2021 - Issue 6 - November/December

Stretching the Distance

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Nov/Dec 2021 Volume 22 - Issue 6 Cover photo by @SkullBoundTV

by Jana Waller

Adventure in the Yukon Flats

by Bear Newcomb

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By Jordon Vaughan

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Use of Leashed Tracking Dogs

By Dawson Smith

A Very Propitious Event

By Tim Fowler

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by Clay Newcomb

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Bear Grease Balm

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Stretching the Distance

by Kolby Morehead

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Bear Guns | .30-30

By Joleen Morehead

By Brian Strickland

Columns

Cuddeback Trail Camera Contest Winner Win a Cuddeback Camera!

58 Bowhunting Bears

by Bernie Barringer - Bear Guru

60 Western Bear Hunting

“Bear-Squatch” Rich Standen Michigan

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

by Brian Strickland - Western Hunter

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Bruin Desinations -

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Fleshing it Out -

by Al Raychard - Bear Hunting Veteran

by Timothy Fowler - Renaissance Man

66 In Hot Pursuit - Guest

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Hunting 5 5 BearBear Hunting

Bear Grease The Editor’s Note Clay Newcomb

@clay_newcomb

Once vibrant green, the now golden leaves are falling, and the angle of the incoming sunlight moves lower on the southern horizon. It’s fall. It’s the time of harvest. The hunter’s

year re-volves around this period, but I’m amazed at its ephemeral nature. It moves so quickly. If bears kept a calendar, I’d imagine it wouldn’t be defined by the sun and moon, but perhaps by the ripening times of berries, dates of fish spans, and the falling of acorns. It may be simplifying their consciousness, but it seems they’ve always got one thing on their mind – food. Such is the mind frame of a beast that must gather a year’s worth of groceries in eight months. Bears truly are amazing animals that seem to live by a different set of rules than the other charismatic species of North America. That’s why we’re bear hunters.

The Newcomb Family bear camp was a haze of a hard work, good times and bear skin-ning. Baiting bears takes work, coordination, determination and lots of driving – for me any-way. I look forward to it every year and the demands of my world bend around its pressure, be-cause we’ve only got so many falls on this planet, and Lord willing, I’d like mine to be full of interacting with bruins.

My September is “my month with the bears.” It’s when the secretive animal becomes visible. In-person and digital interactions on trial cameras with him become normal. The time period gives a false impression that it will last forever, or that I’ve got control over it, but as quickly as it arrives – it vanishes. Bears become scarce in these parts after about October 10th. They seem to vanish. Their presence was like a shadow, as quickly as it came, it went.

I killed a good bear in Arkansas on September 26th over bait. I love it. I spent a month hauling in bait on my mules to a remote bait site without vehicular access. My son, Bear John Newcomb, also killed a bear. His was notable. He took it in National Forest, culminating a long-running plan made several years ago. He made the decision not to hunt over bait and try to kill a bear on public ground.

That’s a hard hunt. He camped for three days by himself and killed the bear on the third day hunting over a water hole. You can read about his hunt in this issue. He’s a bear hunter.

Lastly, I’ve been pouring a lot of energy into my Bear Grease podcast. I hope you’ll take a listen. We recently did a robust series on the life of Daniel Boone. I’m currently finishing up a series on a houndsman named, Warren Glenn. He’s from Southeast Arizona and it’s hard not to respect him and be inspired by his life.

Check out Clay’s new podcast called Bear Grease Podcast. He recently did a three part series on Daniel Boone that I bet you’d find fascinating!

Have a great fall, Clay Newcomb SUBSCRIPTIONS: 1-Year (6 issues) subscription rate is $25.00 for U.S. address, $35.00* for Canadian address (in U.S. funds). 2-Year (12 issues) subscription rate is $45.00 for U.S. address, Bear Hunting (ISSN 1553-2488 and USPS 019451) is published bi-monthly by Bear Tracks $70.00* for Canadian address (in U.S. funds). (*rate is higher to cover extra postage) For more information, call us at: 479-839-4335, write to us at: Bear Hunting Magazine, P.O. Media, LLC, 4052 N Abington Ct., FAyetteville,AR 72703. Periodicals Postage Paid at Box 168, West Fork, Arkansas or E-mail us at: CustomerService@bear-hunting.com

West Fork, AR and additional mailing offices.

Copyright © 2015 Bear Hunting. All rights reserved. Articles, news items, advertisements or other print media do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. Bear Hunting Media, POSTMASTER: Send address changes (form 3579) LLC is not responsible for injury/loss during the implementation of content. Bear hunting is a to Bear Hunting, P.O. Box 168, West Fork, AR 72774. potentially hazardous activity and people should take extreme caution when hunting.

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Adventure in the Yukon Flats

By Jana Waller @skullboundtv

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Bear Hunting

Nov/Dec 2021

www.bear-hunting.com

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Gazing down onto the green vastness of the tundra from high above in the float plane I couldn’t help but wonder who may have possibly traversed this remote, wild terrain?

The author’s camp, was located 15 miles south of the arctic circle.

Have hunters and gatherers from centuries past made their way across this expansive swampland or is there still land that’s never felt the weight of a hunter’s footprint. I love romanticizing about a landscape that few feet have ventured.

Alaska is what dreams are made of. For those of us who’s dreams consist of wild places anyway. Where the land is untouched and some of the waters are unnamed. I recently had the opportunity to disconnect from the modern world and reconnect with nature and myself in the middle of nowhere Alaska. The Yukon Flats Refuge is a remote 9+ million-acre habitat that lies between the Brooks Range to the north and the limestone peaks of the White Mountains to the South. It’s an area comprised of vast wetlands, lakes and ponds where most wildlife have never laid their eyes on a human. The exact location inside the refuge that we called home for a week was a mere 15 miles south of the arctic circle where the sunsets blend into the sunrises and the light of June never fully fades.

The purpose of the adventure was to hunt bears with Alaska Wilderness Enterprises, an outfitter that operates in more than half of the 9 million acres of the Refuge. The owner Joe Letarte is a legend among Alaskans, having outfitted there for over 30 years.

“There is no place in North America that is wilder or more unaltered by man than the Yukon Flats.” explained Joe. “It’s so wild and untamed that you may be the first person to set foot on the ground you’re standing on. The bears are truly wild, not habituated to man like most bears in the lower 48. You are truly stepping back to a time long thought past when you enter the Refuge.”

Joe and my boyfriend, John Bair, have shared hunting camps before and were good friends with many great stories already in the books. John had a grizzly bear tag and I had a black bear tag and we both had our pistols in tow.

Joe Letarte, the owner of Alaska Wilderness Enterprises, has outfitted in Alaska for over 30 years.

One of the great things about this particular remote hunt was the ease of travel. I’ve gone on many adventures that involved days of exhausting flights and rides versus a hop, skip and a jump like this trip. We took a direct flight from Salt Lake City into Fairbanks, AK. It’s a short one-hour float plane ride out into the bush where you’re dropped off on a beautiful, remote lake. The pilot cuts the propeller and you glide into the shore where you’re greeted by Joe or his guides at camp. Base camp lies on a peninsula and consists of a couple of cook tents, skinning area for the fish and bears, gear storage in barrels and a half dozen tents for the hunters and guides. It’s simple. It’s secluded. It’s heaven.

The only means of transportation is an inflatable raft with a 2 horsepower motor which takes the hunters to their stands every day. This is a baited hunt, drawing the bears out of the thick, dense surrounding marshland. There is no higher ground or areas to glass from like other places in Alaska, making this style of hunting the best option for managing the predators. According to Joe, a predation study was done in the Refuge which concluded that 84% of moose calves were killed annually by bears and wolves. Like anywhere, it’s about balance and predator hunting is an important piece of the conservation puzzle.

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This inflatable raft was the only transportation to get to the hunter’s stands.

From Fairbanks, AK it took the author and John Blair about an hour to get to camp by a float plane.

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There’s something magical about being in the middle of nowhere where the distractions of technology cannot entice you. No cell service. No internet. No humming appliances. Just the peaceful sound of birds chirping and loons wailing or an occasional slap on the water from the resident beaver that lives 50 yards from camp. The days blend together since it never gets dark this close to the arctic circle. You can literally hunt 24 hours a day if you choose but I highly recommend grabbing some sleep.

It’s always best to be sharp when you’re on the ground with black bears and grizzlies.

Alaska does not allow hunters to hunt the same day after a flight. The author took the opportunity to break out the fly rod in pike rich waters.

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After unloading our gear into our tent and and saying hello to the other hunters in camp, we grabbed the poles and had fun fishing for northern pike right from shore. Since Alaska rules state you can’t hunt on the day you fly we had fun doing the next best thing, stripping streamers for pike. According to Joe, two and three footers are common right from camp with the chance at an occasional 50 incher! I had packed the fly rod and bright colored streamers in hopes of landing not only dinner but some big bellied hens that are simply fun to catch and release on a fly rod. John loves to proclaim he’s the world’s worst fisherman but in my opinion that’s just to take any pressure off himself. He doesn’t get an opportunity to fish as much as I do and I was excited when he landed his very first pike after a few casts.

The other hunters in camp headed out to their stands while John and I fished, relaxed, and soaked in the beauty of being marooned on a lake in the middle of the Nowhere, Alaska. While a float plane is only an in-reach call away, it’s still a different level of almost forced relaxation. You have no choice but to back burner your worries and woes. We couldn’t believe the time when we checked our phones and saw it was 1:30am. Looking out from the window of our tent we chuckled at the vibrant colors rippling on the water, not knowing if we were looking at a sunset or a sunrise.

As with most adventures, the first day is always filled with anticipation. On this hunt John was going to use his pistol, a stout 45/70 BFR, abbreviation for “biggest, finest revolver”. No really. I was hunting with my Desert Eagle .429, a handgun I have been hunting with for the past couple of years. Along with the anticipation came a little bit of trepidation. It’s a little unnerving when hunting around baits where grizzlies hang out. Even though the guide is always with you, it’s important to be aware of your surroundings at all times and be vigilant. Remember...

Siegfried and Roy never thought anything would happen either. And THEY were dealing with tame tigers. You can be incredibly knowledgeable and experienced but there’s always a level of unpredictability when it comes to big predators in the wild.

That afternoon we loaded our gear into the raft and headed out with Joe to check trail cameras, help refresh a few different bait sites and then sit for our first evening in the tree stands. Buckets consisting of dog food, molasses and camp scraps sat at our feet as we motored Nov/Dec 2021

The author and John Blair, took turns filming each other as logistics didn’t allow for a cameraman.

The hunters enjoyed filming bears, including this bear, which they nicknamed “Fatty McPherson.”

across the calm, reflective water.

When planning this hunt, I decided early on that I wasn’t going to bring along a cameraman. The logistics of this style of hunt made it more complicated to bring a third person so John and I decided we would film one another and try to capture the adventure for my show Skull Bound Chronicles. Neither one of us claim to be cinematographers but we’ve been able to capture some great footage from previous bear hunts in Idaho where I run baits with my editor Heath Helgert. When most of the hunt is filmed from a tree stand or ground blind it’s much easier than spot and stalk.

After refreshing the baits at a couple of the stands we motored over to an area where Joe had recently seen grizzlies on the trail camera. The shoreline was thick with brush, adding to the mystery of what lies beyond those fluid walls. Wearing hip waiters, we all carefully exited the raft and sloshed our way through the marsh until we reached solid ground. Joe lead the way down the trail, rifle at the ready. The stands hung overhead about twenty yards into the trees past the thicket.

Joe motioned for us to keep an eye out as he went to dump the bait bucket and Boarmasters powder.

Fresh bear scat peppered the forest floor and I couldn’t help but comment on the height of the hang-on tree stands. “Those look pretty low!” I whispered to John with a wide-eyed look of surprise. He reached up and, standing on his tiptoes, touched the bottom of the metal platform of the lowest stand. Life can be ironic at times. www.bear-hunting.com

Typically, when I’m hunting whitetails I’m left wishing tree stands were hung lower but my fear of getting swiped by a grizzly apparently trumps my fear of heights. Regardless, we climbed up, got buckled in and started situating our gear.

I got out my Sony Z90 camera and attached it to the free-standing tripod. Next, I hung one of the GoPros facing John and another facing me. I also had a DJI pocket cam to use for other cut away shots. John got his shooting sticks adjusted to the right height and was looking down the barrel of his BFR making sure he was steady for a shot if one presented itself. We were just about situated when I thought I heard a stick break from behind our tree.

With my body twisted backwards I slowly reached for John’s leg and poked him with intent.

“Big black bear!” I mouthed as I swung the camera in the opposite direction to try and film the bear. He was only five yards from the base of our tree, staring intently up at us. A bear’s eyesight is said to be very poor but their noses on the other hand are their superpower and he knew we didn’t belong. Wide eyed and nodding my head I whispered to John, “Should I shoot him?!” My hesitation had nothing to do with the bear’s size, but rather we had only been in the stand for a mere five minutes.

I handed John the video camera and tripod and reached for my Desert Eagle that was still in my backpack. Luckily my Grizzly Ears case was clipped to the loop on my pack, and I motioned for John to also Bear Hunting 15

put in his ear protection. There’s a reason we affectionately call my pistol the ‘hand cannon’.

John passed me the shooting sticks and I readied the .429 for the shot. “You on him?” I confirmed. With my adrenaline surging I steadied my breathe and slowly squeezed the trigger.

A loud BANG echoed through the trees, and I watched the bear buckle from the 240 grain bullet. He took only a few leaps before letting out the classic death moan a mere thirty yards from the barrel. John swung the camera in my direction and captured my excitement as I looked up at Joe with a bewildered look.

“That was fast!” I quietly chuckled! Joe motioned for us to sit tight since the commotion could easily bring in a grizzly.

My adrenaline slowly dissipated and as we sat hoping a grizzly would appear. After a couple of hours John suddenly caught movement in the thick woods beyond the bait. We watched another big black bear slowly approach my bear that was lying about fifty yards from our position. He slowly circled my bear, popping his jaws and rumbling the classic low guttural sound of an angry bruin. After circling my bear, the jet-black boar made his way over to the base of our tree. “He’s a crabby one!” I whispered while we watched the bear slap the ground and pop his jaws, this time showing his aggression towards the three of us. It was obvious this bear had an attitude, and I wasn’t in any hurry to get down with him in the neighborhood.

The author harvested an Alaskan bruin with her custom engraved Desert Eagle pistol.

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We spent the next couple of hours watching Mr. Crabby Pants devour the bait. He stormed around our tree a few more times, letting us know he was in charge before slowly wandering off into the woods giving us a chance to finally get down and start field dressing my bear.

We were back to the raft shortly after midnight, but the light made it feel like we were leaving too early. If it weren’t for the need for sleep, you could literally hunt 24 hours a day in the Yukon Flats. We crashed hard in our tent after an adrenaline filled evening despite the gorgeous 2am sunset.

We woke to the hustle and bustle of the nearby cook tent as the other hunters in camp were sharing stories over coffee. Stan, a newly retired professor from Louisiana, notched his tag, around the same time I did, with a beautiful blond colored grizzly. We could actually hear his shot echo across the lake just minutes after my Desert Eagle.

And Ferrell from Indiana who also found success with a beautiful black bear making it quite the busy evening for Joe and his guides. It’s magical to sit listening to stories in the crisp morning air gripping a warm cup of coffee as the loons call to one another in the middle of the Yukon Flats. Just another thing I love about hunting. One minute you’re surging with adrenaline and the next you’re more relaxed than a yoga instructor on Malibu Beach.

The following six days were filled with much of the same. Moments of heart pounding excitement and hours of relaxation in the raft with tight lines and big pike. Although we didn’t have any grizzlies appear on bait while we were sitting, we did film one of the biggest black bears I’d ever seen! John had the option of downgrading his grizzly tag to a black bear tag but despite seeing two giant black bears during the week, he never wavered on wanting to punch his tag on a grizz. If I were in his shoes, I’m not sure I could’ve held off on pulling the trigger on a bear we nicknamed Fatty McPherson. We filmed the giant boar three different evenings from a ground blind that sat across the water on a peninsula, 40 yards from the bait. Just to watch a bear of that caliber was a gift and to be able to capture it all on camera was truly special.

(Below) Outfitter Joe Letarte of Alaska Wilderness Enterprises works on fleshing out a the author’s bear hide.

Tune into Season 3, episode 7 of Skull Bound Chronicles on the free Carbon TV app or on your tv thru ROKU, Firestick or AirPlay.

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Challenge

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Accepted

A young hunter's pursuit of an ARKANSAS public land bruin

By Bear Newcomb

www.bear-hunting.com

photo by Issac Neale

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It was the fall of 2017 when my dad and I were driving back from an unsuccessful hunt in the national forest in Arkansas.

We had hunted all day and were frustrated at how little our expedition had produced.

My dad explained to me that we hunt here because while we may not have very much success, the day that we do, it will mean so much more. He told me that if we wanted to go kill a deer or bear, we could go to the bait pile and could have a much better chance at killing one, but we hunt on national forest because there will be so much more behind the animal that we harvested. I understood.

Not long after that in the same long drive home after talking more on the subject I made a commitment that I was going to try to kill my first bear in national forest.

This was a massive commitment.

Over the course of the next year two of my siblings killed bears over bait and I had very few chances to hunt in the national forest where I was planning on killing one. The hunts that I did go on were unsuccessful and not enjoyable for an 11-year-old boy. The year after that I watched my sister have opportunities at massive bears and my brother who was 10 at the time had already killed a bear and was looking to kill another one while I was spending days in the woods with my dad and seeing nothing.

The next year at bear camp there was an open bait site and I had nothing to hunt other than squirrels.

My dad and my sister were out hunting a 400+ lb. bear so my dad was not aware of the situation. I was 13 at the time and was not thinking about my commitment and saw my opportunity and took it. So, I went up to the bait with Mr. James Lawrence and we sat there for an hour when a bear came into the bait. He gave me a good shot and I

let an arrow fly. My bow was sighted into 20 yards and the bear was at 25 so my arrow dropped and clipped its leg doing minimal damage. Looking back at it now, I am so glad that I missed that bear. But after missing that bear, I was more driven to kill a bear on national forest and it gave me a clearer sight of my goal.

Every bear season my dad would always talk about how one day he was going to turn me loose in the mountains by myself and I was going to camp there until I killed a bear. From the ages of 10-14 I would always fantasize about the idea of going in the mountains by myself and killing a bear. In the summer of 2021, I knew that the upcoming bear season was going to be the year that I killed one. I told my dad that I wouldn’t care if I didn’t even get a chance to deer hunt if I could just get a bear. It was the priority. I shot my bow every day and practiced from every position the bear could possibly be in and from every distance that I could get a shot. I was not going to miss. In mid-august the weather was extremely dry, and it was not looking like it was going to rain anytime soon. So, my dad and I went into the woods on mules to a spot where there was a small water hole that kept water year-round. There was no other water at the time within half a mile of this pond, so we set up a camera to monitor the water source. Over the course of the next month bears started coming in there consistently. This got me excited. Every day after school I would check my phone hoping that my dad had texted me a picture of a bear.

The entire week prior to opening weekend no bears had come in. There was a sudden drop of temperatures two days before the season and the bears were nowhere to be seen. This got me extremely

The author’s older sister took this bear over bait.

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The author spent three nights solo in national forest in pursuit of bear.

The author’s younger brother took this bear over bait.

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It’s all smiles on the mountain after a successful ‘Sheep Hunt of the South’ bear hunt!

The author’s arrow hit its mark and showed evidence of a vital hit.

The author celebrating with close friends Brent Reaves and James Lawrence.

The author celebrating with his father and grandfather.

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nervous. I checked the weather for that weekend, and it looked like it was going to be hot. This was a good sign, but I was still discouraged. I got out of school early on Thursday afternoon and headed down to bear camp. I stayed at the cabin that night.

I woke up the next morning and went to go re-bait the spot that my dad would be hunting at. This took until 2:00 pm in the afternoon. Immediately after that we headed to the spot that I would be dropped off at. Once we got there, I packed away the last of my stuff and got ready to go. I said goodbye then headed into the desolate Arkansas wilderness.

It took me two and a half hours to get to where I was planning on camping. It took me 45 minutes to set up camp, this left me another 45 minutes of daylight. I decided to cook one of the 4 freeze dried meals that I brought. By the time I finished it was dark and I had nothing else to do.

I sat in the solitude of the pre-autumn forest and thought about my plan for the morning. I woke up at 6:30, ate a clif bar and took off the opposite way of the pond to do a morning spot and stalk hunt. I was walking slow and quiet when I saw a deer at 30 yards eating white oak acorns. When the deer’s head went behind a tree I quickly moved in closer, stepping quietly on rocks. I got within 20 yards of the deer when all I could see was its body. I could have shot the deer, but I knew that if I did it was going to take all day to get it out and I would not have been able to bear hunt that day. By this point it was 9:00 in the morning and I needed to be at the water hole by 10:00. So, I started walking back to my camp.

When I got back to camp, I grabbed the tree saddle, tree steps, a few snacks, and a climbing stick to use as a platform. I started out towards the water hole which was 0.6 miles from my camp.

I made it there in 35 minutes. I quickly set up my tree saddle and started hunting. I sat for the rest

Nov/Dec 2021

The author and his father with the author’s first bear after a five year pursuit.

of the day but saw nothing. The next morning, I did the exact same thing. Once I was done with the spot and stalk hunt, I went to the water hole. About 1 hour into the hunt, I heard footsteps coming from the north. I looked through the trees and saw a bear cub, then I saw another one, then I saw the sow. The sow was a color phase bear. They came in and drank but the sow knew that something was off so they left as quickly as they could. This was very exciting. Rarely have two bears come in on the same day so I had very little confidence in one coming in.

The next day I didn’t have any luck with spot and stalk, so I went back to the water hole.

This was my last day in the woods. My dad was picking me up at dark right where he dropped me off. I sat for 4 hours before I heard what I knew was a bear. Its footsteps were confident unlike a deer or squirrel. I looked to my right and saw a black bear coming my way. It was right next to my wind line.

I watched it dig up a yellow jacket nest and get swarmed, so it started coming to the water hole quickly. It walked behind me and then stopped 5 yards from my tree. I slowly turned around and put the 20 pin on the bear. I knew that at 5 yards the arrow was going to shoot 1 inch high if I used my 20 pin. I squeezed the release, and I watched the arrow hit the bear right where I was aiming. It gave off a loud growl and took off running down the side of the mountain. I was so excited, more excited than I had ever been in my life. I immediately texted my cousin who was in school who I was talking to right before the bear came in.

She said that there was a small celebration mid class with the people who she was sitting with. Then I texted my dad’s Garmin Inreach because he did not have service where he was at. Then I

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called my grandpa. I started looking for blood, but I could not find any, only small specks here and there.

I started to panic. I looked for 45 min before I found a spot going down the mountain where it rubbed on a tree. From there it started bleeding a lot and I was following slide marks because it was so steep.

I had a close encounter with a big copperhead on the way down and almost got bit. I kept tracking the bear. I saw a spot where a small tree was knocked down, so I went to it and looked around. I looked up and saw the bear dead. I finally completed my goal; it took 5 years.

I skinned the bear and waited for help to arrive. My dad and two other friends came and helped me haul out the bear. We came back to the truck to a full party of people waiting for us to come out of the woods. Things that I learned on this hunt was that pre-season scouting is very important.

Knowing where the acorns are is important, and that you need to get out there as early in the season as possible. The main thing that I learned is that no matter how you hunt or where you hunt, if you spend enough time in the woods eventually it will happen.

The author successfully completed a ‘Sheep Hunt of the South’ hunt. Spot and stalk hunting black bears in the dense Eastern Deciduous Forest is difficult due to limited visibility and we liken it to sheep hunting west.

Check out our original ‘Sheep Hunt of the South’ merch..

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Bear camp has been a significant tradition for the author while hunting along friends and mentors. It is always a good time and often they find success. This photo was from the previous year when the author took a nice Arkansas whitetail buck. Pictured from left to right: Kolby ‘Bear Tech’ Morehead, Brent Reaves, James Lawrence, and the author.

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by Jordon L Vaughan Photos by | @DavidFishphoto & @JordonLVAUGHAN

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PRICE OF ENTRY

“I would hunt, but it’s just too expensive.” Last fall a guy at my gym rattled off that phrase. I couldn’t count the number of times I’ve heard someone say this, and I have to admit I’ve always taken it as a lame attempt at defending one’s manliness after they’ve been outed as a non-hunter. Hearing it this time I began to wonder if I’ve been too judgmental all these years. My introduction to hunting happened back in the mid-90s. What could that first hunting season cost with today’s ammunition shortages and complicated licensing systems? I left the gym, but the thought stuck with me. It rolled around in my head for four months before I finally decided I had to put it to rest. Early in the year I locked up all my hunting gear and started planning my 2021 Idaho Spring Bear season as if I was a new hunter. The goal was to start with zero gear and take an animal on the tightest budget possible—the hunt for the bargain bear began.

My home base was Boise, Idaho and I wanted to avoid long trips, the extra gas, big coolers, and overnight equipment that came with them. If I truly was a rookie, I also figured coming home each night would give a good opportunity to dry out wet boots and spend some time on Google maps finding new routes that weren’t blocked by washouts and snow. Early planning involved some time chatting with a hunter friend of mine named Zach, and I still don’t consider his assistance cheating. In the centuries before internet forums, hunting was learned by way of conversations with experienced hunters, and I needed his help as I recently moved to Idaho and had only hunted in the eastern parts of the state. Talking through some of his old haunts we settled on an area where he’d seen bear only an hour north of Boise, not far from the Payette River. Bear season in that Game Management Unit (GMU) ran from April 15 to June 7, though mountain snowpack wouldn’t allow my truck on the forest roads until May.

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Location set, next order of business was getting a rifle and I quickly found 2021 was not a good year for gun shopping. This spring in Idaho a lot of sporting goods stores were out of low-priced rifles and the rest were quite proud of the few they managed to hang on to.

A stroke of luck came one morning at the local Cabela’s which received a shipment of new Savage’s Axis models with mounted Weaver scope. I quickly purchased one in 30-06 ($359) before they sold out. Sighting in the scope at the desert the next day went well. Once I manned-up for the hefty trigger pull I managed 3/4-inch groups at 200 yards ($52 in ammunition).

The author navigates to an area shared by his friend.

Boots came next and for that I splurged. I picked up a pair of Bridger Mid Hiking Boots made by Oboz ($233). I considered cheaper boots, but the destruction done to my feet by previous hunting and hiking trips in inadequate footwear overcame my inner tightwad.

The Oboz were the perfect mix of comfort and durability for the price. These boots held up to the mud and snow of my bear hunt and have done well through a follow-on backpacking trip in Wyoming, and my 2021 Montana and Idaho elk hunting trips.

The last decade has brought the hunt-

The author set out to build a bear kit with the tightest budget possible. Check out the table at the end with a breakdown of his spending.

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ing community all manner of fancy, moisture wicking, chemically coated, triple gusseted apparel, but for my day trips to a ground blind I decided I could do without most of it. Temperatures vary in early May in the mountains of Idaho from the 30s to the 70s, which is mild compared to what your average Boise resident is outfitted to deal with in the heart of winter. After picking up a Cabela’s Signature Space Rain Jacket ($89) and a long sleeve camouflage shirt ($17) for outer layers I pulled a stocking cap ($0), multiple fleece layers ($0), wool socks ($0), and last year’s pair of khaki jeans ($0) from my own closet.

The author gets donuts for bait from a local donut shop.

A new hunter would need a good knife and Outdoor Edge’s Trailblaze ($17) was quite impressive for the price. A trip to Home Depot brought a little jab saw ($8) for working through any bone. I raided my own cabinets for a headlamp, first aid kit, rope, and a duffle bag ($0). For packing bait and gear in and out I used a hand-me-down external pack frame ($15-$30 at your local used sporting goods store).

My gear finally set, once enough of the snow cleared from the forest roads, I made my first trip north. A quarter mile from my truck I confirmed Zach’s rockstar status with two different sizes of muddy bear prints in snow. After a morning of hiking, I found a shooting lane that allowed for a hill top ground blind and small pit bait site. The GPS in my cellphone measured the blind to bait site distance at 110 yards. After building the blind and filling the pit with donuts ($0 local donut shop leftovers) I went home and burned through a few more cartridges ($26) centering my scope crosshairs for 110 yards.

The author finds a set of bear tracks!

The author stacks limbs and uses a shovel to prepare the area to bait.

The author packs bait in a frame pack to his remote hunting spot.

The author used the gps on his phone to calculate the yardage to the bait.

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A week later, the second Saturday in May, I returned with another load of donuts ($0) and took my first sit in the blind. Something had cleaned out last week’s bait and bear prints left in the surrounding snow pointed to the culprit. Early afternoon turned to late dusk with no activity. I will admit, during that sit the temperatures dropped into the low 30s and I spent the last couple hours shivering, thinking about the warm down jacket I’d left at home in my gear closet. On the drive home I decided a midweek drop of treats was needed to hold activity at my bait until the weekend. After work that Thursday I made a cannonball-run to the mountains, and as I suspected, the bait was cleaned out again. Luckily, I brought a double helping to ensure it lasted to Saturday.

The author had a narrow view of the bait.

Saturday number three I drove to the mountains, topped off my bait, and was sitting in my blind by 1pm.

The wind stayed in my face most of the day and temperatures bumped up ten degrees from the week before.

I surprised myself at how relaxing and enjoyable the long sit was. Pit against a week of fighting my normal work struggles the simple peace of nature was a welcome reset.

Just before eight-o-clock a fuzzy pair of ears came into view in the brush next to my bait. A black bear with a hint of cinnamon in his hind quarters trotted up and started clearing out the few sticks I’d placed on top of today’s bait. Slowly I raised my rifle and put him in the crosshairs. I noted a slight shake in my sights. A little excitement from a guy who’d never shot a bear before. I gave it a few seconds to let myself calm and the bruin decided to lay flat in the grass beside the bait. I lost my shot.

Patiently I waited. I kept what I could in my scope. Five minutes passed before he was up again and started working through the bait. Right broadside, looking away slightly. I set my crosshairs just behind his middle and slowly pulled at the trigger.

The crack of the rifle. He darted around a tree. I saw paws flail in the air as he took a tumble behind a large mass of underbrush. Bear down.

I waited thirty minutes before walking over to find him ten yards from where he’d been when I took the shot. I was all smiles as I cut my very first notches out of a bear tag. Of course,

The author puts his gear to the test in cold weather.

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The author checks in his bear with the Idaho Fish & Game department.

then the real work started. The knife was exceptional, and the jab saw did surprisingly well. My first-time gutting, skinning, quartering, and packing out a bear, it was just before midnight before I finally had him loaded into my truck and ready for the trip back to Boise.

When you add in the costs of license, tags, and fuel for the trips north I had a total of $977 put into getting my 2021 Idaho Spring Bear.

I kept it simple and have to say that with its season’s milder weather, fewer hunters, and the ability to use bait to set up shots there’s an honest case to be made for someone easing into hunting via a bear tag. I do see how the budget-minded’s view of the sport can get marred by our UTVs, performance hunting clothing, and all the popular hunting television series featuring their backcountry hunting trips to exotic destinations. The simplicity of how most of us got our start in hunting can easily be missed.

Overall, I considered my experiment a success. The next time I hear high costs discouraging someone hunting I have a little more to add to the discussion, and after reading this article you do too.

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“A Very PROPITIOUS event” adjective | pruh-pish-uhs | indicative of favor, favorably disposed towards you

by Dawson Smith @BNDProductionsca

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Every once in a while something significant happens that causes you to ponder the individual choices that decided the outcomes in your life. That causes you to wonder; what if things went differently, what if I went left instead of right, what if I stayed home, what if I did ask that girl out on a date, what if, what if, and what IF? The what “if’s” could have been a

work related matter, a relationship related matter or perhaps “it” happened while you were just out having fun. My passion is and has always been hunting; mountain hunting to be exact, and, more often than not, the significant propitious moments have taken place while I’ve been on a mountain somewhere. One such noteworthy moment happened during an adventure on a remote mountain in north western British Columbia, in early September.

“Look at that” Geoff said.

Further up the valley, high on a south facing slope we zoomed our spotters in on a grizzly bear digging for ground squirrels. The bear would dig like mad for a few minutes, then, as we could only guess, the squirrel would zip out of the hole and the bear would chase it, round and around they would go. It was a few miles away, however, from the actions we could see, the bear would pounce and then sit down, we assumed it had caught the squirrel. The grizzly was a magnificent boar, big head, blocky, its beautiful coat shimmering in the September sun and I had a tag in my pocket. But there was no sense in even attempting a stalk right then, the bear was racing back and forth across the tundra, even if it stayed relatively where it was, surely it would smell or see us if we got close on the open hillside. We just stayed put, lounging behind our glasses in the late afternoon sun and watched the show, and it was a show and a half.

Geoff Helfrich and I were way above tree line, a day and a half from the closest highway and about a four hour hike back to our tent. It was day three of a ten day mountain goat and grizzly bear hunt. As we watched the bear, an ominous dark bellied cloud slowly but steadily crawled its way from the east heading our way.

“Let’s head down before we get wet” Geoff said pointing at the cloud, “we can come back and find him tomorrow, between the berry patches and ground squirrels he’s not going anywhere.”

“Good plan” I replied.

“Deep in the guts of most men is buried the involuntary response to the hunter’s horn, a pickle of the nape hair’s, an acceleration of the pulse, an atavistic memory of his fathers; who killed first with a stone, and then with a club, and then with a spear, and then with bow, and then with gun, and finally with formulae”

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Robert Robert Roark – Horn of the Hunter

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As with most mountain hunting plans this one went a bit south, we woke up the next morning to rolling banks of fog, low hanging clouds and rain. We tried to get some glassing in but it was for naught, by mid morning we were back in camp and had decided that it was a Kobo kind of day.

Good binos are important when hunting game in such a vast area.

“Man, I sure hope that bear hangs around” I said during a rain squall “it’s one of the better ones we have seen up here.”

“Ya that’s a great bear” Geoff replied, “he’s probably like us right now, hunkered down waiting out this storm.” I could only chuckle, tent days are part of mountain hunting. Just before dark I looked to the east and saw a line of blue heading our way.

“I’m thinking tomorrow is going to be clear” I said, “we should plan to head out real early.”

During the night a strong wind picked up, our little tent fly flapped in the wind, but wind was a good thing as it would push the bad weather away. I was up and had the coffee boiling before light, shiny bright stars twinkled from above. After coffee and a quick cup of porridge we got ready, slipped our packs on and headed up the draw.

A few hours later we came up over the east end of the valley. Years earlier we had named it bear valley. It was well above tree line with a long flat south facing side, a small creek flowed from end to end, across the wide bottom the north facing side was the backside of steep rock faces. It was a perfect transition from the lake to the east to the high plateau country to the west. Over the years we had seen many bears in it, both feeding on the abundant berry patches, munching on the green grasses along the creek or up high digging ground squirrels.

The north facing ramparts more often than not had goats and stone sheep in them. It’s a magical place.

Once up in the valley we hiked over to a rock pile that gave us a clear view, end to end, of the south facing slope. I leaned my back pack against a rock and settled down to glass.

“There it is” Geoff said pointing way up across the valley. He hadn’t even sat down yet!

The bear was just below some rock outcroppings moving downhill.

“Good spot” I said to Geoff.

As we watched it I looked for the best route to get up the wide open hillside without being seen.

The wind was coming steady down valley so we didn’t have a wind issue. There was a run off channel from the ramparts above about five hundred yards down wind of the bear. “We should be able to sneak right up that out of sight” I said to Geoff.

“Ya for sure” he replied and we headed off.

Once in the channel it was perfect, what probably started as a trickle eons ago was now a runoff channel about twelve feet wide and probably ten feet deep, it was like walking up an escalator.

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behind us. It seemed like hours but eventually we made it to a set of rocks that we had picked out as the spot to poke up from.

“Let’s have a look here” I said to Geoff.

We took our backpacks off and slowly came out of the draw, a brisk wind blew right in our faces, Geoff whispered “this is perfect.”

At first the roll of the slope hid the bear but we crawled slowly ahead. I looked back and mouthed to Geoff, “see those rocks, let’s get to them and hunker down, the bear is around here somewhere.”

He gave me the thumbs up and we crept along.

Just as we got to the outcropping I saw the back of the bear about forty yards ahead, it was digging and totally unaware of us. I eased back and whispered to Geoff “it’s right there.”

He raised up a bit, had a quick peek and quickly dropped down. “Holy crap Dawson.”

Geoff and I have been on many grizzly bears hunts together, we have been successful and in some cases not, but all have been memorable. I smiled and whispered “I’m going to crawl ahead to that rock and shoot from there.”

“I’ll wait here” he replied.

I crept ahead while the bear was busy digging away. I waited until it was full broadside, placed the crosshairs of my scope on its engine room and squeezed Nov/Dec 2021

This terrain is open but has plenty of places for a bear to remain hidden.

the trigger. Or attempted to, “what the f” I thought, the safety was off but the trigger wouldn’t work. I tried a second time but it wasn’t working. Slinking back to where Geoff was I unloaded my rifle and tried the trigger, it was frozen. “This is crazy” I said to Geoff, “I’m not sure what is wrong, can I borrow your rifle?”

The whole time we were fooling around with my rifle we were peaking over the rocks at the bear a scanty forty yards away, the wind was strong so getting scented wasn’t an issue.

Geoff handed me his rifle “there’s three in the mag but nothing in the pipe he said.”

I crawled ahead to the rock again. The bear had moved our way a couple yards and was still digging, completely unaware of me and the fiasco with the rifle.

Again I waited until it was full broadside, facing downhill, found the engine room and squeezed the trigger. This time the rifle in my hand went off, the bear dropped in the hole it was digging.

He crawled ahead and we watched the bear for a bit, “that was awesome” he whispered.

After a while we quietly moved up hill a few yards and slowly crept up on the bear. I love bear hunting, bears and big cats are my favourite, every time I walked up to a kill I am amazed of the size and just overall demeanor of these incredible predators. I do not take killing one lightly. www.bear-hunting.com

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“Beautiful bear” Geoff said “what an incredible hunt.” We sat in the hole the bear had dug and took the moment in. The colours of fall and the splendor of being in the mountains is as much a part of a hunt as is the hunt and kill.

The British Columbian tundra can be an unforgiving landscape.

We took a few pictures then rolled the bear over to skin and debone the meat. I was skinning the neck out and noticed some damage, “what’s this” I said to Geoff. “Hmm” he replied “that’s weird.”

Peeling the hide back I found where a bullet had went in and the exit hole. “I thought you shot it in the chest, broad side” Geoff said. “I did” I replied, “there’s no way I would have shot it in the neck.” But once we had it skinned out there was only one hole, “that’s not right” I said to Geoff, “when we get back to camp we better take a shot out of your rifle.”

It was dark by the time we got the bear skinned, de-boned, loaded in our packs and got back to camp. It was a great day, while making a small fire, hanging the hide and meat in trees we went over the day, “still not sure what happened with the shot though” I said.

“We’ll find a spot and take a shot in the morning” Geoff replied.

Early the next morning I said “ready,” Geoff was lined up on a tree fifty yards away. He shot, then shot again, eventually we sorted out that his rifle was shooting twelve inches to the right and about ten inches high!

“How did that happen” Geoff said, “I shot this rifle a few days before coming on this trip, obviously I banged the scope somewhere, probably on the way in.”

“Oh my” I said smiling, “I waited and waited until that bear was facing downhill to shoot it. My thought was if he jumped or took off at the shot it would be down the hill away from us instead of up or across towards us. I aimed at his side and hit him in the neck, if he was facing uphill and I aimed for his side I would have hit him in the butt.”

British Columbia has a healthy population of grizzly bear.

Unfortunately, BC banned grizzly hunting in December of 2017 ignoring sound conservation science.

“Haha” Geoff replied, with one rifle not working and the other shooting a foot off, we would have been in a pickle for sure.”

We got Geoff’s rifle shooting straight and after a few awesome days trekking around the mountains he killed a dandy mountain goat with it. It was another long day, late into the night getting his goat back to camp but eventually we had it hanging on the meat pole. Just before slipping off to sleep we talked about the trip, we both had the hunt we came for and were heading down with memories to last a lifetime.

Was the adventure with the rifles and grizzly a propitious moment for us, we will never know for sure the “what”, or “if’s”, but the outcome certainly was in our favour!

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French Canadian Black Bear Tourtière

by Tim Fowler

@timothydfowler

A Celebration

Both Thanksgiving and Christmas deserve celebrating. Families of hunters get the bonus of adding game to special holiday menus. A traditional French Canadian centre-of-the-plate item is the classic meat pie: Tourtiere. This one is made with bear meat and the pastry is made with bear fat: a double whammy of celebratory goodness from the boreal forest.

Discovering Game Cherise Fowler, my daughter-in-law, takes her food preparation seriously. And since marrying my youngest son, Josh, she has upped her culinary game by focusing on wild harvest. Cherise’s relationship with game meat, bones, and fat has completely changed since getting tangled up with Josh. She makes a crazy-good French Canadian–inspired bear pie meat called tourtière.

A light touch of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves seasons tourtière. What follows is a little background and a visual and written approach to making delicious Christmas Eve– worthy Bear Tourtière, including flaky pastry made with bear fat.

Before an invitation to dinner at our house more than a decade ago, Cherise had never eaten wild meat.

“The first dinner [at Josh’s parents’ home] we had deer. I had no idea what to expect because I had no experience with it. I think the only thing I’d heard was that it tasted gamey, which meant nothing. The tone of it meant it wasn’t good. It was delicious. I think it was a mule deer loin with a simple rub. I didn’t grow up with a ton of red meat in the house so red meat wasn’t my preference. I also typically liked my steak more well done before getting used to medium rare–cooked game at the Fowlers’ home.”

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Celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with a classic tradition French Canadian Meat pie: Tourtière That was more than a decade, a wedding, and two kids ago. And many, many notches on Josh’s Buck Vanguard’s leather sheath. Cherise has embraced game, and the year that Josh brought home two bears encouraged further exploration.

“I remember Josh bringing home the bear hides.

And black bear Tasso ham––that was amazing. When we put that in cassoulet, I think that’s when bear registered for me, because it had a unique flavor you couldn’t get in regular ham. We use smoked bear shanks, in cassoulet and bear fat for pastry for regular meat pies.”

Josh and Cherise have done an excellent job as ambassadors for wild meat. It is sort of an outcome, not really a mission.

“Everyone we have over for dinner knows Josh hunts and probably knows in the back of their mind that it’s possible that game is on the menu,” said Cherise.

Even their two-year-old daughter is loving her wild meat. Sausage is among her favorites—whether elk, black bear, or mule deer. As parents, they encourage her to try a bit of everything.

“I like that Adeline is trying a variety of things,” said Cherise. “We want her to try everything. As much as we can, we like to expose her to different things.

I think it’s fun to give Addy some stuff like that now because she is at that stage in childhood when she’s discovering everything. She talks along with her meal: ‘This is good. I’m eating bear. Daddy, I’m eating bear.’

That makes it fun as well.”

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Addy certainly thinks mom’s black bear tourtière is a winner. I think you will too.

From a macro-planning perspective, acquire the bear, plan to grind with the bacon and pork in advance of preparing the tourtière. Purchase fresh whole spices, and a micro plane or fine grater, if you can. Have a good look at the recipe, make a list, and assemble all of the ingredients. This recipe makes two pies. Pick some high-bush cranberries (Viburnum edule) if you have them in your neighborhood.

The Pastry Duchess Bakery in Edmonton, Alberta, is known locally for their French pastries. Cherise adapted the pastry recipe from the Duchess Bake Shop cookbook by Giselle Courteau by substituting 50 percent bear fat for the recipe’s butter amount. We doubled the batch, as tourtière is a big effort so we might as well make two.

Chill 2 cups of unsalted butter and 2 cups of bear fat. (Go ahead and use 100 percent bear fat if you like. I can tell you it works great.) Measure 8 cups of flour and 2 teaspoons of fine salt and sift into a large bowl. Cut the fat into playing dice–sized cubes and rub into the flour. Your goal is to have butter and bear fat about the size of corn kernels. Fill a four-cup measuring cup with ice cubes and water and stir to chill. Pour 2 cups of ice water over the flour mixture and mix just enough to bring the dough together in a ragged ball.

Divide into four. Wrap in plastic wrap and return to the refrigerator.

Weights and Measures: Gram Scales As a hunter and a Red Seal chef, I can tell you that grams, kilograms, liters and milliliters are so much easier to manipulate mathematically than pounds, ounces, cups, quarts, and pints. My strong advice is to buy and use a scale—in fact, buy two. Buy a 5kg (11-pound) digital scale for the heavier ingredients and buy a gram scale (max 200 grams) accurate to 0.1 gram. An assortment of scales start at less than $20 and are available online. A scale will change your life in the kitchen. Resistors say scales are limiting, but in fact, they will free you to master repeat culinary performances because you have an accurate baseline to either make the same item again or make a well-informed change based on your records. Not enough cinnamon in the tourtière? When spices are measured accurately you have an informed baseline from which to build the next version.

A Note About Note Taking I take meticulous notes on recipes as I make them, weighing ingredients at each step. Even recipes given in cups and tablespoons are weighed, so I can correct something if required. Often my dinner guests want to know exactly how I did something, because I have good notes, I can share what was done in a repeatable format.

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The Meat Filling Grind 25 ounces of black bear through the coarse holes, followed with 11 ounces of bacon ends and 11 ounces of fatty pork shoulder.

Mix the coarsely ground meat and grind again through fine holes. (Note: this bear was a spring bear and very lean and therefore required the addition of bacon and pork.)

Heat a heavy cast iron pan, add the meat, and cook the meat over medium heat.

Add two fresh bay leaves, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon of cloves, 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme, ½ tablespoon of oregano, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir the meat to combine the spices. Remove the pan before the meat browns. In a separate sauté pan, add 2 tablespoons of oil, 2 cups of shredded carrot, 2 cups of shredded potato, 1 cup of finely diced onion, 1/2 cup of finely diced leek, and 1/4 cup of finely diced shallot. Cook over medium heat until the vegetables are just cooked. Then combine with the meat in a large bowl and drizzle in one or two tablespoons of maple syrup.

The Gravy Because the bear meat was so lean, we mixed up a bit of gravy to moisten the meat mix.

This mixture, even after the addition of gravy, was still just moistened, not wet like a shepherd’s pie. Make a roux by heating two tablespoons of butter with two tablespoons of flour, add 1 cup of chicken stock, and whisk to make a thin gravy.

Add just enough to moisten the meat.

The Cranberry Sauce Pick wild highbush cranberries if you can. I found highbush cranberries in the boreal forest. Wash, pick and bring 2 cups of wild cranberries to a simmer on medium heat, add the juice and grated skin of one medium orange, and 1/2 cup of honey. When the sauce begins to thicken, remove from heat, taste and add more honey if you like. Serve as a bright accompaniment. Commercially available cranberries are an acceptable substitute.

The Vinaigrette and Greens Tourtière is a major kitchen effort and a big meal, so a bright side of greens with a sharp vinaigrette is a perfect accompaniment. I made a simple vinaigrette by whisking 1 cup (242 ml) of grapeseed oil into 1/3 cup of red wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard, and 1 tablespoon of anchovy paste and seasoned it with salt and coarse pepper. I mixed this up in advance of dinner service and poured it over the greens, tossed them, and carefully used tongs to place the salad beside the tourtière when plated.

Assemble and Bake

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Remove one piece of dough at a time from the fridge and roll out, allowing two or three fingers wide beyond the edge of the baking dish. Push the crust into the bottom and edge of the pie plate. I was surprised to see how thick Cherise rolled her crust. It was nearly 1/4 of an inch thick. That turned out to be perfect. Don’t be afraid to leave a bit of crust on this pie. We used Emile Henry heavy ceramic pie plates that were 10 and 1/2 inches wide. Drape the pastry over the edges of the pie dish. Fill with half of the meat mixture. Level the filling and roll the top dough. Carefully place the pastry top over the bottom crust and pinch with your thumbs or push the edges down with a fork to seal. Repeat the same for the second pie.

If you like a deeper colored crust, give the top crust of the pie a wash of 1 egg whisked with ¼ cup of 35% fat cream. This is optional.

Bake at 350 F for about an hour. This is something you will need to manage and make a call on doneness. The internal temperature of my Tourtière was 205 F when I took it from the oven, and the crust was deeply caramelized. I thought it was perfect. Let the pie rest 15 minutes or so before cutting.

Serve the Wild Feast Besides being made with bear fat and bear protein, the flavor of the tourtière is unique because the combination of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg is rare in meat pies. The flavor is delightful. A side of greens and a garnish of the sharp-sweet-sour funk of ripe highbush cranberries were a perfect counterpoint to the rich black bear and flaky crust. It was even better reheated the next day after the spices were encouraged to further develop overnight in the fridge.

Like Addy says, “Daddy, I am eating bear.”

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Bear Hunting

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Four Ingredient Bear Grease Balm

by Joleen Morehead

@joleen_morehead

There’s something so satisfying to me about the multiple uses bear grease provides. It’s a bear hunter’s

liquid gold. It’s great in pastries, in soap, and is very moisturizing.

Bear fat will make even the toughest of hands, smooth as a baby’s bottom. It also doesn’t hold any strong smells associated with other animal fats when rendered.

Bear grease has been used for topical skin care for generations and some believe it is good for joint pain. Essential oils like eucalyptus or menthol would be good additions to this recipe to make it more like an icy hot or vapor rub (Caution: don’t use too much as it could irritate your skin).

Ingredients: 1 cup of Bear Grease 1/4 cup of Jojoba Oil 1/4 cup of Stearic Acid - (See side bar) 50 drops of Essential Oils

Tools Needed: Glass Jars Normal Kitchen Tools

Sold? Let’s make some Balm!

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1 Step One:

Measure out 1 cup of bear grease and 1/4 cup of stearic acid. Put them in separate jars and heat up in a pan full of water.

2 Step Two:

Turn on the burner to low- medium heat. Be patient with the warming up process. Be careful to not splash yourself when heating or melting any sort of solid/ liquids and make sure you wear proper

3 protection. The Stearic Acid will melt quickly but just keep double boiling until the Bear Grease is melted and warm.

Step Three:

4 www.bear-hunting.com

Once both the Stearic Acid and Bear Grease are melted, first pour the Bear Grease into a medium sized bowl.

Then pour the Stearic Acid in the same bowl and whisk vigorously.

WHISK, WHISK, WHISK! Stearic Acid Stearic Acid cools down very quickly and you will want to combine as Stearic acid is a safe addimuch as you can before it cools. tive derived from vegetable I made the unfortunate mistake of fat. It is used to thicken, pouring the stearic acid before the emulsify, and stabilize bear grease. Save yourself some formulations in the personal time and don’t do what I did! care, cosmetic, and candle making industries. It is food Step Four: grade and safe for use. We Whisk in 1/4 cup of use stearic acid for projects Jojoba Oil into the that require bear fat to be Bear Grease and solid at room temperature Stearic Acid mixture. for balms, waxes, lotions, candles, etc.

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5

6

Step Five:

Mix your essential oils in- I used Lavender and Peppermint because I like the soothing nature of Lavender and the minty feeling of Peppermint. (You could add more drops of essential oils if you would like a stronger scented balm)

Step Six:

Cover your bowl and place into the refrigerator until the balm hardens.

Step Seven:

Once the balm is completely hardened, take a hand mixer and break up the balm for about 1-2 minutes. I stopped halfway through and scraped the sides down.

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Nov/Dec 2021

8 Step Eight:

You can store at room temperature, or you can keep in the refrigOnce the balm becomes the texture of soft whipped butter, you’ve erator. reached peak balm perfection. I scooped up the Bear Grease Enjoy your Bear Grease Balm!

Balm and stored it into 4oz glass jars.

This recipe made about four, 4oz jars of Bear Grease Balm.

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Legendary Bear Hounds:

PR BEAR RIVER BULLET Article by Clay Newcomb Orginally published in the Nov/Dec 2015 issue

Breaking the Pace Legendary bear hounds come in all shapes, sizes and colors. Some are registered dogs

with generations of trackable pedigree, while others are crossbreeds. One thing is for sure, bear hunters are interested in dogs that will put a bear up a tree, or bay it on the ground, for as long it takes. Papers won’t produce a bear dog, but generations of solid breeding practices will. Undoubtedly, the Treeing Walker is one of the most popular breeds of tree hounds in North America used for big game hunting. In the third article in our Legendary Bear Hound series, we highlighted a line of legendary Walkers, the Nance Bred Walkers. In this article, we will talk about a hound out of New England that has some Nance breeding in it that qualifies for this series. The dog’s name is ‘PR’ Bear River Bullet.

Trell Hartford lives and hunts in the White and Ossipee Mountains of New Hampshire. Trell began bear hunting when he was a kid with his friend, and legendary New England houndsman, Mike Lord (Mike passed away last year). However, Trell didn’t start to build his own pack of hounds until 2006.

Once retired from hunting, Bullet went to work with owner Trell Hartford regularly. In his prime, Bullet was known to tree a 1/2 mile in front of the pack regularly.

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Most of this region consists of wide-open hardwood forest. This is likely just the type of bear habitat people on the Eastern side of the country dream about for bears - The Big Woods. As good as this may sound, the Big Woods offer some unique challenges for bear dogs. The bear will run long, hard, and fast. They’ve got room to stretch out and set the pace of a race. You’ve got to have fast dogs, according to Trell. “You’ve got to have a dog that will run to catch,” he says. “A dog that I want to hunt has got to be able to catch the ‘80-pounder.’ In the open woods, I need a dog that can break the pace. A bear will set a pace that he can run all day.

You’ve got to have a dog that will break it.” As it turned out, Trell’s first hound he got in 2006 would be the one that would set the standard for “breaking the pace.”

Finding Bullet ‘PR’ Bear River Bullet was born March 14th, 2006.

A friend of Trell’s, by the name of Kirk Rogers, raised the pup until he was two-and-half years old. Trell was just getting into bear hunting, and he was looking for a top dog to start his pack. “When I knew I was going to start bear hunting again, I figured I would look for one really good dog to start with,” Trell remembers. He sold a 1967 Pontiac GTO to buy the dog on a two-week trial for $3,500. Quality has never been cheap.

The dog was out of some top big-game breeding. The pup was out of ‘PR’ Ashley’s Sebastian (sire) and ‘PR’ Bear River Terra (dam). The grandsire and dam on the sire’s side was ‘PR’ Huffs Studly and ‘PR’ Huffs Daisy.

Also on the sire’s other side the bloodlines also go back to Mike Lord’s breeding (Lord’s Jesse and Lord’s Haley).

The dam’s side (‘PR’ Bear River Terra) goes back to a rich pedigree of champion coonhounds. In the three-generation pedigree on her side, she has over 25 Nite Champion and Grand Nite Champion titles.

Spending that much money on a dog was big investment for Trell, and he wanted to know that hound had what it took to back up the price. Bullet started running with the other dogs when he was nine-months old, according to his owner Kirk Rogers. Even at that age he was really aggressive with bears and wouldn’t back down. To add to his lack of fear of bruins, the dog was extremely fast. This caught the attention of Kirk. By the time the dog was two-and-a-half years old, he was the top dog in the pack, but he hadn’t been hunted by himself much at all.

However, the dog was too aggressive for Kirk’s taste, and so he decided he would sell the hound.

Trell bought the dog on a two-week trial, and after the first week of hunting the high-dollar hound, he wasn’t impressed. “The second day I had the dog he Nov/Dec 20210

Legendary Bear Hounds Bear River Bullet (left) on the rig in New Hampshire when he was still hunting regulary. Bullet was known for his exceptional speed on the track.

Bullet was documented treeing over 700 bears, bot including bays or reruns. All photos courtesy of Trell Hartford.

ate a porcupine. We hunted a few more days, and he got into a second porcupine. The vet bills were killing me, and I wanted to give the dog back.” Trell was frustrated. However, he got a call from a friend that would change the course of his bear hunting forever, as just the right opportunity arose for Bullet to prove the potential he possessed. Trell remembers, “The morning after he got into the second porcupine, a guy called me and said he had a bear in his backyard. Within two hours I was at the guy’s house with Bullet on a lead.”

“I remember Bullet started pulling on the lead, and I let him go,” Trell said. Bullet struck out of the backyard hard and soon opened on the track. He pushed it hard, and within a short time he was treed one-and-a-half miles from the friend’s house.

He had run and treed the track all by himself and done it with style. This was just the boost of confidence that Trell needed to keep the hound. In that first season of hunting, Bullet and a small pack of hounds treed 12 bears. It was a start, but Bullet really didn’t start to show his full potential until he was about threeand-a-half years old. Patience played a big part in developing the dog that would ultimately become a once-in-a-lifetime hound for Trell.

Bullet’s Development Bullet began to develop as a bear dog, and in his second season with Trell, he began to use him as a rig dog. The

www.bear-hunting.com

dog really began to show his speed, and it became a problem because Bullet would catch the bear on the ground before the other dogs got there. This would put the dog in a one-on-one grapple with a bear, and Trell feared the hound would get hurt. “It was tough to get the other dogs to keep up with him, and he would be catching these bears by himself.”

However, it was a risk that Trell would just get used to, and ultimately was a good problem to have.

Early on, Trell remembers hunting with other houndsmen that would turn their dogs out first to strike a bear. After the dogs were 1/2 mile into the race, Trell would turn out Bullet. By the time they got to the tree, Bullet would be a ½ mile ahead of the pack, treeing the bear by himself. The dog was scary fast, and Trell began to realize that he had an amazing hound.

To Trell’s credit, he has kept very good records of all the bears that his dogs have treed through the seasons. “Since Bullet was 3.5-years old we’ve treed around 100 bears per season. As of 2013, he has been a part of 567 treed bears in the time I’ve owned him, and he was said to have been on 50 treed bears before I bought him. That puts him at over 600 trees. These totals don’t include re-runs or bayed bears,” Trell recalls. “Most years he would tree

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between 20 and 40 of those bears before the other dogs.” The dog was rocket-fast and consistent.

“When he was four years old I started building my pack around him, trying to find to a dog that had the same “run to catch” mentality. I needed another dog that had the same idea that it wasn’t ok to be outrun,” Trell said. Bullet expressed the intense desire that all bear dogs need. “He would chew on the aluminum box when you didn’t turn him out. He would run to catch, and do it everyday and not be sore. I could run in the morning and tree a bear, and then go out and tree one in the evening, and do it the next day again.” The dog had endless desire.

ly pressuring one. He’s not screaming in the bear’s face, but I can tell when he’s face to face with a bear. It almost sounds like a ‘booger’ bark.”

Miscellaneous things about Bullet

Most of the littermates of Bullet turned out to be good bear dogs. They were all blanket-backed and redheaded, according to Trell.

“There was another female, his sister, that they said was faster than Bullet.” Trell has bred Bullet to some of Kirk Rogers and Kelly Irwin’s Walkers in Bullet’s Style New England. They’ve produced some really good packs that have been built around Bullet’s breedIn the different regions of the country certain styles of dogs ing. are desirable. In the mountains of New Hampshire you need an ulBullet is now nine-years old, and is oftra-fast dog. Trell prefers what he calls a “drifting” style of tracking. ficially retired but still living. His front shoulder He said, “These dogs don’t run with their head down, they run with was broken when he collided with a bear, and his their heads up. They usually don’t cross the roads in the same place Achilles tendon was bitten through. He’s not as the bear does. They are drifting the track. I think it’s a “style” of run- quick as he used to be, but he still has the same ning that they’ve adapted or learned.” He says that he’s had some desire. “One of his eyes is slow, and he doesn’t see other breeds of dogs that wouldn’t lift their noses off the track, and that well anymore,” Trell said. Bullet now sleeps weren’t fast enough for his taste. In the Walker world, this is what in the house during the winter, and Trell takes him you usually hear from the houndsman – Walkers are known to be to work a lot of days. “When I take him to work, fast. In some of the hound breeds more geared for coonhunting, you he stays in my area. At home he lies by the stove want a dog that will cold trail a track, and work it out step-for-step. and goes to the crate when it’s time to go bed.

Bear hunters are usually trying to put their dogs on hotter tracks, He loads in the truck easy, and he’s good with my and prefer the hounds push them hard. daughter, and she can lead him. He’s always been Even with this style of tracking, Bullet could also be a very easy to handle in the woods,” Trell says. cold-nosed hound. Trell recalled once when they put Bullet on a “Having an exceptional dog can somebear that had been wounded by a hunter 20 hours prior. “Bullet times stunt the development of other dogs in the caught that bear in the rocks,” Trell recalled. The dog would do pack. I got away from making him the lead dog whatever it took to get the bear. He has intense desire and ability to because the other dogs started to depend on him. back it up. Bullet is bawl mouthed on the track, and he has a good It was a real problem for a while. The other dogs locate. He then rolls it into a chop on the tree. Trell says, “He’s got a were always behind him. If he was barking, that’s lot different changes in his voice. He’s not as mouthy when he’s real- where they wanted to be, and behind him they all

Bullet on a solo tree after a two hour race with a 80 pound bear. Treeing the small bears is a real test of a bear dog. Bullet always had a way to break the pace!

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looked great! It’s taking me a while to find a hound to take over the lead spot.”

Bullet was an exceptional rig dog. “If he barks, he’s going to find it. He’s winded them over 400 yards away. He checks some tracks, but he’ll load right back if it’s not a bear. If he leaves the side of the road and opens, 99% of the time you’re going to see a bear,” Trell said.

Once Trell remembers leaving Bullet home when he went hunting. “I hunt the areas very close to my house.

That day the dogs treed a couple miles away, and when I got to the tree Bullet was there! He had chewed out of his aluminum wire fence when he heard the race start!”

Trell remembers that once they found a fresh track leading into a cornfield. They turned Bullet on the fresh track assuming that he would run that bear. After being released, Bullet turned in an odd direction and left out silent, but in a dead run. “Within a few minutes he started bellowing in a patch of scrubby oaks. He had a 425-pound bayed, and it wasn’t the bear we turned him out on!” Trell recalls.

It’s these types of the stories accumulated over the years that build the case for a dog to become a legend. Perhaps the best description of Bullet would be that he had unbeatable desire and speed. The dog is easy to handle and is a pleasure to hunt. Though the dog is retired, Trell did take the hound on one last hunt when his 7-year old daughter requested that he tree a bear for her. In September 2015, old Bullet treed a bear solo that she killed in New Hampshire. This seems like a fitting retirement gig for Old Bullet, and nail in the coffin of his legendary status.

Trell brought Bullet out of retirement when his 7- year old daughter, Hailey, asked if she could hunt him in 2015. Bullet treed the bear solo, and she shot the bear unassisted!

Bullet was an exceptional rig dog. If he checked a track and opened, the next time you would see him would be under a bear tree or fighting one on the ground. Bullet was raised running the fast-running bears of New Hampshire.

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NEW EXCLUSIVE DESIGN! | Available only at www.bear-hunting.com 50

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Nov/Dec 2021

Guard the gate stickers

from Bear Hunting Magazine

“Guard the Gate is our rally cry to protect bear hunting. Bear hunting is an entry point for anti-hunting sentiment to enter into North American hunting. It’s more important than ever to protect all methods of bear hunting.”

- Clay Newcomb

Only atonly www.bearhuntingmagazine.com #guardthegate at www.bear-hunting.com

Bear Guns 30-30

By Kolby Morehead

@kolby_morehead

There’s not much in this life more iconic americana than the Winchester Model 1894 in 30-30. First appearing in Winchester’s catalog in August 1895, the 30-30 has been tested and found to be more than an adequate big game cartridge.

Question: do you know what .30-30 stands for? Here’s some trivia that you can impress some of your buddies when the topic of a .30-30 comes up. The .30-30 was the first cartridge using a smokeless powder. It was customary in that day for rounds to be named by the diameter of the round followed by the standard load of black powder for that cartridge. The .30-30 is a .30 caliber round using 30 grains of powder back then.

This caliber can take down any North American big game including moose with recoil have that of a .30-06. It is a great rifle to run with iron sights in more dense forests where long shots are not required. The 30-30 is considered to have an effective range out to 150 yards while some claim it is possible to shoot 200+ yards with the correct tipped bullets.

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Winchester Model 94 Trails End Takedown Caliber – 30-30 Easy takedown Weight – 6lbs 12 oz 20” barrel Mag capacity: 6 ( Full-Length Tube) Twist rate – 12” Drilled & tapped for scope Stock – Black Walnut MSRP - $1,549.99

Caliber Summary: Good for all North American big game.

Bullets: 110 gr – 170 gr Sectional Density: 150gr - .226 Muzzle Velocity: 150gr Flat Nose – 2,390 ft/s Energy – 150gr Flat Nose – 1903 ft-lbf Ammo – Readily available under normal conditions.

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The North Carolina Bear Hunting Season is open and underway. Despite the hurricanes, tropical storms and record floods, it’s hard to believe half of the state is still in drought conditions. And here we are, trying to hunt bear and run dogs on very dry ground for the 2nd successive year.

As any bear hunter knows, hunting success and bear harvest totals depend on natural foods (mast).

The eastern and western bear harvest totals vary based upon the amount of mast (i.e.; acorns, hickory nuts, walnuts, apples and various berries), available for bears to feed on. We know that when mast is generally poor and/or becomes localized, it causes bears to travel further foraging for food and concentrates the bears where mast can be found which makes them more likely to have contact with hunters. Each fall bear must gain weight and store fat to sustain them through winter hibernation and ensure female reproductive success. Baiting in NC has helped to alleviate the effects of mast cycles, but it’s still a challenge with heavy and light mast crops.

Mountain (western) bear hunting season has been underway for a couple weeks and the early reports are somewhat mixed. The early trend is suggesting the season may look like the 2019 season, where some wide regions produced abundant mass and other smaller areas produced disappointing levels of natural foods and hard mast. Accordingly, hunting in those areas with robust mast production has been very good; additionally, we are waiting for some field information because we’ve heard reports of large bears being taken. The western mast crop should continue to create some good bear hunting throughout the season.

Coastal (eastern) bear hunting season is fast approaching and we anticipate good results. Field reports indicate plenty of bear sightings and farmers have been seeing crop deprivation over the past four weeks. So, if past years’ trends are any indication, our eastern hunters could be in for a bountiful hunting season.

As reported to the NCBHA Board of Directors; The incidence of anti-hunting activities by organizations and individuals interfering with hunters has become more focused and coordinated over the past 10 years. Jim Noles (NCBHA President) summarized that Bear Hunters have encountered an inordinate number of incidents of individuals catching and stealing their hounds, removing hound tracking electronics, initiating load noises, and anti-groups confronting hunters and blocking access.

More recently, these anti-organizations and individuals have begun luring bears to property where bear hunting is not permitted and away from areas where hunting is allowed to prevent hunters from being able to lawfully harvest a bear. This has been occurring because NC does not have laws or regulations prohibiting persons from feeding bears. Accordingly, the anti-groups lure bears with food across municipal or governmental boundaries where bear hunting isn’t www.bear-hunting.com

allowed. This method of hunter harassment typically begins just before bear hunting seasons open. Most of these harassment incidents have reportedly occurred in Buncombe County, with other incidents occurring in Madison, Haywood and Yancey counties in western NC. In response to this harassment / nuisance activity, the NC Legislature has amended House Bill 181 and added to General Statutes § 113-295 (a2) “It is unlawful for a person to place bait for the purpose of intentionally interfering with the lawful taking of wildlife.” It will be a Class 2 misdemeanor for a first conviction and a Class 1 misdemeanor for a second or subsequent conviction”.

Noles remarked that HB-181 was ratified on September 9th, giving North Carolina’s bear hunters a broader sweep of laws on the books protecting hunters from harassment, protection of electronic collars worn by hounds, and laws prohibiting harassment due to feeding. We expect HB-181 to be signed and hopefully be another tool protecting hunters’ rights.

NCBHA Board of Directors announced a new Board member for the vacant C4 seat. Joining the Board will be Benny Vance, of Newland, NC. Benny has been a longtime NCBHA supporter and member of the Daniel Boone Bear Club. Benny brings a long-held tradition of community involvement and support.

Before closing this edition, we wanted to cover the revised 2020 Bear Hunting Season harvest data.

It might be beneficial for our members to review the official gender related results reported by BMU.

For the record, the all-time three (3) largest bears taken in NC were: 880 pounds in Craven County, 782 pounds Hyde County, and 780 pounds in Hyde County.

Also, we want to make sure our members watch for the 2022 N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission (WRC) proposed changes to the state’s wildlife management and fishing regulations. We don’t have any specific items to call to your attention, but we are tracking a couple things that could be of interest for bear hunters.

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. Our website is www.NCBHA. com. Be safe!

Bear Hunting 53

Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association Inc. Nov/Dec 2021

BIG FRIG Coolers WBHA SPONSOR WBHA DEADLINES

2022 Yamaha Viking UTV or $10,000.00 cash

Tickets 1 for $20.00

Purchased from:

Miller Supply

Drawing is being held Saturday March 26, 2022, at 1:00 p.m., Central Wisconsin Convention & Expo Center, 10101 Market St., Rothschild, WI 54474

License #R0011342-A-65210

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

Yeti Hopper Cooler donated in memory of Jerome Johnson

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

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WBHA BOARD OF DIRECTORS NOMINATIONS- November 1st LANDOWNER APPRECIATION- November 1st YEARBOOK- January 1st

N9804 Hwy 45 Clintonville, WI 54929 (715) 823-6232 $10,000.00 Cash or 2022 Yamaha Viking UTV Traeger Pro Series 22 Pellet Grill Springfield 1911 .45 acp Wasatch 18 Gun Safe Savage 555 12ga o/u Kimber Micro .380 acp Rosewood Sig Sauer P365 9mm Pit Boss Pellet Smoker Glock 20 Gen 4 10mm Savage 110 Apex .300 Pkg All Guns and Prizes Ruger Go Wild 6.5 CM Purchased from Scheels Browning AB3 .30-06 Black $525.00 Scheels Gift Card Wicked Ridge Rampage X-Bow Stoeger M3020 20ga Camo Stoeger M3000 12ga Camo Sitka Stratus Vest and Pants $525.00 Scheels Gift Card Garmin 66SR GPS Unit Kentrek 400 gram Mountain Boots S&W 642 .38 Special Leupold SX-2 Series 20-60 Spotting Scope, Vanguard Tripod $525.00 Scheels Gift Card Xenek Ground Blind, Alps Ground Blind Chair Mossberg Patriot .243 Pkg CZ 457 Trainer .22lr Mossberg 500 .410 Camo Big Bite 8# Meat Grinder, Deluxe Vacuum Sealer Winchester SXP 12ga Trap Canik TP9SF 9mm FDE Weekender Paddle Board, Paddle Board Paddle $525.00 Scheels Gift Card Reconyx Trail Camera Garmin Pro 550 Dog Collar CVA Optima V2 .50 Cal Scheels Rain Parka, Scheels Rain Bibs $522.00 Scheels Gift Card 2 Cuddeback Cuddelink Trail Cameras Foxpro Inferno Predator Call, Digital Night Vision Binoculars Ruger Security 9mm Mystery Ranch Popup Pack Hummingbird Helix 5 Locator Vortex Impact Rangefinder, Vortex Crossfire 10X42 Binoculars Winchester SXP 12ga Black Benelli Supernova 12ga Lead Sled Shooting Rest, Tannerite Pro Pack, Gallery Target $500.00 Scheels Gift Card Benchmade Osborne Knife Yeti Hopper Flip Cooler, 4# Yeti Ice Pack St. Croix Premium Rod, Daiwa One Series Reel

BIG BEAR RECOGNITIONDecember 1st Entries must be a WBHA member prior to September 1st

ADVERTISING- January 1st SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONSMarch 1st To insure 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 been reduced to a view quality photo and cannot be reproduced and published.

FIND US ON FACEBOOK!

Save the Date **NEW DATE** The Southeast Town Hall Meeting will be held on Jan. 15 2022 at the Berlin Conservation Club, W898 Whiteridge Rd, Berlin, WI These Town Hall Meetings are “member’s only” events, with memberships available at the door.

These events will include guest speakers, legal updates, door prizes, raffles, silent auctions, and a good place to get to know your WBHA Board of Directors and Officers. Doors open at 1:00 PM

Nov/Dec 2021

Michigan wildlife managers are addressing concerns about how state biologists track and record gray wolves after the Department of Natural Resources’ former wolf specialist alleged counts are intentionally minimized.

The situation has little impact on the status of wolves in Michigan, which number at least 700 and surpassed state and federal recovery goals nearly two decades ago. But it does raise questions about the science behind wildlife population estimates and how often the DNR should review its techniques.

In August, former Michigan DNR wolf specialist Kevin Swanson told the Michigan Wolf Management Advisory Council about his experiences during the state’s biennial wolf surveys. He alleged wolves he counted were not included in the final tally and accused his former colleagues of ignoring evidence in data sheets submitted by Upper Peninsula field staff.

Swanson told the council he raised objections to the omitted data and demanded a meeting with his superiors to request a review of the program. Swanson said he ultimately left the DNR over the issue.

At the council’s September meeting, DNR officials countered Swanson’s claims by laying out how exactly field staff conduct the wolf survey, and explaining how those managing the survey resolve discrepancies.

DNR biologist Brian Roell offered a brief history of wolf monitoring in Michigan and how the department settled on the current survey method, which covers approximately 60 percent of the Upper Peninsula every other year. Roell said the work requires biologists to head deep into the woods on multiple occasions to document and verify wolf sign across an extensive area.

“They’re so mobile, it takes us a while and multiple times going into an area,” Roell said.

In 1995, when about 80 wolves lived in packs spread about 17 miles apart, the task of differentiating between them was fairly straightforward. But by 2006, when the population hit 434 wolves in packs spread about 8 miles apart, “building the justifications” for counting wolves in specific packs became “very daunting,” Roell said.

The DNR then switched to a sampling scheme that involved random samples of 21 units across the UP, “with assurances we do every unit within two survey periods,” Roell said.

Multiple DNR staff make multiple trips to collect data on each pack, and also attempt to collect evidence of neighboring packs to ensure some are not double counted, Roell explained.

“We try to get in to packs at least three times, that’s our goal,” he said, though he acknowledged it doesn’t always happen.

DNR staff look for tracks and follow them, measure strides and other evidence, then document all of the findings on data sheets. Staff also submit a “justification summary” to provide supporting evidence for pack numbers. Roell incorporates that data with historic pack data and the department’s limited information from collared wolves.

Roell said the official wolf figures reflect the number of animals the department can prove with certainty, and he presented data sheets from Swanson and others to illustrate why some are left out.

Roell cited one example in which Swanson and another biologist documented two wolves in a pack, and days later Swanson documented the pack again at four www.bear-hunting.com

wolves. Roell also visited the area on three occasions over three months and documented two wolves on each occasion. DNR officials discussed the situation and decided to go with Roell, the more experienced tracker.

The data collected by Swanson and cited in his testimony in August was reviewed by multiple staff and supervisors who came to the same conclusion to exclude some wolves, Roell said.

“That happens to all trackers, if we can’t build that scientific justification,” he said.

Roell said data collected from dozens of wolves fitted with GPS collars has greatly improved the department’s ability to track the animals, but funding and specialized staff training for trapping wolves have been limiting factors. He also discussed other potential survey methods that could provide more detailed information, better align Michigan’s research with other states for comparison, and reduce the workload for DNR staff.

Amy Trotter, executive director for Michigan United Conservation Clubs and member of the wolf advisory council, said the presentation raises questions about the state’s current process for counting wolves.

“I think the bigger picture for me is, is this method still the right method that we’re using? Is it even sufficient, 60 percent of the UP every other year?” Trotter questioned.

The last evaluation of the current system was 15 years ago, Trotter said, and a review now should consider “how often we should be evaluating the methods we use.”

Mike Thorman, who represents hunters on the council, advocated for more technology in the field, and suggested hunting groups like the Michigan Hunting Dog Federation, Michigan Bear Hunters Association, Upper Peninsula Bear Houndsmen and others would likely contribute to defraying the cost of the GPS collars, estimated at about $1,100 each.

“They ought to at least have 100 collars on the packs,” he said. “In this day and age running around and looking at tracks isn’t going to cut it.”

Roell said DNR officials are currently reviewing several options for improving the wolf count as the council continues its work revising the state’s Wolf Management Plan. That broader process is expected to be completed next summer.

In the meantime, DNR officials are also reviewing the methods used to estimate the state’s black bear population. DNR staff are conducting the second year of a pilot “close-kin, mark-recapture” study using tissue collected at check stations, which biologists can use to determine relationships between parents, siblings, and offspring.

The DNA data could then potentially be used to produce a population estimate, and offer insight into reproduction rates, the rates of offspring making it to adulthood, inbreeding, travel corridors, and barriers to travel, DNR bear, wolf and cougar specialist Cody Norton said.

“The Michigan Bear Hunters Association has long supported science-based wildlife research in Michigan and we applaud the DNR’s current efforts to better track both wolves and bears,” MBHA President Keith Shafer said. “Work with both species leverages newer technology to learn more with less effort and overall cost – a win-win for wildlife and sportsmen.”

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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The Strategic Bear Hunter

by Bernie Barringer

The rage in bowhunting is to send an arrow travelling

at a high rate of speed. The faster the better, right? We all

want a missile travelling on a flat trajectory getting to the target in a hurry. Well, that may be great for deer and small game bowhunters, but for bears, it’s another story. Things like kinetic energy and momentum also come into play. Let’s dive into this a little more.

Don’t despair, I won’t go too scientific on you, but a definition of each is in order. Speed, of course, is a measurement of how fast your arrow is moving. Simple enough, people talk about arrow speed a lot. Bows are even rated for speed, which can be deceiving. If your bow says it’s rated for say, 234 feet per second, you must realize that those measurements are taken with a 70-pound bow, with an arrow 30 inches long and weighing 5 grams per inch, at a 30-inch draw. Almost certainly, that’s not what you are shooting.

Kinetic energy (KE) is a measure of how much energy the arrow has when it contacts the target. I won’t bore you with formulas, but KE is affected by arrow weight, distance and the most important factor, arrow speed. It’s measured in footpounds of energy. As we go through this, keep in mind the principle advanced by Sir Isaac Newton, “An object in motions tends to stay in motion until acted upon by an outside force.” Which brings us to momentum.

Speed, weight, and momentum are all connected. While the most important factor in KE is speed, the most important factor in momentum is weight. Momentum is the energy needed to drive the object through the target. Friction is the enemy of momentum. See where I am going with this? I have mentioned many times that the goal of bear hunting with a bow is to have a low exit wound to ensure a good blood trail. “I’ll take two small holes over one big hole every single time.” has been my mantra.

Here’s just a note on friction before I move on because several things can add friction to your arrow and broadhead. A super sharp broadhead reduces friction. A wider broadhead adds surface area and therefore more friction. A mechanical broadhead that needs energy to open and create a wide channel is a momentum killer. Hitting a bone, even a glancing blow, can really kill momentum. An arrow that’s not moving straight and true can create a lot of friction and reduce penetration. You get the idea.

Speed Kills “Does speed kill?”

“You’re not asking the right question.”

This is so true when it comes to bowhunting for bears.

Here’s an incredibly common theme.

Someone states they are going on their first bear hunt, and they are asking for advice on bow, arrow and broadhead set up. I guarantee you, someone is going to say this, “Whatever you use for deer is fine for bears.” I guarantee it. Every single time. Here’s the amazing thing, the person making that statement has no idea what they are using for deer! They also have no idea if the new hunter is going to have a 100-pound bear or a 400-pound bear in front of their arrow. I just roll my eyes and try to clean it up and give them some advice they can actually use.

First let me say that I am not opposed to using mechanical broadheads for bears with the right arrow and bow equipment. I would advise at least 75 pounds of KE and an arrow that’s at least 6.5 grains per inch to improve your momentum.

To get this you’re going to be shooting at least 60 pounds and 27 inches draw length, and these are rough estimates just to let you know if you’re close.

Part of my job as an outdoor communicator is to keep tabs on what people are talking about on social media and online hunting forums. It’s definitely not the best part of the job but an important one. There’s something I have learned about people using these platforms: they don’t have to know what they are talking about to feel comfortable giving advice on a subject.

I see this all the time; people with little to no experience eagerly explain their opinions as if they have a doctorate on the subject.

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Personally, I shot a lot of bears with expandables and I have just gotten away from them because they limit your margin for error and are more likely to clip a rib or other bone while deploying, which greatly affects the straight-and-true aspects of arrow flight and can significantly reduce momentum. In my opinion, a super sharp cut-on-contact broadhead offers me the best chance to get a pass-through even if my shot isn’t perfect. And let’s be honest, people who can shoot arrows through Life Savers candies at the range can blow the shot when a big bear is in front of them. That’s one of the things we love about them.

In addition to the issues regarding tissues, bones and deflections, keep in mind that bears come in a lot of sizes.

Getting an arrow through a 120-pound bear is a lot easier than getting that important low exit wound on a giant that tips the scales to 400 or even 500 pounds. A lot of people have killed average bears and until you have actually sent an arrow into a black, furry VW, you don’t realize just how much more energy, in the form of momentum, it takes to get that low exit wound.

So the answer to the question, “does speed kill?” is this: “You’re not asking the right question.”

Speed is one component and adds to Kinetic Energy which is important in all bowhunting. If you’re hunting elk and your shots may be 50-60 yards, you’ll take all the speed you can get, and enjoy a flatter arc of the arrow on its way to the target. But if you’re sitting 20 yards from a bear bait, you’re going to want a heavier projectile with a lot of energy behind it. Trajectory is low on your priority list, momentum is what really kills.

And just as important, it leaves the blood trail you’re hoping for.

Shooting a bear with a bow and arrow is much different than shooting a deer. Speed is only one of the factors to take into consideration. Momentum and Kinetic Energy are even more important when a 400-pound bear like this one stands in front of you.

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@backcountrybrian

Western Bear Hunting with Brian Strickland

Western hunting has changed significantly over the years, and one area that has seen this impact is the method, equipment and ethics of long-range shooting. Whether you agree or

disagree with this type of hunting, you can’t deny its precision and effectiveness today’s equipment delivers. From determining the right caliber, calculating bullet drop, proper windage and ballistic coefficient, to adopting a stable platform, target acquisition, breathing, trigger control and follow-through, there really is a process to be mastered. Frankly, if you’re planning a bear hunt in the open vistas out west, having the ability to squeeze the trigger at long distances will certainly impact the success of your hunt.

That said, I’m far from an expert when it comes to settling the crosshairs at any distance, let alone multiple football fields stacked together. But lucky for us, I know a guy! As a host on the outdoor television series The Best of the West (www.thebestofthewest.net), which focuses on long-range big game hunting, Jim Sessions is no slouch behind the crosshairs. In fact, he’s also a co-owner of the Best of the West Custom Shooting Systems and Huskemaw Optics (www.huskemaw.com). His precision behind the scope is as equal to the custom turrets and optics he builds. Needless to say, he knows a thing or two on the subject. “Everything we do is about ethics and precision, whatever the distance,” explained Jim. By putting the equipment and science behind it, hunters more successful.

Stretching the Distance doing so, and you owe it to the animal and our reputation as hunt-ers to ensure it can accomplish this.

Secondly, to increase your accuracy Jim insists you have to simulate as close to a bench rest position as possible, and laying prone comfortably is the most stable position that achieves this in the field. To start with, use a good stable platform for the end of your rifle like a tripod or bipod with a leather head that allows the rifle to naturally move with the recoil. He also recommends a second point of support under the stock of the rifle. This could be with a shooting bag, soft malleable ob-ject like a game bag with cloths rolled up in it or something as simple as your fist.

It really doesn’t matter as long at it is relatively stable.

If a prone position isn’t possible, kneeling or sitting is the next best. An extended bipod makes for great front support in this situation, as well as crossed trekking polls or the vertical position of a framed pack.

Many packs on the market today even have a notch built into the top of

It’s important to pick the caliber that best fits your needs.

Nothing embodies the marriage of precision firearms technology and marksmanship than the ability to effectively shoot long distances. As someone who hunts little with a rifle, I would consider 300 yards a long-range poke. However, today 500 yards is the new 300, says Jim, and there are a lot of elements that must work in harmony to achieve accuracy at those and greater distances. The old adage of “hold high and hope” can be thrown into a strong Wyoming wind once you learn to effec-tively put these principles into practice.

To start with, Jim says you must have an accurate shooting platform, and this means the rifle itself. You shouldn’t always believe that your production, off-the-shelf rifle has a one minute of angle (MOA) as the owner’s manual suggests. You can only truly determine this by taking it to the range and seeing firsthand what the gun is capable of producing. In a nutshell, a 1 minute of angle is tell-ing you that the gun is capable of shooting a 1” group at 100 yards, a 2” group at 200 yards, a 5” group at 500 yards, and a 10” group at 1000 yards. At its core, ethically shooting longer distances requires a rifle that is capable of 60

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“From determining the right caliber, calculating bul-

let drop, proper windage and ballistic coefficient, to adopting a stable platform, target acquisition, breathing, trigger control and follow-through, there really is a process to be mastered.

the frame for this scenario. For rear support under the stock, your elbow against your knee is a good option, or you can use a trekking pole positioned under the stock.

Trigger control is also critical, and for Jim this means that the shooter has the rifle in a good stable position with the crosshairs on the vitals when the trigger is squeezed. Crosshairs are never completely stationary on the target and there is always a “wobble zone” shooters must contend with when making the shot. For some, that wobble zone may be a 6” circle and for others it may be more of a rectangle. Regardless, if the wobble zone is still on the vital area of the target, the shooter is ready to break the trigger.

One of the best methods Jim likes to use to get the shooter settled down to create a lethal wobble zone is dry-firing a rifle. Not only does this help the shooter develop control and feel of the trigger, but it also builds confidence and helps reduce tension. “When you go into the shot with confidence, the end result is usually night and day,” insists Jim. Dry-firing also helps the shooter not anticipate the recoil, which often leads to slight movement which is significantly enhanced at longer distanc-es.

Also, finishing the shot process with a solid follow through also enhances accuracy, says Jim. Ide-ally, you want to maintain a good sight picture through the scope. According to Jim, “If the shooter is actually watching the impact of the bullet through the scope then they are doing everything right.”

The ability to acquire the target through the scope, and acquire it relatively quick in hunting situations, is also important. According to Jim, most guys struggle with this. “This is not a natural abil-ity,” explains Jim; “it’s a skill set that has to be learned with practice.”

Whether you practice this in your basement with the scope’s power turned down, or outside at longer distances, there is no wrong way to learn this skill. Jim says, “the shooter just needs to develop a process that works for them.”

Laying prone is the most stable position to shoot from in the field with two points of support.

Lastly, and perhaps the most important element of long-range shooting is practice. “Most hunters truly don’t know what their gun is capable of doing in the field,” explains Jim, “and the only way to find out is spending time at the range.” Simply put, it’s more than just sighting in your rifle a few weeks before the season. When practicing, utilize every element of the shot process to improve your marksmanship. Not only will this enhance your long-range accuracy, but it will also make you a better and more ethical hunter. And this is something we should all strive for!

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ry

Great Hunts

Bruin

Destinations

by Al Raychard

Vermont - Green Mountain Bruins Considering its relative small size Vermont has plenty of room to look for bears.

Vermont is not a very large state. Wedged between New York on the west and New Hampshire on the east the state covers just 9,609 square miles, making it smaller than 44 other states. With less than 650,000 residents Vermont is also sparsely populated. Only Wyoming has few people. What Vermont lacks in size and people it more than makes up in woods and bears.

Over 78 percent of Vermont is forested making it one of the most heavily forested state in the country. In 1975 the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department estimated about 2,000 bears lived within the state, most of those centered along the spine of the Green Mountains.

As more and more farms were abandoned reverting to forest habitats, the preservation of more than 30,000 acres of bear habitat, a ban on trapping bears in 1967 and baiting in 1972 and other initiatives that number had increased to an estimated 7,000 bears in 2010 surpassing desired management objectives in Vermont’s most recent Big Game Management Plan. By then bears were present throughout the state except on the Lake Champlain Islands, as it is today. As a consequence, human/bear conflicts increased encouraging the department to increase hunting opportunities.

Traditionally, Vermont’s 75-day bear season commenced September 1 and extended five days into the firearm deer season. For the first time, in 2013 the season was split into an early season and late season, and the late season was extended from five to nine days providing an extra weekend of hunting opportunity. An early season bear license was also implemented, allowing managers to get a handle on exactly how many hunters were actually specifically hunting bears. In 2020 some 13,866 hunters purchased early season bear tags.

Historically, a bear tag was provided with the purchase of a big-game hunting license at no charge and has not changed.

In 2012, before the season split and late season extension hunters killed 610 bears in Vermont. In 2013 the harvest was 556 during the combined seasons, fewer than 2012 but still above the previous 10-year average. Biologists attribute this lower harvest to a high beech nut crop, when bears typically travel less and forage at higher elevations making them less susceptible to hunters. In 2014 the total bear harvest was 562, 450 during the early season and 108 during the late season, an increase of 63 bears over the 10-year average. In 2020 925 bears were killed during the two seasons, 831 during the early season and 94 during the late season. To say the least the early bear season has proven popular among hunters and has done its job of bringing the state’s bear population to within desired management levels of under 5,500 animals.

activity calls for a lot of pre-season scouting or seeking access to private lands, and in Vermont hunters who put the time in are the most successful.

In general, it is possible to find bears just about anywhere in Vermont but most years Rutland, Caledonia, Windsor, Windham, Essex, Addison, Bennington and Orleans Counties not necessarily in that order are among top producers. All are located in the northeast region, down along the east and west side of the Green Mountains or extreme rural south region along the border with Massachusetts.

Considering its relative small size Vermont has plenty of room to look for bears. The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources owns and manages more than 345,000 acres of wildlife management areas, state forests, state parks and holds easement on 123,000 acres of conserved commercial forest land open to public access.

Most of these areas are prime bear habitat. Groton State Forest covers some 26,154 acres in Caledonia and neighboring counties and the Mt. Mansfield SF covers over 37, 240 acres. In Essex County the Victory Basin Wildlife Management Areas offers nearly 5,000 acres and the abutting Victory Basin State Forest an additional 15,826 acres. In Essex and Orange Counties the Bill Sladyk WMA offers 0ver 9,380 acres. The largest chunk of public land is the Green Mountain National Forest. It is Vermont’s core bear range and covers more than 339,150 acres in two huge blocks roughly down the middle of the state. Hunters should also keep in mind private property can be accessed for hunting unless specifically posted otherwise. If you need a place to hunt bears in the Green Mountain State it is not hard to find.

As it is in other states where baiting is prohibited finding food is a key factor when hunting bears in Vermont. During years of low natural food abundance, in particular beechnuts, acorns and hazelnuts as well as varies berries, wild cherries and apples bears tend to den early but during peak mast years bears can den later providing more hunting opportunity. Experienced hunters well know even though some years beechnut and berry production might be low acorns and apples might be abundant so that is where they concentrate their effort. Food abundance and variety varies from year-to-year and from region-to-region but whatever the case finding food, whether natural or agricultural such as corn and other crops as well as sign of bear 62

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Vermont

Overview

Estimated Population: 5,500+/Annual Limit: One Hunting Area: Bears may be hunted statewide.

Spring Season: No Fall Season/Dates: Yes. Early Season-September 1 through the day before the November rifle season (November 12). Special early season bear tag required. Late season- First nine (9) days of November rifle deer season, November 13-21).

Legal Hunting Methods: Spot and Stalk, hunting over natural and other food sources.

Dogs Allowed: Yes, with special permit. Certain regulations apply.

Baiting Allowed: No License Availability/Cost: Over the counter, by mail and on-line. Res. Hunting-$25/NR Hunting-$102

Special Permits: Early Season Bear License-Res-$5/NR-$15 Legal Weapons: Handguns, conventional centerfire rifles, muzzleloaders, bow and arrow and crossbows. Check regulations for any caliber restrictions.

Contacts: Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department: (802) 828-1190; www.vtfishandwildlife.com

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@timothydfowler

Fleshing it Out with Timothy Fowler

LIFE IS BUSY; HUNT Time spent with my adult children hunting is now some of the best times we get together.

Hunting = Time together

‘Think about it, Dan,” I said, “when do you have time to spend the whole day with your daughters, uninterrupted?” They have busy careers. They have children and are running a household. Life is busy.

Having a whole uninterrupted today to spend with your adult children is a complete luxury. Hunting is when this happens for me.

Some background Dan’s daughters are married to my two sons. (Dan is the other dad / Grandpa in our family. His two daughters married my two sons.) This makes us a double-knit, tight family. With just one set of in-laws, we get along beautifully, and it is a magical arrangement. Dan and I were recently off in a quiet corner at some family gathering, and he was asking about hunting. He wanted to know what we did out there because we were often successful, and we all seemed to be enjoying the process.

I explained the best part of hunting was spending relaxed time with my boys.

The author’s son (Josh) and grandaughter (Addy) before a family hunt.

To be clear––I love to hunt. I am a late onset hunter coming to the game at age 61 now. I hunt six-plus weeks a year and set up the outfitter tent most of those weeks somewhere remote. Spring finds us in the boreal forest hunting bears. Fall, we are further north pursuing elk. Later in November, we set up in sub-zero weather to pursue white-tailed deer and mule deer. This year we have a bonus (12year wait) antelope hunt in late October. Sometimes my hunting buddy Peter and I set up the tent so our boys can blow in for a quick hunt, an overnight stay, and back to work the next day. He, too, is grandpa and dad. If time is short, we facilitate short hunts for them if that’s what’s required. People joke about not being able to wait for their kids to leave home, but I still miss mine. And they’ve been gone more than a decade. If you were a parent of busy adult children who have businesses, careers, kids, and lives of their own, you know how tough it is to connect. And I

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mean––really connect––and engage about essential topics of life. If you’re that adult child who desires a meaningful connection, it can be equally challenging.

Hunting in Connecting

Both of the Fowler sons chip in to help their dad prep game to get them from the field to the table.

Hunting is the perfect venue to connect. There are many traveling hours shared in the truck heading to the hunting grounds. Next week my son and I are at elk camp for five to seven days. It’s a five-hour drive. There will be lots of time to cover whatever is on his mind. We will have time for meaningful conversations and have some time to reminisce and dream and plan about the future. It is its own reward to spend time with my boys. We will camp in my big outfitter tent. We’ll share coffee in the morning, a pot of soup at lunch, and some exquisite wood/coal-stove-cooked dinner. All the while, we have the choice of quietly enjoying each other’s company, or we can chat about whatever needs talking about.

Sometimes it is Just Quiet There’s plenty of quiet time too. Hunting big game is often a tranquil, very solitary pursuit, so we have time to be in our heads––to be quiet while waiting for the game. To many non-hunters, hunting often gets boiled down (incorrectly) to a shot, hopefully, a kill shot. But there are so many layers of things that need to be accomplished and completed before anyone is in a position to take a shot. Each of these layers is an opportunity to connect.

Early Interest and Engagement

The author helped in the kitchen at bear camp.

The whole family enjoys time together and the great food that goes along with gathering together.

My boys showed interest early in shooting and hunting. They saved their allowance and odd job income to purchase shotguns at age 12. And then they bought big game centerfires at age 14. They still have and use these guns. And their kids are starting to show interest in shooting and hunting. One of my granddaughters calls her dad daily for an update when we’re hunting at the end of the day. She measures a hunt’s success by how much meat on the bone we have at day’s end.

She often says, “don’t worry, daddy, you can still hunt tomorrow.”

And we will.

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{Hounds and Bears} Column

IN Hot PUrsuit

Strike Dogs

By Travis Reggear

(originally published in 2012)

The alarm goes off at 3:30 a.m. and you stum­ble into the kitchen for a cup of hot coffee. Anxious to get the day’s hunt started, you grab your lunch and your training and tracking collars that have been charging all night. You head toward the ken­nel to release the hounds that have been barking since they saw the light come on in the kitchen. As you are loading the dogs your mind races in cir­cles, thinking about where your best chance is to find a bear that morning. After collaring all the dogs, you place the strike dogs that you want on top of your truck or ATV for that day and begin rig­ging for bear.

Soon after putting the dogs up, they get the scent of a bear and the dogs explode in a barking frenzy. You mash on the brakes, spilling your cof­fee, jump out of the truck and unsnap a few dogs. They hit the hill with their heads in the air looking for the bear scent. As soon as they find the scent they start to open as they drive the track around the hill. You turn the remaining dogs loose and the race is on. All this would not be possible without a good dog striking, finding and starting the bear’s track; not something every dog can do.

Striking is actually a complex sequence of events that can be broken down into three main steps.

The first step of striking is the strike itself. This is where the dog has to sound off when it smells the proper scent. This is important because the dog has to be able to sort out unwanted scents and tell the hunter that there is good scent in the air. Good scent being the scent of whatever it is that you are after that day.

For this article, it’s all about bear scent. A well-trained strike dog will ride the box all day and not make a sound until it smells the right scent. A dog that barks all the time on all kinds of scent or just babbles is not a finished strike dog. Some dogs will strike older scent better than others. Most real good strike dogs will strike real cold or old scent that can sometimes be hard to start or trail.

Dogs all have a built in thermome­ter on how old of scent they will open on. Some dogs will only strike scent that they can run while others will strike any amount of scent that might be lingering in the air, although the dog might not be able to trail it. Having a dog that will hunt off the box and strike when it smells bear scent is step one in striking.

Step two of striking is finding the strike. Finding 66

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the strike is probably the most challenging step in striking for most dogs as it can take a lot of effort. The strike dog has told the hunter that there is bear scent in the air and now the dog has to go find where the scent is coming from. If the bear has walked across the road, finding it

When your strike dog catches a bear’s scent off the box, like these dogs from Mike Kemp’s Three Bear Kennels, the first step in catching the bear is complete. A strike dog that has the ability to sound off, locate and start a track makes the houndsman’s life much easier. should not be so hard for the dog. But if the scent is floating in the air it might take some work for the dog to find it.

Many strikes are winded strikes. This is where the scent from the bear’s track is floating on the air. It might be 300-400 yards up the hill from where the dog smelled it off the truck or ATV. A strike dog that will go and find the source of the scent that they have struck is priceless when hunting steep hills and canyons where the wind thermals are constantly moving. Some dogs hunt close to the rig while others will cast out and hunt up the track that they have smelled a long ways off. I have had both styles of dogs and the dogs that will go a long ways to find the scent usual­ ly start more bear races than the dog that has to have the track close to them to find it. Hunting with GPS collars has really shown me what a dog is capable of doing. I have seen where dogs have found a track a measured distance of 400-500 yards away from where they struck the scent.

Dogs that can do that will certain­ly help you catch more

Nov/Dec 20210

bears.

The third and final step in striking is starting the track. After the dog opened or barked on scent for the strike and found the track, they need to start the track. Getting the track started and starting it the right direction is huge. Some dogs have the ability to take the track the right way most of the time, while others are 50/50 at best. A dog that starts the bear’s track the right way all of the time is a huge asset in a bear pack. If you get a strike and the dog starts the track back­wards, the hunter will be in for a delay in the day’s hunt. Getting a track backwards and having the dogs trail out or lose all the scent is the biggest contributing factor to most trash races.

When young dogs run out of scent from good game because they went back­wards, a lot of the time they will find something else to run, espe­cially in areas with a high concen­tration of hoofed game like deer, elk and moose.

Out of the three steps of striking, starting the track in the correct direction is definite­ly the hardest for a dog. A dog ei­ther has the ability to go the right way or they do not.

Strike dogs are definitely the quarterbacks of the bear pack. They open on scent, go and find the track and then start it the right way, and if they are well polished they do it so smooth and fast that a hunter really doesn’t give the complexity of it all much thought. They come in all colors, shapes and sizes and can make or break the day for the hunter. Sometimes it seems like they can invent bears in areas that don’t show a lot of bear sign. Good strike dogs are a lot like a fine wine, they just get better with age and increase in value.

Hunters also need to continually develop other dogs into fin­ished strike dogs as you never know when your best, and maybe only, strike dog will have their final day atop the rig for one reason or another. The more days you hunt your dogs, the better they be­come and the better you will work together.

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

A-Yes, although it didn’t take place this fall and whether the closure is permanent might depend on who the next governor is. It’s somewhat ironic considering New Jersey has the highest bear density in the country with two-to-three bears Q-In my state we can purchase bear licenses over the counter. Are in some areas. Back in June the state’s Comprehensive there states where bear licenses or tags are issued by draw?

Black Bear Management Policy expired and the DEP commissioner didn’t sign off on the new one. The commissioner A-You bet, a number of them. To name but a few Wisconsin, Minnesota, is appointed by the governor. Under state law bear hunts Michigan and Maryland all issue bear tags by random draw or lottery. In the west Idaho has some controlled hunts in some areas although over-the- cannot take place without a management plan in place. counter licenses are also available. Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Nevada With no plan in place, in effect the hunt was cancelled.

Current governor Phil Murphy has been opposed to the bear to name a handful also have similar controlled hunts where bear tags are issued by random draw. Tags for Arizona’s spring bear hunt area also issued hunt, last year closed all state lands to bear hunting and by draw. The same is true of some bear hunts in Alaska. Missouri held its first some believe the cancellation is politically motived during an election year. bear hunt this past and licenses were issued by draw to residents only.

Q-I hunt deer mostly but would like to hunt bears as well and am thinking about purchasing a muzzleloader. Would you suggest a .45 or .50 caliber?

Q-I know bears are considered dangerous animals and we hear bear attacks in the news on occasion but I was just wondering how people have been killed by bears and where they took place?

A-I own several of both and have killed bears with both. Whichever way you decide to go just remember shot placement is always a key to success. Of the two calibers, and if I was to invest in just one, I’d go with a .50 caliber because they simply allow more projectile/power charge options. There are some projectile options with a .45 but the larger bore .50 allows more “up size” or “down size” options. In other words, it allows the use of lighter, flatter and faster velocity projectiles for deer-size came if desired or heavier options for bear and bigger game that deliver more terminal energy.

A-Attacks and human deaths by bears are extremely rare.

Some 61 people have been killed across North America since 1900. According to the National Park Service the chances of being injured or killed by a bear in the U.S. is approximately 1 in 2.1 million. Historically, half the country’s bear attacks have occurred in Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado. And additional 33-percent occurred in Alaska.

Bear incidents have also been reported in Tennessee, MasQ-I seem to remember reading somewhere New Jersey has cancelled it sachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Michigan, Minnesota, Arizona, Utah, Washington and bear season. Is that true?

West Virginia. It is unfortunate bear attacks and incidents Submit your questions to occur at all considering most are avoidable. alraychard@sacoriver.net 68

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