2024 - Issue 1 - January/February

French Canadian Black B The On point Experience

Winning an oregon bear hunt

Jonah’s Dream

Desert Bears Shamrock’s of West TX Timex

The bear hunting authority for 24 years

Jan /Fe b

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Bear Rig

Legendary Bear Hounds Part 45

Forever Hunting Buddies

A Father/Son Canadian Adventure

Plottin’ in the North Woods Following Hounds in Northern Maine

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Jan/Feb 2024 Volume 25 - Issue 1 Cover photo by Kolby Morehead

By James Morehead

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Forever Hunting Buddies

By Cody Paratore The On Point Experience (Oregon Bear Hunt)

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By Tom Algozzine

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Plottin’ in the North Woods

Use of Leashed Tracking Dogs

By Lucas Byker

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Brown Bears Not Welcome

By Timothy D. Fowler Recipe: Bear Sausage

By Kolby Morehead

By Roy Gray

Archibald ‘Bear’ Tolley

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Six Step Crockpot Bear Grease Render

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Jonah’s Dream

By Clay Newcomb

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Legendary Bear Hounds Shamrock’s Timex

By TL Jones

Bear Hunting Magazine Trail Camera Contest Winner

Columns 44 Bowhunting Bears

Don’t you hate it when your breakfast follows you around all day?

46 Blood, Sweat, & Bears

Win a Moultrie Mobile Camera!

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by Bernie Barringer - Bear Guru

by Douglas Boze - Bear Dude

48 Black Bear Biology

-Arkansas-

by Dr. Jenn Ballard - Animal Doc

50 Western Bear Hunting

by Jana Waller - Western Hunter

54 Bruin Desinations

by Al Raychard - Bear Hunting Veteran

Submitted by: Cody Keller

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To enter, submit a unique trail camera photo to info@bear-hunting.com or post to our Facebook page: Bear Hunting Magazine

56 Sacred Pursuit

by TL Jones - Hound Pro

58 In Hot Pursuit

by Barry ‘Bear’ Siragusa - Hound Dude

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Bear Grease

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The Editor’s Note

Kolby Morehead

@kolby_morehead

Happy New Year! This first issue of the new year is special for me as I look back at the adventures I went on and the relationships that were formed in 2023. The first three articles are all hunts I was on an apart of. I couldn’t have guessed how special 2023 was for me.

From hunting over bait in Manitoba, to a spot & stalk hunt in Oregon, to a hound hunt following Plott Hounds in Maine... I can attest that there was plenty of adventure on these hunts and every camp was full of great people.

The articles are in the order in which they unfolded. We’re starting off with a blast. As soon as you turn the page, you will find yourself in the most personal article written by my dear ole pappy. My dad has always been my forever hunting partner and toted me around hunting and fishing all of my life. I got a little nostalgic and put some old photos in the article of us to celebrate our journey up to the time that I get to take the old man along.

The next article finds us in Oregon in a cool giveaway we put on with Hunt League, the On Point Podcast, Vortex, and HUXWRX. Cody, the author, won a once in a lifetime prize package worth over $10k including the hunt he wrote about. Cody was exactly the type of guy we were hoping would end up winning this awesome experience. If you are ever looking for good companies to support, just check out the list of sponsors for this hunt.

My last bear hunt of the year found me after bruins in the North Woods of Maine alongside Mr. Tom. Do to weather, this was a shorter hunt with a world class guide (info in article). If you wanna go follow Plott Hounds or foot snare a bear, you should give him a shout.

I only found success in terms of taking a bear myself on one of these hunts. With that in mind, I view each hunt as an overwhelming success. I’m always calibrating my ‘success equation’ and this year the success was found within the community of hunters I shared camp with. I would encourage you in this day of chaos to think about what success is for you not just in the outdoors but life in general.

I’m looking forward to what 2024 has to bring, sure it will come with its own list of challenges and things to overcome; nonetheless, we’re choosing to move forward with hope. Us at BHM wish you the best of new years and hope you find success in 2024 and we all #GuardTheGate together!

SUBSCRIPTIONS: 1-Year (6 issues) subscription rate is $37.00 for U.S. address, $54.00* for Canadian address (in U.S. funds). 2-Year (12 issues) subscription rate is $57.00 for U.S. address, $89.00* for Canadian address (in U.S. funds). (*rate is higher to cover extra postage) For more information, call us at: 479-839-4335, write to us at: Bear Hunting Magazine, P.O. Box 168, West Fork, Arkansas or E-mail us at: info@bear-hunting.com Copyright © 2015 Bear Hunting. All rights reserved. Articles, news items, advertisements or other print media do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. Bear Tracks Media, LLC is not responsible for injury/loss during the implementation of content. Bear hunting is a potentially hazardous activity and people should take extreme caution when hunting.

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Bear Hunting (ISSN 1553-2488 and USPS 019-451) is published bi-monthly by Bear Tracks Media, LLC, 1506 N Cannondale Dr., Fayetteville,AR 72704. Periodicals Postage Paid at West Fork, AR and additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes (form 3579) to Bear Hunting, P.O. Box 168, West Fork, AR 72774.

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BREAK THE WEATHER THE ALL-NEW

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Bear Hunting

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Forever Hunting Buddies A Father/Son Canadian Black Bear Experience

by James Morehead I breathed a sigh of relief as I checked the mailbox and pulled out an envelope from old Uncle Sam with my ticket to a Canadian adventure. My son, Kolby, had set me up with my first bear hunt, and now I had my passport in hand three weeks before our departure on a Manitoba adventure. I have hunted all my life and never thought about hunting black bears. My son has always been my forever hunting partner and once he developed a passion for bear hunting, I knew it was only a matter of time until I became a little “bear curious”.

Having only been out of the country on a trip to Mexico when I was young, I was surprised how easy it was to cross the border into Canada. Even with a rifle, it only added 15 minutes and $25 to fill out a form (RCMP 55899). We were through the border and on our way in less than 25 minutes. Texas, my home state, is not known for its cool climate, so the chilly breezes of Manitoba were a welcome change. I was surprised to find snow and even frozen lakes this far into May. At first, we were surrounded by crop fields and farm land. Once we began seeing the quaking aspen, pine, and spruce trees of the Duck Mountains, my excitement peaked! We made it to camp and settled into our small, rustic cabin. While unloading the truck, we watched several deer making their way through

This is the author showing his son a buck he killed in the river bottoms. A forever hunting buddy in the making. (Circa 1987)

The author and his son hunt together a lot. They sat together and doubled up on these bucks with muzzloaders in 2020.

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The author was able to get this nice 5x5 mule deer in Colorado with his son by his side.

The author and his son ran hogs with hounds for years together. They’re joined in this pic by their cousin, Ricky.

www.bear-hunting.com

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This photo was taken by the author’s son on his first sit over a bait. Expectations were high and the atmosphere was electric.

camp. Then with all the travel behind us, it was finally time to get some rest.

Day one of the hunt, we met up with our outfitter, Todd Wohlgemuth of Baldy Mountain Outfitters.

Todd was a very nice man and the guides with him were just as kind.

We got licenses, tags, and lunch, then everyone went to check sights on their guns. At 2:00 pm, all seven hunters were off to the stands. Since it was my first bear hunt, my son wanted to sit with me and show me the ropes. The weather was cold and rainy, which I learned is not good for bear hunting. That being said, I got my first bear sighting as a sow with white on her chest made her way into the bait. It was a blast watching her and it was special sharing this moment with my son. That bear was the only one we saw that day. The guides came to pick us up just after legal shooting light was over and we made it back to camp for one of the highlights of the trip—sharing a meal and talking about everyone’s hunt.

This became one of my favorite times of the day.

Even though no bears were taken on day one, the morning of day two was full of laughter around the 10

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It wasn’t long after sitting in the stand that the author was able to see his first bear. A sow with a white chevron came in.

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table. My rifle had taken a tumble, so one of the guides, Bryan, and I took off to the range to check the rifle and make sure it was all good. If anything, it was a little better. At 2:30 pm, Bryan put me in the stand and checked the bait sight. As he was heading to the wheeler and out of hearing range, I saw the first bear walking in at 40 yards. He stopped, turned, and walked back the way he came. I texted my son the news. Two hours passed and the bear was still walking around 100 yards out in the brush, then he wandered out of sight.

At 8:00 pm, I saw bear three across the creek and up the ridge. When he was at the top of the ridge, he turned to the left and straight into a 40-yard broadside stance. The 350 Legend barked with a wellplaced shot, then the bear broke and ran. I put a

second round into his chest as he climbed a tree. Next, since we are instructed to put as many rounds as we can into bears since they are tough critters, I put another round into his neck and then heard his death moan. I called Bryan to let him know the bear was down.

On day three, we took photos and skinned the bear after the morning breakfast and jibber jabber. I’ve always been interested in the life of an outfitter and Todd graciously let me tag along with him. I was surprised to find out how hard an outfitter works after he puts hunters in the stand. Once the last hunter was in the stand, his evening was spent getting oil and grease for bait sites, then we checked baits to make sure they had plenty of feed, moved some stands, and checked trail cameras. You really don’t know how much the guides do for you to have a good hunt. Outfitters work for you, so I feel very thankful to all outfitters and guides for everything they do. After all that work, it was time to pick up hunters and retrieve any bears harvested. After collecting two bears killed on day three, it was time for the normal sharing of stories around the dinner table.

Day four was my day to recharge. The ice was finally gone off the lake and I wanted to spend time around it with no worries. Kolby daily offered for me to sit with him, but my back doesn’t love long sits in a tree these days.

I did a little fishing and fiddle-faddled

The author and his son are pictured here with the author’s first ever bear.

www.bear-hunting.com

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With the help of outfitter, Todd Wohlgemuth, the author was able to get a weight on his bear, get some good photos, and finish the skinning pro cess.

With the ice finally melting off of the lake, the author took advantage of being tagged out and did some fishing on day 4.

The author’s son took a beautiful cinnamon bear on day 4. All seven people in camp took bears within the first four days of the hunt.

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Here is the author with his son, Kolby, and his son’s beautiful cinnamon bear.

around until the guides got back with the hunters that night. It was a night of nights; all four remaining hunters tagged out and the camp was seven for seven with one massive bear (Kolby got a beautiful cinnamon color phased bear with a chevron on its chest).

On day five we skinned all four bears, packed up, said our goodbyes, and headed back stateside a day early. Everyone in the camp had an amazing week and wholeheartedly thanked the guides Todd, Bryan, and Jordan for a great week.

Todd runs a great camp and has an excellent team with very supportive attitudes.

If you’re looking for the hunt of a lifetime, give him a call—you won’t be disappointed. A very special thanks to my son and forever hunting buddy, Kolby, for putting everything together, creating the memory of a lifetime. I’ve toted him around on all kind of adventures and it’s special that he was able to tote his old man on one. Love you son. www.bear-hunting.com

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The On Point Experience

by Cody Paratore

Winning an Oregon Bear Hunt Oregon Bear Hunting

The author (right) won a huge prize package as well as a hunt with Garrett Weaver (left) from the On Point Podcast in Oregon.

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From July 31st to August 5th, I embarked on an unforgettable Oregon Coastal black bear hunt. I won this hunt through the HuntLeague mobile app. This app is a digital journal to mark your hunting experiences while also providing the ability to share those experiences with other hunters. The journey was marked by challenges, including a lack of bear sightings, but above all it was a remarkable camaraderie with fellow hunters. The hunt brought me not only closer to nature but also to a group of extraordinary individuals. Let’s delve into the highlights of this exhilarating adventure.

www.bear-hunting.com

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The author started the week being instructed how to shoot long range by former Navy Seal Sniper, Nick Blough.

The prize package included a Begara rifle, a Vortex Razor, and a HUXWRX suppressor.

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Sharpening My Skills I was filled with excitement and confidence after my day at the My adventure began on July 31st when I had the range. However, for the following four days, the Oregon Coast privilege of spending a day at the range with my brand new seemed reluctant to reveal its black bear population. While we Bergara 6.5 Creedmoor HMR topped with the Vortex Razor spotted numerous deer and elk, bears remained elusive. PersonLHT 4.5-22x50. To make the experience even more special, I ally, I was just happy to be there. I got to see amazing animals, received expert instruction from none other than retired U.S. beautiful scenery, and had the opportunity to learn from some of Navy Seal Sniper, Nick Blough of Vortex Optics. Nick not only the best in the industry. taught me the art of shooting but also shared his expertise in Garrett Weaver, the host of the On Point Podcast, was using various Vortex Optics instruments that were sent for me guiding me through this journey, and I could sense the mounting to use. As a fairly new shooter, it was reassuring when Nick took pressure on him. Repeatedly, he emphasized that the lack of time to explain even the most simple aspects of marksmanship bear sightings was far from the norm. When I arrived at his house to me. for the experience, I made it known that I was okay leaving with In just one hour, I transitioned from never having shot a tag in my pocket. Learning was going to be enough for me; past 100 yards to confidently ringing steel at 600 yards. It was killing my first bear would have been the cherry on top. an eye-opening experience, and my initiation into suppressed After several days of no bear sightings, we made a shooting, thanks to HUXWRX, added a whole new dimension to spontaneous decision to relocate to a different area within the day. Shooting with suppressors was not only effective but the unit, hoping for better luck. Garrett had some friends who also undeniably cool. I have wanted to shoot suppressed for a reported that the berry crop was more abundant and ripe over in long time now. My second child was born earlier this year, so this new area. I have to admit, it was pretty rough sleeping on an having a tool to protect my kids’ hearing is super important to air mattress and taking a hot shower while I knew the other guys me. Suppressors are an investment, and I was so thankful to in the camper were sleeping in tents!

HUXWRX for being a sponsor of this hunt.

On the night of the third day, Garrett and Kolby spotted a bear for about five seconds in a clear cut. Unfortunately I Challenging Days on the Coast broke the golden rule and had wandered away from them, not The next day marked the opening of bear season, and allowing for a shot. However this confirmed that we were in the Everyone relied heavily on their OnX Hunt apps during this hunt. The hunter’s would drive roads and walk into openings to glass.

www.bear-hunting.com

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A lot of the berry patches were not ripe yet. The hunters began honing in on areas with ripe berry patches.

There was a lot of glassing on this hunt over a lot of old timber cuts. Looking through the clear glass of our Vortex binos and spotters became second nature.

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right area.

A Triumph on the Sniper’s Perch On the evening of the fourth day, our patience and perseverance paid off. Kolby and I were lagging behind and Garrett ran to the edge of a clearing so he could peak over the edge. As I got closer, I saw Garrett run back to the road and wave his hand, telling us to hurry! We both started running. We finally located a legal bear, positioned 336 yards away in a clearing. With my trusty Razor 4000 GB rangefinder, I ranged the bear and made the necessary adjustments. After a few dry-fire rounds to steady my nerves, I sent a shot downrange. The bear collapsed and our hunt came to a triumphant end.

The sheer elation of the moment was infectious. We couldn’t contain our excitement and had an impromptu group hug right there on the sniper’s perch. Sharing this incredible experience with Garrett Weaver and our own Kolby Morehead made it all the more special. After reliving the moment with those guys, we started making our way Jan/Feb 2024

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down into the steep clear cut. When I say steep, I mean steep.

Kolby forgot his good boots and was sliding all over the hill. We knew this was going to be a rough pack out.

We finally got down to my bear and it was incredible to put my hands on him. I have never seen one up close and the first thing that caught my attention was how coarse his hair was. We snapped some pictures and it was time to start breaking down the bear. Garrett and I tried to drag it down the hill just a little bit to an open spot when all the sudden it felt like I got shot. There were bees! We ran, stripping clothing and packs and swatting at ourselves with hats. Over the next two hours we fought a war with them. Every time we moved the bear, it seemed like we found another bee hive in the ground.

Eventually, we sat there until after dark so the bees would go to sleep. In total, I got stung about eight times and I think Garrett counted sixteen stings! Finally, we got to break down the bear and test out my new Argali game bags and knife. I will admit, I am normally a replaceable blade guy but that Serac knife is wicked sharp and holds an edge. We loaded up the meat onto my new EXO Mountain K4 pack and off we went, straight uphill to the top. I am not sure how Garrett does it; he absolutely flew up those hills like a dang goat. Kolby and I eventually made it.

The author used the skills he learned day one to make a perfect 336 yd shot. Check out that classy hat! #BhmApproved

A Return to Base Camp The following day, we returned to our base camp to divulge the story of our successful hunt with the other hunters. They were so excited for me and we all enjoyed watching the hunt unfold through my Tacta-cam FTS. The subsequent days were dedicated to trying to find bears for the rest of the hunters, but we were not as fortunate. Time and again, bears were spotted within shooting range only to be accompanied by cubs, making them off-limits for ethical hunting. Even though we couldn’t harvest another bear, it was awesome getting to watch the sows and cubs interact.

The author made a perfect shot and after a short roll, the bear did not move from its resting place. The author was finally going to lay hands on his first bear!

www.bear-hunting.com

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It was a once in a lifetime experience for the author and he made some lasting friends during the hunt.

A Journey of Learning and Friendship This bear hunt was an incredible adventure that not only deepened my understanding of shooting and hunting, but also allowed me to tap into the knowledge and experience of true professionals. The camaraderie forged during this trip was something special, and I have every hope of sharing a hunting camp with these newfound friends again in the future.

A Heartfelt Thank You I am immensely grateful to all the sponsors who equipped me with the gear I needed for success.

Some of those sponsors were Argali, EXO Mountain, OnX Maps, Bear Hunting Magazine, Vortex, Kestrel Glassing Systems, Remington, HUXWRX, Bergara, First Lite, Tacta-Cam, MoonShine Rod Co, Wiser Precision, Axil, Mtn Tough, Worksharp, Coast, Salmon River Solutions, Ivory Hosters, Western Fly, and Pyro Putty. The memories created during this Oregon Coastal black bear hunt are etched in my mind, and I eagerly anticipate my next bear hunting adventure.

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www.bear-hunting.com

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Plottin’ in the North Woods Hunting in Maine with Plott Hounds

by Tom Algozzine

What do you give your dad when he turns 75? A bear hunting trip. At least, that’s what I did. My father turned 75 in July 2021 and I wanted to do something special with him. We had been on hunting trips to Maine before with my brother, hunting bears over bait from a stand twice successfully. But this time I wanted to do something different, a once in a lifetime experience; that’s when this story begins.

I started researching outfitters in Maine, but there were so many choices and I didn’t know where to start. I decided to begin by asking a Maine guide and taxidermist who I know and respect who he would recommend. He said, “You won’t find a harder working bear guide than Dan Wagner.”

Dan owns Great Northern Outfitters in Allagash, ME, and offers a variety of options to hunt bears, including a “warranteed” trophy hunt with hounds. After speaking with Dan, he explained what to expect, how he is able to target mature boars using his hounds, and how he guarantees his week-long hound hunts. I was sold, and after talking with my dad, I booked a hound hunt for that September.

When we arrived in Allagash for that first week of hound hunting in Maine, we joined three other hunters, all who had hunted with Dan before and killed trophy bears. There was also another surprise: Dan was walking with a crutch because he had injured his hip the week before. But as a true Mainer, that did not stop him from going out with us each day; he just had extra guides in camp to help handle the dogs and the bears. My dad and I had a great week hunting with Dan and his Plott hounds. The dogs love hunting and worked really hard for him, treeing or baying bears almost every day. On Wednesday, my dad got his chance. About a mile off a logging road in a dense fir forest, he took a beautiful 300 lb boar that had to be quartered and packed out with the help of the guides and houndsmen. I was fortunate to have the dogs put me on several bears, but unfortunately none that were mature boars, so I vowed to come back and try again.

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The author’s father took this big bruin in 2021 at the age of 75 with Great Northern Outfitters. Pictured hhere is his dad (left) with one of his guides.

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After getting a good bear on camera, outfitter Dan Wagner leads hounds to the area followed by the author.

Two years later, I found myself contacting Dan again and booked a “warranteed” hunt for the second week of September. The first night, I was the only hunter in camp. Hurricane Lee had decided to travel north towards Maine and make landfall in Nova Scotia that Saturday, disrupting the travel plans of another guest.

Monday morning, we headed out early and checked all the cameras, and while we had pictures of a lot of bears, none were Monday “shooter” bears. By the time we returned to camp, the other guest, BHM’s very own Kolby Morehead, had arrived. Kolby was planning to do both a hound hunt and trap a bear, so we made a plan and headed back out to set the foothold snare.

Tuesday it rained all day, which limits the ability for the dogs to work, so we all took the opportunity to rest, including the dogs. Wednesday after checking all the cameras, we finally let the dogs out, but the bear had walked a dirt road (which doesn’t hold scent well) and the dogs struggled to follow the trail.

By Thursday, we were all ready for a productive day and at the first camera, we had pictures of two bears from a few hours earlier—one of which was the mature boar we were after. So, Dan dumped the tailgate and walked the dogs down to the bait site in order to get them to follow the two different tracks.

Two dogs took off together on one track while the other four he set off on the other track. We decided to follow his best-nosed dog, Mavi, on the track she was on, convinced it was the bigger of the two bears, especially since the other four dogs had their bear treed fairly quickly (according to the GPS tracking collars), which is often the sign of a smaller bear.

After almost an hour of following Mavi, we decided to head back and collect the other four dogs so we could add more dogs to the pursuit of the bear Mavi was tracking. We had to hike around three quarters of a mile to where the dogs had the bear treed, which included crossing a small brook and navigating a very dense forest of fir trees. As we got closer, I started scanning trees for a glimpse of a bear, but I noticed there were only a couple of larger trees and I could not see a bear. At this point Dan realized this was the large bear and it was not treed, it was bayed. As we crossed the small brook we heard a low growl, then a scuffle, and then saw the dogs all scatter, but we still could not see the bear.

The dogs did not run far and Dan spotted the bear and had me step up onto a hummock to try to get a clear shot. The bear was so close I could hardly make it out in my scope, but Dan remained calm, encouraging me to take the shot. After a few intense moments, we had a big bear down. Dan estimates I was 11 feet away when I shot and that the bear

The outfitter runs plott hounds. He’s passionate about the breed and is a plott man to his core.

www.bear-hunting.com

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weighed between 300 and 400 lbs.

He also said we definitely had some divine intervention on our side for a number of reasons. First, the small brook was too wide to jump and too deep to walk through, but Dan found a spot with a flat tree across it, making a perfect bridge. Second, that bear had been bayed in that one location for a long time, like it was waiting for us to show up. Third, the bear did not run far when we bumped it and it let us walk to within 11 feet of it on the ground. And fourth, getting a clear shot through all the thick trees was challenging, except where we were standing.

We had to quarter the bear and pack it out because the woods were so thick, which was a whole other adventure. Let’s just say that Dan had super strength, carrying out three of the quarters and coming back to relieve me and carry the hide and skull the remaining 500 yards to the truck. Also, thank goodness for Kolby, who brought hiking poles that he let me borrow, carrying one of the quarters and helping get me up off the ground when I got hung up by a tree. After we were all back in the truck, we had to go collect the other two dogs. We eventually made it to Mavi and the other bear, which was also bayed, but it did not let Dan and Kolby get as close and was not a trophy bear.

My two-year wait for an amazing bear and hunt with hounds was over.

As Dan said, “I may shoot a bigger bear, but I’ll never have a more memorable hunt!”

The huge bruin was bayed on the ground and the author couldn’t get a shot until he was merely 11 feet away.

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• • • •

Six day hunt.

Combo hunts available.

Very high success rate on large boars.

300,000 acre exclusive bear hunting area.

•

Guided and self-guided packages available.

Allagash, Maine Master Guide Dan Wagner

• All method hunts available: baited, hound, spot-n-stalk, and foot snare traps.

www.greatnorthernoutfitters.com | 207-398-3330 | dwoutdoors@live.com www.bear-hunting.com

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Visit our website for one of a kind bear hunting tees! www.bear-hunting.com

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Out here, the hunt is on.

foxford, Sk

Saskatchewan has rugged wilderness and trophy harvests, not lounge chairs and umbrella drinks. When you’re after a huge color phase bruin, you come here.

All the stories here are true. Make your own.

FishHuntSask.com www.bear-hunting.com

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Brown Bears Not Welcome How to Limit ‘Ursus Arctos’ at Your Bait Site

By Lucas Byker

My foot snagged on a deadfall as I walked and I stumbled forward on the grassy path before regaining my balance. Ahead, my hunting partner and his son yelled back that the bait had been hit. This was the second year we’d run this particular bait, and it had yielded two black bears the spring prior. Situated on the floodplain of a glacial river in Southcentral Alaska, the bait site was 150 yards from the sandbar we beached our jet boats on, tucked into a mature stand of birch trees, white spruces, and cottonwoods. This was our second check of our four baits and only one bait had been touched on our first check, so any new hit on a bait was something to celebrate.

When I saw the barrel, my excitement ebbed a bit; everything I saw told me it was likely a brown bear hit.

As we set up a honey burn and emptied garbage bags of bait into the barrel, I pulled both trail cameras and flipped through the photos on the camera display screen. After I quickly passed through the obligatory photos of ravens and magpies mobbing the barrel, I came upon the photo I was dreading. A blonde brown bear sow, with two cubs nearly her same size in tow, had hit the bait multiple times in our one-week absence. Even after the barrel was empty, they continued to tip and sometimes lift the barrel off the ground and turn it upside down in case some new morsels of bait had reappeared since their last visit. We would now need to decide now if this bait was still worth running this season.

For readers residing in the “lower 48”, some terminology clarification is likely in order. Brown bears and grizzly bears are both the same species, Ursus arctos. However, in Alaska the term “brown bear” is used to describe the bears which reside near the coast and rely on salmon and other marine food sources. Grizzly bears, like those found in Interior Alaska and which are spreading across the western continental U.S., rely more on terrestrial food sources and are generally smaller in body size.

My effort to avoid brown bears at my bait sites was borne out of legal reasons. When I first arrived in Alaska a decade ago, black bears were the only species which 28

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could be harvested over bait. If a brown bear came into the bait while I was in my tree, I had to let it walk and debate my options for safely leaving my tree stand at the end of my sit. Luckily, we enjoy nearly 24 hours of daylight during our spring bear season, so I don’t have to worry about a dark walk back to the boat with a half ton predator lurking nearby.

Incrementally over the last 10 years, the regulations have loosened to where in most game units where baiting is legal, brown bears can be harvested over bait. Even now that I can harvest brown bears over bait, my hunting partners and I still try to run our baits in a way that we can attract as many black bears, and as few brown bears, as possible. While many people dream of harvesting a huge Alaskan brown bear, there are a few reasons that many residents would rather not have them on their baits.

Brown bear meat, at least in Southcentral Alaska where salmon are an important part of their diet, ranges from mediocre to inedible with few exceptions. Spring black bear meat is almost always delicious and is the most consistent source of burger for our household. Brown bears can be extremely destructive on bait site equipment (smashed barrels, uprooted barrel trees, broken chains, etc.) and are more dangerous than black bears when coming or going from the tree stand. Finally, our baits are accessed by jet boat and are in remote areas where we can’t re-bait them every day.

When a brown bear patterns on a bait, they will generally completely consume all 55 gallons of it in a night or two. The system we’ve developed to harvest black bears along a river system which is home to both species involves a mixed approach of bait content, scents, and terrain we look for.

The bait and scents are perhaps the most important factor to emphasize when trying to avoid brown bears. To really understand and formulate a baiting strategy, it is important to learn about each species’ nutritional needs and what scents they associate with meeting those needs. Multiple studies have shown that brown bears require a higher protein diet than black bears. Both species are omnivorous, but brown bears’ larger muscle mass and overall size require the more concentrated protein found in meat. Black bears, conversely, can survive on vegetation with occasional infusions of animal protein. In Southcentral Alaska where both species are present, brown bears often dominate the best fishing locations on Jan/Feb 2024

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salmon streams. Feeding along an alder-choked salmon stream puts black bears at risk of being ambushed and possibly killed by the larger, more aggressive brown bears; the best place to hunt black bears in August and September is up in mountain goat country where they can be found gorging on low-bush blueberries and crowberries. Both species feed on ungulates, particularly moose, but predating on moose doesn’t concentrate bears the same way salmon do, so black bears are less likely to be driven away by their larger cousins.

Based on the facts outlined above, you can begin to formulate a strategy for attracting and keeping black bears while deterring brown bears. Keep in mind that I have never been able to completely exclude brown bears from my baits where a healthy population exists, but most of my brown bear “hits” consist of a single visit, and the bears generally don’t return. When black bears work my baits they are generally satisfied enough with my scent and bait combination to pattern on the bait.

Early on when I began baiting bears in Alaska, I received what I found to be sound advice: keep it sweet for black bears, but stink will bring in brown bears. When we look at their behaviors and diet, this makes sense.

Brown bears do not hesitate to feed on rotting salmon carcasses and they will stash a moose carcass under brush, logs, and dirt, only to return to feed once the carcass has begun to rot. When a friend of mine began running baits targeting brown bears, I gave him some of my skunk-based trapping lures to try, and the brown bears all but tore down the trees the lure was smeared on. Similarly, I have put trapping lures on stumps on my trapline and regularly get pictures of brown bears digging under the stumps, trying to find the elusive rotten morsel of food.

Every experienced bear baiter has their own preferred scent they swear by, and for me that’s anise scent. I’ve used a variety of other sweet scents as well, but I rarely set a bait without anise being my primary attractant scent. I have read plenty of articles touting the efficacy of beaver carcasses and castor scents at baits, but for me both the carcasses and castor scents seem to be brown bear magnets. This is unfortunate since I can generally obtain beaver carcasses easily from my trapline, but I don’t put them on my baits. My friends who target brown bears have used them with success, and beavers also make great wolf bait.

The scent regime described above helps minimize the number of brown bears which are attracted to baits, but it is the bait composition which determines if that brown bear

will continue tearing up the bait. Here again, I looked at the diet preferences of both species and took in advice from more experienced hunters to develop a system which works. Once again, keeping the bait sweet is a necessity, but minimizing the amount of protein in the bait is just as important. Brown bears need a substantial amount of protein in their diet compared black bears, so a bait high in carbs and sweets will not provide the nutrients needed to sustain a brown bear. As a result, they will need to look elsewhere to fulfill their dietary needs.

My bait composition is dominated by popcorn sprayed with powdered drink mix. While not the most nutritious, it keeps the black bears at the barrel because it isn’t easy to cart off into the woods and, in my opinion, keeps them hungry by not providing a ton of calories. Behind popcorn comes bread and donuts. I often spray this with powdered drink mix as well, especially if it is plain bread. The final portion of the composition consists of dog food or sweet feed (oats coated in molasses, which is available at feed stores). When available, candy and marshmallows also make a great addition. The portions of each bait type are displayed below: • Popcorn 50% • Bread/Donuts 35% • Dog Food/Sweet Feed 10% • Other Sweets 5%

“Keep it sweet for black bears, but stink will bring in brown bears.”

I debate every spring whether the dog food and sweet feed is a help or a hindrance. I add it to make the bait more well-rounded nutritionally for the black bears, but dog food’s high protein content is likely an attractant for brown bears as well. The sweet feed alternative is perhaps better, but it is regularly left uneaten by

both species.

Where my hunting partners and I run our baits, the terrain is generally flat between the bait and the river bank so we can drag the bears we harvest out whole and gut them off the boat. Leaving a gut pile to rot at a bait is a sure method to attract brown bears. Additionally, I suspect gut piles may deter further black bear site visits. When our trail cameras show a brown bear is regularly visiting a bait site, “shutting down” the bait for a week before reopening could allow for the brown bear to wander off and not return.

I don’t profess that my methods of deterring brown bears are flawless. I have to deal with brown bears every baiting season. But, through trial and error, I rarely have a bait site become completely taken over by brown bears. Even when the bait’s first hit is from a brown bear, a couple weeks’ patience will usually yield black bears at the same site.

The author has found methods to keep repeated visits from brown bears so he can target black bears.

www.bear-hunting.com

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Archibald ‘Bear’ Tolley 1811 - 1902 (Maybe?)

By Roy Gray It is said that when the “Bear”-Bear Tolley, that is came down from Purgatory Mountain for the last time, the bear species that survived him came out of hiding.

Whether it’s so or not, one can only conjecture, but we can surely visualize the old hunter stalking his fourlegged prey up and down and around the mountains that occupied Bedford and Botetourt Counties. One thing is certain: if the bears of the mountains could talk, they’d probably curse the day of his birth, and praise his departure.

Queen Victoria, Abe Lincoln, and Robert E. Lee probably never heard of him even though they were contemporaries. From all I could learn about Tolley, he’d probably heard very little about them, and if he had, it made little difference to him. He was too wrapped up in the wildlife of the Blue Ridge-and that parcel of God’s creation somewhere between the good place and the bad place so the mountain folk understand called Purgatory.

Several questions are unresolved about “Bar,” and we certainly are in no position to set the record straight. His tombstone was carved out of rock taken from his mountain homeland and records him having lived from 1801-1902, which would have made him 101 years old when he died. T. Edward Zimmerman wrote that this age was sustained by a great-grandson, John Tolley (now deceased) of Glasgow, in “The Wildlife” magazine of January 1971. Henry Swartz, who lives in Buchanan, and is considered expert on the great hunter, said he was only 91 when he died, and this claim is supported by the Natural Bridge Wax Museum. He and his sister, Rosa Hyde, also of Buchanan, have done a little research that established his age to be well under the hundred mark.

There is also some disagreement as to where he was born. After a little search of my own in the Bedford County Court House, I couldn’t find any record of his 30

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birth in Bedford County, which Swartz claims is Tolley’s birthplace. However, he does pin it down to the vicinity of Apple Orchard Mountain and Thunder Ridge, and we must remember that county records don’t always go as far back as the early. 1800s. But Tolley’s birthplace is disputed in Zimmerman’s article where it is listed as being in Slate Hollow at the foot of Peavine Mountain in Amherst County.

One thing is sure, he is a native Virginian.

There is some uncertainty as to how great a bear hunter he actually was, too, although he wasn’t of mediocre stuff, if he didn’t turn out to be the greatest one that ever lived. The Wax Museum says that he killed 99 to 385 bears in his lifetime. Swartz says he “done in” over 200.

Others hedge on making any clear claims as to his prowess, but it’s doubtful he was any more proficient at his profession than Davy Crockett, who was said to have killed 109 of the beasts in a nine-month period and he started by killing one when “he was only three”- at least, so the song goes. It looks like Tolley might not have been in his class if all the stories concerning Crockett are true.

He was said to have been likeable, honest, and a non-drinker. He had a good reputation although he was said to have had quite a “salty” tongue (he did watch his language when the kids were around). Those who knew him said he was a “character”, and you all know that that description can cover a multitude of weaknesses.

Henry Swartz, who was raised around Arnold’s Valley in the late 1890s, said that Tolley would go past his boyhood home on horseback with as many as eighteen to twenty hounds-apparently in pursuit of bear. His hounds were indispensable to the Bear, and while he never said so, it’s possible they saved his life more often than his trusty muzzle­loading rifle. It is probably that his prize dogs protected him by barking, snapping, biting, clinging to any and all portions of the beast’s body, pestering him to no end, and we’d be in no position to judge how many times Jan/Feb 2024

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this happened. Of course, when Tolley went bear hunting, couldn’t take such disrespect and showed the fellow to it wasn’t Tolley who feared the bears, but the bears who the door, lecturing him as he went: “Anyone who kicks one of my dogs is not fit company for my daughter.” It was a feared Tolley, if bears know fear.

When considering the feats of Tolley, one has to long way down Purgatory Mountain.

If Tolley was loyal to his dogs, it must not be weigh the observations of those who knew him before thought he didn’t expect loyalty from them. To be a memthe turn of the century. Rosa Hyde takes note that a retired C&O agent in Buchanan recalls Tolley killing eight ber of his team they had to be obedient and fearless-­ especially concerning bear. Besides that, they had to be of his favorite prey­three adults and five younger ones “doggedly” persistent and strong. They rarely ever lost in just one hunting expedition. Tolley and a partner had loaded them on a freight train at Big Island and unload- the trail of the bear whose scent they had picked up and ed them at Buchanan station. From stories like this, and were once credited with tracking one from Purgatory realizing Tolley was modest (to a point) it is most likely he Mountain to near Clifton Forge--at least thirty-five miles-where Tolley killed it. killed more than his share of bear.

Many times, while on the chase, they’d have to Even though he spent his last years on Purgatory, he was not a recluse. He came into Buchanan and loved stop because of darkness to resume their duties when daylight arrived. “Bear” and his companions would make to talk with people wherever he went (especially the younger set) who’d gather around to hear him spin yarns use of whatever type of shelter was available, be it a about his hunting experiences. If he was conceited about cave or a pine tree. Man, and beast alike would share of the same fare-usually a corn pone-a half one for the dog, his ability, he didn’t show it, but always lauded his courageous and faithful dogs for his success-especially Old and a whole one for the man.

Tolley had a number of good friends, but when he Faithful and Scout. It’s a rare person who credits a dog went bear hunting he almost always- went alone except with anything, so therein alone lies a quality few others for his dogs. I wonder if any human being ever meant possess. more to him, for Tolley loved them dogs enough to keep Neither Rosa Hyde nor Zimmerman recorded a a cemetery for them near his cabin. It’s doubtful if any rather bizarre situation involving Tolley’s dogs, though of them really died a normal death (for a dog, anyway) .. Swartz told me of one instance when Ed Day, a farm but had probably died of mortal wounds hand from near Buchanan, and a good inflicted during bear combat-­either friend of Tolley’s, was visiting the hunter helping or defending their master. After on Purgatory. Some inclement weather Whether Tolley lived all, a decent burial is certainly befitting had set in and Tolley’s one-room cabin 91 or 101 years is acaman’s best friend-in this case, a fellow was overly cold. One of his dogs had hunter. gone on his last hunting trip, and his demic now. It is inBut if the dog was his best spirit had gone to heaven where he teresting, though, friend, surely the bear had to be was feasting on all the bear meat he that a man, be he a regarded as his greatest enemy. And wanted, plus a side of cornbread. His centenarian or a like any successful warrior, he knew his carcass, however, could still serve a measly ninety, could enemy well--his mentality, his manners, worthwhile purpose for Tolley, and he go hunting bear up and his habits. Although he was illiterhad stuffed it carefully in a well-ventiuntil a few days beate, a formal’ education being denied lated crack between two Jogs. fore his death. Such him as a boy, he had studied the VirginIt’s not likely the “Bear” ever active senior citizens ia bear in the wilds. It’s no surprise that, got rich hunting bear and other game, are a rarity in these once he’d picked up the bruin’s trail, or from farming the small parcel of land he was almost always able to track him given to him and his second wife by post-biblical times. until the beast was cornered and in the Bertha Pechin. Still, one of the bestsights of his deadly rifle. He knew what known accounts of Tolley’s adventures the black beast could and couldn’t do relates his taking some city slickers on and he knew it better than anybody else. a bear hunting expedition. He had placed the city boys It had to be admitted that Tolley was, odd. It along a road on one side of the mountain, and he and also had to be admitted that he was likeable. Whenever his dogs took off the other side. The dogs caught the bruin’s scent and took off over the mountain and towards he went to town, Buchanan usually, he’d draw a crowd, the other hunters. In a voice that could be heard all over normally made up of boys and young men who listened closely to every one of his stories. He also enjoyed the the mountain, and that must have scared the bear half to death, he yelled: “Don’t shoot ‘til I get there!” The bear likes of the Riders of Riders’ Gap, the Floyds of Floyd’s Fields, and the Parkers of Parker’s Gap when he was seekknew that Tolley wouldn’t miss!

When he got there, the dogs had the bear treed, ing out somebody for his own personal satisfaction.

Few folks were offended by his uncouth ways and the hunters were waiting for the command to shoot.

Instead Tolley took his usual deadly aim and fired away; and slovenly dress; they accepted him for the man he was. One person was mentioned by Henry Swartz that his one shot would be better than anybody else’s and interested me-and that was Buck Wright. He lived in the there wouldn’t be a wounded bear to contend with. As the bear lay quietly on the ground, Tolley stood over him mountains east of Buchanan and Purgatory. It is said that and said: “There she is! A dollar a pound if you want any he and Tolley did a little hunting together. Nobody seemed to know much about Wright except that he’d come east of it.” It sounded a bit greedy to the city boys, but then from Missouri where he’d run with the Jesse James gang. that was how he made a living.

Whether he was hiding or had simply quit the band of His appreciation for his dogs, while not unrealistic, must have seemed a bit extreme at times. His love outlaws isn’t known. Old Tolley accepted the man the way for his dogs nearly rivalled his love for his daughters. As he was, just like folks had accepted him.

Probably the best friend the old, grizzled hunter a matter of fact, one young Casanova came a-courtin’ ever had (aside from his dogs, maybe) was Bertha Pechin, one of Tolley’s daughters, and in the course of the visit who owned a sizeable piece of real estate—namely, Purbecame discourteous, if not downright brutal with one gatory Mountain. She gave him the last piece of land he of the Bear’s four-legged children who were crowding ever owned, near the top of the mountain, a ten-acre plot the cabin. Rudely, he kicked him out of the way. Tolley www.bear-hunting.com

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I live in the shadow of Purgatory Mountain where on which he built his log cabin. It was also good enough he spent a good portion of his life. He’d been so wrapped that he had a large garden, a few acres on which to up in its happenings, he’d one time forgotten what day of grow corn and a little hay for winter feed. He kept a the week it was. Coming into Buchanan one Sunday to do horse, a cow, and a few chickens.

Later, Miss Pechin, who had become Mrs. Jami- business, he was reprimanded. His retort is famous around Buchanan even now: “How can it be Sunday in Buchanan son since Tolley’s arrival on Purgatory, gave him a fivewhen it’s Saturday on the mountain?” Whatever his sin shot repeating rifle, and from a heart full of gratitude, the mountain man gave her his trusty old muzzle loader. was, though, it was erased when he made peace with his Maker and he could leave the youth he loved, with a clear The last known owner of that famous gun was Stuart B. conscience--if Rev. Morris did his job right.

Carter.

Interstate 81 travels along the mountain now, but In spite of his disheveled appearance, Tolley as I look up at its rugged grandeur; I cannot help but feel struck it rich with young people. He felt this affinity for some of the things Tolley must have felt. It would be satthem until his last days. In one case, he was sorely hurt by the death of his fifteen-year-old grandson, who was isfying to live substantially off the land, off the food, and life of the mountain. Gone are those days now. killed while out hunting rabbit. The Bear had probably What’s that I hear? The blasting away of Tolley’s taught him how to shoot, as he had so many other young fellows. Not much is said of Tolley’s second wife (and the muzzle loader or repeater? Nope, it’s only the backfiring first one is never mentioned), but two things are evident: of a truck and the squealing of brakes on the interstate! first, she must have loved him, or she’d never have put up Apple Orchard Mountain--Thunder Ridge-Greyledge-Slate Quarry Hollow-­Peavine with his ways; second, she Mountain--Hunting Creeknever had anything except -the Peaks of Otter--Petite the children she bore him, Gap--Thunder Ridge--Arand we have confidence nold’s Valley--The Devil’s he gave them all, wife and Hopper--Gunstock, Head children alike, all the love Foremost, Camping, Wilson they needed. and Piney Ridges-Big and Whether Tolley lived Little Harkening Hill--Back91 or 101 years is academbone Mountain--Bryant’s ic now. It is interesting, Ridge--Buzzard’s Ridge-though, that a man, be he AND Purgatory--all proba centenarian or a measly ably heard the howling of ninety, could go hunting Tolley’s dogs and the crack bear up until a few days of his gun. Those sounds are before his death. Such gone now, some seventy-six active senior citizens are a years, at least, but Archibald rarity in these post-biblical Tolley’s remains still rest in Fairview Cemetery, near the times. edge of his mountain homeland.

There is a tragic, and somewhat paradoxical account of what caused him to die. The wax museum at Natural Bridge informs us--condensing his life in less than This article about a legendary bear hunter is from the archives of the fifty words-and taking note of a minor, but tragic acci‘Full Cry Magazine’ circa December ‘91. If you love hound hunting, dent that resulted in his death: you should check them out. Thanks Dani & Jason Duby for sharing some old rich content with us!

“Archibald (Bar) Tolley: 1811-1902. Famous area bear hunter said to have killed 99 to 385 bears in his 91 years. Known for his honest, if rather salty tongue. Bar emerged unscathed from countless hunts only to die from blood poisoning from a nail in his foot.”

Several weeks before he died, Archibald “Bear” Tolley sent for Rev. Thomas R. Morris, pastor of the Buchanan Baptist Church, and professed faith in Christ. The clean air, the songs of the birds, the fragrance of wildflowers and pine, the scurrying of rabbit, deer and - Large and color phased bears. bear, hadn’t reached his heart; it was his - Exclusive tents for each hunter with wood stove. love for young people. Maybe after all - Spring & fall hunts available. his years, he felt the life of the mountains and America’s great outdoors, the track- 24 hr hot/cold water and indoor shower. ing of bear, the thrill of the kill, the joy of - Five day fully guided hunt. victory over the beast, weren’t enough to leave the youth of his last days. Besides enjoying what the Creator had given him, he must’ve realized the Creator was a Minitonas, Manitoba wonderful person after all and was surely a friend youth would need when they canadabestbows@gmail.com left for higher climes. Maybe Tolley was (204) 525-2121 | (204) 281-2746 grateful that God had given him grace in www.canadianwildernessoutfitters.com the little time he had left on earth.

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Six-Step Crockpot Bear Grease Render

By Kolby Morehead @kolby_morehead

1. Rinse off the bear fat.

2. Trim off meat.

Bear grease is sacred amongst bear hunters.

It’s value is more than gold to some. Rendering bear fat is pretty straight forward, simply apply heat and patiently wait for your due reward. That being said there are pros and cons to different methods and not all cleanups are created equal.

I have come to like using a slow cooker to render down the ole bruin insulation (fat) for its simplicity and it tends to yield a more clear oil in the in. High temperatures can burn or scorch the fat and your oil can turn out darker and be more difficult to strain.

Bear fat is sacred in my home so we choose to grind the fat before rendering it which will get more yield than simply cutting the fat into small cubes. There is no right or incorrect method of rendering bear fat as it’s a pretty forgiving process.

I’ll be using this grease as a cooking oil, making chapstick, soap, and much more. It’s amazing how with each new project we find just how special bear grease is.

3. Grind cleaned fat.

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4. Set to low and stir occationally until it’s ready to strain.

5. Strain the oil through cheesecloth.

6. Use a canning funnel and fill your jars.

Gaze upon your liquid gold!

www.bear-hunting.com

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Black Bear Sausage

by Timothy Fowler

@timothydfowler

Dinner or Supper?

Family dinners are important to us. Supper or dinner? Which is it? We might argue over what the evening meal is called in your neck of the woods, but we can agree that family meals are a benefit to the diners. Did you know that the positive impact of regular sit-down family meals has been studied for decades?

The clear evidence is that kids who regularly eat dinner with family have better academic performance, higher self-esteem, increased vocabulary, and are better readers. In addition, they experience less anxiety and are less likely to get into “teenage trouble.” They exhibit improved social skills, feel closer to their families, encounter fewer mental disorders, suffer less anxiety, and face fewer weight-related problems.

Invest the Time, Effort, and Equipment The purpose of this article is to encourage you to make the investment and do the work to make sausage. I started making my own years ago with my KitchenAid stand mixer and the optional grinder attachment, which can be adapted to stuff sausages. A few years ago when our sausage production requirements increased beyond the capability of the KitchenAid, my boys and I split the cost of a powerful meat grinder, a 20-pound hand-powered sausage mixer, and a professional sausage stuffer. The works cost a bit more than $1,000. Our calculations confirmed we paid for our investment that first year with a 220-pound batch of sausage when compared to store bought sausage. We also do our own butchering, which means that we have complete control over how carcasses are processed and we save the cost of a professional meat cutter.

The Critical Role of Sausage in Supper My family loves sausage for supper and it is featured regularly in shared meals, so you could argue that sausage is critical to the functioning and ongoing healthy development of my children and grandchildren.

Which is why you should develop your sausage-making skills. This past Saturday was sausage day at our house. The whole extended family gathered to make our own favorite sausages, stuff casings, hot and cold smoke, and to pack our output. The day ends with a meal of sausages.

Ingredients

Another Way to Turn Animals into Supper William is the youngest member of the family.

He knows his dad turns animals into supper and one of his favorite suppers is sausage. In fact, all five grandkids love sausage and I encourage you to make your own. Bear makes great sausage. The front half of a bear is particularly chewy, and grinding shoulder and foreleg trim into sausages is a perfect process to maximize this delicious ingredient.

• 1.6 kg (3.5 pounds) lean bear trim • 650 grams (1.5 pounds) of pork belly or fatback • 34 grams of sea salt (the math goes like this: for 1.5% salt, 2.25 kg x 0.015 = 33.75 grams) • 3 grams black pepper • 2 grams garlic powder • 8 grams onion powder • 250 ml (1 cup) ice water • Sausage casings (my preference is medium hog casings)

Equipment • Meat grinder • Sausage stuffer (or stuffing attachment for your grinder) • Bowls for mixing • Gram scale • Fry pan and stove • Sausage casing

Method Before we start on the method, a note of caution. Sausage-making food safety focuses on two things: time and temperature. Sausage ingredients need to be maintained at 40 degrees F or below for the duration of the preparation. Time above 40 degrees needs to be kept to a minimum. Keep the meat and ingredients cold and get the sausage in the fridge or freezer as soon as possible. Temperature control is why we make sausage in the early spring or late fall when the ambient temperatures are at or below the safe zone. In addition, making sausage requires accurate measurements to maintain consistent ratios of spices and other ingredients. If you don’t have them already, add a 5 kg gram scale and a smaller pocket scale that measures to the nearest 100th gram to your kitchen equipment.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

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Measure all the ingredients carefully.

Grind the meat, fat, and spices together.

Add the water and mix well.

Take a tablespoon or two of sausage mix, make a mini patty, and fry until 165 degrees F. Taste and adjust spices and salt to suit your taste buds.

Stuff in sausage casings by soaking casings in cold water, rinse well, and slide onto the stuffing tube. This is a bit of a tricky business that will become easier with practice.

Cook the sausages for supper or vacuum pack and freeze for future use.

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1

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Sausage has become an important feature of our family meals. Sausage is also an extended celebration of the hunt and a perfect way to extend field success to engage the whole family and to enrich the sharing of meals. I highly recommend you make this a practice for your own family. www.bear-hunting.com

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It’s a busy time of year in the bear hunting world in the state of North Carolina. The season is in the last month (it’s December as I write this), and some parts of the state are gearing up for the second portion of their season to arrive (many eastern counties) while other parts of the state are still in and looking towards the end. Reports of a bumper mast crop across the state has had an effect on the season for sure. Many bear are feeding on acorns and other mast, which at times has made success dependent on getting to those areas rich in natural feed. In many places, especially the mountain region, this means getting far off the trail and really working for it. Hopefully everyone has had a successful and safe bear season up to this point, and that if you at least haven’t had success, that you’ve enjoyed the experiences and all the resources that this great state has to offer.

In policy news, there are proposed rule changes from the NCWRC concerning the mountain bear season. These proposed changes come after public forums held by the Wildlife Commission in the affected mountain region and meetings with the NCBHA. These proposals are intended to be a reflection of ideas and considerations that the NCWRC gathered from these meetings and forums. The changes (if adopted) would look like the following: • Both 1st and 2nd segments of the mountain bear season would open on a Saturday • The 1st segment of the mountain bear season would open on or immediately prior to October 9th and would end on the Saturday prior to Thanksgiving (this end date for the 1st segment would be keeping with tradition) • The 2nd segment of the mountain bear season would start on Saturday (not Monday as it currently is) and would therefore allow for 2 extra days of viable hunting in the 2nd segment It is important to note that these proposals are NOT finalized yet. The NCWRC has opened the public comment period for feedback from the general public and hunters in regards to these policy changes.

Comments can be submitted online at the NCWRC’s website, emailed to regulations@ncwildlife.org (emails must include name, county, and state of residence) or comments can be mailed to: • Rulemaking Coordinator • N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission • 1701 Mail Service Center • Raleigh, NC 27699-1700 The public comment period is set to last until 38

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Tuesday, January 30th, 2024. There will also be further public hearings in January on the following dates and at the following locations: • January 9th, 2024 – Asheboro • January 11th, 2024 – Clyde • January 17th, 2024 – New Bern • January 18th, 2024 – virtual – there will be a required pre-registration requirement for this event which can be done on the NCWRC’s website The intended purpose of this extended public comment period is to further inform the Commission on the thoughts of the public about the proposed season changed dates. It is therefore encouraged that all affected bear hunters participate and let your opinion be heard.

It is critical that any changes made to the bear seasons in this state are an accurate reflection of the biological condition of the bear population as well as the needs of the public and hunters. As it is proposed, the changes would add 9 additional days of bear hunting in the mountain region and creates Saturday openers (versus the traditional Mondays) in an effort to increase hunter opportunity. It is assumed that an increase in hunter opportunity would increase harvest rates in the growing mountain bear population as deemed necessary by the bear biologists at the NCWRC in accordance with their population management objectives. Additionally, the proposed changes include removing the prohibition that is currently in place of hunting bears with the aid of unprocessed bait during the 2nd mountain season segment. The justification behind that change is also aimed at increasing hunter harvest to help meet the NCWRC’s population objectives, reduce regulation complexity, and is deemed to not have any biological impacts. It is the NCBHA’s opinion that if biological needs necessitate a longer season and greater harvest numbers to effectively manage the bear population in the state, then we support it. It is imperative though that constant monitoring and self-policing ensures we keep a finger on the pulse of the bear population to ensure its longevity.

Ending on a somber note, the NCBHA mourned the passing of founding member, former president, and longtime board member Wallace Messer. Wallace was active in the organization for 40 years. He was a staunch advocate for bear habitat restoration and preservation, and was well known and admired throughout the bear hunting community in NC. The NCBHA is indebted to him for his years of service and advocacy. Our collective thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends during this time.

Here’s wishing everyone enjoys a fruitful and safe end to the year filled with all you wish for over the holidays, and an exciting start to 2024.

Jan/Feb 2024

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Preparations are underway for the Michigan Bear Hunters Association’s biggest fundraiser of the year, a tradition that has drawn hundreds of hunters and their families to northern Michigan for decades.

The Michigan Bear Hunters Association’s 2024 convention at Shanty Creek Resort on March 1 and 2 will mark several consecutive years at the Bellaire, Michigan location named after an old trapper’s shanty.

“After last year’s sold out success, expectations for this year are high and I have no doubt those who attend will not be disappointed,” MBHA President Keith Shafer said. “We have loads of prizes, engaging speakers, a prime rib dinner, and plenty of fellowship lined up – all focused on raising as much money as we can to preserve black bears and our cherished hunting heritage.”

The 2024 event will feature the return of the popular Bear Stomp, a Friday night dance party designed to kick off the festivities.

Both the convention and kids program open up on Saturday with presentations that offers something for everyone. While MBHA directors are still finalizing the details, the convention will feature two keynote speakers with unique perspectives on bear hunting in Michigan, along with numerous raffles, merchandise, vendors, and games involving hundreds of prizes, from high quality firearms to the latest hunting and outdoor equipment.

Last year’s MBHA Warchest Raffle alone included more than $24,000 in prizes, offering a shot at a Polaris 570 Sportsman ATV, a fat tire electric bike, Polaris generator, $1,300 in total cash prizes, as well as numerous Garmin devices, firearms, tool sets, and even half a cow.

More information about the Warchest Raffle and the MBHA’s famed 52-Gun Raffle is available on the MBHA’s website, MIBearHunters.org. Warchest Raffle tickets are expected to go on sale by the new year.

While adults enjoy the daytime discussions, a kids program will educate youngsters about our natural world while providing an array of prizes to get them engaged in the outdoors. The 2023 event featured Whispering Pines Mobile Zoo, which offered kids a hands-on experience with pigmy goats, tortoises, an alligator, an African serval, snakes and other creatures, while previous years have included presentations on dog sledding, and Michigan’s native species.

MBHA organizers are promising an equally engaging experience for 2024, while ensuring each of the kids who attend head back with a full stomach, quality prize and a smile on their face.

The MBHA is also bringing back a hunters education course on Sunday for both kids and adults who want to prepare for the 2024 season, with Department of Natural Resources officials on site to guide them through the process. In 2023, the MBHA hosted both trappers education and hunters education courses for the first time and the unexpectedly high turnout resulted in roughly 60 certificates issued over two days.

“I expected to get maybe 10 and we had a waiting list because we ran out of seats for hunters ed,” DNR www.bear-hunting.com www.bear-hunting.com

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educator Ed Shaw said.

The kids and adult programs break mid-day for free tubing on Shanty Creek’s slopes, Following the daytime events, the MBHA will host an evening dinner program that typically draws more than 500 hunters, lawmakers, DNR officials, Natural Resource Commission members, and conservation leaders from across the state, giving attendees the chance to engage directly with the folks who shape outdoor policy in Michigan.

“Unlike many other hunting conventions, the MBHA convention is designed to ensure our members know how conservation works in Michigan, and to connect them with the decision-makers,” Shafer said. “It’s a unique opportunity to talk with and gain insights from the DNR officials who manage Michigan black bears, as well as policymakers in Lansing who guide their work.”

The evening program will also include discussions from conservation leaders on the state of politics impacting bear hunters and hunting rights, which have faced headwinds in 2023 with numerous gun restrictions approved by state lawmakers.

There will also be updates on the MBHA’s work advocating on behalf of Michigan bear hunters, from monitoring legislation at the capital to petitions to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove wolves from federal Endangered Species Act protections.

Other programing will include the MBHA’s annual Big Bear Awards for the heftiest bruins harvested this year, MBHA-Bill Walker Scholarships for college bound students with a passion for the outdoors, winners announced for the MBHA’s annual Bear Management Cooperator Patch Contest, and numerous opportunities to win through raffles, drawings and games.

In addition to the Big Bear Awards, the MBHA will also recognize youth hunters who harvested bears during the 2023 season, a new program continued from last year aimed at highlighting the next generation.

Those who send in a picture and statistics on their harvest will receive an official MBHA certificate acknowledging their achievement that will be included on a board at the convention.

Interested youngsters can email a photo with their name, age, location, weight and summary of their hunt to kidsprogram@mibearhunters.org.

“The 2024 convention is going to be awesome, with engaging discussions on the nuts and bolts of bear hunting, to the insights on the currents moving Michigan outdoor politics, to the fellowship between hunters and their families,” Shafer said. “The best part is it’s designed to put our money where our mouth is by raising funds to preserve black bears and the hunting traditions we all cherish – and nobody does it quite like the MBHA!” Join MBHA to make our voice stronger, and receive our association’s 16-page publication, The Bear Facts, four times a year, plus Bear Hunting Magazine, with its MBHA column, six times a year.

To get your membership (worth $20) and magazine (worth $25 more), send only a $20 check, made out to MBHA, to Phil Hewitt, and his address is 7796 Ainsworth Road, Lake Odessa, MI, 48849. Please include your name, address, email address and phone number.

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Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association Inc. Jan/Feb 2024 WISCONSIN BEAR HUNTERS ASSOCIATION 60th Annual Convention March 22 – March 23, 2024 10101 Market Street, Rothschild, WI 54474 WBHA Annual Raffle: You NEED NOT BE a WBHA member in order to purchase Annual Raffle tickets and you need not be present to win. Grand Prize- $15,000.00 cash, 49 additional prizes to win.

Ticket inquires: Jim Hamilton, Ph: 715-460-3033, Email: jimscat1977@gmail.com.

WBHA Member Raffle Info- You MUST BE a WBHA member in order to purchase Member Raffle tickets.

Pre-purchased raffle ticket packages will be available for pick-up during regular convention hours. Pre-purchased ticket packages come pre-labeled with member’s ID# on each ticket. Ticket package increments include 200 for $200, 75 for $100, 25 for $50, & 10 for $25 (Single tickets will be available at the Annual Convention) All pre-purchased packages must be picked up no later than 10am on Saturday, March 23rd, 2024.

WBHA Member Raffle will close at 1:30pm. WBHA Member Raffle drawings will be held and announced intermittently during the SOS Auction beginning at 1:45pm. Winners will have 10 minutes from drawing to claim prize. If you are not able to claim prize within 10 minutes, you will forfeit your prize and an alternate will be awarded the prize. Order tickets either on the website or mail in the order form below.

many great prizes. For a complete Convention schedule and more information, including WBHA clothing, visit our website or find us on Facebook.

Convention Member Check-In: To expedite the member check-in at the convention have your valid membership card ready at the door. A worker will check your card, if valid, you will be given your wristband(s) and you will be able to enter the convention. Those that need to renew their membership or are new members wishing to join, you will be directed to a membership table. Check your expiration date and renew ahead of time to speed up your check-in time. Yearbooks will be mailed before the convention this year to your residence if you were an active member on 12-31-2023, one yearbook was mailed per address.

Governor’s Bear Tag Raffle- Tickets for a chance to win a 2024 Bear harvest tag. Only 500 tickets will be sold. Drawing will be held at the Convention on Saturday, March 23, 2024 at 4:00 PM. The winner must choose Zone of Harvest at the time of issue. Tickets can be purchased at the convention or purchased ahead of time using the form below.

Save Our Sport (SOS) Auction- A huge number of items as well as many puppies will be auctioned off on Saturday. All proceeds from this auction will be used to aid in the advancement and protection of our sport.

We are in need of your donations please help save our sport! Contact: Send cash donations to: Carl Schoettel 414-531-2296, for item donations contact: Eric Tuckner 651-775-7296, for puppy donations contact: Mark Scheunemann 715-897-1417 Vendor Information: Any business or organization wishing to attend as a vendor can contact me by e-mail or phone and I will get you on the contract list.

Contact: Jacob Trochinski, Ph: 920-203-3725, Email: jacob.trochinski@gmail.com Our Convention is a closed to the public! Become a member at the door and join the WBHA for 2 days of fun, entertainment, education, and a chance to win

Save the date:

• The Southeast Town Hall Meeting will be held on Jan. 13th, 2024 at the Berlin Conservation Club, W898 Whiteridge Rd, Berlin, WI • These Town Hall Meetings are “member’s only” events, with memberships available at the door. These events will include guest speakers, legal updates, door prizes, raffles, and a good place to get to know your WBHA Board of Directors and Officers.

Doors open at 1:00 PM

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$15,000.00 cash Tickets 1 for $20.00 Drawing is being held Saturday March 23, 2024, at 1:00 p.m., Grand Prize $15,000.00 Cash Henry Goldenboy .22 Mag S&W M/P 2.0 10mm Sig Sauer P365XL 9mm Leupold VX3HD 4.5-14x40 Scope Vortex Scheels Rage 5-20x50 Scope Impulse 10 Sunset Kayak, Sunrise Fiberglass Paddle, Spectrum Lifevest Leica 2400 Rangefinder Leupold SX-2 HD 20-60x80 Spotting Scope & Vanguard Vesta Tripod StoegerM3000 12 Gauge Camo Stoeger M3020 20 Gauge Camo Savage B Mag 17 WSM T-Hole Sprigfield XDM Elite 9mm Vortex Diamondback HD 12x50 Binoculars & Diamondback Rangefinder CVA Accura MRx .50 CAL Muzzleloader Ruger American Comp 9mm Pit Boss Vertical Smoker & 40# Pellets All Guns and Prizes 8# Big Bite Grinder, 5# Sausage Stuffer Purchased from Scheels Benelli Supernova 12 Gauge Black Ruger American Ranch 450 Bushmaster Ruger American Predator .223 Winchester Longbeard 12 Gauge Benelli Nova 12 Gauge Camo Glock 21 Gen 4 .45acp Walther WMP .22 Mag Cloak XL Ground Blind, Death Grip Tripod, Stealth Hunter Chair Taurus Judge .45/.410 Stainless $525.00 Scheels Gift Card 2- St. Croix Premier Rods & 2- Scheels Guide LT 2500 Reels Remington 870 Fieldmaster 12 Gauge Mossberg Patriot 6.5 Creedmoor Lucky Duck Revolt Caller & Quiver Critter Max 500 Vac Sealer, 5 Tray Dehydrator Ken Onion Worksharp, Game Knife Pro Kit, Replacement Belts Savage Axis .30/06 Package DSD Jake Decoy, Hen Decoy & Feeding Hen Decoy Creel Bay Rain Parka & Rain Bibs Viper SD Climber & Moultrie Cell Camera 6 Gallon 2 Basket Fryer Sitka Traverse Hoodie, Pants, Gloves, Cap Blackstone 28” Griddle, Blackstone Burger Kit, Blackstone Basic Kit $450.00 Scheels Gift Card $450.00 Scheels Gift Card $450.00 Scheels Gift Card $450.00 Scheels Gift Card Benchmade Meat Crafter Knife LaCross Superbrush Waders, Darn Tough Socks & Wader Hanger Yeti Tundra 45 Cooler 2- 2# yeti Ice Packs LaCross Alphaburly Pro 1600 gram Boots & Peet Boot Dryer Gamo Swarm 10x .177 Pellet Rifle & .177 Performance pellet pack

www.bear-hunting.com

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Central Wisconsin Convention & Expo Center, 10101 Market St., Rothschild, WI 54474

License #R0011342-A-65210

For more information and / or tickets, call the WBHA at (715)460-3033 or e-mail: jimscat1977@gmail.com Website: www.wbha.us.com

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Legendary Bear Hounds: Part 53 Part 2 Shamrock’s Timex

by Clay Newcomb

@clay_newcomb

Owner, Joe Hudson

The connection between a houndsman and a hound is hard to describe. Certainly, it’s a unique bond that outranks the bond between a pet owner and their pet. A hunting dog is a provider. He is a hunting companion. He is the hunter’s connection point to the wild game they pursue.

Hounds that achieve “legendary” status are few and far between. They are a special class of hound. Though some dogs are blown out of proportion, a real houndsman knows when a dog is the real deal. Such is the case with a 40-pound plott named Shamrock’s Timex.

You won’t have a full picture of Timex until you know her breeder and owner, Joe Hudson. Joe is a Michigander from birth and has been hunting with hounds since he was 11 years old. In 2015, at the age of 67, he’s still as passionate as ever about chop-mouthed tree dogs. Joe trained bear hounds and guided bear hunters for a living in Michigan between 1975 and 1995. For over 20 years, he hunted or trained hounds five days a week. His faithful hunting companion and wife, Nancy, took part in the hunting and training too.

When Joe was asked why he loves hound hunting, he replied, “It’s like an off-road race from start to finish. The degree of excitement is astounding. A still-hunter gets five minutes of excitement when a bear shows up. A hound hunt is non-stop action. To this day, when I walk up to the tree my heart is about to jump out of my chest. I haven’t shot a bear in years. It’s about the dogs how much stamina, grit and desire they have.” He said, “Then to turn around and see them be so gentle when they aren’t on a bear. My grandbabies 42

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can crawl all over these Plott hounds and I never hear a growl.

How they bring that energy down is beyond me. They pump themselves up so hard on a bear. It’s amazing.”

Timex

Timex was born into a litter of only two puppies on September 10th, 1981. The sire of the litter was Joe’s dog, Shamrock’s Pete. According to Joe, “He was the first dog we had that was the real deal.” Pete was the pick of the litter from a cross that Joe instigated with a friend. At first the friend didn’t want to make the cross, but Joe sweetened the deal by offering to give him the sire in trade for the pick of the litter. That pick was Shamrock’s Pete.

He was an impressive hound that carried the characteristics that Joe wanted – grit, stamina, desire and a powerful treeing instinct. Joe bred Pete to Shamrock’s Annie, a Cascade Big Timber female, and the litter had a male and a female pup.

The female would later be known as Timex.

Joe fondly recalls how the dog got its name. “One day the four-month-old pup got off its chain. At the time, I had a 30-pound male coon and the pup got after it and I had to break them up with a broom stick!” The pup laid into the coon and an all out fight broke loose! The pup stood its ground with the boar coon almost twice its size and never backed down. “At that age a lot of dogs would have quit and never wanted to do it again.

We sewed her up and doctored her for weeks. From day one she had that kind of grit.” The hound carried white scars on her muzzle her whole life that came from the coon fight. After the Jan/Feb 2024

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scrap, Joe made the statement, “She’s like a Timex watch, she dogs were treed solid for nine hours. Timex was hunting with takes a lickin’ but keeps on tickin’.” From that day forward she her father, Shamrock’s Pete. The next day Pete was tragically was known as Shamrock’s Timex. killed in a river by a bear.

At eight months old, Timex ran her first wild bear track One day in Michigan, Joe and his wife met up with a to tree. According to Joe, “She never missed another tree after fellow houndsman in the woods. The man explained how he’d that.” been running a track most of the day, but his pack couldn’t tree The characteristics that made Timex legendary were it. The man had a youth hunter with him and they wanted to her grit and stamina. She once got in a tussle with a bear on get the lad a bear. He asked Joe if he would turn Timex out on the ground and three of her ribs were crushed. During the the bruin. Well, you can predict what happened. Timex and a fight she also got a hernia. When Joe arrived at the tree she few other of Joe’s dogs hit the track and after a long race they was treeing hard, but they had to carry her out of the woods, treed. Upon arrival at the tree, the intensity of Timex impressed straight to the veterinarian. The vet removed the other houndsman. Joe said, “He pulled out a three ribs, replacing them with a wire screen. key from his pocket and handed it to my wife The doctor said the dog was otherwise healthy and said, “Go turn that dog off. She’s a like Upon arrival at and could start hunting again as soon as she machine!” Needless to say the young hunter the tree, the infelt up to it. Joe said, “We let her rest the got his bear that day. tensity of Timex next day after the surgery, but on day two we How many bears did she help tree? Joe reimpressed the othplied, “I hunted five days a week guiding bear started hunting again and she hunted for 33 er houndsman.

Joe hunters and training bear dogs. For 20 years I straight days.” said, “He pulled out was treeing 60-70 bear per year. She was on Timex’s reputation began to spread a key from his pockwell over 500 bears. In 1987 we ran 43 days in far and wide when she was young. Joe also et and handed it to a row with the same five dogs and caught 39 said, “When she was two years old, Dwayne my wife and said, “Go bear in Michigan and Wisconsin.”

Smith from Vermont called and asked me if he turn that dog off.

The beau ty of breeding could breed his female to “him.” He thought She’s a like machine!” hounds is that legends can Timex was a male and was shocked when live on even after they’re I said she a two-year-old female.” Dwayne gone. Timex died in replied, “How can a two-year-old female be so 1990 at nine years old. She well known?” She was known from coast to coast was a good reproducer and had at only two years old. Joe recalls, “I’d say close to 100 houndsman came and hunted with Timex over her lifetime. They came numerous top litters. Joe has line bred from Washington and Idaho and put their best dogs to run with off of Timex for years and still her. Most walked away shaking their heads.” runs dogs that have her on both Once, while hunting in Ontario, they lost the dogs on sides. Joe is a true houndsman. a track early in the morning. The dogs wore yagi antennas but He has raised and hunted with couldn’t be located for over nine hours because of the bounc- hundreds of top dogs, but by his ing signal. Based upon their readings, the dogs were treed estimation, he’s never owned early in the morning and were still treed when they arrived. The one better than Timex. www.bear-hunting.com

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The Strategic Bear Hunter

by Bernie Barringer

Bear Rig

The author has always liked 4x4s. This is a 1976 Bronco circa 1979. He snapped this photo just as his wife was sending a snowball his way.

I have always liked trucks. I like them with big tires and lots of lights and powerful motors. When I was young and foolish (fortunately I got past the young part), I had a buddy who felt the same way. His name was Jimmy Hill and he and I had a lot in common other than the fact that we were both addicted to trapping. I had a 1976 Bronco and he had a 1978 Blazer.

We got stuck a lot. In fact at times, we were trying to see what it would take to get stuck by driving through some nasty stuff in places we probably shouldn’t have been in the first place. But we would go together and we each had log chains, so we would basically take turns pulling each other out.

A couple times we were both stuck, so we would have to walk to a farm and get a farmer to come pull us out with a tractor.

I also had a 1972 F-250 pickup which got involved in some of these fiascos. But over time, I settled down and started driving more practical vehicles like most civilized people. But cool

A few months ago, I pulled the trigger on a 2006 Toyota Tacoma with 160,000 miles on it. And I set out to turn it into the perfect bear hunting truck. Below are the basics of what I did to it and why.

The truck already had a topper on the box, so I could check that off the list right away. A topper is essential for several reasons, most importantly to conceal your stuff. I try not to advertise what I am doing when I am out baiting bears. I like to keep a low profile, so buckets of goodies are kept out of sight most of the time. It also allows me to lock things in the back while I am in the woods hunting, such as extra hunting equipment, gun and bow cases, the things I will use to get the bear out once it’s down, etc. I like the peace of mind that comes from knowing my stuff is locked up when the truck is parked along some back road in the middle of nowhere.

The truck also had a leveling kit previously installed, which in a Tacoma is basically the same as a two-inch lift. This gives me the ground clearance needed for rough trails and rutted two-tracks, which comprise a large part of the miles I drive each year. I added some tires with aggressive tread for extra backwoods traction. I wanted tire tread not so deep and aggressive that it’s noisy when I am on pavement.

The next important item was a brush guard on the front to protect the grill and headlights from the branches and things This is the author in his that so often hang over the trail. This guard really moves stuff off younger years with a to the sides while reducing scratching and getting small limbs 1972 Ford F-250. and brush stuck in the edges of the hood and trim. It’s quite surprising how much difference this makes. trucks always turned my head.

I like lights. I like to flip a switch and have the whole Over the past couple years, I developed a hankering road light up in front of me. This is not just for safety (I have hit to get a truck for bear hunting. I wanted one that could take nearly a dozen deer in my life) but also for being able to see on forest roads and trails without worrying about it getting down the trail and be able to slow down for rough spots, ruts, scratched and nicked, and one that I could push the edges of getting stuck a little harder, if you know what I mean. Of course, rocks, potholes, and washouts. So I put new headlight bulbs in, the brightest LED bulbs I could find. Then I went online and this wouldn’t be a new truck because of the way I intended to use it. Most sane people, which describes me most days, won’t ordered a couple auxiliary lights to mount to the brush guard in the front. These are super bright and really light things up well take a truck that’s worth as much as a house on a backroads out in front of the truck when going down forest roads. I installed where the branches are going to grind against the sides of it and boulders are going to bang against the bottom. Now that a switch in the dash so I can easily flick them on and off as I am guiding bear hunters, I needed something with seating for needed. They are just plain cool. But of course, they cannot be four and that could pull a trailer with an ATV or two on behind. used on public roadways where an oncoming vehicle would be blinded by them.

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The author pulled the trigger on this 2006 Toyota Tacoma and set out to turn it into the perfect bear hunting rig.

I also upgraded the fog lights on the truck. These lights help visibility in fog of course, and also help see the lines and edges of the roads during heavy snow or windblown snow. But that’s not the main reason I love them; these close-to-the-ground lights were a tremendous upgrade when traveling forest roads at night. They really put shadows on rocky terrain and potholes and are definitely an improvement for driving back roads while heading back to camp at night.

I like lights in the back, too. I added a heavy duty bumper with hooks for pulling someone who’s stuck, and this bumper came with auxiliary LED backup lights. This really lights things up behind you! These lights are fantastic for hooking up a trailer, backing a trailer at night, or turning around in tight spots in the backcountry. The Tacoma was equipped with a backup camera, which is so much more useful at night because of the extra lighting.

I gave some serious thought to adding a winch, but finally decided against it.

I have a portable, 12-volt winch in a box which can be attached either to the front or the back of the truck. This seems more practical because it can be transferred to other vehicles when needed. I have even used it to extricate a stuck ATV a couple of times.

I have used this truck through one www.bear-hunting.com

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bear hunting season and I really like it. It has traveled a lot of miles on back roads and trails, had some blood in the back of it, and toted both ATVs and boats MA_Lift_LaunchAd-4.5x3.5-2.pdf 1 12/8/23 12:21 PM around some pretty rough places. I haven’t really thought of anything else I would add to it yet, but you never know. In some ways, I guess I’m still a kid at heart.

L I G H T E R .

F A S T E R .

Q U I E T E R .

Learn more at mathewsinc.com

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Blood, Sweat, & & Bears

Changing of Seasons

with Doug Boze

@bozeandbears

Shot

This is the author’s favorite hunting spot, a dry creek bed that is a predator super highway.

We are fully in winter’s grasp by the time this reaches you. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season filled with friends, family, good food, and great memories. But currently as I write this, it is the beginning of December. The gray veil of clouds forever crown the foothills and mountains that I live among this time of year. Our first heavy mountain snowfall just occurred followed by a very warm streak, so flooding is an issue all over western Washington. On these cold and dreary days, I once again find my mind wandering to the rocky crags and unforgiving terrain of the North Cascades where my beloved bears are tucked away in their snug winter dens. As I sit in my living room watching the fire and sipping my hot, black Folgers coffee, I contemplate my last few bear hunting seasons. Like the first frost on the landscape, a realization begins to form in my soul. The seasons of the world are not the only seasons that are changing.

The last bear I killed was two seasons back. It was in a favorite spot of mine, a creek bed that dries up significantly during the summer months but definitely becomes a formidable creek by late fall. The creek bed, while still having flowing water in it during the summer months, offers a highway of unobscured travel for many animals in the area. With that, it also offers insight into all the goings on of the woods. I set up various trail cameras along its winding path and enjoyed watching both predator and prey as they lived their lives.

This particular bear from two years ago was really a “predator management” bear for me, being neither particularly large or of any significant color phase. But, having my cameras in the area, I was able to notice the large predator presence that works the creek: everything from bears to bobcats, coyotes, and a lot of cougars. Several individual cougars by my count (minus one I ended up calling in and killing in late March of 2023). I decided as soon as I saw how many predators 46

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were running around that if I spotted a bear (without cubs, of course), I would take it just to help alleviate some of the predator pressure for the ungulates (of whom there were not a ton on my camera).

And so, as fate would have it, at about the 45-minute mark of my predator calling stand on that warm August afternoon, this bear appeared not more than 40-50 yards out and crossed the creek. This happened to be the very same bear trail my son had killed a bear on the year previous.

The boar climbed up on a log jam and looked down upon my position, not more than 20 yards from me, and I let him have it with the rifle which I have nicknamed ‘The Mule’. He ran off the jam and died in a pile of fine river sand, which made keeping the meat somewhat clean a challenge. Every time I call in a bear, it adds wood to the fire of the passion I have for hunting them. The different ways they come in always surprise me: some sneak, some charge, some huff, others slap trees, and each situation is a unique, exhilarating experience.

And, in reality, I was getting low on bear summer sausage and pep sticks, so I knew just how he was going to be put to use. The calm and nonchalant way of his approach kind of threw me off guard initially, as it was neither stealthy nor excitable. It was curious, basically.

I claimed earlier that I have “changed seasons”.

What do I mean by this? Well, the last couple of hunting seasons since killing that bear, I have been very selective of the type and color of bear I want to take, which includes the method of take (ground level with my bow and spot and stalk only). I have jet black bears, bears with a chest blaze, a chocolate bear with a red mohawk along its back, a very blonde bear, and so on. But I am searching for a cinnamon color bear to finish out my black bear grand slam. When I explained this to my wife, Amy, at first she took it in an odd Jan/Feb 2024

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way. Keep in mind, she is all for hunting and loves game meat, but she brought up a valid question, “Isn’t the goal of hunting to fill a tag?” She asked this in response to my statement that as a young hunter (in age or experience) it is often the goal just to fill the tag with any legal animal.

It was a valid question and I did agree with her. But I reminded her that we have a pile of game meat and fish (from an amazing Alaskan fishing trip earlier in 2023) tucked away in the freezer, enough to last us for some time. So, we didn’t necessarily need the meat per say, and I am not in the business of taking an animal for internet content. Therefore, I could afford to be choosy.

When I put it like that, she understood and it made sense to her.

The past few seasons it was not for lack of opportunities to shoot a bear, or even the lack of desire, but it was my goal of taking a specific color phase bear to complete that grand slam which appealed to me.

It isn’t just with bears; I have noticed this trend in myself.

I was drawn for any buck tag (it is called a quality tag in my state) via a lottery for mule deer or white tail this year (2023). I passed numerous 3 and 4-points, well over 20 deer (passing on legal bucks in Washington isn’t something I would do in the past). I was looking for something special. I ended up taking a 4-point (8-point for you east of the Mississippi) mountain white tail buck. I say “mountain” because where I was hunting, they do not bed down in the river bottoms so much as they do along steep, rocky coulees and fingers about midway of the mountains that border the valley.

I spotted him at about 900 yards or so and worked my way to just about 100 yards before taking the shot. Having previously watched the buck feed and bed for three hours, it was with only about an hour left of shooting light that I decided to go for it. I only had a few days left to hunt, my truck was acting up, and I asked myself, “How many opportunities do I really have left to take a deer?”

He was a very big-bodied white tail and topped off the meat for our freezers, which was nice. Plus, the cherry on top was that my little brother came out to visit me in camp and was able to experience the hunt with me. Taking the animal with my little brother there to share in the experience was special to me. We have killed animals together numerous times, but every successful hunt shared with family or friends just seems all that more rewarding. It wasn’t the rack that made it special (despite being a nice, but typical 4-point); it was the fact he was there with me to share the ancient act of hunting that I will remember when I gaze upon that rack.

So, where am I going with all this? I have come to the self-realization that I have passed through one season of my life; “just tagging out” on bears was the first season and I have moved on to the next. What that season ultimately leads to, I do not know. But what I do know is that it is far more important to me personally to help others start bear hunting or to become more successful as bear hunters than it is for me to tag out on another bear. Now, I want to express the absolute need for predator management, especially in our state where we are getting hammered with wolves, black bears, cougars, bobcats, yotes, and the like. And I expect that if I happened to see a ton of bears on my trail cameras that line a quiet little creek bottom that I would (especially if I am low on meat) place my tag on a worthy bruin.

My desire and love for bears and bear hunting has not diminished, only shifted.

So with that, I focused my desire to locate and take a nice cinnamon bear. I have a good idea of places I will be hitting next season, some are old haunts, others are relatively new to me.

Each offers the promise of a bear, but will it be the right bear for me? That remains up to the hunting gods. It is a funny thing to grow older, not only as a hunter but as a human. Your perspectives change, such as your general wants and worldviews. I have found www.bear-hunting.com

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myself simply strolling along in the quiet afternoon of a bear hunt, listening to the wind through the trees as the crunch of river rock crumbles under my feet, glancing down to see the occasional bear track. And I will pause, looking at the track and see that the simple existence of that track, of that bear, makes my life richer. And for that I am thankful.

I hope that in your hunting adventures you will take the time to mentor others. We need to pass along our knowledge to new hunters that show interest, not hoard it like Scrooge when it comes to money. If we do not pass on our knowledge and recruit new hunters into our way of life, what would be the outcome? Less revenue generated by hunter’s license fees and tags, less connection to our food and where it comes from, and a diminishing wildlife population overall. I say it is our duty, as stewards of wildlife and wild places, to encourage others to get to know where their food comes from, how to get it, and to ultimately find the great reward of a filled tag and filled hearts.

We all see the attacks on hunting, whether it be online, in the legislature, or on tv. These attacks should not discourage us but temper our resolve to stand up for our outdoor way of life, our love and passion, and the future passion of those to come after us. So in closing, I would ask you to examine where you stand in the seasons of hunting: what are your motivations and how can you make sure that our hunting seasons as a collective continue.

Happy hunting, my friends.

This is the last bear the author took two seasons back on the same dry creek bed.

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Black Bear Biology

Osos del Desierto

with Dr. Jenn Ballard @arwildlifevet

Two mountain ranges frame the interior of Mexico, the Sierra Madre Occidental on the west and the Sierra Madre Oriental on the east. Between them lies the Chihuahuan Desert, an arid ecoregion composed of high mountains and mesas separated by wide basins. It is the largest desert in North America, encompassing approximately 250,000 square miles from central Mexico into the southwestern United States. In the U.S., portions of this desert ecosystem fall within the borders of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, particularly the region of Texas occurring west of the Pecos River known as the Trans-Pecos. Among arid ecosystems globally, the Chihuahuan Desert is one of the most biodiverse. Even still, a desert seems like a strange place to go looking for bears, but that is exactly what a team of researchers in Texas is doing.

The Chihuahuan Desert lies at the southernmost extent of the American black bear’s historic range. Like much of North America, bear populations in this region declined dramatically through the early 20th century due to over-harvest and predator control efforts. By the 1940s, black bears were essentially extirpated (locally extinct) from the Trans-Pecos. Four decades later, they began to naturally repopulate the far reaches of west Texas through dispersal from remnant populations in northern Mexico.

In 1987, black bears across Texas were given formal protection by the state when the species was listed as endangered. It was reclassified to a threatened status in 1996, which remains in effect today.

The Black Bears of the Chihuahuan Desert Researchers and wildlife managers have continued to monitor the natural reestablishment of the Trans-Pecos bear population and to study the adaptations that allow these desert bears to persist, teetering at the edge of their ecological limits.

“You would never look out there and think there were bears there,” commented Dana Karelus, PhD. Karelus is the State Mammal Specialist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD). In that role, she oversees conservation efforts for a wide range of mammals, including black bears. I spoke with her recently about new research efforts that are underway for the Trans-Pecos bear population and the agency’s goals for bear management.

Past research suggests that black bears in the Chihuahuan Desert ecoregion rely largely on ‘sky islands’ as a means to withstand the desert’s inhospitable conditions. In other words, these bears concentrate themselves in pockets of habitat where food, water, and denning resources are more abundant. Those pockets are often high elevation chaparral and oak woodland communities surrounded by vast expanses of seemingly unsuitable, low-lying terrain. Ecologically speaking, they are the landlocked equivalent of islands. The size and distribution of these insular habitats determines the number of bears that an area can support and influences their rate of dispersal. Of course, for every rule there is an exception, and more recent studies have identified viable bear populations becoming established at lower elevations than previously predicted. Whether they are taking advantage of natural or manmade features, the exceptional adaptability of black bears continues to challenge our understanding of suitable habitats for them.

While this ecologic flexibility allows bears to make the most of marginal habitats, resources in this ecoregion are still naturally

This is Dr. Clay Hilton. He’s a guest co-author on this article and one of the researchers on this project.

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limited. As a result, population densities tend to be lower than in other ecosystems. It’s also been suggested that desert bears may have a smaller body size than bears in other populations, though it is not clear whether this is consistently associated with resource limitations or possibly genetics.

The dependence of desert bears on isolated pockets of habitat also leaves them vulnerable to the fluctuations of Mother Nature. To illustrate this point, Karelus shared a study conducted in Big Bend National Park in the early 2000s. After multiple years of apparent stability, the majority of bears in the study population vacated the park in a single season and moved south into Mexico, undertaking some of the longest migration movements documented in the species. Observations at the time suggested that a combination of drought and mast failure was the likely cause for this mass exodus. As Karelus points out, adaptive behaviors like this may help bears survive in the desert but they also turn traditional ecological measures like home range and carrying capacity on their ears.

To manage this dynamic population, TPWD needs a deeper understanding of how black bears use the Chihuahuan Desert ecoregion. They have teamed up with scientists from the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Kingsville and the Borderlands Research Institute at Sul Ross State University to update their current population estimates and examine how bears use different habitat types within the region. While older studies relied on radiofrequency collars that were detected periodically using aerial surveys, newer satellite collars allow researchers to track bear movements and habitat use with far greater frequency and accuracy. The resulting data will be used to identify important habitat characteristics and to inform population models and biologically relevant management strategies.

Karelus says the highest priority for bear management in Texas is to recover the population to a level that will allow black bears to be removed from the state’s threatened species list. But she also points to an important secondary goal—preventing human-bear conflict. As the bear population continues to grow and expand its range, communities on the leading edge of that expansion can find themselves interacting with bears for the first time in a generation. TPWD works with these communities to educate residents and help them implement strategies to prevent conflicts that could slow recovery. Karelus emphasizes that, while the population is growing, there’s still a long way to go and every individual is important at this stage.

Another change that has come about since the last time black bears roamed the west Texas landscape is the widespread distribution of deer feeders and other artificial food sources. Karelus acknowledges that the supplemental nutrition these can provide may be helping to facilitate the growth of bear populations in this resource-limited landscape, but they can also be a source for human-bear conflict, as bears can be destructive in their search for food and cannot be legally harvested in Texas. Karelus emphasizes the importance of proactive steps to prevent damage, such as using electrified fencing around deer feeders that exclude non-target species like bears and feral hogs.

As we wrapped up our conversation, I asked Karelus what she thought of these rugged little bears fighting their way back to repopulate an unforgiving landscape. “It speaks to how amazing bears are,” she told me. “They find a way.” And I couldn’t agree more.

These two photos are not of places you would expect to find black bears.

Sources Cited: • Hellgren EC, Onorato DP, Skiles JR (2005) Dynamics of a black bear population within a desert metapopulation. Biological Conservation 122:131-140.

• Yancey III FD, Kasper S (2023) Reproductively viable population of American black bears (Ursus americanus) in lowland Chihuahuan Desert habitat of Trans-Pecos Texas. Western North American Naturalist 83(3):345-354.

www.bear-hunting.com

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Western Bear Hunting

Bear Taxidermy

with Jana Waller @skullboundtv

After that bear tag is notched and the adrenaline has dissipated from the hunt, many hunters are left with the tantalizing decision of what to do with their beautiful bruin. I’ve written other articles featuring the more unique things I’ve done with my bear hides such as pillows, vests, jackets, purses, etc. But I’m aware that may be the girlie girl coming out of me, a seasoned Tomboy.

I’d like to go back to the basics and talk about the variety of taxidermy that can be created from a successful bear hunt.

Taxidermy is an art form that is often unappreciated by the non-hunting community. I’ve had many discussions over the years about this topic with my non-hunter friends. Some appreciate the idea of bringing an animal back to life to be able to preserve the emotions and memories of the hunt, while others find it hard to fathom enjoying their morning coffee while something stares back

Choosing the Right Taxidermy for You at them. I personally have taxidermy in every room of my home, including bedrooms and bathrooms, so that my husband and I are surrounded by our favorite moments in time.

I’ve been beyond blessed to have the opportunity to hunt bears throughout the Western states, including Alaska, as well as in Canada. Bear meat is one of my personal favorites and there are so many options when it comes to taxidermy. While some hunters may consider a bear hunt a once in a lifetime adventure and are ‘one and done’, so to speak, others have the opportunity to bear hunt every year where public land is plentiful and tags are over the counter. Most ‘one and done’ or first-time hunters that I’ve spoken with have turned their bears into the classic bear rug. I’ve always loved the look of a bear rug in front of the fireplace or proudly hanging on a wall for all to see. Rugs are a great way to display the unique characteristics of the bear, including body size, head size, hair color, claws, and overall hide condition. Bears taken in the springtime typically have healthier, thick hair before the heat and ticks of the summer cause them to rub against trees and shrubs, rubbing off

A rug is a proven classy way to preserve your bear’s memory. And it looks great on a floor or wall.

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patches of hair and leaving unattractive bald spots.

The bear rut can also have that same effect. That’s one thing to consider if you’re on a baited or hound hunt and you have the opportunity to look closely at the condition of the hide. I’ve seen bears in June that look like hyenas after they’ve rubbed half their hair off. You can also choose the color of the backing of your bear rug that can really add to its beauty. I’ve had rugs made with red, blue, black, light brown, and dark brown backing. And lastly, when it comes to decisions for a rug, you have the options of a relaxed, closed mouth, a semi-closed mouth, or a wide-open, angry appearance. It’s just personal preference and often reflective of the bear’s personality.

If space or budget is a concern in regards to a full bear rug, another option is to simply tan the hide and display it over a railing, the back of a couch, or on a piece of furniture. I have many tanned bear hides throughout the house to give our home a more rustic feel. One sits under a pile of deer sheds and another half dozen hang on a skull hooker tree in the basement. Hides make for a great tabletop display where you can also feature skulls, knives, or other collectables. I’ve also seen them used as a backdrop when hanging other shoul-

Tanned hides can be used as table runners or a liner on a shelf to scale up your bone collection.

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This is one of the most common ways of keeping hides. The author likes hides from skull hookers.

A half body mount is a great way to show off a bear without the additional cost and space requirement of a full body mount.

The author chose to memoralize her biggest bear to date in a full body mount.

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der mounts on the wall. In my opinion, the more a home reminds me of the Bear Claw Chris Lapp’s cabin in the movie Jeremiah Johnson, the better. Plus, if you decide later on that you’d like to do a shoulder mount or even a full rug, you have the tanned hide to do so.

A full-bodied bear mount is an impressive option.

Nothing greets your company better than a life-sized, big bruin staring them in the face. Out of the 17 bears I’ve been blessed with, I’ve only had one turned into a full body mount. In 2018, I hunted hard all spring in Montana, passing on a few very nice bears in search of that next-level bruin. After weeks spent spotting and stalking our favorite spots, we located what looked to be a big chocolate bear high on the mountain top crossing one of the last patches of snow still remaining in early June.

By the time we made our way up the steep, rocky incline, we noticed he was tending another large, jet black sow.

From 375 yards across the canyon, I fired a shot from my 30 Nosler that hit its mark! The beautiful chocolate boar, who sports a white blaze chest patch, stands with a regal pose in the corner of our living room and reminds me of that incredible day in the Montana mountains.

A shoulder mount or ‘half mount’ is another popular option. In my opinion, bears, bobcats, and mountain lions are the most difficult taxidermy to perfect. When you choose just a shoulder or half mount, you’re not showing off the size of the bear’s body as much as the bear’s head, shoulder mass, or facial expression. Their faces can appear unnatural or almost goofy if you don’t have a taxidermist who specializes in predators. Personally, I’ve

never had a shoulder mount done, nor have I favored ones I’ve seen until recently when I stumbled upon an account called Orion Taxidermy out of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Their half mounts are incredibly realistic and include beautiful habitat. If you take a bear with a chest patch, this is a great way to feature that coloration. I have four bear hunts this next spring and have a feeling I just might be adding a shoulder mount to my collection.

If you’re looking for a unique way to display your bear that’s not the classic bear rug or wall mount, I highly recommend the old school pack frame mount.

Last year while walking through the Western Hunting & Conservation Expo in Salt Lake City, I came across a company called Borderland Supply Co. that makes a convenient, antique-looking trapper’s pack to mount your big game animal. For years, I had my very first bear rug lying in front of my fireplace where it took a lot of abuse from the dogs in the house. I had been wanting to redo that tattered bear rug and when I saw this idea, I knew it’d be perfect. I simply cut the backing off the rug, rolled up the hide and mounted head, attached it to the pack frame, and added a pair of old rawhide snowshoes for a little flair. It hangs by my front door and helps tell a great story of my very first bear hunt.

There are many ways to preserve your bear hunting memories. I’ve been a taxidermy buff my entire life and am always looking for ways to bring the outdoors into my home. I hope I’ve given you some ideas for your future hunts and, as always, stay safe out there in bear country.

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o u ntr

Molls y GUIDE

Great Hunts

Bruin

Destinations

Alberta Bruins

by Al Raychard

When it comes to hunting bears it’s safe to say I’ve been blessed. Hunts have taken me from Maine to Idaho and numerous points in between. North of the border I have been fortunate enough to hunt every province, several more than once. With the exception of Newfoundland and Quebec I have hunted Alberta more than any other province in Canada. It is one of my favorite bear destinations and I have many memorable experiences there on several hunts out of Fort McMurray before it became to oil-boom town it is today, and along the Slave River just outside Wood Buffalo National Park. I had to fly into Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories for that one, an adventure in itself.

On one hunt I recall traveling for hours by boat on the Slave River to a remote tent camp and killing a nearly seven footer the first afternoon out. Having purchased a supplemental license I killed my second slightly smaller bear the very next afternoon and spent the rest of the week fishing for monster northern pike, something I have enjoyed when opportunity allows since my first time in Labrador several years before. I had an extra day in Fort Smith before departing, so accompanied by native guides we made a trip inside Wood Buffalo National Park and saw wolves, moose and a herd of the massive buffalo the park is name for.

When it comes to hunting black bears there are a number of reasons to give Alberta top consideration no matter which area is hunted and why the province is one of my favorite destinations in Canada.

To start, Alberta covers just over 255,000 square miles.

Of that huge expanse some 188,417 square miles, about 75-percent of the province is considered prime habitat and is occupied by black bears. Bears are found throughout the northern boreal forest, the central parkland region, along the spine of the Rocky Mountains and foothills in the west which they share with a population of grizzlies. Black bears seem to be everywhere.

There is no indication black bears in Alberta are going through a population boom, but it is safe to say they are doing extremely well. In recent years bears have moved into areas of the province where sightings and non-transient populations were considered rare or uncommon a decade or so ago. As they are across much of Canada black bear population estimates are rare. The last one in Alberta was taken in the early 1990s and estimated at 40,000. It is the same figure quoted today. Province-wide efforts are reportedly underway to get an updated and more precise estimate but when and if it is ever completed few would be surprised if the number were to increase. Regardless, even if the number stays at or close to the historically-quoted 40,000 Alberta is home to one of the largest and healthiest black bear populations in Canada.

Despite a healthy bear population not a large number of bears are killed. In 2015 the number was just 1,968 and in 2016 2,261. In 2,360 were tagged in 2022 so the number of bears taken hasn’t increased a whole lot. It would seem that is a rather low success rate, but surveys suggest visiting hunters in particular but a growing number of resident hunters as well have become more selective preferring to take larger bears rather than simply filling tags. With that 54

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said, the number of bears killed annually and number of hunters who have shot opportunity are two different things.

Many outfitters consistently advertise 100-percent shot opportunity.

Alberta does produce its share of heavyweight bears which tend to be genetically shorter in length and stockier and thicker in build. Bears in the 300 and 400-pound class and some larger are taken annually. While bears of this size are possible in the vast northern forests or no matter where you hunt on Crown land it is particularly true in the Parkland Region and western Foothills where patches of brush and woodlands mix with agricultural fields of oats and other grain crops.

There are other highlights that make Alberta a popular bear hunting destination. Of most important to most visiting hunters is all wildlife management units in the northern boreal forest region, many in the central parkland region and a handful along the eastern front of the Rocky Mountains are two bear zones. Some outfitters include the second bear in their rates but interested hunters should check when making arrangements.

The other major drawing card is Alberta is known for its colored bears. Depending upon the region the percentage of brown, cinnamon and blonde bears runs 20 to 40 percent. Of all the bears I have killed over the years taking a monster colored bear remains on my To Do list. When I get ready, for that reason and more Alberta will be high on my list of considerations.

• 7 day remote hunt.

• 70% of bears make P&Y! • High success on two bear quota.

• Baited and spot’n’stalk hunts.

Contact Us: (780) 717-2825 info@bossoutfitting.com www.bossoutfitting.com

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Bear Population: Estimated at 40,000 Bag Limit: Varies by unit. Many units allow two bears.

Spring Season: Yes. Varies slightly by unit commencing April 1 and ending May 15, May 31 or June 15. Spring hunts can be combined with fishing.

Alberta Overview

Fall Season: Yes. Varies by unit. Fall archery in some units open August 25 and close August 31, others open September 1 or September 6 and close November 30. General fall firearm season generally opens September 1 and ends November 30. Fall hunts in many areas can be combined with deer, moose, elk and pronghorn.

Baiting Allowed: Yes. Most spring hunts and fall hunts are over bait.

Spot and stalk hunts are most common in no baiting units.

License Availability and Cost: Hunting license are available OTC and through outfitters. Check with outfitters or Alberta Wildlife Branch for cost and details.

Legal Weapons: Most centerfire calibers, muzzleloaders .50 caliber or larger, vertical bows and crossbows.

Check regulations or with an outfitter for minimum draw weights and other particulars.

Contacts: Alberta Wildlife Branch/ 1-(403) 297-6674 / www.aep.fwdsupportscalgary@gov.ab.caalberta.ca Alberta Professional Outfitters Society / 1-(780) 414—0249 / www.apos.ab.ca, info@apos.ab.ca.

Bear Questions/Answers With Al Raychard

Q- I always seem to read or hear how anti-hunting groups and the like trying to do away with bear hunts. Have any states actually opened bear hunting seasons in recent years?

A- The fight against these organizations will be ongoing. They are well funded, have the media on their side and don’t mind spewing lies and half-truths to get the job done. That’s why it’s important for hunters and pro-hunting organizations to stick together. But to answer your question, yes, a thanks to restoration programs, regulations that set specific open season dates and limits and other initiatives a few states have established bear hunting season in recent years. Arkansas opened up back around 1980 in the Ouachita Mountains and opened it’s Gulf Plain and Delta Regions in 2022 for the first time in nearly a century. Oklahoma has had a limited hunt since 2009 and Missouri since 2021. In November of last year (2023) the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission filed a notice of intent to hold a bear hunt in several counties in December of this year.

Q- In many western states bear tags are by draw. Which states offer on-line or over-the-counter tags and which are your suggestions for a spring hunt?

A- Unless things have changed recently, which I don’t think they have Alaska, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana all offer on-line or OTC spring bear tags purchases. Alaska is a top destination but in the Lower 48 Idaho and Montana offer the best pricing and opportunity although the bear hunting Wyoming is excellent.

Q- You’ve probably been asked this a dozen times before but do all bears hibernate and those that do hibernate do they emerge at the www.bear-hunting.com

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same time?

A- Bears in northern climates can remain in dens up to eight months. In the south the duration is much shorter if at all the further south you go.

Although there are other factors, in the south natural and agricultural foods are available sooner and remain available longer so bears hit the dens later and emerge sooner.

Q- I’ve killed bears with a rifle and bow and would like to make the attempt with a handgun. Are the same shot placements with a handgun the same?

A- Over a cold beer around a campfire after a successful hunt an Alaskan guide once told me the best place to nail a bear is in the nose area. It is one of the thinnest areas on the skull and providing the caliber and cartridge are heavy enough the bullet will penetrate quickly to the brain. If memory serves I believe he was taking about a charging bear. He also mentioned you should keep pulling the trigger until the charge ends, one way of the other. Where allowed I often tote a handgun, especially when hunting over bait. On one occasion in Maine I was tempted to use it when a small but seemingly aggressive or overly curious bear approached my stand, stood one its legs and looked up at me in the stand.

Fortunately I didn’t have to. The bear dropped back to the ground and after taking its fill from the bait wandered off, but I remembered what the Alaskan guide said and had my handgun aimed right at its nose. Keeping in mind the limited range of most handguns I would have to say the heart/lung area is the best area to place a bullet from a handgun in most hunting situations.

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Sacred Pursuit with TL Jones

Jonah’s Dream @TLJonesHVP

On December 4, 2023 just before daybreak, a team of bear hunters met at a country church in Buchanan County, West Virginia. It wasn’t unusual for the team to meet and make plans for the day, but this wasn’t just any day. And this wasn’t going to be just any bear hunt. This was a team of volunteers working with the Outdoor Dream Foundation to help a young man take a bear hunt.

The Outdoor Dream Foundation, based in Anderson, South Carolina, was founded in 2004. Its mission statement reads, “Outdoor Dream Foundation grants outdoor adventures to children and youth under 21 years of age who have been diagnosed with terminal or life-threatening illnesses”.

The foundation is staffed entirely by volunteers and a whopping 98% of the funds donated have gone directly to support the adventures for the children involved.

Standing there in the darkness of the church parking lot, among others, were volunteers Charles Dunbar, Matt Whitt, and K.P. Cooper. These men and the rest of the team had pulled together the resources of trucks, ATVs, and hounds to assist Jonah Marcum in harvesting a black bear in the West Virginia mountains. Bear hunting in the mountains isn’t easy, and they knew everything would have to go just right to help Jonah get a bear.

The team members who shared this fantastic story with me said that Jonah, age nine, was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of two. With the help of his parents Sam and Nikki Marcum, he had battled this illness almost his entire life. As soon as I heard this, without even meeting him, I knew Jonah had to be tough as a pine knot. Jonah had taken other hunts where he had harvested deer and a gator. On one of those hunts, he developed a strong desire to kill a bear and was dead set on getting it done.

On the morning of the hunt, Matt Whitt was rigging for bears when the dogs struck, and they were in business.

Dogs were put down and the race was on. It wasn’t long before the dogs brought the bear across a road and some more dogs were packed on it. The hunt was taking place on a reclaimed mining area with lots of scrub brush and very little timber. For some time, the bear tussled with the dogs throughout an area without a tree large enough for the bear to climb. At one point, the hunters thought they may have to 56

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& the Hounds That Made it Happen kill the bear and find another one for Jonah. But as providence would have it, the bear headed to an area with one strip of pines and found a resting place on a limb.

One volunteer went to the tree and surmised everything was good to bring in Jonah. Jonah was so weak from chemo treatments the previous Thursday that the hunters offered to carry him to the tree. Jonah refused to be carried; this was his hunt, this was his bear, and he wasn’t going to let it happen on anyone else’s shoulders. Jonah, like a true champion, made his way to the tree. He laid his bolt action .243 into the fork of a bush crafted shooting stick and squeezed the trigger. His aim was dead on. Jonah’s dream of killing a bear had come true.

Bear hunters are notoriously rough and tough men, but I’m told that some tears followed under that tree. Jonah, his parents, and the team of volunteers were all filled with joy. I think it’s safe to say that those memories will last a lifetime for everyone involved.

The hounds that were a part of the hunt that day have no idea how happy they made Jonah and all those who participated. But it would just be wrong not to mention the critical role they played in such an inspiring hunt. Not everyone understands how much joy hounds can bring into the life of a houndsman, but I bet Jonah does. I hope they got a little extra feed that night.

Well done, Jonah! Every bear hunter reading this article is inspired by your toughness. God bless you!

John Owens in the back with Jonah Marcum on the bear.

Congrats Jonah!!

Have a hound topic you want covered?

Email requests to: sacredpursuit@protonmail.com Jan/Feb 2024

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Top Row L-R: Chris Carte, Dewey Stickler, KP Cooper, Matt Whitt, Travis Jarrell, Cayden Stickler | Middle: Charles Dunbar | Front Row L-R: Tiffany Thompson, Dannilyn Dunbar, Ashlin Dunbar, Jonah Marcum, Walker Dunbar, Nikki Marcum, Sam Marcum | Very Front Beside Bear: Barrett Cooper.

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{Hounds and Bears} Column

IN Hot PUrsuit

By Barry ‘Bear’ Siragusa @thehuntinghound

Sub Zero Risks Things to Watch For When Cold Weather Strikes This is a condition not uncommon in human swimmers and members of various so-called “polar bear clubs” (cold weather swimmers). The cause is widely accepted to be a sharp decrease in core body temperature, causing the body to rush blood from the extremities to the core in order to maintain body temperature in and around internal organs. The constrictions in the blood vessels can cause ruptures in pulmonary capillary membranes, which will cause edema (fluid) in the lungs. This will result in poor oxygen absorption and potentially life-threatening conditions such as pneumonia.

Symptoms of pulmonary edema include: • Difficulty breathing (fast and short breaths, even at rest) • Coughing and hacking that produce frothy, foam-like fluids • Irregular heartbeat • Restlessness • Wheezing or gurgling breaths

2023 is history and some of us, myself included, will shed no tears as this tough year becomes a blissfully distant memory. While the year 2024 is new, the season in which we find ourselves is not. Winter has us in its grip and won’t even consider releasing us from its icy claws for another several months. For some houndsmen, it signals cooler temps and perfect conditions to run hogs, bears, and trash pandas.

For others, winter promises wild snowmobile rides and snow for tracking bobcats and lions. For some of us, winter means shrinkage (for you Seinfeld fans out there), wood stoves, and dead car batteries. That is the boat Norwegians (also called “Weegies”) adopted or, otherwise, are in now. The bears are napping, the truck won’t start, and my male hounds are creating yellow stalagmites where they all like to mark. In other words, it is cold. Really cold.

Most houndsmen have an upper and lower range of temperatures that they are willing to work in. Here in Scandinavia, most houndsmen won’t drop their tailgate if it is warmer than 70-75 degrees F. During the winter here, I won’t drop a hound if it is colder than zero and there is snow on the ground.

The dangers just start to outweigh the rewards at temperatures like that. Let’s go over some of the issues that can crop up in those cold temperatures. We will also take a quick look at preventative measures and some basic treatment should you or your hounds get too chilly out there.

Cold Induced Pulmonary Edema: Fluid in the Lungs 58

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Treatment will be diuretics (fluid removing medication) and antibiotics. Often the first symptom you will see is the hound start to clear their throats and cough a little. If you observe that, box that hound and wait for warmer weather. The hound will unfortunately be prone to the condition forever after developing it. It is so common here in Scandinavia that the colloquial term is “hunting edema.” This will shorten the working lifespan of your hounds and will also cause a lower tolerance for cold temperatures. What makes it challenging to prevent is the hounds themselves. Their predisposition to want to hunt and their drive and desire can—and often does—make them overextend themselves. Ambient temperatures tend to swing as well. A pleasantly chilly day can turn quickly into a brutally frigid night. Sometimes the hounds just get away from you. Take a quick check of the weather forecast before you leave, and be prepared to call it a day earlier than you would ideally like. Those are the two best ways to prevent pulmonary edema.

Frostbite: This one needs no long explanation. The hounds have short coats and especially in snow and some wind they will get wet as the snow melts as it comes into contact with their bodies. Male dogs are at risk of frostbiting their genitals and females their nipples. I have seen both males and females with frostbite on their ears and flanks. Frostbite is another cold-inJan/Feb 2024

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duced ailment that is a real pain to deal with once it occurs. After the hounds get it the first time, they will be prone to it for the rest of their lives. The same applies to the houndsmen. One example is that I went through the ice with a team of sled dogs in 2013. We were 10 miles from the truck in -20 degrees and, 10 years later, my fingers and toes still have serious issues in the cold.

Symptoms of frostbite include: • Skin that is rigid and hard to the touch • Licking or chewing on the affected area • Swelling as the skin thaws and becomes irritated • Loss of hair • Eventually, fever The treatment is simple. Get the dog somewhere warm. Don’t try to warm the affected area with a direct heat source and don’t rub snow on it. Bring the hound inside a warm building or box and let them regain their natural body heat. Warming a frost-bitten area too quickly can cause the capillaries to burst, creating even more damage.

Hypothermia Once a hound’s body temperature drops enough, it will begin to exhibit signs of hypothermia. Hypothermia occurs when the hound’s body begins to lose heat faster than it is able to produce it. A hound should have an average body temperature of 101.5 degrees F. Once their body temperature drops to 99-98, they will begin becoming hypothermic unless they are able to increase their body temperatures.

Symptoms include: • Lethargy • Shivering • Lack of coordination • Pale gums • Muscle stiffness If you see your hound stumbling around or lying down and shivering, then it is time to get them warmed up. That can be challenging if you’re at a tree or away from the truck; if you can, get the hound up and moving. Don’t let them lay down. Keep them active and their muscles working and producing heat. Once you arrive back at the truck, get them in the cab and let the heater work its magic. Luckily, hypothermia is a condition that does not seem to recur more often once it has happened. The hound should be fine again once its body temperature has risen.

A Word on Prevention Hounds use the calories in their food for heat more efficiently than humans do. Both fat and proteins are readily available sources of energy/heat. In extremely cold weather, I like to increase the fat percent in their food, which helps maintain their weight but also keeps them hydrated. A hound’s system produces water as it metabolizes fat. Hydration is a key factor in preventing hypothermia and, to a lesser degree, frostbite and cold induced pulmonary edema. A solid meal with plenty of fluids 1.5-2 hours before you expect to drop the tailgate will go far in preventing your hounds from getting too cold. I like to soak kibble and add some additional warm water and fat as a pre-workout meal for my hounds. It will keep them driving harder to catch game, give them the fuel to stay warmer, and keep us functioning at a higher level for longer. My experience is that a little extra is often enough to make the difference between treed and skunked.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If you keep your hounds well-hydrated and fed, you will reduce the risk of the problems listed above. It is smart to have a cut-off temperature and time of day where you start catching hounds to prevent any of them from ending up in conditions that their thin coats and big hearts can’t handle. Happy new year and stay warm out there! www.bear-hunting.com

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