hopeful to get a shot that night.
We were sitting there for close to 3 hours when a bear wondered into view. By this time, we were really cold since the weather outside changed to cloudy, spitting rain, and very windy. We were shaking from the cold already, but when the bear showed himself, that shaking was magnified by the added effect of the adrenaline.
The bear was an average sized bear. Michael watched him for a while and then we discussed shooting it. At first, Michael got cold feet and wanted me to shoot him, and then head home. I told him that if I shoot a bear, it is mine to take and put in my freezer. He agreed. I also told him, this bear was too small for me to harvest as I'm looking for something a little bigger. I gave him two options, 1) He doesn't have to shoot the bear, but I will pass on him and wait for a bigger one before we leave, or 2) He can shoot the bear and then we can head out after that.
Michael opted for option 2 after watching the bear through the rifle scope for 20 minutes and getting comfortable with the gun. We discussed shot placement and even reviewed pictures on my phone about where to shoot. It was only a matter of time now for the bear to get into a good shooting position. After waiting and watching 30 more minutes, the bear finally crawled into a clear shooting lane, broadside. Michael aimed the rifle, slowly pulled the trigger, and BOOM. He hit the bear right in front of the shoulders. The bear did a quick summersault and I thought it was anchored, but to my surprise, he wasn't and immediately got up and ran. As soon as the bear stood up to run, the sky opened up. It started hailing and blowing hard. This was the worst possible time for this kind of weather because we needed to be able to hear branches move and break and grunts from the bear running away. We could not hear or see a thing, leaving us blind to the direction or path the bear headed.
We sat in the tree for little while waiting for the bear to succumb to its injuries. While waiting, we reviewed the shot placement from the video I took. The shot placement wasn't perfect, but it was very good, likely hitting the top of both lungs. After about 10 minutes, we climbed out of the tree stand to track the bear. We slowly walked over to the place where he was shot. To our surprise, we couldn't find any exit wound blood on the ground. Great!!! Now we have a shot bear without a blood trail and no idea where he went. You can see where this is going.... to make a long search story short, we had to call off the extended search with no leads, no sign, and no daylight fast approaching.
Michael was devastated. His very first Alaska big game animal was unretrieved. Not retrieving an animal is a reality of hunting (although not common), and he had to experience it in combination with his first animal he shot. The excitement of hunting was quickly zapped from him :(
We got back to the truck and he called his dad and mom to tell them the bittersweet news. Immediately following the news came a request for them to come and pick him up, he did not want to hunt any more. It was prearranged that if Micheal shot a bear early, Wilbur would come down to pick up the meat and Michael while leaving me to hunt by myself (since bear meat should be taken care of quickly and not hung in the field if possible). Since Michael knew this, he knew Wilbur was "available" to come get him. Michael latched on to this option and mentally checked out of hunting that weekend. Neither Wilbur or his mom would make the 3 hour drive to come get him, so he was stuck with me for the remaining days of hunting... talk about kind of awkward 😨
It was decided that the next day Michael would stay in the truck while I headed out to hunt. I didn't feel too comfortable leaving him in my truck, however, I knew it was likely the best option unless I wanted to force him to hike all the way into the bait station and sit in the bear stand all day. Leaving him behind was the best option since patience and quietness is needed for the bear stand.
I was in the tree stand for about 8 hours before I saw a bear big enough to shoot. It wasn't the monster boar that was caught on camera, but it was a bigger than average boar that would feel the freezer all the same. Adding the fact that the weather was supposed to rain hard for the next two days straight and that I had an 18 year old boy/adult in my truck who didn't want to be there, shooting this bear was an easy decision.
After shooting this bear, it did not hail and I was able to hear and see where the bear ran. I didn't want to have a repeat of the day before, so I immediately followed the bear. As I was hiking through the high brush, I heard a bunch of branches in front of me moving. I immediately dropped and sat tight for a while. After about 5 minutes, I realized the movement and sound was caused by a grouse strutting his stuff for a hen, DANG IT.
I scared the grouse off and proceeded my tracking toward the area I think the boar ran. Just beyond the dancing grouse, I found the bear collapsed in a grass clearing. I confirmed he was deceased and I promptly gave thanks to the bear and prayed.
I was thankful the bear fell in a cleared area, however, I soon regretted thinking that as the sun and heat came out and made cutting up the bear miserable. I took my time field dressing the animal. I typically have a helping hand with this task, but I have done enough solo hunting to get the job done myself.
I have never packed out a bear by myself... this was going to be the first (likely not the last). Thinking about it now, I should have made a couple trips, but I was determined to pack everything out in one trip. I stuffed my pack with meat, hide, skull, and hunting gear. The pack easily weighed over 150lbs, to the point where a couple more pounds doesn't really make a difference or is noticeable (aka TOO HEAVY).
I labored my way out of the creek bed and onto my trail. I had to stop a couple times on the way out to rest, but luckily the hike out is all down hill so it wasn't too bad.
I got back to the truck around 7PM. I immediately noticed Michael was gone. He left me a note (signed at 6:15PM) saying he got sick of waiting and decided to hitch hike. Well, I guess he REALLY didn't want to be there!
This didn't bother me too much because I knew I would pass him on the way out if he wasn't picked up yet. To my surprise, he wasn't along the road as I drove toward home. I made a quick pit stop, and noticed Wilbur calling my phone. It turns out Michael walked to some lodge and was in there when I drove by. Wilbur requested that I return to the lodge to pick up Michael and bring him home. I absolutely did not want to turn back around, but I did for the sole fact that Wilbur is such a good friend and would do anything for anyone as well.
When I got to the lodge, Michael got in the truck and the long drive home with no conversation ensued. Good thing I had an Audible book ready to fill the awkward silence :)
In summary, we shot two bears and only recovered one. This hurts my heart, but it happens (it would be 10 times more painful if it was a lost non-predator). In fact, many would argue that we didn't shoot enough. Bears are blowing up in population, and of lately, are getting more dangerous. Just this year we had TWO individuals killed by black bears within a matter of days. Bear attacks are rare, but black bear attacks are extremely rare. A black bear killing someone is exponentially rare. Many sportsman and biologist believe the bear to human or bear to moose ratios are too high and growing. Regardless of all things said, I still feel partially responsible for wounding/killing a bear and not recovering it. This is the second time I have been apart of such an incident, and I hope it doesn't occur again anytime soon.
This year I promised my friend Wilbur that I would take his son Michael to harvest his first black bear and Alaska big game animal before he was to shipped off to the Navy this summer. Lucky me, this meant I had help to setup the bear stand!
There was more snow this year than the the recent few. As a result, we had to keep pushing back the setup date (and subsequent hunting dates). When the snow finally melted enough, we made the long drive, repetitive hike, and hauled everything in we needed to.
About a week before I was to take Michael in to hunt, I decided to head down with my friend Kevin to see if we could find him one of the big, early browsing bears. Unfortunately, the trail cameras we set up showed no bears visiting the bait except for a a very odd looking sow that was out way too early and never returned to the bait. We called it an early weekend and headed home.
Michael's hunting weekend came and we got ready to head down. This was Michael's first time hunting, so I knew it was going to be an interesting experience... and he did not disappoint.
We got to the trail head in the afternoon. We took our time getting ready to head in since it was a hot day and I was in charge of hiking 50 pounds of dog food and our hunting gear in. Luckily, it clouded over a bit and we decided to start our hike.
After a good sweat and a couple tumbles, we made it to the bear stand. I knew bears were visiting the bait as there was a good amount missing, fallen trees were moved, and bear scat was everywhere. As soon as we dropped our packs, we heard huffing and brush moving beside us... there was a bear in the area. I told Michael to get in to the stand quickly and I would take care of our stuff on the ground. I could tell he was scared seeing that he has never hunted bears before and there was potentially an aggressive boar mere yards away from us (he shot up the ladder instantly). I quickly followed Michael and we sat quietly for a about five minutes. The bear didn't return so I climbed out of the stand to finish the arrival tasks. I quickly unloaded the fresh bait, pulled the SD cards from the cameras, and we climbed back into the bear stand.
This is when I realized that I may need a bigger tree stand in the future. Michael is as tall as me and let me tell you, a two person tree stand is made for "normal" people, not freakishly tall people! I got the camera SD card out and we looked at the pictures of bears visiting the stand. To my surprise, not a single brown bear was feeding at the bear stand. That has never happened since I started baiting... I still can not explain their absence (and I'm not complaining). The card showed many different black bears showing up at all times of the day. There was one very large boar that appeared to be coming to the stand daily around noon. We were at the stand too late for him, but the card also showed bears at the stand every night, so we were hopeful to get a shot that night.
We were sitting there for close to 3 hours when a bear wondered into view. By this time, we were really cold since the weather outside changed to cloudy, spitting rain, and very windy. We were shaking from the cold already, but when the bear showed himself, that shaking was magnified by the added effect of the adrenaline.
The bear was an average sized bear. Michael watched him for a while and then we discussed shooting it. At first, Michael got cold feet and wanted me to shoot him, and then head home. I told him that if I shoot a bear, it is mine to take and put in my freezer. He agreed. I also told him, this bear was too small for me to harvest as I'm looking for something a little bigger. I gave him two options, 1) He doesn't have to shoot the bear, but I will pass on him and wait for a bigger one before we leave, or 2) He can shoot the bear and then we can head out after that.
Michael opted for option 2 after watching the bear through the rifle scope for 20 minutes and getting comfortable with the gun. We discussed shot placement and even reviewed pictures on my phone about where to shoot. It was only a matter of time now for the bear to get into a good shooting position. After waiting and watching 30 more minutes, the bear finally crawled into a clear shooting lane, broadside. Michael aimed the rifle, slowly pulled the trigger, and BOOM. He hit the bear right in front of the shoulders. The bear did a quick summersault and I thought it was anchored, but to my surprise, he wasn't and immediately got up and ran. As soon as the bear stood up to run, the sky opened up. It started hailing and blowing hard. This was the worst possible time for this kind of weather because we needed to be able to hear branches move and break and grunts from the bear running away. We could not hear or see a thing, leaving us blind to the direction or path the bear headed.
We sat in the tree for little while waiting for the bear to succumb to its injuries. While waiting, we reviewed the shot placement from the video I took. The shot placement wasn't perfect, but it was very good, likely hitting the top of both lungs. After about 10 minutes, we climbed out of the tree stand to track the bear. We slowly walked over to the place where he was shot. To our surprise, we couldn't find any exit wound blood on the ground. Great!!! Now we have a shot bear without a blood trail and no idea where he went. You can see where this is going.... to make a long search story short, we had to call off the extended search with no leads, no sign, and no daylight fast approaching.
Michael was devastated. His very first Alaska big game animal was unretrieved. Not retrieving an animal is a reality of hunting (although not common), and he had to experience it in combination with his first animal he shot. The excitement of hunting was quickly zapped from him :(
We got back to the truck and he called his dad and mom to tell them the bittersweet news. Immediately following the news came a request for them to come and pick him up, he did not want to hunt any more. It was prearranged that if Micheal shot a bear early, Wilbur would come down to pick up the meat and Michael while leaving me to hunt by myself (since bear meat should be taken care of quickly and not hung in the field if possible). Since Michael knew this, he knew Wilbur was "available" to come get him. Michael latched on to this option and mentally checked out of hunting that weekend. Neither Wilbur or his mom would make the 3 hour drive to come get him, so he was stuck with me for the remaining days of hunting... talk about kind of awkward 😨
It was decided that the next day Michael would stay in the truck while I headed out to hunt. I didn't feel too comfortable leaving him in my truck, however, I knew it was likely the best option unless I wanted to force him to hike all the way into the bait station and sit in the bear stand all day. Leaving him behind was the best option since patience and quietness is needed for the bear stand.
I was in the tree stand for about 8 hours before I saw a bear big enough to shoot. It wasn't the monster boar that was caught on camera, but it was a bigger than average boar that would feel the freezer all the same. Adding the fact that the weather was supposed to rain hard for the next two days straight and that I had an 18 year old boy/adult in my truck who didn't want to be there, shooting this bear was an easy decision.
After shooting this bear, it did not hail and I was able to hear and see where the bear ran. I didn't want to have a repeat of the day before, so I immediately followed the bear. As I was hiking through the high brush, I heard a bunch of branches in front of me moving. I immediately dropped and sat tight for a while. After about 5 minutes, I realized the movement and sound was caused by a grouse strutting his stuff for a hen, DANG IT.
I scared the grouse off and proceeded my tracking toward the area I think the boar ran. Just beyond the dancing grouse, I found the bear collapsed in a grass clearing. I confirmed he was deceased and I promptly gave thanks to the bear and prayed.
I was thankful the bear fell in a cleared area, however, I soon regretted thinking that as the sun and heat came out and made cutting up the bear miserable. I took my time field dressing the animal. I typically have a helping hand with this task, but I have done enough solo hunting to get the job done myself.
I have never packed out a bear by myself... this was going to be the first (likely not the last). Thinking about it now, I should have made a couple trips, but I was determined to pack everything out in one trip. I stuffed my pack with meat, hide, skull, and hunting gear. The pack easily weighed over 150lbs, to the point where a couple more pounds doesn't really make a difference or is noticeable (aka TOO HEAVY).
I labored my way out of the creek bed and onto my trail. I had to stop a couple times on the way out to rest, but luckily the hike out is all down hill so it wasn't too bad.
I got back to the truck around 7PM. I immediately noticed Michael was gone. He left me a note (signed at 6:15PM) saying he got sick of waiting and decided to hitch hike. Well, I guess he REALLY didn't want to be there!
This didn't bother me too much because I knew I would pass him on the way out if he wasn't picked up yet. To my surprise, he wasn't along the road as I drove toward home. I made a quick pit stop, and noticed Wilbur calling my phone. It turns out Michael walked to some lodge and was in there when I drove by. Wilbur requested that I return to the lodge to pick up Michael and bring him home. I absolutely did not want to turn back around, but I did for the sole fact that Wilbur is such a good friend and would do anything for anyone as well.
When I got to the lodge, Michael got in the truck and the long drive home with no conversation ensued. Good thing I had an Audible book ready to fill the awkward silence :)
In summary, we shot two bears and only recovered one. This hurts my heart, but it happens (it would be 10 times more painful if it was a lost non-predator). In fact, many would argue that we didn't shoot enough. Bears are blowing up in population, and of lately, are getting more dangerous. Just this year we had TWO individuals killed by black bears within a matter of days. Bear attacks are rare, but black bear attacks are extremely rare. A black bear killing someone is exponentially rare. Many sportsman and biologist believe the bear to human or bear to moose ratios are too high and growing. Regardless of all things said, I still feel partially responsible for wounding/killing a bear and not recovering it. This is the second time I have been apart of such an incident, and I hope it doesn't occur again anytime soon.
** I only have a few pictures right now. I stupidly put my point and shoot camera SD card into the trail cam. I have to retrieve the trail cam before I can post those pictures... give me a week**
This is the resident grouse that RUINS battery life and storage space on the trail cam. He constantly flies, lands, and struts in the motion detection area of the trail cam. I am a new expert on grouse mating rituals.
This little guy was all by himself at the bait. This is the smallest, solo black bear I have ever seen at my bait. Young bears don't typically show up since larger bears are often aggressive toward anything smaller than them.
The area my bear stopped in was nice and grassy, but it was impossible to take a good kill shot picture. Besides, I'm a big dude and make anything I'm next to look small anyway :)
