2022 - Issue 6 - November/December

six hundred pound nc giant

Legendary Bear Hounds Part 45

becoming a bear hunter legendary bear hounds Bear pen song of the south 202 2

Hyatt’s Cracker

The bear hunting authority for 22 years

No v/D ec

French Canadian Good Color In the B mtn on baldy montana Black wild

PURSUIT OF THE ANCIENT ONES A DIY HUNT FOR INTERIOR GRIZZLY IN THE LAST FRONTIER

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Bear Hunting

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Nov/Dec 2022 Volume 23 - Issue 6 Cover photo by Travis L. Adair

by Bob Petit

by Kolby Morehead

In the Montana Wild

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Good Color on Baldy Mountain

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BY Travis L. Adair

Pursuit of the Ancient Ones

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Use of Leashed Tracking Dogs

By Jordan Marburger

Six Hunded Pound NC Giant

By Douglas Boze

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by Timothy D. Fowler

Recipe: Molasses Smoked Bear Shanks

Becoming a Bear Hunter

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56

Strike a Pose

by Bernie Barringer

48

The Pattern

By Stephen F. Fielder

Legendary Bear Hound: Bear Pen Song of the South

By Brian Strickland

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Columns 56 Bowhunting Bears

Cuddeback Trail Camera Contest Winner Win a Cuddeback Camera!

“Daniel at precisely 6:04am on Wednesday 9/17/25 you will be walking towards your best bait sight. it’s a trap!”

- Future Daniel-

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by Bernie Barringer - Bear Guru

Western Bear Hunting

by Brian Strickland - Western Hunter

60 Bruin Desinations

by Al Raychard - Bear Hunting Veteran

62

Fleshing it Out

by Timothy Fowler - Renaissance Man

Submitted by: Daniel Hart Arkansas

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

64

Sacred Pursuit

by TL Jones - Hound Pro

66 In Hot Pursuit

by Barry ‘Bear’ Siragusa - Hound Dude

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Bear Grease The Editor’s Note

Kolby Morehead

@kolby_morehead

Kolby’s new bait in Oklahoma showed some promised and then fizzled out with the acorns falling early.

It’s been a difficult season for us bear hunters in the south. Arkansas opened the season a weekend sooner than usual in hopes of increasing bear activities on baits for the opener. The season of promise quickly became a season of hardship when the acorns dropped early and everywhere and the bears quickly dispersed. I started a new bait in Oklahoma and had the same results.

The people who get bears every year are even struggling to connect with their target bears.

Things just don’t turn out the way we plan most of the time and that is the normal theme of life. Challenges like this for many people crush them. We hunters have a leg up on those who exist in lives of instant gratification.

We learn to lean into difficult times and adapt our stratLeading mules to a egies or look to the hope that next year’s season brings. bear bait deep in No matter what you hunt, that is an experience we all the mountains led to share who have been hunting any length of time.

Kolby and the mules being swarmed by I recently had an unexpected hardship on the yellow jackets. mountain. I was baiting a remote bait with mules. After baiting the site, I started down the mountain. Within a mile and a half of the truck the mules spooked and pulled the lead out of my hand as they took off up the mountain. Quickly springing into action, I took off after them and began feeling several projectiles hit me in the back.

One of the mules had stirred up a yellow jacket nest and they were hammering me! I finally caught the mules and backed up to a tree until the wasps finally finished and I stood there pulsating from the twenty plus stings.

I realized the severity of what could happen if I had a reaction. I was in pain and yet oddly, I had an instant appreciation for the wild interaction with nature.

We hunters take a hold of hardships and look back on the struggle with a fondness. I’m learning to enjoy those while and after they are occuring and I’m guarding my optimism.

In the climate of today’s world I’m learning to pull in that optimism and positivity into my everyday life. I think it’s important for the deep things I learn in the woods to effect my daily life. If you truly touch and commune with something like nature, it should change you and add qualities to your life. In turn, I want to bring that optimism and positivity to others around me. took a good Hunter recruitment is important and they need to Kolby friend and new see a higher quality of life. Our lifestyle should draw peo- bear hunter hunting in deep mountain ple in and not only the meat we bring back. We need to show them our lives and not just our outdoor adventures. bait. No bear was harmed.

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Bear Hunting (ISSN 1553-2488 and USPS 019-451) is published bi-monthly by Bear Tracks Media, LLC, 4052 N Abington Ct., FAyetteville,AR 72703. Periodicals Postage Paid at West Fork, AR and additional mailing offices.

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The author travels from his home state of Washington for a memorable Montana spring bear hunt.

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Nov/Dec 2022

In the Montana Wild

by Bob Petit

@pnwild_

If you were to go back three or four generations, hunting was not only a way of life but a necessity to prolong life and fuel one’s self and family. In recent years, hunting has been under attack with extreme force coming from the anti-hunting community. As a Washington State resident who enjoys hunting bears, I know this all too well. Allow me to introduce myself; my name is Bob with Pacific North Wild. PNWILD is a group of sportsmen from the northwest, dedicated to being involved in the process of where our food comes from. Our goal is to share with you our passion for wild places and the adventures we seek. I would like to take you along with me on my journey hunting Montana for the first time, and how bear hunting in my home state has changed.

Even as I am writing this, I still cannot believe it. In my home state of Washington there is no spring bear hunt for 2022. Since 1999, Washington has allowed bear hunting by permit only during the spring. This is all due to our governor, Jay Inslee, appointing ignorant people who have a bias against hunting as members of the fish and game commission. There are nine members on this commission and when it came time to vote on whether we would have a spring bear hunt or not, it got voted down 5-4 on Saturday, March 19th. Disappointing and frustrating to say the least. The fish and game departments’ very own biologists provided the commission members with science and data that supports having a bear hunt in the springtime. I might add that this hunt is not over the counter and you have to apply for it, which usually takes three to four years to draw on average. Their reasoning for voting down the hunt is that bears are lethargic and vulnerable in the springtime, cub orphaning, and inadequate data on the population.

If you have ever hunted bears during the spring, you know that there is nothing lethargic about a black bear. They can smell www.bear-hunting.com

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The author shared camp with the PN Wild crew alongside the GO Hunt crew.

The weather on the mountain can be unpredictable. A spring bear hunt can include snow.

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you coming a mile away, quite literally. As far as cub orphaning, there was only one lactating sow that was harvested in 2020 out of 45 female black bears harvested. It is unknown if she had cubs or not. There are an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 black bears in Washington State, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife website. These estimates have been taken throughout years of hard work and research, and it is a huge slap in the face to the biologists who have gathered this data to say the data is inadequate. It would be like canceling fishing season because you don’t know exactly how many fish are in the water.

As frustrating as it is, you just have to adapt. That is why I decided to purchase a black bear tag in the State of Montana and, additionally, fund their game department and manage their predators. Ever since I was a kid, I have always dreamt of hunting in big sky country. In recent years, watching GOHUNT spring bear hunting videos has made that dream even stronger and, as of writing this, has become a reality.

The crazier thing is that the PNWILD crew and I actually got to share camp and hunt with some of the guys who work for GOHUNT. It all started when we found out that hunting bears during the spring in our home state was not going to happen.

But if you love something enough, you will find a way to make it work.

We then did some planning and e-scouting on our GOHUNT maps, set a date, and made it happen. For a non resident Montana hunting license and bear tag, it will cost you $350. You will also spend that on fuel depending on where you live. Not a cheap trip, but well worth it in my opinion. It took roughly seven and a half hours of drive time for us to get there, and when we arrived late in the night it was raining.

Being the hardcore hunters that we are, we decided to get a hotel for the first night instead of setting up camp in the dark and downpour. After a good night’s sleep we drove out into the hills, set up camp, and hiked out to a pin that we dropped on our maps that looked like a good spot to glass for bears.

Nov/Dec 2022

The weather that day was absolutely beautiful and the south facing slopes were starting to green up with fresh grass. A perfect scenario to find a hungry bear grazing away. We had just started boiling some water to make a dehydrated meal when Jeff said the words, “Hey Bob, I’ve got a bear.” A couple hours of glassing had gone by, and multiple burnt tree stumps had fooled us already. So, when Jeff said those words so calmly, I really didn’t believe him. But sure enough, there was a nice jet black bear munching grass on an old decommissioned logging road about two miles away. Even from over three thousand yards away, this bear looked worthy of going after. We had two options of how we were going to close the distance. Option one, go straight at the bear by dropping 2400’ in elevation, cross a river, and then go up another 500’ of elevation. Option two, run back to the truck which was a couple miles behind us, then drive fifteen minutes to get to the base of the hillside where the bear was. We chose the latter.

After making the decision to head back to the truck and drive around to get closer to the bear, we literally jogged our way back in our hunting boots, full packs, and gear. We knew that the bear could disappear at any time, so that put a little spring in our step.

Most people will tell you that I drive like a grandpa, but on the way to go find that bear I was in a rally truck racing in the Baja 1000. Before we left our glassing spot we had dropped a pin on where the bear was with our GOHUNT maps. Doing this made it very easy to know where to park on the road below and start making our way up and into position. From when we spotted the bear to when we got into position, it took about forty five minutes. Looking back at the hillside that we were on, we realized we had made the right decision by driving around instead of trying to drop a ton of elevation and cross the river. That would have most likely

taken us hours and no way were we crossing that river.

We ascended the 500’ of elevation to get on the same level as the bear was and put our glass to work. But, no bear. In the time it had taken us to get into position, the bear had most likely gotten his (or her) fill of green grass and moved on. Hours had gone by with naps taken, snacks eaten, and still no bear. Finally, as the sun was starting to get low in the sky, we spotted him/her!

The bear was about nine hundred yards away in a shale rock avalanche shoot, and with time not being on our side we had to hustle to close the distance.

Since we were already on the same elevation of that decommissioned logging road, all we had to do was move a few hundred yards to our left and use the road to wrap around to where the bear was in the shoot, and we’d be on top of it. As we made our way over there we had lost sight of the bear, but quickly picked it back up as we peaked over the ledge and ranged it at 293 yards. I found a shooting lane and dropped into a prone shooting position, dialed my scope, and let one fly out of my Tikka 7mm. Zack had the reassuring words of “Rolled him!” The shot felt good but knowing how tough bears are, I wanted to get hands on before celebrating.

It is worth mentioning that the teamwork that went into play while this all unfolded was nothing short of outstanding. From getting a range to having cameras setup on the shooter and the target, everyone knew their role and executed it perfectly. We gave it a little bit of time and then made our way down the steep hillside in hopes of finding a dead bear. Upon arriving at the kill site, a nice blood trail led us down the shale rocks and thicket until we found a piled up dead bear.

Hands on! It felt great to notch a tag, but I knew we had to be quick about breaking down this bear and packing it out, since it was getting dark and there was

Hunting the west means a lot of glassing.

www.bear-hunting.com

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The author sent his 7mm round 283 yds out of his Tikka rifle rolling the bear. Great shot!

The author with his Montana spring black bear!

the possibility of grizzlies being in the area. We got the bear cut up and into our packs, and then made it back to the truck as quickly as possible behind headlamps. Dropping a pack full of meat on a tailgate has got to be one of the best feelings in the world.

I have been hunting with these guys for years now, but this trip just reiterated the importance of having good hunting buddies. Bear hunting is often overlooked by hunters and for people that don’t hunt at all, it seems downright foreign and intimidating. But bears must be managed and I feel the best way to do that is by hunting. Plus, the meat is delicious and my family will enjoy many meals from my harvest. From a Washington guy who’d always dreamt of hunting big sky country, it was a dream come true. Until next time, Montana.

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Nov/Dec 2022

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Good COLOR ON Baldy Mountain

by Kolby Morehead

@kolby_morehead

This beautiful sow was the first bear the author saw on his hunt.

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Nov/Dec 2022

“Hunt big, hunt color” is the motto of Todd Wohlgemuth of Baldy Mountain Outfitters. His outfit backs up those words—they take big and color phased bears, including multiple booners a year, staying in line with the legacy of the prior outfitter over his territory, Tom Ainsworth. This area of the Duck Mountains in Manitoba, Canada is a favorite of BHM staff and columnists because of the rich history of promise and opportunity provided by great long-standing outfitters in the Boreal Forest. A good, experienced outfitter like Todd will do what he can to make sure his guests leave happy from their hunts.

The Drive & Arrival It’s a long drive from the northwest corner of Arkansas to the southwest region of Manitoba. Somehow, I look back upon that journey with a sense of nostalgia. The thousand plus mile journey held in it many hours full of music, podcasts, and calls with friends all wrapped in a cloud of hope and endless anticipation!

With my wife riding shotgun, we pointed the truck north and hit the gas until her stop in South Dakota. This hunt was going to be her opportunity to kill her first bear, but due to some issues getting her passport in time I dropped her off with some family in South Dakota and shamelessly hit the road again to go kill her bear. I know, I know I’m a monster, but sometimes it takes a monster to kill a monster, so maybe it’s for the best.

As I tried to cross the Canadian border I learned a hot tip: don’t cross it at smaller checkpoints. They’re bored, suspicious of people crossing in the middle of nowhere, and will search your whole truck front and back.

Go to the bigger, more efficient checkpoints where getting people through is their business, and business is good.

Once I hit the gravel roads connecting me to camp and thought I couldn’t be more excited, a mature black bear ran across the road in front of me! I took it as an omen of fortune to come. This was going to be a good week! Once I arrived at the campgrounds to meet up with Todd, I was

www.bear-hunting.com

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Hunters and guides hanging out in the cabin prior to the hunt.

almost swept away by mosquitoes but made it to a firm handshake and directions to my bunk. I’m thankful that the food was great and the showers were hot before starting the hunt.

Rules of Engagement and Expectations Todd has a few guidelines the camp runs on and special instructions for my week of hunting.

1. No boots in the cabin.

2. No one can hunt the same stand twice, so no one feels favored (plus it keeps the excitement rolling).

3. Keep your bow or gun in hand at at the ready.

You experienced bear hunters are wondering why this is, and it’s because this was an added week of bear season and was, consequently, in the bear rut.

The big boars weren’t hanging out at the baits like they typically would except to quickly check for sows, so you had to be on your ready.

Whenever you go to a new region, you must review your expectations and get a sense of how the game is acting during that time. This was an added week and what we observed was that the big boars The mosquitos came out two days prior to the arrival of the author. You can see them in front of this chocolate sow.

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were not coming into the baits like they typically do because it was the rut—they were cruising for sows and weren’t as interested in food. I decided that what I really wanted was a bear with an attitude who came in like he owned the place.

Day One After gearing up and having some lunch, we set out for the first hunt of the week. Armed with my bow and endless anticipation, we set out to the first bait and were met on the trail by a blonde sow. I eagerly and quickly scurried up the tree while my guides, Brett and Beaver, put out a trail cam and freshened up the bait. As the sounds of the Honda quads gave way to the soothing tones of the Boreal Forest, I set in for an eighthour sit.

Within twenty minutes, the blonde sow took off and ran to a tree while looking into the dense vegetation. At one point she ran, leapt up on a barrel, and jumped to a tree six feet away, sticking to it like a cub (earning her the name ‘The Parkour Bear’). The night ended up having her and a chocolate sow with a white blaze on her chest swapping out turns on the bait.

This bear was very wary and made the author feel like a big bear could be in the area.

Nov/Dec 2022

Day Two Day two found me in a setup where I was fifteen feet up a tree in a stand and just barely higher than the bait. My heart skipped a beat as a huge shadowy figure appeared behind the bait. As the bear confidently made its way towards it, I was surprised to find that it was a sow. I like big bears and I cannot lie, and this sow really caught my eye. Every time she came in I felt a rush in my body as adrenaline filled my bloodstream, but decided to pass her time and time again. A few bears came in and out and the hunt ended with two average sized boars on the bait.

Two boars hanging out at the bait on day two.

They were very tolerant of each other.

The author could see a big bear at the base of the hill behind the baits and it got his heart pumping!

The bear ended up being a massive sow that stayed near the bait all evening. www.bear-hunting.com

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The sow kept chasing this small bear up a tree. It may have been her recently kicked off cub.

Day Three Day one of the hunt I saw good color, day two I saw good size, and this day I would see sheer numbers of bears. I didn’t see a bear that I considered taking but it was one of the best days of hunting over bait that I’ve ever had. I conservatively saw fourteen bears and it was difficult to tell them apart. The highlight of this hunt was a sow that climbed the ladder of my stand, which was a big surprise. It’s easy to do a long sit when you have that many bears coming in and out and the eight hours went by in no time, even with an hour of sitting in the rain.

This bear was in the tree as the author was dropped off at his stand on day three.

This was a very active bait and the author had multiple bears in view most of the evening.

The author felt his stand moving and looked down to find this bear checking him out.

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Nov/Dec 2022

The outfitter filling the grease barrel that the author would kill his bear in front of.

The first bear of the evening coming into the bait.

Day Four Day four we ventured out further than we had to a bait site that hadn’t been hunted all year. I was pumped! This stand was close to the home of former outfitter, Tom Ainsworth, so after dropping me off and freshening up baits in the area, Todd (outfitter) and Beaver (guide) were going to go visit with Tom while I waited for my bear to come in.

Once again it was time for the bears to come in. Well, that was my expectation anyways. I was conditioned at this point to expect bears almost immediately, but that’s not how this story played out. This was the toughest hunt mentally on this trip because I had gotten so used to having bear activity within 20-30 minutes.

It was over four hours of sitting in the stand and still no bear in my temporary domain. Was I in a gar hole?

Finally, I saw movement to my right in my periphery. It was an average sized boar that snacked for a second and wondered off, then I was alone again. But I wasn’t skunked, bears did exist here!

It would be that same kind of story the rest of my sit until an hour before the end of shooting light. www.bear-hunting.com

Beaver, the guide, securing a fresh barrel of corn to the tree so bears don’t roll it off.

The author’s bear fending another bear off of his grease barrel.

Then things finally picked up. I had a couple of black bears coming in and out of the bait until a rich, chocolate colored boar walked in. Boy, did he have attitude—he didn’t take crap from anybody. He came up to the corn barrel and didn’t even pay attention to the warning of the bear that had claimed that territory and just started chomping. Then he made his way over to the grease barrel and went to town getting as much of that caloric-dense goodness as he could. At this point, I claimed this bear in my heart and I carefully readied by bow for the first opportunity I could take.

This bear was playing with my heart now. Dark was approaching and he was up on that barrel and had the bend in his front leg covering the ole crimson pumper and lungs. I watched with anticipation for twenty minutes for an opportunity. Another bear came in and went to challenge him for the barrel, but he swatted him away, never changing his posture on the barrel. Finally, after the twenty-minute mark, he got off the barrel and was standing broadside at 18 yards. Fully composed from the long wait, I drew back and sent it!

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The bear doesn’t offer a good shot for over twenty minutes.

Just before the end of shooting light, the bear offers a shot.

The bear didn’t go twenty! The author with his nice chocolate boar.

The arrow flew true and passed through the chocolate bruin and kicked up mud as he disappeared out of view. Seconds passed and then I heard the sacred sound that touches a bear hunter in the core of his soul—the haunting beauty of the death moan. I was overcome by emotion as his final utterings filled the space and it felt like I was there beside him as he passed.

He moaned eight times and with each one I felt respect and admiration for my conquered brother.

With nightfall upon me, I decided to wait for Todd and Beaver to return to lay hands on my bear. As they pulled up, I told Todd the direction he went and that I heard him moan. Todd went a few yards behind the bait and shouted, “Didn’t go 20!” The bear ran only 15 yards before going down and we later found out that I got the heart and both lungs.

I’m glad I waited twenty minutes for the right shot and for a quick kill. I left the Duck Mountains fulfilled from a great hunt and took some great color off the mountain!

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Nov/Dec 2022

Fellow hunter Ray Sears with his canadian boar taken with Baldy Mountain Outfitters.

www.bear-hunting.com

CANADA IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS! It’s been a long couple of years for Canadian outfitters alongside us bear hunters that love hunting the provinces north of the border. As of October 1st of 2022 the border COVID-19 vaccination requirments have been lifted and mask mandates are no longer in place! This gives unvaccinated bear hunters the opportunity for the first time in years to make the yearly pilgrimage for those Boreal Forest bruins. Support our canadian outfitters.

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Nov/Dec 2022

PURSUIT OF THE ANCIENT ONES A DIY HUNT FOR INTERIOR GRIZZLY IN THE LAST FRONTIER

by Travis L. Adair

@wilderness_lawyer

My passion for hunting North America’s apex carnivores stems from the same desires that caused me to abandon the metropolis in which I have lived most of my life. I grew up in the scorching suburbs of Phoenix but moved to the rural mountains of Utah as a teenager where I learned to hunt and fish. I crave outdoor adventure and find it impossible to tolerate the detached urban lifestyle in which so many stay confined. The longing for wild and remote places recently led me on a long-awaited return trip to the interior of Alaska where I experienced a thrilling hunt for the ancient grizzly bear.

The pursuit of these majestic and deadly creatures in a glacial fed drainage they have dominated with their predecessors for millennia under the backdrop of unparalleled mountains cannot fully be captured in words. The yearning to harvest a large “grizz” in there, which had been a life-changing experience.

I lived and worked in the Alaska interior after high school where my bear hunting days began as a side note to other adventures. One of my roommates had grown up in the area and was an avid fisherman. We became good friends and did multiple trips together over several years. I helped him harvest his first caribou and we later trekked into his favorite remote drainage to fish spawning salmon. He told me to expect bears in the area, so I brought my hunting rifle and bear tags. This turned out to be a wise decision.

The amount of bear signs we saw on that trip was incredible. Within the first 24 hours, we had multiple grizzly sightings and awoke to a huge black bear entering our tent. The bear escaped into the brush as I scrambled for my gun. The fire had been lit inside me and I was no longer thinking about fishing. I shot my first black bear that evening at eight yards after confronting it on a riverbank. We had hardly finished skinning when another grizzly appeared further downriver shortly before dark. I made a quick stalk, and a well-placed 200 yard shot dumped the bear into the river. It then launched out of the www.bear-hunting.com

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The author with a nice sockeye salmon.

water like a rocket into the alders, snapping them in its wake. We tracked and recovered my first interior grizz under the light of our headlamps. It was a five-year-old boar with spectacular fur, just shy of seven feet. I will never forget the relieved feeling I had when we reached camp that night after packing two bears out in the darkness all those years ago. It was an incredible DIY adventure.

That adrenaline fueled fishing trip-turned bear hunt hooked me for life. My friend and I later returned to the area, and he shot a huge black bear during another close encounter. I passed on multiple younger bears before bad weather set in and did not fill my tags that year. This only deepened my newfound Ursid craving.

Nevertheless, life’s circumstances forced me to push that appetite aside temporarily. I moved from Alaska for college and got married. I then enrolled in law school and begrudgingly returned to the same metro hellhole I had escaped in my youth.

I was in the city nearly eight years due to the demands of my career. I was never content and finally 26

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relocated my family back to rural Utah in 2019 where I work remotely for a firm that once dominated my life. I have been on several great black bear hunts since then.

The longing to hunt grizz in Alaska again never faded but seemed out of reach for a time. That changed two winters ago when my brother-in-law, Klynt, and his wife moved to Alaska. I could legally hunt with him being a permanent resident within the second-degree of kindred.

He grew up hunting with me and wanted to get back into it. The groundwork was laid for me to return North.

I planned for this hunt more than a year in advance. I built a new lightweight rifle chambered in 300 RUM specifically for the Alaskan bush, suitable for upclose confrontation and long-range shooting. I topped it with a premium optic for low light performance. I also purchased a Ruger Alaskan revolver in 454 Casull as my last line of defense in the alders. One tool that proved indispensable on this hunt was an adapter from Wiser Precision. It converted my trekking poles into ultra-stable shooting and glassing sticks.

August finally found me in Anchorage where Klynt Nov/Dec 2022

and I embarked on a long drive deep into the interior.

The salmon run was in full swing. The plan was to trek down the river confluence and patiently sit and glass for a big bruin as they would be feeding heavily on salmon this time of year. We would also enjoy some fishing for spawning sockeye, coho, chum, and pinks. It was wet and rainy but there would be a few breaks in the weather.

The river flows were higher than usual, which created extra challenges. The amount of bear signs in the area were just as I remembered from years ago. There were trails throughout the alders with tracks, piles of scat, and fish remains around every corner. The fishing was incredible, as always.

That first evening, the weather had cleared and during our first sit we spotted a grizzly downriver.

It quickly disappeared around a large bend. The wind was in our favor and the river drowned out our sound. I grabbed the rifle and shooting sticks and began a stalk

on the opposite side of the river hoping to get a better look. Once we could see around the bend there was no sign of the bear. We waited awhile then slowly started back upriver to our sitting point. On our way back, a bear loudly blew out of the alders across the river thirty yards from us. Either the bear had doubled back, or it was another one altogether. We sat the rest of the evening and later spotted another grizz just a few hundred yards downriver as it caught a sockeye on the river’s edge. It was mature with a blocky head and broad shoulders, but was obstructed by thick alders and never presented a shot.

We fished and relaxed much of the next morning and then sat the same spot that afternoon. It was still early in the day when another bear appeared momentarily. I got set up on the sticks and minutes later spotted movement in the alders along the river’s edge. The bear started walking upriver towards us and came within 200

The author is not the only one catching fish.

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yards. It was definitely a grizzly but there was no shot, and it was too obstructed by alders to accurately field judge either. The bear disappeared momentarily and then finally stepped into the river. I instantly knew it was big and mature as it started to cross the river, quartering slightly towards me. The old bruin looked spectacular through my Zeiss scope. Right as it stopped and looked upriver, I steadied the crosshairs mid-shoulder and squeezed the trigger.

The bear dropped as the bullet crushed through the exposed front shoulder, passing both lungs, and exited. I immediately chambered another round as the mighty grizz sprung back to its feet, roaring and thrashing in the river. Blood poured out the shoulder and opposite rib cage. A quick follow up shot anchored the bear as he started to lunge downriver towards the alders.

The moment I had dreamt of for years had finally happened. Yet, in the midst of this momentary excitement the shallow but strong current slid the large bear onto his back and swept him down the icy river. He gained speed through some thinner rapids and his back leg stuck straight out of the water as he rounded the bend, disappearing out of view.

Klynt and I had thrown on our packs and hustled downriver. The further we went, we expected to find the bear tangled up on one of the densely covered banks.

We soon had rounded multiple bends and didn’t see any sign of the animal. The flow was high, but it seemed improbable the large carcass would still be floating on its back a half mile later. There were multiple obstacles

including log jams and around each bend there were gravel bars. We crossed a bigger log jam and began to wonder if the grizzly had not fully expired and could have crawled itself into the alders somewhere. We spent the rest of daylight combing both sides of the riverbank and underneath every log jam. We found no sign of my bear. I was disheartened and in complete disbelief of what I had seen happen.

This made for a very long night. Klynt and I recounted the shot sequence, and he was certain he heard a death moan as the bear collapsed in the river. I was certain the bear had expired and held hope that it would turn up further downriver. The carcass must have had enough momentum for the current to roll it over the last log jam we searched, even though it seemed highly improbable at first glance. I also knew there was a shallow slough with calmer current and a larger gravel bar much further downriver. The carcass surely wouldn’t make it past that stretch of river, if it even made it that far.

The next day we anxiously trekked downriver looking for anything we might have missed. We eventually came to the big log jam and searched under it again. We scoured under every obstacle in the river until we finally approached the slough several hours later. I then noticed a patch of brown fur barely out of the water along the bank. I was elated to find the big grizzly submerged in the icy water nearly a mile and a half from where the bear collapsed into the water. I felt relieved and overwhelmed with gratitude as we rolled

The author’s beautiful inland grizzly.

SJ and his mom leading their hound.

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the wet bear onto the gravel bar.

The large interior boar was magnificent with long golden-tipped fur, a blocky head, and big claws and pads. As I began skinning, the hide was cold to the touch after soaking in the icy glacial fed river overnight. I knew we were in for a brutal task due to heavy alders and many river crossings. The brush was so thick it made for the slowest pack out of my life.

We finally made it back to camp after nightfall, seven hours after finding the bear. I was utterly exhausted yet liberated. I am thankful to have experienced such a redemptive and epic hunt for the ancient grizz that has roamed my mind for over a decade. It was great to share this journey with my wonderful brother-in-law, Klynt. I feel like the prodigal son finally returning from a lengthy sabbatical. The interior of Alaska will always hold a unique place in my heart, and I look forward to the next adventure in this place that feels like home.

Check out that big mitt on this grizz.

The author packing out his grizzly.

www.bear-hunting.com

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Six Hundred Pound North Carolina Giant!

By Jordan Marburger When people ask me about Eastern North Carolina bear hunting, I tell them it is truly the land of giants! The large swamp thickets and big tracts of timber along the eastern shore of North Carolina are home to some trophy black bears.

The warm coastal weather along with vast agriculture fields allow bears along the coast to reach sizes larger than in most states. It’s not uncommon to see 500 lb or more bears harvested along the coastal region each year.

I discovered black bear hunting years ago when I was invited to come to West Virginia. I went bear hunting with a friend who had hounds and ever since then it has been in my blood! Watching the hounds track a bear is like a race, sometimes they will slow down and lose the trail, other times they are trailing just feet behind the bear. Watching all this will give anyone a true appreciation for the hard work and time that houndsmen put into their dogs!

With all the craziness between Covid and a hectic work schedule, I was looking forward to my annual trip to North Carolina. It’s not only a time to bear hunt, but to fellowship between hunters and to share stories around the dinner table after a long day of chasing bears and rounding up dogs. I might also add if you love seafood, then the coast of North Carolina has all that you could ask for!

The typical style of hunting bears with hounds in North Carolina is a little different than in some places. The areas that we hunt are normally sections of woods surrounded by dikes and levees. Shooters will typically line up along the levee while the houndsman sends in the dogs from a different direction.

Bears will try to sneak out ahead of the dogs and swim across the water, so shooters have to be vigilant and ready to shoot

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The crew getting ready to let out the hounds.

at any moment. Larger bears that are not able to climb up a tree typically will be bayed on the ground by the dogs. This can be quite the experience when a large bear is only feet away from you but also dangerous at the same time as they can injure the dogs.

The first day of the season started off promisingly. Our group had treed a few nice bears and a few first-time hunters were able to get their first bear. I had an encounter with a nice bear that was over 400 lbs, but was unable to pull off a shot in the dense brush. I had an opportunity later in the week at a nice bear, but decided to pass on it as I was determined to break my goal of shooting a bear over 300 lbs.

It was the last day that I could hunt before I had to head back home to Ohio, so the pressure was on. As we pulled up to the bait pile, we could tell that a big bear had been there so we decided to turn the hounds loose on the track. I watched on my Garmin as the dogs started the chase. Within fifteen minutes a call over the radio broke the morning silence; the dogs had a bear bayed. As we headed back to where it showed the dogs were at on the gps, the howls of the dogs grew louder so we knew we were getting close.

The vegetation got so thick at one point that we started crawling on our hands and knees to get to where the dogs had the bear bayed. As we approached, the howls of dogs grew deafening and we knew the bear had to be close. We got to a point where we could see a small opening where the bear was and crawled 32

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The official weigh in of this North Carolina Bruin.

towards it. At this point we were only fifteen feet from the bear. As I pushed aside some brush, I was finally able to see the bear. He was a giant and I knew the dogs could only keep him at bay for a little bit before he would make a break for it. The bear was backed into the thick brush, swatting and snapping at the dogs around him.

I looked to my buddy to make sure he was ready to follow me up with a back up shot, and he nodded. The dogs still had the bear backed up into the brush, so I knew I would have to make my shot soon. As the bear turned away our eyes met, and although I have seen many bears in my life, it is still something that sends chills down your spine. As I shouldered my 450 bushmaster and placed the sights right behind his shoulder and fired, everything around me went silent. My heart was pounding—I could barely think. When everything calmed down, I was in shock at the size of the creature that laid at my feet. We all gathered around the bear and gusses of the weight were thrown around, but I wouldn’t know the true weight until we got it out and back to the skinning shed.

As any hunter knows, the real work begins after the kill. The issue now at hand was how we were going to get this bear out of the thick brush. Luckily we devised a plan and had a large sled with a couple hundred feet of rope and a pulley attached to a truck. After cutting paths with a chainsaw, we were finally able to get the bear pulled out to the dirt road. It took almost eight people just to hoist him up into the bed of the truck. As we gathered around the truck to take pictures, I knew the bear was going to easily surpass Nov/Dec 2022

The author with his huge bruin he took with hounds.

my goal of 300 lbs, but I was soon in for quite the surprise.

When we arrived at the skinning shed to drop the bear off, we backed the truck up to the hoist to get an official weight. I was shocked as I watched the scale climb to 607 lbs. I knew that this would be a once in a lifetime bear for me. I knew the first person I had to call was my father as I always do after a harvest. Even though my dad wasn’t able to make it on the trip with me this year, he could tell from the excitement in my voice that I had shot a monster!

This trip will be something I will always remember for the rest of my life. Even though I shot a giant bear, that was only a small part of the whole experience. It’s the events leading up to the harvest that make it so special for me.

Hearing the hounds run through the woods, trailing a bear, sharing a cold beer at the end of the day with great friends, and telling stories is what truly makes everything memorable. www.bear-hunting.com

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I got a late and haphazard start in bear hunting.

It was completely by chance that, while deer hunting, I happened upon a color phase (blonde, cinnamon) black bear. She was sitting across the gully from me, feasting on what I later found out was maggots that clung to the rotting flesh of a deer carcass that was partially buried by a cougar. While not the biggest of bears, she was the first one I had seen in the wild. I was in my late 20s (I had been hunting deer since I was 12). I hesitantly walked over to her after the shot, in awe of her hide, but a bit taken back by the smell of the dead deer and a little sad from the death bawl I heard when she passed. I’ve spoken about the death bawl before and, if you’ve heard it, you know what I refer to.

A part of me changed forever that morning.

Hearing that bawl, touching the bear for the first time, examining its feet and claws, checking its teeth, and attempting to field dress an animal I never had done before: it was all new and very different. But in that moment, it sparked a flame within me, which has now grown into a large, consuming fire. That fire is the passion for bear and bear hunting. I absolutely love the black bear species for their amazing and varied qualities. This series of articles is designed to help you become a bear hunter, too.

I think it’s appropriate to showcase what I like about bear hunting, prior to getting into the meat of the subject. And really, there are many different facets to bear hunting. Where I live, the season starts August 1st and it’s an over-the-counter tag. It does not end until November 15th, which is reason enough alone to love it.

Bear season allows me to get out before and after deer hunters. From the heat of the summer in the lowlands to the frigid cold of winter storms in the high mountains, I can chase bears and for that I am grateful. I get to enjoy the wilds a little bit before and after the hordes of deer and elk hunters head out.

If I am lucky enough, I get to watch a sow and

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cub(s) move about their daily lives—the playful cubs jumping off logs or pestering one another in a sibling spat. I get to hunt a solitary animal, who has the capability to hunt me back and whose home is often in rugged and unforgiving terrain. An animal that is stronger than me, has an enormously powerful sense of smell, claws that could swipe my face off, a stealth that seems to rival that of a cat, brute force to destroy fallen trees, and a dexterity that few animals in North America possess. I could go on for several pages, but you get the point.

With this love of the animal comes respect, and I think that should be one of our first lessons in this series.

Naturally as hunters we are taught to respect our quarry, and bears deserve no less. With that respect comes the obligation to learn as much about the animal as you can, so you can become proficient in your judgement of the sex and size, their habits, their young, and their lives. So, let’s start from the ground up: the sign that bears leave.

Many of us know what bear scat looks like, but I am willing to bet that there are some reading this that might not have a clue or are just learning. You’ve come to the right place. When looking for bear scat, you need to keep in mind it changes in shape, color, and texture throughout the year. Unlike deer or elk, it is not consistent throughout because bears’ food supply changes as the year progresses. For this topic, let’s start when bears first leave the den in the springtime. Ask yourself (and ask it repeatedly as you hunt), “What food is available for bears and are they eating it?”

Right off the bat, the first things available for a bear to eat in the springtime are fresh, green shoots of various plants, grass being a main staple. You might think that a bear won’t fill up on grass, but believe me they do. The scat you find in the springtime will prove my point. It will often be full of grass, a vibrant green color if it is fresh scat, which fades to a darker color as

Nov/Dec 2022

Becoming a Bear Hunter Deciphering Scat

@bozeandbears

by Douglas Boze

www.bear-hunting.com

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time passes. Focus on sunny areas of the early spring.

Where the sun hits the longest will be where things green up. Think of old abandoned logging roads, avalanche chutes, swamp edges, south facing slopes, and so on.

Areas where the sun can break through the canopy of trees or bless the sides of a rocky sloped hillside should be your focus.

As the spring progresses so does the growth of various plants, including wild onions, skunk cabbage, and so on. All of these add to the bears’ diets. Take the time to learn your hunting grounds and what is available for them to eat. I have heard a saying that bears will eat anything except asphalt…I am not sure how true that is, but it seems pretty accurate. Now, trying to explain what a bear eats in the spring is a bit difficult simply because every state (and even within the same state) has such a variety of food for bears to eat. But in early spring, the one thing all these states have in common is fresh grass.

So, that’s number one.

The easiest and generally the most readily available sign that a bear is around (or has been around) is its scat. So, always be scanning for that as you walk. This is a major and obvious clue about the “when and where” presence of bears. Use it to your advantage. Even as the year progresses and say, you’re deer hunting and you find an old pile of bear scat, this is still a clue telling you, “hey, a bear was here a while ago.” Meaning, a bear used that area in the past and could easily still be around. Just because scat may be older does not mean the bear or bears have left the area. I cannot stress enough to slow yourself down and pay attention to your surroundings.

As the year moves on from spring to summer, the scat will change. You will find less and less “grassy” fresh scat and more scat with berries, fruit, and nuts in it.

Now this varies as much from one state to the next but the idea is the same; take a close look at scat and try to figure out what is in it, specifically, what types of seeds, masts, and chunks of matter make it up. This can be a major clue as to what the bear is eating and where you

This scat has been rained on pretty good and you can see the chunks of cambium layer wood in it.

Fall bear scat pile with berry seeds all in it with purple color.

A spring bear pile that isn’t super fresh but still should be noticed, with lots of grass in it.

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It was not far off, rather maybe 40 yards to my right up in should be focusing your hunt or future hunt. This goes the brush. I paused for a long while and continued to listen, back to what I said earlier about really paying attenknocking an arrow in my bow with painstaking slow speed. tion.

When I first start out hunting for the And I could hear brush rustling. year, I must remind myself to slow down my pace, slow Down the trail, I heard another branch break and down my thoughts, and just be observant. In a world of more rustling of leaves. I glanced over to my right and a cell phones and caffeinated drinks, it can be tough to nice jet-black boar worked his way not 25 yards from me force the quiet of nature into one’s mind and actions, but taking that step will help make you a better hunter. and angrily tackled devil’s club plants, eating the broad thorny leaves and the brush blocking any hope for a shot, When I am walking, I am constantly glancing all while another bear continued to feed just to my left. I down, searching for various poo piles or prints in the held still, moments stretching as my muscles strained for mud or dust. When I find a pile, I will inspect it. Is it fresh? Old? Large? Small? What is in it? Are there similar each movement which required a snail’s pace. The bear piles locally or large and small piles indicating possibly closest to me continued to eat just yards away, and any moment I was afraid a whisper of wind would give away different sized bears? How old, how fresh? I will crush my position and they would bolt or charge out of disgust. it with my boot or kick it. This helps me to not have to I spotted the other bear not 50 or 60 yards off—another check the same pile twice and may reveal more about full-size bear working a log over. I adjusted my position and the scat. tried to get closer to Mr. Log Smasher, but was foiled again I believe that it was Remi Warren I once heard by the brush. Then surprisingly, another bear around 60 say that he liked to walk logging roads or trails looking for scat in the evening or mornings. Then, he would walk yards off or so up the hill was working through the pacific northwest tangled jungle. He eventually popped out on the the same road the following day, progressing a tighter and tighter timeline trying to narrow down when a bear trail about 100 yards off, a very nice 300 lbs boar who was chocolate in color. I quickly lip squeaked as I tucked myself was using that trail. Not a bad way to try to pattern a bear. What I have found as I have hunted bears through- into a tree and he paused. He looked my way and then continued to work his way into the next cut, meandering out the years is that once you find fresh bear scat, you out of my hopes. need to work that area over and over. If I find a fresh I decided to do an old Jim Shockey trick and huff pile, I will instantly slow my pace to half speed and I will and pop my jaws since the bear didn’t seem to care about walk or simply stop and listen for several minutes. With fresh scat, bears are close (maybe closer than you think), my mouse squeals. The closest jet-black bear did react to this and charged on occasion and huffed back, but never so listening, walking a few yards, and listening again gave me a shot. We all played cat and mouse for a bit, but might just be the tactic you need to find one.

I was hunting just a few weeks ago on the back- I ended up backing out so as to not bust them out of the area as they continued to work the cut. side of a ridge, so berries were ripe and there was a My point of this story? If I was solely relying on bear slack wind. It was cooler temperature-wise up top where scat signs, I would have kept walking since the only piles I I was compared to the lowlands. I was enjoying the was finding were old spring scat. What clued me in on their grand views that swept beyond and below me. I could presence was that I was walking slowly and I was listening. hear the river far below with its white static noise as it Be sure to check out the next issue for our continued series forever called down the valley and carved its way over a millennium. And I heard it, a brief twig call out, “snap!” on becoming a bear hunter.

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Book Excerpt

Turning Feral

Author: Zachary Craig Hanson

Hanson knew his life lacked balance. It served no purpose. It held no meaning. In an effort to connect with something true and real, he turned to the wilderness. Leaving the big-city office behind, he learned to hunt, trap, and live in harmony with the land deep in the backwoods of North America. There he discovered new significance and purpose while ultimately growing his career.

Have you ever heard a bear die? I have and it aang near broke my heart.

When a bear enters its final moments on this Earth, it lets out a soul-crushing moan that sounds as much pained as it does remorseful. Once heard you will never forget it.

When I first arrived in Idaho, I had no idea about the death moan of a bear, nor did I know how abundant the species was in the state. The only thing I knew about bears was that they love pots of honey, picnics, and reminded me of my own large-breed dogs.

To be honest, hunting bears was not even on my radar when I arrived out West. It wasn’t until I had my first in-person exposure to black bears that I began to consider the benefits of harvesting one.

Ignorant Bliss My first encounter with the species was in the White Cloud Wilderness hunting elk. ` Without fail, each night I would hear the rustling of tarps at around two or three a.m., the whinnies of the horses, followed by the sound of our guides’ tents unzipping as they screamed and yelled. That was followed by the crashing and breaking of limbs like a staccato wilderness serenade, as three hundred pounds of muscle would go crashing through the woods away from camp.

This would happen at least twice a night and you could see the annoyance, not fear, on our guides’ faces every time it would happen.

The frequency of our visitors was partially because the black bear population is so healthy in Idaho, with over thirty thousand animals roaming the various mountain ranges. Every time I saw one, I was in awe at both their size and elegance in the woods.

While we would be out hunting during the day, bears would come into camp and try to tear through every “bearproof” cooler and tent we had. It became so troublesome that one of our camp tenders would stay back just to shoo the bears away.

Despite the economic annoyance of losing a meal or horse feed, the majority of the bears we would encounter bolted as soon as we came into camp or when we started to scream at them. After a few close encounters, my heart rate eventually quit elevating when I would see a new bear.

Over just a few short days, my fear of these animals dwindled down to near zero, and I thought of them as no more than annoying drunk friends who were trying to raid my fridge.

A friendly holler would send them packing, and I had no reason to worry about them hurting me. Of course, this was ignorant bliss on my part, and an unsafe mindset to have in the backcountry. It only takes one terrifying encounter with a bear to reshift your entire mental landscape, and my mind was surely 38

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The author watching an angry sow. about to get a major reset.

Coming back into camp from hunting on one of the later days on the elk hunt, we saw a familiar sight, an oversized dark form darting off into the woods. That raised no alarm bells for our grizzled crew, and we went about unsaddling our horses and preparing for the evening.

As we dismounted, all of our eyes and ears caught something behind one of our wall tents. Like a comedy sketch, out walks an absolutely adorable bear cub with a look of curiosity on its face. Completely unphased by our presence, it started to go about its business rummaging through our campsite.

Caught off guard by the sheer cuteness of the brave little furball, I failed to see the reactions of our guides. In a matter of seconds, everyone around me had unholstered their sidearms and had their eyes intently glued not on the little cub, but the woods surrounding camp.

Having not been exposed to bears throughout my life, I had limited knowledge to work from. The few things I had learned in bear 101 lessons included things like, “If you encounter a bear, do not run,” or “If you encounter a bear, play dead,” and “Never, ever, get between a mama bear and her cubs.”

Shoot. That last one was surely in play now. Right on cue, I heard the first charge.

Unlike the sound of bears running away from camp at night, the sound of an amped-up and angry mama bear charging at your group was a terrifying experience. I could palpably feel the ground move with every frustrated stride she took and see every beautiful rich black hair standing up on her back Nov/Dec 2022

in an aggressive display of dominance. My body reacted in kind (not out of aggression, but fear) and forced goose bumps to appear, making all of my own body hairs stand on end. I could feel the blood draining from my face as she got to within thirty yards before hitting the brakes.

Between charges, she would retreat some distance, let out some deep guttural woofs, walk around to find a different angle of attack, and repeat the process.

Meanwhile, her cub was happy as a clam, just farting around our camp as if nothing exciting was going on.

Pretty quickly, the guides’ attention turned to the cub. In the state of Idaho it is illegal to kill a mother sow that is with cubs, so the only means to getting mama bear to leave us alone was to strongly encourage the little tyke to take a hike.

While one guide stood watch for the circling sow, the rest of us went to work on the cub. We started by tossing rocks in its direction, which went completely unanswered. That escalated to more yelling, stick waving, and eventually western cartoon pistol firing to try and convince the little one to go sync up with its waiting mamma.

Unnerved, the little cub started to approach one of the guides. With no options left, the guide decided to meet the cub in the middle with a swift kick. With NFL kicker precision, he lined his boot up with the approaching cub, and within a yard or two, wound up his right leg and gave the cub an ensuring kick in the left side that lifted him off the ground by a few inches and set him running.

The charges and woofing subsided. We all breathed a heavy sigh of relief as the sounds of our new friends were swallowed up by the surrounding pines.

Once home, I purchased a bear tag and made the promise that if I had the opportunity to harvest a bear, I would honor it by utilizing everything it had to offer and process the animal by myself.

‘Hey, Bear!’

Luckily for me, my wife and I had just had our first child not long before the spring bear season opened. With my paternity leave in full swing, I was able to spend my mornings hiking as deep into the backcountry as possible, getting high up on ridgelines.

On the fifth day of hunting, I finally caught a glimpse of a beautiful black blob on a distant hillside that reminded me of the Rorschach tests I took as a kid.

Ecstatic, I started to calculate how I might close the distance of such a large magnitude in order to get close enough with my bow. As I was sitting looking at my watch and calculating what pace I would need to set to close the distance, I took another look at the bear through my binoculars and had my hopes dashed. Trailing not too far behind her were two little black dots that were clearly her offspring, making her an illegal target.

Defeated, I headed out of the woods and sauntered back to our cabin.

The next morning I awoke at my normal predawn time, and went outside to grab wood to start a fire in our cabin’s wood burning stoves. As I stepped towards our woodshed, my peripheral vision caught something strange on my left side. I noticed something distinctly white laying in our yard: one of my infant daughter’s diapers. That was odd, as I had put all of our household trash into the back of my pickup the night before to take to the dump that very morning. When I went to investigate the diaper, I immediately saw another piece of trash not too far off. Without thinking, I followed the trail until I found a perfectly ripped trash bag with piles of fresh bear scat all www.bear-hunting.com

around it.

Excited, I ran inside to tell my wife, who was measurably less impressed with the news than I was. Grabbing my gear, I set out to try my best at tracking down and dispatching the intruder. Yet after a day of searching I came up on no signs, and was running only on blind ambition. When I returned home, I gameplanned to head out again the next day. I was confident we would eventually meet up deep in the woods behind our cabin.

Yet the circumstances in which we would actually meet turned out to be nothing like the perfect movie I was playing in my head. At first light the next morning, my wife shook me awake with a jarringly loud whisper, “Zach, I think there is something outside!”

My new pioneer wife was not one to cry wolf, so when she alerted me to danger, I listened and jolted out of bed. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, threw on some underwear, and prepared myself for whatever it was she had heard.

The noise Olesya picked up with her postpartum superpowers was coming from outside the French doors of our bedroom. As I slowly pulled back the curtains, it took my eyes a minute to adjust to the early morning light. With a few blinks to make sure I was seeing what my brain registered, there stood the bear who had tried to break into our house the day before. It was perfectly broadside at thirty-five yards. My gentle and usually curse-word-free wife was now peeking over my shoulder, and excitedly screamed, “It’s a bear, it’s a bear!” before quickly muzzling herself with her hand.

We both let our cortisol levels come back down to baseline before I grabbed my bow, which was hanging beside our bed. We formulated a quick plan where I would slowly open one of our doors and silently slip outside to see if I could make a shot.

With our plan hatched we went into action. I placed an arrow on my string, attached my release, and set my bow sight to thirty-five yards. My wife took one large step backwards to tend to the baby, and then I slowly opened the door.

Stepping just outside barefoot and in my underwear, I raised my bow. I was able to easily put my fluorescent yellow aiming pin directly behind the bear’s left shoulder, and onto the vital organ zone. Without him ever knowing I was there, I punched the release and let my arrow fly.

At the twang of my arrow string, the bear instinctively quartered slightly towards me and my arrow entered just behind his shoulder at a slightly different angle than I intended. With a louder than expected woof, which echoed through the entire draw behind our home, he took off in the opposite direction of the impact, while my wife and I shared a disbelieving look.

It wasn’t quite the way I had intended to take my first bear, but with a nearly empty freezer, we needed to embrace a somewhat opportunistic mindset. After our hearts made their way back to our chests, I set out to look for my arrow and for blood to ensure that I had a solid hit. At the impact sight I had a twinge of relief as I found the back half of my arrow with some decent blood on it, along with a clear trail of blood in the direction the bear ran.

The author’s first bear he ever harvested.

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Big Horn Armory Model 89 SpikeDriver

by Timothy Fowler |

@timothydfowler A big bore for a big boar.

The author sighting in his S&W 500.

The moment you take the Big Horn Armory, Model 89, SpikeDriver out of the box, you note the heft of the gun, the feel of the wood, the precision of the machining, and the fit and finish. It’s pretty. It is a shooter too.

1.5” groups at 50 meters are perfect for black bears and stalking close to other big game. This gun resides at the intersection of artisanal craftsmanship, precision engineering, and premium wood and steel.

This Model 89 came with Skinner sights and the optional quick-release mount for a scout-style scope. I added a 1-4 power Leupold Scout for this hunt.

Power and Authority Greg Buchel, the President of Big Horn Armory, Inc., located in Cody, Wyoming, said,” We designed our lever action specifically for the 500 Smith and Wesson cartridge, basing it off a model 86 Winchester action. This cartridge in the lever gun produces 4,000 foot-pounds of energy.”

It is worth noting that Wikipedia says that’s equivalent to a bowling ball traveling at 70 miles per hour. I can tell you firsthand the 500 put my Saskatchewan spring bear down with authority. The gun and round were perfect for the close-range work of spot and stalking and tree stand hunting.

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Nov/Dec 2022

The author with a bear he harvested with his Big Horn Armory Model 89 Spikedriver.

Check out the author interviewing Big Horn Armory on his podcast: ‘Elevate Your Game’ wherever you listen to quality podcasts.

www.bear-hunting.com

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Bear Hunting

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Bear Hunting

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Legendary Bear Hounds: Part 46 Bear pen song of the south Owner, Steve Fielder

by Steve Fielder

@stephen.f.fielder

Our story begins roughly one hundred miles east of St. Louis, Missouri on the rural Marion County, Ill., farm of legendary Plott breeder Everett Weems., Weems is recognized as perhaps the most influential breeder of Plott bear dogs in the history of a breed believed by many to be superior to all others in heart, desire and athleticism to run, catch, fight and tree America’s most formidable and dangerous game, primarily black bears. While each of the recognized coonhound breeds and crossbreds from those breeds are used successfully on bear, it is the Plott dog that was bred specifically for bear hunting and is solitary among seven individual breeds in tracing its ancestry to Germany as opposed to England and France.

My father, Homon Fielder, born in 1920, and Everett Weems were the same age and they began their journeys with the Plott dog at about the same time, the mid-1950’s. Everett in Illinois and Dad in West Virginia. Some twenty years later they would learn that the foundation stock for each of their bear packs came from the same source. I’ve always liked the Weems-bred dogs and my dad and I benefitted greatly from our friendship with Everett over the years. We got our first Weemsbred Plott, NPHA Hall of Fame member CH Bear Pen Fancy as a puppy from Everett in 1973 and the litter from our Bear Pen Blackie, Fancy’s daughter, and Weems’ stud dog NITECH Weems Plott Punie produced some really nice dogs for raccoon and bear hunting. A male from the mating produced two hounds that would figure heavily in the future bear packs of notable bear hunters Ben and Tracey Jones, Evan Workman, Scotty Swiger, Chad Barth, Carl Schotel and others.

I always looked forward to raccoon hunts with Everett when my position as Senior Vice President for the United Kennel Club took me to coonhound events in nearby Flora, Illinois. I hunted with many of his dogs on those trips. It was on a springtime trip to Black and Tan Coonhound Days that I first laid eyes on Singer, an eager eight-monthold pup at the time. We had taken a raccoon hunt on a nearby creek with Everett’s then-current stud dog Stormy and the golden-brindle hound had accounted for a couple of raccoons in trees along the steep-banked creeks that snaked through the hardwood bottoms I had a long day ahead at Charlie Brown Park, the fairground hosting the coonhound event, and we returned to the farm early. Everett wanted to show me his hounds and as we looked them over, I was taken by a beautiful, rich brindle-colored female with seemingly boundless energy that was housed in one of his runs. She was bouncing off the wire like a super-charged pickleball at the Senior Center, raring to be released to do only she knew what. All I knew about her was her pedigree, which contained several hounds with which I was familiar, that she was a beautiful specimen of the breed, and that I wanted her. Her sire Stormy was sired by Weems’ Plott Punie, a hound I mentioned earlier. I asked Everett if he would sell her and he said no, he had plans to finish her out as a coon and bear dog. With that, I drove the twenty miles back to my hotel in Flora to spend a restless night thinking about one of the nicest Plott females I had seen in a long time.

The following day as I was preparing for a long day at the event, Everett knocked on the door of the motorhome and we shared coffee as we relived our hunt of the previous night. In the course of the conversation, he told me he had reconsidered my offer to buy the female pup and if I still wanted her he would sell her to only me. He knew my history, and that of my father, with the Weems-bred dogs and he 44

Bear Hunting

The author with his hound, Singer

knew she would be given a chance. I immediately agreed. In fact, I insisted that we go to his farm and pick her up before he changed his mind. Thus began my life with a hound I named Bear Pen Song of the South because of her eager, melodic voice. I gave her the kennel name Singer and it fit. She would literally sing on the track of a black bear all the days of her life.

I took Singer back home to Michigan and she was soon running raccoons in the big cornfields. She exhibited an abundance of nose as she would strike the trail of a coon but, as young dogs are prone to do, would labor the track, lacking the experience to push the trail out of the corn into a neighboring woodlot where it would tree. I would have to go get her at times, something that didn’t endear me to the dog at that young stage in her life but I did admire her determination. She also developed a habit that frustrated me when she began to tree. She would wait until I was within twenty yards of the tree and she would leave to find another track. She simply didn’t want to be caught and led away from her game so she would go in search of more. At that stage in her life, combined with the fact I was limited to hunting raccoons in southern Michigan, I hadn’t determined if I wanted to permit her to be run on bear or not. My job prohibited me from keeping a pack of bear dogs at the time but my dad and brother were actively hunting bears in the Virginias. I had no need of a bear dog in my then-current circumstance but I knew from past experience, hunting coon dogs on bears when they were young usually made them stick tighter to the tree and that’s exactly what Singer needed.

I sent Singer to my dad in southern West Virginia and he and my brother Randy, eight years my junior, took her right away to the mountain with their Nov/Dec 20220

bear pack. On the first bear she smelled she ran the track for five hours. I had seen but a sample of the endurance and determination on those Michigan raccoon hunts. Her heart and drive were off the chart from the very start and would lead to her stellar reputation as a bear dog but also to her untimely demise.

Through correspondence with professional guide Tom David who operated Summit Outfitters hunting the White Mountain Apache reservation in Arizona, I believed Singer, and a buckskin-colored Plott male from the Weems/Bear Pen breeding effort named Rube, would benefit from a couple of seasons out West. I shipped Singer and Rube to David and he hunted them two fall seasons and the spring season in between before shipping them back to me in Virginia.

While in Arizona, Singer helped to catch more than forty black and color phase bears for David’s clients.

He used the determined Plott as a start dog and she proved to be a challenge at first. At the time, Tom’s nephew Josh David assisted his uncle in maintaining baits and handling the hounds. When a bait was determined to be hit, Tom would release Singer or one of his veteran hounds, perhaps Smokey, a saddleback Plott or Blondie, a buckskin of the same breed, to start the track at the bait. If the track was not fresh enough for Singer to take it from the bait, she would simply go looking for a bear. With 2,600 square miles of territory in the reservation, the White Mountain Apache provid-

ed a challenge for the hunter chasing a roaming hound.

The e-collar proved to be a god send to David in keeping the ambitious bear dog under control.

I arranged to go to Arizona for a week of bear hunting with Tom, simply to see the country and to assist with the handling of the hounds. Of course, the romance of hunting in the Old West and the opportunity to hunt with my own hounds in the process was very attractive to me. The client was a hunter from California that wanted to kill a bear with his muzzleloader. Our five-day hunt yielded two black bears, the first, a seven-foot trophy that challenged the dogs on the ground, nearly putting an end to Singer’s packmate Smokey before being harvested by the guide. The second was a treed bruin that took the hounds out of hearing before treeing on a steep hillside, presenting the shooter the opportunity to make an accurate shot with the .50 caliber smoke pole.

Master trainer, policeman and recreational bear hunter Heath Hyatt of Virginia and I picked Singer and Rube up at the Roanoke, Virginia airport on a rainy November night, returning to his home in Narrows in preparation for a bear hunt with a group of hunters the next day in Randolph County, West Virginia near the Swiss village of Helvetia. Communication with the hunters revealed the group had found the track of a nice bear and wanted Hyatt and I to bring dogs to ensure the bear could be caught. We made the three-and-a-half-hour drive to find the hunters gathered at the track, behind a locked

Singer with a bear taken over him with archery tackle.

www.bear-hunting.com

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gate on private ground. The track appeared, in the three inches of fresh December snow, to be that of a medium-sized bear. The bear was moving up hill and the track was obviously cold having been located early that morning or perhaps the night before.

We were their guests and so Hyatt and I waited for the locals to attempt to start the bear with a Bluetick hound from their pack with no result. Hyatt’s Frosty, a young crossbred male sired by Lance Hutton’s famed Homer, was set down next and appeared to be able to move the track uphill before returning to the hunters. I was next in line and released Singer who left on a hard run uphill, angled to the left, and jumped the bear out of a mountain laurel thicket, all in the matter of a very few minutes. In their excitement to get their hounds into the race and perhaps to kill the bear, the hunters left Hyatt and me listening to our hounds as they gained higher ground and eventually went out of our hearing. We had no idea of the lay of the land once we returned to our truck. You can imagine our surprise when we got back to the rig and found that someone had taken the truck’s keys with them. Perhaps they moved the vehicle and absent-mindedly took the keys.

Whatever the reason, we were out of the race with no wheels. The dogs in the meantime had crossed out and treed the bear. We were able to summon a ride that took us back within hearing distance of the hounds but not in time to reach the tree before the bear was harvested. Singer’s ability to move a cold track quickly to the jump, to run the bear with speed, and to put her game in a tree was certainly on display that day but I doubt the party of hunters, in their haste, took the time to recognize it.

Returning to my brother’s southwest Virginia home, after taking the photo of Singer from an overlook on Highway 16 that appears with this article, I loaded Singer in my dogbox for the long trip home to Michigan. The Virginia bear season would continue through the first week in January and Randy asked me to leave Singer with him to finish the bear season. I took her out of the box and snapped his lead onto her collar. It would be the last time I would see my dog.

The last day of the season found my brother and a party of hunters taking a walk-in hunt with hounds. They had gone to the Mike Harris farm on the east end of Thompson Valley in Tazewell County. This hunt positioned them at the western end of the bowl-shaped, ten-mile-wide valley known as Burkes Garden. The all-terrain vehicles that took them to the top were abandoned as the hunting party, leading hounds, walked in an easterly direction toward the valley.

Singer had been released and from a vantage point near Hudson Rock, the hunters were able to look off the mountain into the headwaters of Wolf Creek that flows through the Garden. Looking from the summit toward a wide expanse of territory, Singer could be seen trailing a track at a walk that took her through a herd of dozen or more deer. A hunter that would later offer my brother a four-figure sum for the dog based on that performance I suppose, seemed incredulous that she didn’t pay any attention whatsoever to the deer. Randy recalls remarking, “She not a deer dog.

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She’s a bear dog.” Ultimately, the track was too cold and the party decided to move west toward the top of the mountain before turning east on a foot path. The dogs struck a bear track on the north face of the mountain, about seventy-five yards from the top, looking over into Thompson Valley.

My brother is a seasoned houndsman, raised by the same master houndsman that taught this writer everything he knows, or should know about bear hunting with hounds.

He realized the bear would be out in front of the dogs when he heard them coming in his direction. He stepped off the path, about six feet to the lower side and true to habit, the bear came down the path. When the dogs came through on the track, Singer was the first dog through. Ultimately, the dogs ran the bear into a hole on the north side in the rocky terrain, possibly my brother reasoned, into the same hole she came out of before the dogs struck her trail. When my brother reached the scene of the mayhem, the hounds were coming out of the hole baying, gunshots were being fired and the bear was deceased. When all the dogs had been accounted for, my brother’s fears were confirmed. Singer had not survived. Being the first dog into the hole, the remaining hounds packed in tight behind her giving her no escape route. With the aid of a flashlight and a forked stick, Randy crawled into the hole and was able to snare the hound’s collar and pull her close enough to remove her collars. Finding an ample supply of rocks nearby to suit the need, he entombed the great hound where she fought her last battle with Ursus Americanus to the death.

Her passing was a great loss to our family as can be well imagined. Tom David, for whom Singer hunted three seasons in Arizona, petitioned the National Plott Hound Association to nominate her for the association’s Hall of Fame and she was inducted as the Deceased Big Game Female in 2007. We will never forget the Song of the South whose melody will forever live in our hearts.

Singer with Tom David beside a nice chocolate boar.

Nov/Dec 2022

The author and friend Hyatt with a bear they took with Singer.

The author, Steve Fielder with Singer at Beartown Mountain.

www.bear-hunting.com

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Molasses Smoked Bear Shanks

by Timothy Fowler

@timothydfowler

Maximum value from animals taken is a concept I try to honor. When we tag an animal, that animal died at our hand and will feed us and our families. It feels like I owe the animal the promise to make the most of it. Maximum value is my goal. I hope that shows in these recipes. For me, maximum value means curing the shanks ingredients rather than grinding them. The ham and confit from the animal are ‘worth more’ to me in the kitchen. It gives me more options and elevates the game on the table.

Autumn and winter see baked beans and bean soup on our menus regularly. We often use cured game or a variety of sausages to enhance soups and casseroles. Ham is a great example of an addition to these recipes. Boned bear shanks often end up in the to-grind-for-burger pile––there’s

nothing wrong with this––but molasses-cured and hotsmoked bear ham made from shanks kick the value proposition up several notches.

It is the next level is using harvested game. Firstly, commit to curing some of your bear. Wet brined bear shanks are a great place to start. Make your brine. Leave the shanks submerged in the brine for a week in the fridge. Then drain, rinse with cold water and air-dry before hot smoking them to an internal temperature of 165°F. Then cool, vacuum pack and freeze. You’ll have valuable and tasty additions to your winter menus that will satisfy your hunger and ease the stress on your food budget. In this month’s Fleshing It Out column I encourage readers to be themselves. This is how I express myself in the kitchen. I hope you like it.

THE BRINE

Method

Equipment •

2 gallon / 8-litre plastic food safe and non-reactive container Refrigerator Gram scale Mixing spoon

• • •

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Ingredients • • • • •

350 g Kosher salt 42 Pink salt / Sodium Nitrite or Instacure 225 grams sugar 100 grams Black Strap Molasses 4 quarts (4 litres) water

8.

9.

Weigh salts and sugar, add to a 6-quart saucepan, and boil. Stir well to dissolve salts, molasses and sugar in water.

Cool brine to room temperature.

Add to the non-reactive container.

Place brine in the fridge.

When brine is cold, add shank meat.

Stir daily for seven days to move the shanks around in the brine ensuring all shanks are exposed to the brine.

On The evening of the seventh day, drain the shanks, rinse in cold water and set on a rack over a baking sheet. Set in the fridge overnight. The shanks will develop a ‘pellicle’ that sticky surface that absorbs smoke more effectively.

The next morning, remove the shanks from the fridge for an hour to come up to room temperature while you fire up your smoker to 225 F. Smoke the cured hocks until the internal temperature is at least 165 F. (I did this and left the hocks to smoke a bit more until they were mahogany colored.)

You might be surprised by the deliciousness of smoked wet-cured molasses bear shanks. Check out the bark on that these beautiful shanks.

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Nov/Dec 2022

Black Bear Baked Beans Equipment • • • • • • • •

A stainless steel or glass bowl large enough to hold a pound of beans covered with water.

Wooden spoon Paring knife Chef’s knife Cutting board 6-quart saucepan Cup measures Oven

Ingredients • • • • • • •

Soak one pound (454 grams) of white kidney beans, Tarbais or Navy beans (rinse in cold water and cover to soak overnight) One pound of diced cured and smoked bear shanks One large white onion diced finely 1/4 cup of Molasses 1/2 cup ketchup 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce 1+ tablespoon of Hot sauce (Optional-suit yourself)

• • •

Black Pepper 1 tablespoon dry mustard Salt (Be cautious adding salt. While beans can take a lot of salt, the ham will add significantly to the salt.)

Method 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Rinse beans under cold running water to wash. Pick and remove any funny-looking beans.

Cover in cold water and in a bowl with room for the beans to triple in size when they hydrate.

Let beans sit in water overnight.

In the morning drain the beans, place them in a saucepan large enough to accommodate, add fresh water and bring to a boil.

Maintain a rolling boil for 10 minutes, drain, and cover in cold water. (This is a lesson I learned in cooking school.)

Return the beans to the pot, add whole bear shanks and return to a boil, then simmer until the beans are well-cooked I like to see some of the beans starting to burst.

Remove the shanks from the pot and remove the ham

The author likes to top the baked beans with white cheddar for added flavor.

Find an additional recipe from Tim on page 73!

www.bear-hunting.com

Bear Hunting 49

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Bear Hunting

Nov/Dec 2022

NCBHA Member and Fellow Bear Hunters, Its that time again, bear hunting! Our Mountain BMU season opened several weeks ago, and despite a few weather-related challenges, it started with great results. We have already received a lot of photos of nice bears, and we are not even mid-way into the season. The early indications are suggesting the Mountain season will be a repeat of three years ago, where wide regions produced abundant soft and hard mass. The early hunter feedback has provided some interesting variability, for example those hunting in the southwestern part of the Mountain BMU adjacent to South Carolina and Georgia are seeing less hard mast on average, however when hunters found mast it was rich pockets of dense mast production and bears were feeding there. The Smokies regularly have regions produced abundant mass and other smaller areas produced disappointing levels of natural foods and hard mast. Further north, in the Mountain BMU, the mast intensified and but was less concentrated and more widely abundant. One interesting observation from hunters throughout the BMU, the bears are running long hard races.

The Piedmont BMU (central) bear season opened along the eastern edge on Oct 15th (Franklin, Harnett, Hoke, Johnston, Moore, Richmond, Scotland, Vance, Wake, and Warren counties); and the western edge will open on November 12th and 19th this western area will be still hunting only and despite the NCWRC focus to maintain “0” growth in the Piedmont, there’s plenty of bears being seen in creek bottoms and dense growth and white oak ridges. (Hunting bears with dogs is prohibited in the following counties or parts of counties: Alamance south of I-85, Anson west of N.C. Hwy 742, Cabarrus, Chatham, Davie, Davidson, Forsyth, Gaston, Guilford, Lee, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Montgomery, Orange south of I-85, Randolph, Rockingham, Rowan, Stanly, Union, and Wake south of N.C. Hwy 98).

The Coastal BMU (eastern) bear season in Zones 1, 2 and 3 opens on November 12th (this includes Dare, Hyde, Tyrrell, Camden*, Chowan*, Currituck, Gates, Pasquotank*, Perquimans, Beaufort, Bertie, Craven, Hertford, Jones, Martin, Washington; * Per local law, bear season in these counties opens on Nov. 11.); Zone 4 opens on November 19th in Edgecombe, Greene, Halifax, Lenoir, Nash, Northampton, Pitt, Wayne, Wilson counties; and Zone 5 will open on November 14th in Bladen, Brunswick, Carteret, Columbus, Cumberland, Duplin, New Hanover, Onslow, Pamlico*, Pender, Robeson, and Sampson counties. The Coastal BMU allows hunting bears with the use of dogs is legal during open bear seasons, but restrictions may apply on game lands. (*Pamlico - use of dogs for hunting bears prohibited by the county). Coastal bear reports point out numerous bears being seen through the region and farms. Like the mountains, we’ve received a lot of photos of big bears, and the regional population is looking strong. So, if past years trends are any indication, our eastern hunters could be in for a bountiful hunting seasons. We will update the www.bear-hunting.com

season results in our next Bear Hunter Magazine edition.

Now for a little house cleaning. If you remember back in June, we reported on HOUSE BILL 986 that was introduced for RESTRICTING THE TRANSPORTATION OF DOGS. The primary Sponsor: Rep Grier Martin (DEM) from Raleigh; other Sponsors were: Representatives Harrison (Guilford), Logan (Mecklenburg), Nasif Majeed (Mecklenburg) and, Rep Raymond Smith (Sampson). Remember these number when you cast votes on November 8th. The Bill prohibited an operator of a pick-up truck or vehicle having an open bed or open cargo cannot transport a dog or dogs in the bed or cargo area of that vehicle unless: the dog is under the physical control of a person other than the vehicle operator; “humanely secured” in a cage or other container; or “humanely restrained” by a “harness manufactured for the purpose of restraining animals”. Second, the Bill implies that dog boxes and collars must be “manufactured” for the purpose of “humanely” restraining or securing dogs. What happened to the days that hunters built their own dog boxes? UPDATE: The Bill ended up in the Rules Committee. On the surface the Bill might seem plausible, however twice the Bill uses the phrase “Humanely”, and that was a red flag. The use of humanely secured and humanely restrained are ambiguous and undefined and would be an open-ended nightmare in terms of enforcement.

HOUSE BILL 1072 this Bill was in response to the NCWRC Rule as adopted on February 24, 2022, and approved by the Rules Review Commission on May 19, 2022, was design to disapprove of the NCWRC Rule 9 15A NCAC 10D .0106 (Designated Bear Management Areas). The bill was refereed to the House Rules Committee and House Operations and has not moved forward.

In closing, North Carolina is voting on November 8th, if your SECOND AMENDMENT Rights are important to you might want to do some research. The National Rifle Association has issued their Report Card on the North Carolina candidates. The following candidates were endorsed or found favorably by the NRA as advocates for Second Amendment Rights: Ted Budd (US Senate), In the US House of Representatives races the NRA reported: Sandy Smith (1st Congressional District), Christine Villaverde (2th Congressional District), Greg Murphy (3rd Congressional District), Courtney Geels (4th Congressional District), Virginia Foxx (5th Congressional District), Christian Castelli (6th Congressional District), David Rouzer (7th Congressional District), Dan Bishop (8th Congressional District), Richard Hudson (9th Congressional District), Patrick McHenry (10th Congressional District), Chuck Edwards (11th Congressional District), Tyler Lee (12th Congressional District), Bo Hines (13th Congressional District), and Pat Harrigan (14th Congressional District).

We invite you to join the only statewide association dedicated to bear hunting and hunting with dogs. Membership applications and renewals should be sent to: NCBHA Member Services, 130 Holly Mt Church Road, Mt. Gilead, NC 27306.

Be safe!

Bear Hunting 51

Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association Inc. Nov/Dec 2022

SAVE THE DATE The Southeast Town Hall Meeting will be held on Jan. 14th 2023 at the Berlin Conservation Club, W898 Whiteridge Rd, Berlin, WI The Northwest Town Hall Meeting will be held on Saturday April 29th 2023 at the Browtine, 1361 100th St., Amery 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, silent auctions, and a good place to get to know your WBHA Board of Directors and Officers. Doors open at 1:00 PM WBHA DEADLINES BIG BEAR RECOGNITION- December 1st Entries must be a WBHS member prior to September 1st.

WBHA BOARD OF DIRECTORS NOMINATIONS- November 1st LANDOWNER APPRECIATION- November 1st YEARBOOK- January 1st ADVERTISING- January 1st SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS- March 1st

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Bear Hunting

To ensure the quality of our publications, all entries to the WBHA whether it be photos or text must be sent as electronic files. HArd copy text or photos will not be accepted. Photos must be a .JPEG file and articles, stories, and applications must be in a WORD document. Documents and photos should be emailed not texted.

The quality of a photo that has been texted at any time has ben reduced to a view quality photo and cannot be reproduced and published.

FIND US ON FACEBOOK!

Mail to: WBHA, 594 Rural St, Berlin, WI 54923 Call John Trochinski 920-229-0365 or email at bigjohntro@gmail.com Nov/Dec 2022

Michigan’s next two-year bear hunting regulation cycle is expected to feature few changes to current harvest quotas following a “very good” Michigan Bear Forum with most stakeholders in agreement.

“I’ve been involved in the Bear Forum an awful lot of years and I have not seen a less contentions Bear Forum, ever,” said Mike Thorman, legislative liaison for hound hunting groups and forum member.

“It was a very good Bear Forum,” he said.

Michigan Department of Natural Resources bear specialist Cody Norton said officials expect to recommend to the Natural Resources Commission next spring to maintain current quotas in all bear management units with the exception of Baldwin, Carney and Gladwin, though some BMUS likely will see fewer available tags because of an increase in the success rate in recent years.

The DNR will call for a 10% increase in the harvest for the Lower Peninsula’s Baldwin BMU for a total of 185 bears, and plan to increase the license quota there by 55 to make it happen. In the neighboring Gladwin BMU, the DNR plans to request two additional bears in the 2023-24 harvest for a total of 26, utilizing a license reduction of 20 to 100.

In the Lower Peninsula’s Red Oak BMU, the harvest quota would remain the same by reducing available licenses by 85 to 685, something the MBHA and other hunting groups preferred.

In the Upper Peninsula, the plan is to maintain current harvest quotas for all BMUs except the Carney BMU, where the DNR wants to increase the desired harvest by 11 bears to 116 with no changes to the 550 license quota.

DNR officials also offered several options to change the season structure in both peninsulas as a means to reduce hunter conflicts, but “the majority of the forum was not supportive of changing the season structure in the northern Lower or the UP,” Norton said, adding that he likely will not recommend a change because of the feedback.

Other potential regulation changes centered on private land bait barrels, with DNR officials exploring a request to allow both shaker style barrels for grains or corn in places with deer bait restrictions, as well as barrels with larger openings for easier access to confectionary products or other baits deer won’t pursue. To accommodate both, the DNR is considering barrel hole sizes of 1-inch or less, as is currently allowed, as well as 22-inches or larger.

The forum, held in August, also featured a presentation from DNR wildlife outreach coordinator Rachel Leightner on the department’s efforts to help minimize bear conflicts and nuisance complaints through a variety of public communications, from statewide press releases, social media posts, and targeted emails, to interviews with television, radio and newspaper outlets across the state.

The work, which is funded in part by the MBHA, is aimed at educating Michiganders on living with bears, and actions they can take to coexist without conflicts.

“We do quite a bit in terms of diversity of communications,” Leightner said. “Most of our connections are targeted to areas where bears are in northern Michigan and where there’s urban centers where bear encounters are www.bear-hunting.com

reported every year.”

Many of the messages are focused to Grand Traverse County, Gaylord and Cadillac, she said.

“We try to keep the messaging in tune with the season with bears,” Leightner said.

She explained at the Bear Forum that many aspects of the work are paid for in part or entirely with funds raised by the MBHA through Bear Management Cooperator Patch sales. The MBHA partnered with the DNR in 2008 to take over the bear patch program and has since generated thousands in annual sales for bear outreach, education and research.

More recent DNR purchases with the patch funds include a $1,000 Facebook ad buy this year, as well as printing costs for brochures, postcards, posters, and social media campaigns. The paid Facebook advertisement that reminded folks to take down birdfeeders reached 109,152, leaving 207,746 impressions that resulted in 699 engagements. Another in June about camping in bear country reached 262,848, leaving 406,168 impressions and generating 1,844 engagements.

Leightner also noted the MBHA spent $6,000 on supplies for several bear live traps currently under construction for the DNR’s UP operations.

“In the future, we’re planning on making some bear education videos,” as well, she said.

The outreach and feedback the MBHA offered at the Bear Forum are some of the numerous ways the organization is coordinating and cooperating with officials to protect Michigan black bears and the state’s proud hunting traditions.

That work also includes face time with political leaders to educate them on important issues involving Michigan hunters and conservation.

In September, MBHA directors and members hosted Republican gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon to share the passion of bear hunting and weigh in on outdoor policies she could confront if elected.

Dixon said that while she was a little disappointed the group didn’t tree a bear, she learned a lot about hunting she didn’t understand before, and how it plays a central role in the lives of many Michiganders.

“It wasn’t what I expected. I didn’t understand the technology behind it,” Dixon said. “I had no idea there’s that much technology involved and how it’s a significant part of their lifestyle.”

Dixon said she was impressed to learn that bear hunters are selective to avoid harvesting sows with cubs or the cubs themselves when hound hunting.

“I just thought it was interesting, … because I think a lot of people think they’re going out willy-nilly shooting,” said Dixon, who attended the outing with her campaign manager. “We both learned so much about the care that’s taken with bears in the state, and it’s impressive.”

“That was valuable to me because it’s something I’m not living every day,” Dixon said.

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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Brandt Lyman Wyoming Over Bait w/ Crossbow 20 8/16” - Green 425 lbs

Melanie Taylor Maine Aug 2022 DIY with Snare

Paul Bishop New Hampshire Fall 2020 Dry - 20 14/16” Dressed: 504.4lbs

Bob Dykeman BC, Canada Fall 2022 Spot & Stalk

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Joseph Fountaine Manitoba, Canada Fall 2022 First Black Bear!

All Terrain Bear Hunts

Rod Coleman Manitoba, Canada Spring 2022 534 lbs

Tristan Mills Oklahoma Fall 2022 First Black Bear!

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The Strategic Bear Hunter

The Pattern

by Bernie Barringer

This pattern is so predicable it’s downright fascinating how bears will follow this pattern with few exceptions.

It has been my good fortune to be able to hunt all over North America. I’ve hunted with many outfitters and learned a lot from most of them. But I have learned the most about baiting black bears from my own experience of baiting them in several states and in Ontario.

Some of the hunts I have undertaken on my own, in a state far from home where I have no prior experience, have added the most knowledge to my storehouse of bear hunting wisdom. My personality, sad to say, requires me to learn the most from making mistakes (I prefer to call it a “process of elimination” to ease the pain). Either way, I can tell you that lessons learned the hard way are lessons learned well.

I noticed a pattern years ago while bringing bears to bait in Minnesota, but didn’t really think much about it. You see, we start baiting bears about two weeks prior to the season opener, so it didn’t really matter to me when the bears visited the baits when the season wasn’t even open yet. But when I began to travel in order to bear hunt, it took on a new meaning and I sat up and took notice. I was under a time schedule, usually a week to ten days, so every nugget of information I gathered meant a lot.

The advent of scouting cameras that take digital photos opened up a whole new world of knowledge and intelligence to me, and I seriously doubt if I would have ever figured this out without game cameras that allow you to pull a card and look at the photos after each check of the baits.

And these days, when cell service can be relied upon, the cameras will immediately send you the photos they take.

This pattern is so predictable, it’s downright fascinating how bears from Idaho to Maine and states in between will follow this pattern with few exceptions: once a bear finds your bait, that bear will lie up nearby, usually in a cool, damp area or in the closest source of water. He’ll then start to visit the bait every time his stomach urges him, usually about every 6-8 hours—doesn’t matter the time of the day. If the bait site is located in an area where the bear has security cover and water nearby, along with a sense of comfort and security at the site itself, it’s like clockwork.

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This will go on for four to eight visits over 3048 hours, assuming the bait supply holds out and he doesn’t get spooked off the bait during this time. The second phase of the pattern takes place as the bear migrates into a low-light visit sequence. Black bears are crepuscular animals, which is just a scientific word to describe that they most actively feed during the early and late hours of daylight. The bear will do one of three things at this time: 1. He’ll be there feeding both mornings and evenings in the first and last 30 minutes of daylight.

2. He’ll come in during the later part of the afternoon and feed until after dark, often staying for several hour.

3. He’ll just flat go nocturnal.

With any of these three scenarios, your chances of killing that bear are very high if you do everything right. While hunting mornings can have some merit when there are multiple bears coming and going at a bait site, it’s usually counterproductive for targeting an individual bear. I could do an entire magazine article on that topic alone, but for the purposes of hunting this one bear, let’s condense.

If you spook that bear off the bait during this early time period, your chances of shooting him just went way down. It’s way too risky to try to get into a stand before daylight or even right at daylight—it’s just not worth it.

Kill him in the afternoon. The bears that settle into an afternoon and evening pattern are the most killable. But the bears that went nocturnal on you are not lost. I have found that if my bait site location offers them everything they need, most importantly a feeling of safety, security, and a high comfort level, even these nocturnal bears will work themselves into a daylight pattern. Be consistent with your visits, keep quality food there, and wait them out. I can think of a dozen or more times when I had a bear that wouldn’t come to the bait until well after dark that gradually migrated into a legal shooting light pattern over 3-5 days because the bait was right on location and I didn’t screw it up by changing up lures, baits, or baiting patterns. Consistency breeds comfort and I would never, ever underestimate the value of a bear’s ability to have a level of comfort and safety at the site.

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Even the biggest, most cautious mature male bear can be brought to a bait during legal shooting hours if you pay close attention to this common feeding pattern.

So to sum this up, there are three windows of opportunity to increase your odds of turning that bear into a bear rug. The first one is right when you discover that he is hitting the bait. He’ll be back every 6-8 hours, so get in a stand now. “Hang and hunt” is what I call it. When I’m on a road trip far from home, I love this opportunity and I have learned to act immediately when I discover this first moment. If you already have your stand up, you’re one step closer to success.

The second window of opportunity in the pattern is when the bear starts hitting the bait at a predictable time each day, usually the last couple hours of daylight.

Your odds are very high at this point, but they go down quickly with every time you sit in the stand. This bear is actively patterning you. He associates your scent and activity with the availability of food, and he’s really tuned into what is going on at the site, especially with your activities.

All of these strategies depend on getting good scouting camera intel, but the last is most critical. The third window of opportunity requires more patience and a willingness to act quickly. I’ll give you an example. I had a mature male bear that went right into a nocturnal pattern.

I am sure he had played the game in the past and he just started coming in about two hours after dark. I walked into the bait every other day at noon, added bait if needed, gave it a fresh spray of Northwoods Bear Products, and switched the card out of the camera. Over four days, he started showing at 10:30 at night, about 20-40 minutes earlier each night. On the fourth day he hit the bait at 8:30, only 20 minutes after the end of legal shooting light. On the sixth day I once again pulled the card and saw that he came right at the end of legal shooting light.

I went home and changed clothes, grabbed my gear, and www.bear-hunting.com

headed out to the stand. I killed that bear at 8:00 that evening, with less than 10 minutes of daylight remaining.

I was patient and consistent in my strategy and, most importantly, I created a bait site environment where that bear felt a high degree of security. So the next time you are baiting bears and you have a new bear show up on a bait, pay attention to this pattern and see if it doesn’t play itself out on your hunts. Strike at the right time and you’ll have a success story to tell.

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Western Bear Hunting with Brian Strickland @backcountrybrian With the fall bear season quickly wrapping up, it’s time to embrace the off-season and start making plans for next spring. Hopefully, it was a good season overall and you experienced lots of encounters. If not, “there’s always next spring” as I have had to say many times before because western bear hunting is tough. Bears are unlike any other big game animal out west, and there are often steep learning curves, missed op-portunities, and a little bad luck when it’s time to seal the deal.

That said, when success is finally achieved you want to make the best of it by captur-ing the moment with quality photos that tell your story. With today’s digital equipment literally in our pockets every day, it’s pretty easy if you’re willing to take the time and effort. I’m certainly a little biased on this topic after nearly 25 years of telling stories for various hunting and fishing publications.

Out of all the big game animals we hunt, bears are arguable the hardest to capture with a trophy photo. They

Strike a Pose Capture the moment with quality photos that tell your story!

The author likes to take photos that tell a story.

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seem to shrink the moment they hit the ground, and without horns, they can all look the same. From my experience, the first mistake hunters often make when taking trophy photos is rushing through the process. Regardless of whether you hunt with a bow or rifle, these hunts are rarely easy and chances are you’ve worked extremely hard for that trophy.

It’s always exciting when you first walk upon your trophy, and sometimes in that excitement, we forget about this step in the experi-ence and only snap a few quick photos. Granted, it can be time-consuming getting the right shot, but you’ll appreciate the experience more when you have the photos to look back on. I often spend at least an hour taking trophy photos, and sometimes I need more time than that to capture the handful of images I’m looking for.

That being said, taking good photos is more than just ensuring the camera is focused. Be mindful of where you’re shooting and consider utilizing a more neutral background to get the best results with your trophy. Deep blue skies add “pop” to a photo so finding a location with a rise in elevation so you can grab some ski is a great location.

Ideally, think about the background contrast when picking the right spot. A busy background detracts from the image so try to separate your subject with the idea of directing the attention to the subject, not away from it.

Camera position is also important to ensure the viewers have a proper perspective of your trophy. Make sure the camera is at least level with the animal’s head or slightly lower. Plus, a lower camera angle can make the bear look larger and the hunter small-er, which is really what your wanting. Your subject is ultimately the bear.

Composing the shot is also critical. Don’t be afraid to take photos from several differ-ent angles. Obviously removing unsightly blood and the exposed tongue is important in this process, but just as important is how the animal is set up. You want to make the bear look as natural as possible with the front paws exposed and body propped up-right. If you have too, us a large rock or log behind his shoulder to help prop him up. Also, make sure the animal’s eyes are open, and if that’s not possible consider using glass or acrylic eyes that taxidermists use to achieve a natural look. This will often

give the trophy a more alive look and will add to the overall photo.

The biggest issue for many hunters is having even lighting. If it’s cloudy, great, you can take photos all day, but generally speaking, the sun is overhead after a morning hunt, which casts shadows on your subject, or the light is fading in the evening. When possi-ble try to take photos either early or late in the day to achieve more even lighting and don’t be afraid to use a fill flash. If it’s dark, use the headlights of a vehicle to cast good light on your subject in conjunction with the flash, and consider moving the vehi-cle to different angles and depths to achieve the look you want. Although most of the time you want the available light pointing at your subject’s face, take some photos with your subject backlit as well. Backlighting is often overlooked, but when used with a flash a backlit subject can look exceptionally well.

Also, don’t be afraid to see what others are doing to help you in your photographic efforts. All good photographers have a level of uniqueness, and although uniqueness has a lot to do with having a natural photographic eye, it can also be learned. I feel one of the best ways to develop a good photographic eye is to see what others are doing. Flip through magazines and visit websites to see the style of images you prefer.

I have even created an image file on my smartphone that I can use to help me in the field when taking photos.

Lastly, remember that you’re telling a story, not just taking a photo of your trophy. There’s more to a hunt than just the trophy at the end, and with today’s digital equip-ment you don’t have to be shy with the shutter. Take photos of the whole experience and be mindful that a good story has both a beginning and ending, as well as elements of conflict in the middle.

Maybe it’s man versus wild, man versus man or man versus the elements; regardless, there’s always a photographic story if you’re willing to take the time and effort to develop it. In the end, you will find just as much satisfaction in documenting your hunt digitally as you did punching your tag.

The author took this bear with traditional tackle. Notice that the bear is cleaned up looks pristine for the photo.

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ry

Great Hunts

Bruin

Destinations

North Carolina - Southern Bruins

by Al Raychard

The story of black bears in North Carolina is pretty much the same as it is everywhere else. Considered abundant during the early decades of settlement, the bear population remained strong into the 19th century. By then, expanded settlement and the clearing of more land for agriculture along with uncontrolled market hunting started to take its toll. In 1925, blight started killing off American chestnut trees, an important food source. Just before the onset of World War II chestnuts were quickly disappearing within the state and were pretty much gone by the early 1950s. By then, the black bear had been extirpated along the outer Coastal Plain, Piedmont regions, and area covering roughly two-thirds of the state. The few bears that remained held on in scattered areas of the Tidewater Region, such as the Great Dismal Swamp and areas of the Inner Coastal Region, but primarily in the Blue Ridge and Appalachian Mountains in the West.

In 1927, the first statewide hunting season was established and things slowly started to change.

The season ran from October 15 to January 1 but had no daily seasonal limit. In the 1940s the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission (NCWRC) was established and put in place regulations that protected females with cubs starting in 1950 and cubs less than 50 pounds in 1952. The current statewide one bear per season limit was put in place in 1971 and hunting bears over bait was prohibited starting in 1986, although exceptions have been made since then.

Other major milestones also helped bears in the Tar Heel State. In 1926, Great Smokey Mountain National Park covering nearly 300,000 acres in North Carolina was established and became, for all practical purposes, the first bear sanctuary in the state. Four national forests covering more than one million acres were also created in the 1940s. Although the national forests could be hunted they were largely off limits to large-scale development, creating more space for bears.

Another major initiative commenced in 1971.

That year the NCWRC established 28 black bear sanctuaries covering nearly 800,000 acres for the specific goal of protecting core habitat areas for breeding females and where hunting bears was prohibited, although hunting has been allowed in the Daniel Boone and Mt. Mitchell sanctuaries with special permits since 2006 and 2009, respectively. Both areas are within the Pisgah National Forest.

Today the protected acreage within North Carolina’s Black Bear Sanctuary System has been reduced to about 500,000 acres. But along with established hunting seasons, a bag limit, the protection for sows and cubs, and other regulations now on the books, black bear numbers and range have prospered. Estimates put the current population in the neighborhood of 20,000 and bears can be found in over 60-percent 60

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of the state’s landmass. In some regions, bear numbers are growing by 5 to 6-percent annually and are now considered common if not abundant in the mountain and coastal regions, and increasingly common in the Piedmont.

By any means or measure, North Carolina now offers some of the finest black bear hunting in the country and certainly in the East. The statewide harvest has exceeded 2,000 every year since 2007 and 2,500 since 2011. In 2015, the harvest exceeded 3,000 for the first time and set a new record high of 3,748 in 2020. The harvest in 2021 was slightly lower at 3,659, the second highest on record and still up there among other top eastern bear hunting states.

This is particularly true in the coastal zone. There are an estimated two to four bears per square mile in parts of northeast North Carolina, in particular the Albemarle-Pemlico Peninsula, which is home to one of the highest bear densities in the world. During the 2021 hunting season, six of the top ten total bear harvests in the state came from this region. Bladen County in the southeast (but also near the coast) was also among the top ten.

The region also produces some of the largest bears in the country. Between 1969 and 2020, over 1,285 bears tipped the scales in excess of 500 pounds: 337 over 600 pounds, 30 over 700 pounds, and one at 880 pounds, the current world record in terms of weight. In just about every top coastal-plain bear producing county, bears in the 400 pounds class are common. The reason is practically every acre of the coastal region that can be cultivated is planted with corn, soy beans, oats, peanuts, and other high protein foods that bears feast on. These typically border woodlands, swamps, and coastal marshes. With such a smorgasbord and abundance of foods and nearby wild areas in which to take refuge, North Carolina’s coastal bears have the best of all worlds. Another benefit is that not all bears in the region hibernate, or if they do it is for shorter durations than areas in the north. As a result, the state’s coastal bears are not only blessed with prime escape habitat and lots of food, but a longer season to take advantage of it and grow to big sizes.

Bear hunting opportunities elsewhere in the state can also be considered excellent, especially in the western mountain district. During the 2021 season, two of the overall top bear producing counties were in the west and about 38-percent of the annual harvest was taken there. I would expect the overall total bear take to increase considering three previously closed bear sanctuaries covering some 92,000 acres will be open to bear hunting this year—they include the Standing River, Panthertown-Bonas Defeat, and Pisgah sanctuaries.

Although North Carolina’s western region produces fewer big bears in terms of weight, the region offers the largest public lands in the state, much of it prime bear range.

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North Carolina

Estimated Black Bear Population: 20,000 +/Annual Limit: One bear either sex, sows with cubs and cubs less than 50 pounds may not be killed Spring Season: No Fall Season/Dates: Yes. Varies by region and county. Mountain Unit October 17-November 19 and December 12-January 2; Piedmont Unit Starting October 15, November 12, or November 19.

All end January 2. Coastal Units November 12-November 27 and December 10-25, November 12-November 20 and December 10-25, November 19-December 18, and November 14-January 2* Baiting Allowed: Yes, in some counties with restrictions* Hounds Allowed: Yes, with restrictions* Sunday Hunting Allowed: Yes, with restrictions and limitations* Legal Weapons: All centerfire calibers except in some counties*, vertical bows with minimum 40 pound draw, crossbows with minimum 100 pound draw, muzzleloaders, shotguns, and handguns* License Fees/Availability: Resident/Non-resident Hunting $25/$100, Resident/Non-resident Big Game $14/$100, Resident/Non-resident Black Bear Management E-Stamp $11/$11, Resident/Non-resident Bear Hunting License $0/239. Non-residents must also purchase a hunting license, big-game license, and Bear Management E-Stamp. Reciprocal fees vary for residents of Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Licenses are available at vendors statewide by telephoning 1-(888) 248-6834 and online at www.ncwildlife.org.

CONTACTS: North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, 1-(919) 707-0010 and www.ncwildlife.org.

No official outfitter/guide is available in North Carolina, but many are listed and advertised online.

Overview

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Fleshing it Out with Timothy Fowler

You Do You! @timothydfowler

Be yourself, everyone else is taken.

“Be yourself! Everyone else is taken,” said the sign in front of the shop where I get my oil changed in my pick-up truck. In some ways this is a ridiculously tent. William, the two-year-old, announced at 5:30 a.m. simple statement, in other ways it’s profound. It’s sim- the following morning, “Outside.” Josh dressed William ple because it’s obvious that you can only be yourself. and headed out for an early morning drive to check for But it’s also profound––in a life-changing way-––you game and let mama and William’s older sister sleep a are free to be yourself: who you are, how you roll, and few more hours. Two hours later, he was home with a your life goals. grouse and a story of how he passed on a white-tailed

deer because he wasn’t certain he would be able to Let Me Explain simultaneously pack William in and the deer out of the Last week I was hunting with my good buddy, bush. He passed on the shot. The bear Josh took that Peter, in the boreal forest of Alberta. For background, afternoon was lying down and eating clover that was up my freezer was full, in fact three freezers were full. to your knees. That bear didn’t travel a bow shot from This means, in some ways, it was kind of sad (and where he was hit with a hand loaded 162-grain Hornady at the same time it was straight-up glorious) for an SST from a 7mm Model 700. It took two hours to skin the Alberta-based hunter with two mule deer tags, three bear, leaving thick white fat covering the legs and loins Whitetail tags, an elk tag, and two bear tags left from to cool in the trees before loading the quarters and hide the spring hunt. And all of this was before the genin the sled. We dragged that sled load of game across tleman’s agreement in place to share a bull moose if the muskeg back to the truck. Not even 15 minutes later, one of our crew of four was successful. Let’s just say Josh spotted a deer 500 yards down a powerline rightthere was not a lot of pressure on me to punch these of-way chocked full of knee-high clovers. I waited while tags. We took a couple of grouse and a hare while he stocked. There was a shot and then a second shot. In scouting for deer and bears. My youngest son was the space of three hours, Josh tagged the perfect bear coming for the weekend with his young family. As it for his needs, a mature doe, and her fawn. turned out, his freezer was empty. Josh was clear with “Uncle Pete says antlers are tough no matter his hunting goals, “I want a good, fat black bear for how long you cook them,” said Josh as we loaded the lard, ham, confit for cassoulet, and some charcuterie. two BBQ-perfect prime Whitetail in the truck alongside If we can find one, I’d like a tender Whitetail for the an already chilled bear. Josh still had three deer tags, freezer. And if I get a grouse or two and maybe a an elk tag, a second bear tag, and a moose tag left. rabbit, that would be a bonus. And I want a good And it was just opening day. Many of the Bear Hunting bear hide for the tent.” He was able to concisely Magazine readers would’ve passed on this bear, holding articulate his own hunting goals for the season and out for a bigger bear and maybe the same thing for the wasn’t fussed about what other people’s goals were. deer, but these animals were exactly what Josh wanted.

I’ve seen monster bears in Bear Hunting He was doing Josh.

Magazine and wondered if I would ever kill a beast like the ones featured here (I have killed 12+ bears, Some beautiful bear a couple have been decent sizes). I’ve seen Clay meat ready for some Newcomb’s Instagram posts about the pinnacle of of the author’s creative recipes. hardcore bear hunting: a blind dug into the ground covered in logs. He intends to take a bear with traditional archery gear including an arrow with a stone point one day. I cannot imagine a more difficult hunt.

And I cannot imagine Newcomb setting the bear hunt bar higher. Clay Newcomb is doing Newcomb. And, while I admire Clay’s efforts and process, it is just not me. I want a good bear for baked beans, soup, charcuterie, and bacon. And I took one in the spring— see the molasses cure and bean recipe in this BHM edition.

Friday evening, Josh and his family arrived at the campsite adjacent to mine and set up their 62

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The author’s son with a fall bear he took in Alberta.

At home, Josh butchered and packaged two deer with the help of his patient wife. The bear fat was rendered and the four legs were stacked in the fridge for a couple of days before his dad (me) could help with the curing and smoking. He achieved his hunting goals.

The cured and smoked ham shanks are tasty and moist and will make a perfect addition to a future French cassoulet, as will the bear confit. The quick-cured, spicy Tasso ham he finished on his stick smoker will make a tremendous addition to jambalaya and anything else he wants to add a hammy kick to.

We should all be doing ourselves. Do take inspiration from those top-tier hunters that lead the way, but don’t feel you have to make excuses for being you and doing you. Just be yourself out there in the wilderness!

Everyone else is taken. www.bear-hunting.com

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Sacred Pursuit with TL Jones

Bear Dog for Sale @TLJonesHVP

I’ve been fortunate enough in life to never have to buy a bear dog. I was blessed to be born into a family that raised its own stock of Plotts since the mid-1960s and I’ve never personally needed to buy one from the outside. However, I’ve seen plenty of them bought and sold over the years. In fact, I have a great deal of sympathy for someone who’s just getting started into hound hunting. Finding a solid bear dog that’s actually for sale is somewhat rare. In this article, I’m going to offer some advice on the subject of buying bear hounds by answering some of the questions that are often asked, which will hopefully be a help to you if you’re taking the leap into the awesome world of hound hunting.

Which breed of hound is best?

That particular question is debated all over the bear hunting world, and frankly it can’t be answered with anything more than personal opinion and a great deal of prejudice. I’m a hardcore Plott man, but I’m also not blind. I’ve seen good bear hounds in all sorts of colors. At some point in your adventure you’ll probably develop an affinity for a particular breed, but when you’re just getting started don’t limit your search to one breed.

Things to consider when buying a bear hound. finished dog that can do it all from strike to tree.

How much should I expect to pay for a quality bear hound?

The value of a hound is determined by the sellers refusal to go any lower and the buyers refusal to go any higher. It’s possible to buy a quality hound dirt cheap, but those situations are few. Generally speaking, a quality hound that you can build a pack around is going to be in the $5,000-10,000 range.

Some will go much, much higher. I will caution you to know that a dog that’s priced really high may not be worth a plug nickel. The price tag on a hound is not always reflective of its actual value. If I were starting from scratch, I’d buy the best hound I could afford and build a pack around it with younger started dogs.

Where should I look for a finished hound?

My advice is to buy a dog from someone that hunts in your general area in the same type of terrain, if possible. Some hounds can be successful in all types of terrain. Some of them have particular traits best suited to a particular environment. If you’ve hunted with a bear hunter that has hounds you know to be good, go make him an offer on one of What characteristics should I look for in a his older dogs. Really good hound men always have bear hound? young dogs coming in behind their older hounds.

All of the following things are important: Some men will sell top dogs in the seven to ninegrit, nose, size, speed, drive, and mouth. But year-old range that still have some hunt in them. Just I’m going to tell you what to really concentrate because a dog isn’t being advertised for sale doesn’t on above all else—concentrate on a dog that mean he can’t be bought. If you can get two to three produces game. That should be a given, but I can assure you that it’s not. Potential buyers will years out of an older dog, you have the possibility of ask a hundred questions and never ask if the dog building a pack of younger dogs around them.

Another good source when looking for bear can catch bears. If the dog can be cut loose and hounds is hard hunting younger men. Some youngfound bayed or treed a high percentage of the er hunters have more time and energy than they do time, all the other things are bonuses. money. They’ll sell a good dog to finance their footLet me give you an example of the type loose lifestyle. Also, it’s possible from time to time to of dog I’m trying to help you avoid. A man will catch a good deal on a hound when someone quits. have a Walker dog for sale with registration paIf you catch it just right, there are times you can buy pers three miles long. The Walker will have multiple Grand Night Champions in its pedigree. It’ll a complete pack cheaper than a single dog because the seller wants out quickly. Those are about the only be built like an Olympic athlete. The dog’s color legitimate sales I’d pay attention to on outlets like will dazzle the eyes. The owner will assure you message boards. that it’s faster than a Kentucky race horse. It’ll have a big, booming, beautiful bawl mouth. But when it’s turned loose, it seldom ends up under a Should I have the potential hound vet checked prior to purchase? treed bear or chewing on a dead carcass. It’s a If you’re paying big money for a hound, a vet non-producer. check is cheap insurance. Especially make sure the hound is clear of heartworms. Ask if the hound has Should I start out buying puppies? ever had broken legs or internal organ damage that No. If you’re starting from scratch, buy a 64

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required surgery.

Are most hound people liars when it comes to selling hounds?

I’m going to say no. I don’t think most people are going to blatantly lie to you about a hound they’re trying to sell. Howpups? What character traits are important to you beever, I do believe that hound people have such divergent views of what makes a good yond just producing game?

Here’s an example of a personal preference that hound that they often present an opinion would be true if I were starting from scratch. When I hunt that doesn’t match your opinion on the matter. It’s hard to imagine, but some hound I want to hear the race, so I wouldn’t want any dogs that were silent on trail. No matter how well a dog produces people truly believe they have great dogs. game, if I can’t listen to him trail, I’m not feeding it. So However their experience is so limited that if I’m buying some additional young started dogs, they’d they’re honestly unaware that their great dog is below average to others. They may be absolutely have to be open trail dogs. The longer you hunt with hounds it’s likely you’ll develop personal prefselling the “best dog they’ve ever owned”, but unfortunately, they’ve never really owned erences, too.

Buying your first bear hound is a major investa good one. ment. Take your time and find yourself a producer of treed and bayed bears. Then build your pack around Should I try the hound out personally? that lead dog. If you hunt enough, it won’t take as long Yes, if at all possible try it out peras you think to be up and running on your own. sonally. Hunt with that dog for a week or more. If that’s not possible, ask for some videos. In all reality, your purchase will come down to the integrity of the seller. As a last The author’s son took resort, check around with others who’ve this photo on one of bought hounds from the same person. his hunts. Epic!

What are some dogs that I should avoid?

Avoid dogs that are aggressive towards people or other dogs. Contrary to what some believe, aggression toward game is not the same as aggression towards other dogs or people.

Avoid free dogs. Yes, there’s exceptions to the rule, but never trust someone offering you a free bear hound. If that hound is what it’s supposed to be, it’ll easily bring several thousand dollars. Very few people are going to give you several thousand dollars.

Avoid dogs that haven’t been run specifically on bears. Yes, some dogs will switch just fine from other game to bears, but some dogs will not. Don’t buy a coon dog expecting an automatic switch. Don’t buy a hog dog expecting an automatic switch. If you’re going to bear hunt, buy a bear dog.

After I buy my first good hound, then what?

At this point I’d start thinking long term. Is there a particular breed you prefer?

Is there a strain within that particular breed you prefer? Do you want to raise your own Have a hound topic you want covered?

Email requests to: sacredpursuit@protonmail.com www.bear-hunting.com

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{Hounds and Bears} Column

IN Hot PUrsuit @

By Barry ‘Bear’ Siragusa

thehuntinghound

It all starts with a new pup. Bred or bought, it doesn’t matter. Pick the pup up in your arms and look; you are holding pure potential in your hands. The start of a relationship with a young hound often starts well. We play, we connect, we expose them to the smells, tastes, and sounds that they will hopefully experience later in a much different setting as fully functional members of the adult pack down the road.

Young hounds, even young hounds from an established line of solid bear dogs, will all develop differently. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling snake oil.

A line will have similarities and traits that 90% from that line may share, but there is no way to predict the set of experiences and circumstances that will shape how and when your hound will become a “truck-to-tree” bear dog.

Even from the same litter, some hound pups hit the ground and seem like they were born possessing a full playbook. They were born with grit, intelligence, nose, and desire. These youngsters seem to be the reincarnation of Rambo from the moment they are born. If you have one, then you are breathing rarified air. Those hounds don’t come along often.

The average puppy will be less awe inspiring.

They may hang back and slowly absorb while their sibling crashes in, siren blaring. They may join the run only to fall out after a few miles of trying to keep up and come back in and check with the houndsman. “Am I doing good?” they seem to say. They may take a track and blow out a corner and use an hour figuring out where they went wrong. Ideal? No. Normal puppy behavior?

Darn tootin’.

For obvious reasons, the naturally talented “Rambos” are the ones who we hear most about. They are the ones who show up on our social media feeds at 5 months old, crazy eyed and slathering, at a bear tree.

They are the ones who we talk about on the phone when we call to share experiences.

The reality is that those fearless ones are also the ones who often don’t live long, while their deliberate, and careful, siblings build their box of tools and experiences from the ground up. Sometimes they grow into the legendary animals we talk about fondly when they are gone, often because I think there is a certain amount of pride associated with taking an underwhelming youngster and training it to be legendary. Still, those careful pups are more work.

Allow me to make a distinction now. I am talking about careful hounds, not cowardly. A coward will 66

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Young Hounds

Expectations vs. Realities always be a coward, but potentially a perfectly useful hound for other game (fox, raccoon, bobcat, etc.). Yet not courageous enough to stand toe to toe with a walking bear that refuses to climb. A dog that won’t touch a bear track, or even follow a pack on a track, needs no more time. Find that youngster a home chasing something less scary and monstery.

Every houndsman has a list of qualities that they look for in a hound. We usually also have a list of traits that are complete deal breakers, something that will give us cause to remove that dog from our program immediately. One of mine is aggression towards people. If I have a dog who acts aggressively towards my hunting partners or my kids, they are instantly gone. Another for me is common sense. I can’t have a dog running off cliffs or trying to cross the rapids in the river gorges that are common here.

I want them to run to catch but, in the words of Becky Dwire, “A dead dog catches no game.”

Most puppies and young dogs, as they develop, will most likely exhibit qualities that we as houndsmen don’t like. I fear that the youngsters who can do all that we see on social media create unrealistic expectations amongst houndsmen who then compare their totally normal and still developing puppies to the “super-pup” that so-and-so has been posting about or bragging about on the phone. I have talked to houndsmen who will remove a pup from their program if it can’t hang during a race from truck to tree at 6 months old. I have talked to others who will remove a young dog of 8-9 months if it won’t stay right in the face of a bear while that bear is fighting the adult dogs. These are extreme examples, but are not uncommon. On the other end of the spectrum is the houndsman who makes endless excuses for the poor performance of their hound(s), never willing to consider that perhaps they and their hounds are just not up to snuff. I believe that both extremes are unproductive. In one case you will be going through too many hounds to make your pack, and in the other case you won’t have a pack at all.

A houndsman once said, “A man’s ego is a terrible burden for a hound to bear.” How then do we know when it is appropriate to make the call that a young hound isn’t working out and should be moved on? Where is the line between unrealistic expectations and pointless excuses?

Each and every houndsman will answer that question differently, as we all have different goals for our packs. Still, I will include a few questions that may help you get to that answer if you are on the fence. Call it food for thought.

Nov/Dec 20220

Questions to Determine if Your Hound is Working Out 1. What is your goal?

Are you going to be guiding? Will your pack need to be the kind that can put up bear almost every day for weeks at a time? Or, will your dogs be chasing bears a few days a week? These questions will all have bearing on whether or not you have the time and flexibility necessary to work with a young dog who requires that little extra effort on your part to become a member of your pack.

2. What is your timeline?

How fast do you need that hound to be fully functional? If you are guiding, having a pup frequently derail your race is not really an option. Sometimes, the reality of our situation makes it difficult to accommodate the young hound’s training. If that is the case, it may make sense to move that pup along to someone who has more time, or to just accept that that hound’s training will have to wait for the training seasons, and it will therefore be older before it really starts to perform.

3. What does the breeder say?

Some breeders will let you know right up front that their line takes some time to mature. One of the best lines of bear hound grade walkers in Scandinavia mature late. For some houndsmen, that is a deal breaker.

They can’t wait three years for a hound to perform. So it may be smart to ask questions about the parents, grandparents, siblings, etc. and the timeline they had before they started to contribute.

4.What do I have time for?

“The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions” is a proverb that absolutely applies here. A good houndsman will have a realistic idea of how much time and energy they have to put into a hound. Most of us have jobs, families, friends, responsibilities, and, last but not least, other dogs who require our time and commitment. Even a good pup requires time and patience, and lots of both. If a few hours a week is all the time you have to give, then you will need to adjust your expectations of what that pup will give. We only get back what we put in.

The bottom line is that you should have realistic expectations of what that pup should be able to do, vs. what will require training. The best houndsmen make it look easy because they know their expectations and their realities are equally balanced. Whatever way you answer the above questions, I would always recommend buying from or breeding to proven bear dogs. I know a guy who trained a border collie to tree bear. It was impressive, but that’s not where I would go to get a bear dog. www.bear-hunting.com

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Bandit Hat! For sale only www.bearhuntingmagazine.com Bear Questions/Answers With Al Raychard

Q-I understand black bear numbers are generally increasing. I was just wondering by how much and what factors determine growth?

A-In nearly all regions where black bears exist, numbers are increasing. Population growth varies from state to state and from region to region in some states, depending on how the state agency monitors or estimates growth. Some states estimate on a statewide basis and others by management region. The statewide bear population in Massachusetts, for example, is estimated to be increasing by eight percent annually, but in eastern North Carolina by six percent (slightly lower in the western mountains). Population increases are influenced by habitat quality and an area’s ability to provide abundant, reliable, and well-distributed food sources throughout the year, amongst other factors.

celed and maybe on again, then off again. What are the chances there will ever be an opportunity again to hunt grizzly in any of these states?

A-Not very good as long as anti-hunt and animal right groups can find judges to ignore biological research and population studies that show how managed, highly controlled hunts can be allowed and would have no adverse effects on grizzly populations.

Q-I am in the early stages of a crossbow bear hunt next spring. I was just wondering how difficult it is to fly commercially with a crossbow? Do you have any suggestions?

A-I’ve found commercial flying with a crossbow is a freeze compared to flying with firearms, even though many of the check-in procedures, regulations, and security measures are similar. Always check with your airline(s) to see what is required federally, and whether the airline has any Q-I’ve read and heard in the media of black bears attacking humans, specific and mandatory requirements. Some do. I’ve found but are they truly aggressive? taking the initiative of installing a trigger lock is also a good idea—airlines love to see them. And I had a check-in A-Generally, no. Black bears are rather shy and typically try to avoid agent one time rebuke me because my broadheads were contact with humans especially when they live close to areas of human still attached to the arrow (in the quiver in the same case activity. However, on several occasions I’ve hunted bears in wilderness as the bow). Since then I’ve always transported heads in a regions where bears see few humans and they seemed rather bold. I’m small, separate solid case. The same goes for my arrows. I not sure whether it was due to a more aggressive nature or simply curitransport both in a clothing bag. A solid bow case with a osity. Statistically bear attacks are quite rare although they do happen. secure lock is obvious: keep the keys on your person and Most wildlife and conservation departments in bear-rich states have make sure the case is plainly labeled with your name and tips and advice on their websites on how to avoid bears and what to do address. Fortunately I’ve never had to use it, but travel if one is encountered. insurance or checking with your home insurance carrier to see if loss or theft would be covered is someQ-I’ve read about grizzly hunting in Wyoming, thing you might also want to consider.

Submit your questions to Montana, and Idaho being allowed, then canalraychard@sacoriver.net 68

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Support those that support bear hunting

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72

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Nov/Dec 20220

Black Bear Bean Soup Equipment • • • • • • • • •

A stainless steel or glass bowl large enough to hold a pound of beans covered with water.

Hand-held blender Wooden spoon Paring knife Chef’s knife Cutting board Gram scale Cup measures 6-quart saucepan

Ingredients • • • • • • • • • •

1 cup of white kidney beans, Tarbais or Navy beans (rinse and cover in water to soak overnight) 1/2 pound (250 grams) of diced Bear shanks (after cooking with the beans) 1 large white onion diced 2 large carrots peeled and diced 2 cups of celery stalks and leaves, diced 1-3 quarts of soup stock (I used bear stock, but you could use chicken or beef stock depending on where you want to take the soup’s flavour profile.)

Black Pepper Salt (Be cautious adding salt. While beans can take a lot of salt, the ham will add significantly to the salt.)

Chopped chives and parsley for garnish (if you like) 1/4 teaspoon saffron

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Method

1.

Rinse beans under cold running water to wash. Pick and remove any funny-looking beans.

2. Cover in cold water and with room for the beans to triple in size when they rehydrate.

3. Let beans sit in water overnight.

4. In the morning drain the beans, add fresh water and bring to a boil.

5. Maintain a rolling boil for 10 minutes, drain, and cover in cold water.

6. Add whole bear shanks and onions, and return to a boil, then simmer until the beans are soft and some of the beans start to burst. (about an hour) 7. Remove the shanks from the pot and remove the ham from the bone. Dice the ham to about the size of corn kernels.

8. Add the black pepper and blenderize the beans and onions until the soup is a smooth and creamy consistency.

9. Add the diced ham back into the pot with the saffron, celery and carrots.

10. Add 1-3 quarts of stock until the soup is the consistency desired.

11. Bring back to a boil then simmer for 45 minutes.

12. Serve a bowl of soup with a fresh loaf of bread, garnish with chopped parsley and chives.

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