Bear Dogs East vs West
bear scat Sherlock
Canned Bear Meat
COVID BEAR
The bear hunting authority for 21 years
Steve Rinella on a Combo Bear/Turkey Hunt
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202 1
Swiger’s Lucky Duke
Jan/Feb 2021 Volume 22 - Issue 1
Magazine
Cover photo by Garrett Smith (Dirt Myth)
by Clay Newcomb
Bears and Gobblers
by Paul Atkins
10
One Last Grizzly
20
By Timothy Fowler
Extreme Utility
26
Use of Leashed Tracking Dogs
By Timothy Fowler
Bear Scat Sherlock
By Clay Newcomb
30
by Gunther Tondelair
COVID Bear
Bear Dogs East Versus West
34
by Kolby Morehead
40
DIY Bear Baculum
By Clay Newcomb
Three Phases of the Spring
By Steve Fielder
44
Swiger’s Lucky Duke
36
47
Columns 56 Sportsman’s Alliance
Cuddeback Trail Camera Contest Winner Win a Cuddeback Camera!
58
“Awkward Moments” Artimas Fish North Carolina
by Brian Lynn - Huntervationist
Beginner’s Guide to Bear Hunting
by Clay Newcomb - Bear Huntin’ Fool
60 Bowhunting Bears
To enter, submit a unique Cuddeback photo to editor@bear-hunting.com or post to our Facebook page Bear Hunting Magazine
by Bernie Barringer - Bear Guru
62
Western Bear Hunting
64
Bruin Desinations -
by Brian Strickland - Western Hunter
by Al Raychard - Bear Hunting Veteran
66 In Hot Pursuit -
by Jonathan Lesperance - Hound Dude
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Bear Hunting
5
Bears &
10 Bear Hunting
Jan/Feb 2021
Gobblers Spring Bear &
Turkey in MOntana by clay newcomb Photos by Seth Morris and Garrett Smith
The clank and clatter of my old mule trailer
delivered a metaphorical message to those we passed on the interstate as we traveled north at a steady pace of 68 mph. If the trailer could speak, it
Steve Rinella, founder of MeatEater, and the author glass for bears on public land in Montana in May 2020. The author hauled his mules 24 hours north to Montana for the hunt.
www.bear-hunting.com
would be talking about perseverance and a deep love of chasing critters in the Rockies on muleback. The 24-hour road trip is taxing, but you can’t put mules on an airplane. I bet the passersby wondered what the heck I was doing so far from home. An Arkansas license plate traveling through Montana with a pair of mules would pique my curiosity – but I’m a mule guy. I bet they wouldn’t guess my business was with bears, turkeys and Steve Rinella. I’d be meeting up with Steve in western Montana to execute our plan of trying to kill a turkey and a bear in a five-day, do-it-yourself hunt. At first, the proposition seemed simple and even doable. As the time approached, the difficulty of the hunt loomed over us. “Usually when you have multiple tags in your pockets, you end up coming home with both of them,” Steve says. Having options can reduce your focus on both species and you end delivering half-hearted efforts. Hunters don’t do this on purpose, but it’s hard not to fall into the trap. Luckily, this was my fourth-year hunting bears in Montana, and I felt like I had a legit game plan. Secondly, I had some intel from my friends, Justin and Rebecca Spring, who live in western Montana and always offer insight only locals have.
Bear Hunting 11
Alaska One Last Grizzly (DIY) by Paul Atkins
Nothing lasts forever, but the author has had a heck of a run on arctic grizzly
It was a long shot, especially through sleepy
eyes and the not so comfortable place I was sitting. I just couldn’t get settled. It was cold too. The early
morning chill was abnormal for August, more so than the previous year where t-shirts and shorts were the norm. The big bear swimming on the other side of the river didn’t seem to mind though and he wasn’t really paying that much attention to me or my buddy Lew anyway. I eased the safety off, guessed the distance and squeezed. The river was shallow this year, more so than I’ve seen in a long time, maybe ever. The mighty Noatak had changed, and the further north we went even more so. The current had pushed sandbars to new locations, flattened out others and those places where we once could go easily, had disappeared. There were moments when I thought we would have to turn back, but then Lew would find a narrow channel and squeeze the boat through with barely enough clearance. It was like trying to put a puzzle together without all the pieces. As we pushed on, I started having doubts that we would ever make it to our bear camp this year, I mean the original bear camp, up on the Eli River. The one I’ve written so much about before. The place where we’ve been going for several years; the place where dreams were made and big bears visited like the plague. It saddened me actually, that I might not get to see the Eli again or at least get a chance to hunt its game rich banks once more. Sadly, I was right, we didn’t make it to the Eli. We 20 Bear Hunting
came up short even after numerous tries. The channel had changed and the places we needed to travel weren’t possible, the water just wasn’t deep enough to make it. I worried about Lew’s prop and the abuse it was taking. We would get going only to have the gravel bottom grind us to halt. We actually got high centered once and I had to get out and push us back into the deeper stuff. It was frustrating for the both of us. Accepting our fate, we drifted back down to a nice sand bar that was acceptable, but not ideal. It would have to do for this trip, as long as the water didn’t get any shallower and we could make it out on Sunday. It wasn’t far from the promise of fish and bears at our old camp, maybe a couple of miles, but it still wasn’t the same. The river was wider here, and the splash of big chum were not as frequent as they would have been in the narrow stretch of the Eli where we usually went. Bear tracks, however, were everywhere, which made us smile, giving us hope that it wouldn’t be long before we had a big bear hide stretched out on the gravel bank. As dark approached, we set camp, pulling out the old green tent and commenced to pounding stakes into the hard gravel and sand. For a change rain wasn’t in the forecast, but like I’ve said you can never count on the weatherman. We gathered a good supply of wood that seemed to be everywhere and started a fire. Lew set-up our kitchen and then we sat down for a delicious MRE and a few drinks. We both knew that we would have company very soon.
Photo by www.shutterstock.com
Jan/Feb 20210
One of my favorite places in all the world is bear camp. I’ve grown to look forward to it more than anything I do here in the arctic. I think the biggest draw is the solitude of this area and the thought of what if and when.
Our company would be bears, and it wasn’t long before we could hear the tell-tale sign that our guests had arrived. Splashing and forging the water for fish, the silhouette across the river was unmistakable. He looked big, but they all do when you first see them. The late hour and impending cloud cover didn’t help in the darker than normal conditions, so it was really hard to tell how big for sure. We could have taken a shot, but it would have been iffy at best and I didn’t really feel like rummaging through the dark in search of death. So, we sat and watched the big guy work the bank in search of an easy meal. It wasn’t long before two more bears came out a little further north. I looked at Lew and started to say something, but didn’t, we both knew it was going to be a long night. As the last of the driftwood burned to embers, we decided to head to the tent and crawl in for the night. I carefully checked my pistol and also my rifle, making sure they were ready in case we were attacked. It was good to stretch out in the sleeping bag and the sleeping pad was nice too, even though I hate both and can never sleep comfortably no matter the circumstances. I was just falling asleep when I heard Lew get up, telling me there were bears down by the boat. Sleep is overrated anyway, so I sat up and listened. It was that way all night. Bears in or near camp, but somewhere towards morning I had had enough and said to heck with it and closed my eyes, or I thought so anyway. At dusk I heard Lew stirring again and the zipper of www.bear-hunting.com
the tent rip open. I laid there trying to decide if I needed to get up. I didn’t have to wait long to make up mind, especially when Lew whispered, “bears.” I got up, put my boots on and grabbed my rifle. Yes, there were bears and through the dim light you could see them on the other side of the river. Three in all and probably the same three from the night before. If so, then the big guy we had seen previously was indeed big and was directly across from us as he was before. Sleepy and cold I grabbed the shooting sticks and headed down to the shoreline to set-up and watch. The rocks were hard on my back side and I had trouble settling the scope. I turned it up to 12 power and peered at the bear across from me. He was a shooter, but I had to decide how far and if I could actually make the shot. He worked the water going right to left, diving down with only his head above the cold water. After several minutes he eventually came out and presented himself on the sandy bank. He was broadside but wouldn’t stop long enough for me to get the cross hairs fixed. I ranged him at 250 yards, a slam dunk for the 300 short mag I was holding, especially on the sticks. He then turned his butt to us and went further inland to stand atop a gravel bar. I didn’t range him again, but finally he turned and presented me the shot. I found the brown hide and squeezed the trigger. The echo boomed across the tundra, but the bear just stood there. I missed, so I chambered a second round and gave him another. This time I missed clearly, and he had enough, disappearBear Hunting 21
Extreme
Utility by Tim Fowler
@timothydfowler
Jeff Senger kills for a living.
fessional meat cutter slaughterhouse operator [influences my orientation to hunting]. We founded a co-op to finance a slaughterhouse because I got tired of counting other people’s money as an accountant. If these guys can make money, I wonder if I have the grit. I have the spreadsheets to run the business, but do I have the grit to stick with it no matter what?” “Something that hit me philosophically on the kill floor is that you kill a beef and throw half of it away when you kill it. Then you hang it in the cooler and lose another 10-15% in water weight. When you put it on the cutting table and trim bones and fat, you lose another 50% of the animal. You throw away half of the animal twice to put a steak on a plate. Go to a conventional restaurant with conventional eaters and they leave part of the steak on the The Infinite Sadness of plate for the restaurant to Wasted Meat throw in the garbage. That was unacceptable because Senger has a hard Jeff Senger is an expert and I’m someone who bears the time throwing away half of speedy skinner. He owes this burden of raising that animal. an animal twice: the first half to his profession of slaughWe do have a mixed farm with terhouse operator. when the animal is killed, the a dozen cattle, some goats and second half when it is trimmed rabbits, pigs and chickens so and cut. When he harvested we were learning animal husan ancient gray-flecked bear bandry. It hurts when someone with worn-down teeth, he wasted nothing. Meat is braised, just throws that away,” explained Senger. hides tanned, skulls boiled, and penis bones carefully This year Senger and his crew harvested three bears cared for to add to what his girls call the “disgusting colin three days. He arrived at camp, pitched his tent, and later lection.” thought he might just take a quick drive before dark to have a “The infinite sadness of wasted food as a proAnd he is an accountant. He used those financial skills to organize a local co-op to finance and re-open a shuttered 1950’s-built slaughterhouse in a small rural town where farmers were happy to have a local place to ship livestock, and local folks were happy to go back to work. Senger uses his slaughterhouse and accounting skills to get the maximum value of his wild harvest--including two black bears this past year. Nothing wasted. Everything used. Every bit valued. Wildlife conservation tenet number four is, “Wildlife should only be killed for a legitimate purpose.” It seems to me, the corollary to that would be to use harvested game to the maximum benefit. Senger’s slaughterhouse experience informs his orientation as a hunter.
26 Bear Hunting
Jan/Feb 2021
look to see if there were bears out. Within five minutes he had his first bear of 2020 on the ground.
Stalk Close “ I don’t pass. If I have a tag for an animal that’s looking at me, I’ll kill that animal. Hunting is an activity to embrace the variety of what we get to eat. I checked the wind, and the bear was absolutely engrossed in what he was doing on the side of the ditch of the truck trail. It was as exciting as being 12-years old and stalking a grouse. At 47 yards he turned broadside and looked at me. He finally realized I was there. I shot and he fell into his own footprints and just piled up right there, shot through the heart and lungs. I gave him a few minutes but when I walked up on him, I realized he was the biggest bear I’ve ever shot. His teeth were worn right down, and he was flecked all over with gray, his paws were five inches wide. He was taken five minutes into the hunt. Then I thought, do I go hunting some more or do I just take it easy, feeling kind of Zen, and relax? With nature it sure works for me to harvest whatever is available to harvest, whatever is presented––don’t be in a rush or panic to slam. Our hunts aren’t military operations; they’re more of a cool toddle down the right kind of path and remaining open to what is available,” described Senger.
Caring for Downed Game
was young in lovely condition, but still not fat.” That was Senger’s two-bear allotment for 2020 done, and done in the first 24 hours of arriving at camp. The carcasses cooled in the meat cooler and the wellcooled hides were on their way to the tanner. Senger is a professional meat cutter so knows how to break down a carcass into retail cuts for maximum eating pleasure. But he also takes good care of the bear hides.
Special Bear Hides Senger and his pals use bear hides at camp as blankets. “I bring a golden bear to camp every year for good luck and I sleep under her.” Each year adds another bear hide or two to the family’s supply of bear bedspreads. So, he found another use for the fur-on hides. “Lately we’ve been giving away hides to valued friends when we travel. A tanned hide is worth about $350 and is about what you pay for a couple of nights in a hotel room. We’re delighted with the hides and so are the kids and anyone who has received a bear hide from us. It’s almost a mystical gift to bestow on someone. You stay at someone’s house and when you leave, we leave a shimmering black bear hide with the claws and face on, that I skinned meticulously. It’s a really cool piece of art and you leave it with people.”
“I got the bear back to camp quickly. I wanted the hide to cool really quick because that’s a huge resource. We turn fur-on hides into our camp blankets. Early on, hunting bears, which started 14 years ago, I killed my first and only bear over bait and Disgusting Collection then switched to spot and stalk. Wouldn’t it be neat if Senger’s four girls I got hides for each of the call his collection of girl’s beds?” asked Senger. gleaming penis bones (He and his wife have and skulls the Disgusting four girls and now they Collection because the all have fur-on bear hide collection freaks their bedspreads.) friends out. It seems The following day This granddaddy of a black bear’s to be a source of great Senger killed his second coat was flecked with aging grey pleasure to their dad. bear of the 2020 season. throughout and was taken first thing “Then the skulls and “I just walked spring 2020 with a 35 Whelen. penis bones are boiled quietly in my sneakers for my “Disgusting with my 35 Whelen. No Collection.” The girls camo. I had not rolled in love dad’s bear penis elk urine. I did not put on bone collection. There’s a novelty to the boiled-out skulls. cologne. I had no charcoal in my underwear. I just walked The memories of each of those skulls lined up reminds me quietly down the road. Looked on the road and found where of my age and the adventures we have been on that were the mud is. Walking in mud is a lot quieter than crunchy successful. I have more skulls than maybe a person should gravel. I took it easy, calmed my blood and breathing and have––one is probably enough,” said Senger. walked within 50 yards. The bear sat up on his hind end like a Senger talks about learning to use tougher cuts dog on his butt. He looked at me, his front feet off the ground from the meat shop that no one wanted. Customers have a little. I found a shooting lane through the willow brush and the option to complete an offal request but 95% of the cusput the bullet through his collarbone. I was on a bit of a rise so tomers pass on organ meats. Senger said, “We were cash was shooting down. The bullet went out the opposite shoulder blade with a piece of the lung and a 35-calibre bullet. The bear www.bear-hunting.com
Bear Hunting 27
Three
Phases of the Spring by Clay Newcomb
@clay_newcomb
Timing is everything in hunting.
The best destinations in the world can be highly productive for a certain species at a given time, and at other times year can be only average. Oftentimes spring bear hunting is lumped into one broad category covering the months of May and June. Hunters booking hunts in remote destinations would do well to understand the general phases of the spring hunt and the related bear activity during that time period. Knowing what to expect and what questions to ask your outfitter are critical for choosing the right time hunt. For the do-it-yourselfer, this information will be invaluable as you plan your hunting, too. The springtime for black bears is dominated by two biological realties and a third external factor. The need for bears to find food and build up their fat reserve after months of denning is the first reality. Black bears emerge from their dens between March and April in most parts of the bear range. They den from 90 to 150 days, depending on their northern latitude and food availability. When they emerge, they are looking for green vegetation, carrion, and basically anything with digestible calories. Spring hunting, whether spot-and-stalk or bait hunting, capitalizes on a bear’s need to eat. The second springtime reality is the bear rut. Bears can basically breed anytime they aren’t denning, but the peak breeding period is in a 60-day time period between late May, June, and early July. Most spring bear hunting seasons only go through mid-to-late June. The rut has played a part in many successful spring hunts ending with giant-headed boars in the backs of UTV’s and on pack frame backpacks. Understanding the timing of the rut combined with a knowledge of what bears are doing in terms of feeding will help you decide when to go hunting. The third factor is weather. In hunting, weather is either your greatest ally or your worst enemy. Springtime bear hunting can be dominated by weather conditions. An early spring can have the bears out of the dens early and ahead of their usual schedule. A late spring can have bears way behind and hardly awake by the time you are hunting. Weather is the most unpredictable part of spring bear hunting. However, if you understand the generalizations of the region you’re hunting, you’ll be equipped to make a solid decision about timing.
Three Phases of the Spring Mature boars are usually the first bears to emerge from the winter den. Sows with cubs are typically the last. Boars come 36 Bear Hunting
out early in order to start packing on calories to build up their bodies for the coming rut. Just like whitetail deer, boars roam long distances and expend great amounts of energy looking for receptive sows. They burn lots of calories, and feeding becomes secondary to breeding later in the spring. By emerging early they are getting a jump-start on the calorie game. We will categorize the first part of the spring as Phase One, the mid spring as Phase Two, and later part as Phase Three. Timeframes will vary based up how far north you’re hunting. We will make some assumptions with dates that could flex either way. Let’s define these phases and discuss the pros and cons of hunting them.
Phase One (Dates – April 1st – May 10th): Early Spring Pros: Oftentimes this is when mature boars become easily patternable over bait or on green vegetation. Not many green leaves allow for great visibility for spot-and-stalk hunting. Bears are focused on feeding, not rutting, so if you find a mature boar, he’s usually very killable. Many outfitters claim this is their best time for killing giant boars. The sows and cubs usually aren’t out of dens or active on baits. No rutting activity can be a positive as the bears are locked on food. Bears aren’t moving long distances, so if you find one, he’s likely not going very far. Cons: Expect colder hunting conditions, possibly even snow. Expect to see fewer bears. Bears during this phase are getting their stomachs adjusted to food and aren’t eating much. On a weeklong hunt you might expect to see just a handful of bears. No rutting activity. Typically won’t see a lot of immature bears, and certainly not many sows with cubs. In this time period you can run the risk of inclement weather putting the bears back in their dens for a few days.
Phase Two (Dates May 11th – June 1st): Mid Spring Pros: Phase Two of the spring is a popular time for black bear hunting. Many outfitters start taking their first batch of clients after May 10th. The deeper bears get in the spring, the more active the baits become. More bears are emerging from their dens, they are eating more as their stomachs are adjusting to digesting food, and they’ve had time to find bait sites or grassy meadows, etc. In most Canadian locations the leaves haven’t greened up yet, temperatures are still cool, and natural food availability is low. The closer you get to June, the more natural food will become available. However, during Phase Two, bears will be responding very well to bait. The later part of Phase Two can also have some good rutting activity. This time period is probably the safest time period to spring bear hunt. The best times for spring black bear hunting are before the climax of spring green up, but not too early when bears are still sleeping and sluggish. Cons: Not a tremendous amount of rutting activity until later in Phase Two. Possibility of seeing a lot of immature bears and sows with cubs. Possibility of outfitters being booked during this time frame.
Phase Three (June 2nd – June 30th): Late Spring Pros: The biggest advantage of hunting during Phase Three is the influence of the bear rut. During this time big boars will begin to roam looking for receptive sows. Just like in the whitetail rut, you never know what to expect Jan/Feb 2021
Understanding the Pros & Cons in the Timing of Spring Bear Hunting When is the best time to hunt bears in the spring? That’s a tough question, but this article will give you insight into the three different stages of the spring hunt. www.bear-hunting.com
Bear Hunting 37
A baculum is a bone found inside the
penis of many mammals including bears, raccoons, dogs, some monkeys and many small rodents. More animals have it than people
often realize. People over time have found many uses for these bones like wearing them as totems for fertility, drink stirrers, or using baculum from larger mammals in tools like knife handles. Many have sharpened the ends of the bone and used them as “tooth picks” or eating utensils. Some hunters use these bones to help keep count of how many male bears they’ve killed. We’ve heard rumor of modern hunters that have over 200 in their collection. It’s pretty folksy stuff that us bear hunters can’t get enough of. You can use this process to clean and whiten any baculum you bring back from the field. The main part that makes this work is the 40V Developer which has a high concentration of hydrogen peroxide. You can buy it on Amazon, but we found that it was much cheaper and readily available at local beauty supply stores. I purchased my bottle when my mom was visiting, and I used her as a decoy for going into Sally’s Beauty Supply. You may need a unique strategy for explaining why you’re at a beauty supply place. Whatever you do, don’t tell them what you’re actually going to be doing with the peroxide. Allow this to be a guide and not a hard set of directions you follow. It is a pretty forgiving process just remember that prolonged exposure to the 40V can damage the bone. If you boil the bone too much it can soften. The end product should be a beautiful, white bone that is sure to be a conversation starter.
1.
Gather the stuff
2.
boil in dish soap
44 Bear Hunting
DIY
Bear
Baculum By Kolby Morehead
@kolby_morehead
How to Do It • Salt and dry baculum in a plastic bag. This is the easiest way to preserve the baculum until you’re ready to process it. It will stay good indefinitely when salted. • Rehydrate dried bear baculum: Add a couple drops of dish washing liquid to water and bring to a boil. Remove it from the heat and let the baculum sit in hot water for up to thirty minutes. This helps rehydrate the dried-out tissue and takes care of undesirable smells. • Remove the Tissue: take baculum from water and use a knife to remove all tissue from the bone. You many need to repeat the hydration process more than once to get the bone clean. You’ll need all the tissue off the bone. • Boil in Hydrogen Peroxide: Bring a new pot of water to a boil (approximately three cups). And add an equal amount of 40V Developer solution to the pot for a 50/50 ratio and bring to a boil. The 40V Developer is concentrated hydrogen peroxide that whitens the bone. Once it comes to a rolling boil remove the heat and let the bone sit in the hot liquid until it cools. Bring the solution back to a boil (a third time) and remove the bone from the pot while the liquid is boiling and lay it out to dry.
3.
scrape off the tissue
Jan/Feb 2021
4.
Boil in peroxide/ water mix
6.
boil in peroxide mix again
Get the Good Stuff
8.
5. 7.
scrape again
let it dry
finished product
The key to getting bone ultra white is in the type of hydrogen peroxide you use. You don’t need the kind of stuff you use on cuts, but rather the hair care product found at most beauty supply stores. Also, it’s cheap. This bottle cost less than seven dollars. www.bear-hunting.com
Bear Hunting 45