2021 - Issue 5 - September/October

Bear Charcuterie

Bear Scapula Belt Buckle

Helicopters & bears

LED Skull

Clay Newcomb’s

New Podcast

Glassing

Arizona

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Sept/Oct 2021 Volume 22 - Issue 5

Magazine

Cover photo by Josh Kirchner

by Josh Kirchner & Eric Voris

Glassing Arizona

by Brooke Smith

10

Helicopters and Bears

18

By Jake Horton

Western Bears 101

24

Use of Leashed Tracking Dogs

By Clay Newcomb

The 10-Day Bear Bait

By Douglas Boze

28

by Tim Fowler

Whole Bear Charcuterie

The Death of a Bear

32

Bear Scapula Belt Buckler

42

George Duncan’s Henry

by Kolby Morehead

38

Bear Skull LED

By Dave Coleman

By Clay Newcomb

36

46

Columns

Cuddeback Trail Camera Contest Winner Win a Cuddeback Camera!

58 Bowhunting Bears

by Bernie Barringer - Bear Guru

60 Western Bear Hunting

“Gutsy Move” Eric Haupt Wisconsin

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by Brian Strickland - Western Hunter

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Bruin Desinations -

64

Fleshing it Out -

by Al Raychard - Bear Hunting Veteran

by Timothy Fowler - Renaissance Man

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Bear Hunting

5

Bear Grease The Editor’s Note Clay Newcomb

@clay_newcomb

internal fire & daniel Boone I’ve rarely been more excited about the coming

fall hunting season. When I was 19 years old, though I had hunted most of my life to that point, the excitement of hunting season hit me like a ton of bricks in late summer. My ability to anticipate the hunt was limited in my adolescence, but when I went to college that changed.

I was pumped. I feel like as we get older we can become familiar with the feelings of excitement and they can become dulled by wear. I make conscious effort to never let those feelings of fade. Excitement and anticipation for events in life help keep us healthy and young at heart.

I recently did a series on Daniel Boone on the Bear Grease Podcast. It was interesting to see that late in life Boone was excited about the fall hunting season.

At 84 years old he went on a hunting trip and rode over 40 miles on horseback with his grandson. Boone said he was as, “naturally inclined each fall to go hunting and trapping as the farmer is in spring to set about putting out his crops.” We’re in charge of keeping the internal fire alive. We’re also in charge of doing what we can to keep our bodies healthy. I’m doing what I can to take care of both.

I’ve already put out some bear bait and have begun stringing cameras across the landscape in hopes of the learning the secret habits of wily beasts through the use of technology. Next time somebody gives you a hard time about using bait or hounds for bear ask them if they use trail cameras! They aid me in hunting success probably more than anything I do. I’m not against trail cameras, I love them, but people are playing games with their ethics when the snub a nose at bear hunters.

Enough of my bear-grease soap box, I wish you the best of luck this fall. And I hope you engage with wild places in a way that makes you a better human.

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!

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T hree years ago, I got an email from a curious new hunter named Eric Voris. And not just any new

hunter, but an adult-onset hunter. Something I feel that is becoming more and more prevalent these days. Eric explained to me his fascination with bear hunting in Arizona and about his quest to learn more about these desert bears. He’d been out quite a bit on his own, but had no success. In fact, at that point, he never even laid eyes on a bear. All the while, he was stricken with an amount of roadblocks that would resemble a sea of deadfall. Broken down vehicles, forgetting essential gear at home, too many hunters, bad weather, and of course, no bears. Eric called it his “bear curse.” We met up for coffee shortly after that first email and quickly realized we were cut from the same cloth. Eric and I have been good friends ever since. Fast forward three years, to the spring of 2021, and we were headed to a favorite spot of mine for bears. One that I had high hopes would break the curse that plagued Eric.

Spring Bear in Arizona Spring bear hunting in Arizona is an OTC (over the counter) hunt for the most part. There are a few draw tags out there, but they are just that. Because of this, it really gives a hunter the ability to better learn areas year after year. And one of the most deadly tools in a hunter’s toolkit is knowledge. The only caveat with these Arizona bear hunts is the need to pay attention to the sow quota limits. Each hunt unit has a certain sow limit and once that limit is reached, the unit will shut down to bear hunting the following Wednesday at sundown. Hunters can pay mind to these numbers either online or via our bear hotline. Know what’s open before heading out. Lucky for Eric and I, the unit we were headed to was still open in late May. This was something that hadn’t happened in years. My eagerness to be reunited with this special place was potent, to say the least.

My First Few Days I arrived in camp a few days before Eric in hopes of getting the lay of the land and possibly a look at some bears. I too had a tag in my pocket, of course. The weather looked good, grass was green, and this country was screaming spring bears to me. Everything felt right. After getting camp set, I made the hour long trek out to my glassing spot for the evening. Three bears walked through my glass, but it was a sow and two cubs. A bittersweet find, but it felt good to lay eyes on bears right off the rip.

On the second day, after sweltering heat and no bears all day, I

10 Bear Hunting

Sept/Oct 2021

A veteran hunter takes a new bear into the backcountry & breaks the curse.

Glassing

Arizona

By Josh Kirchner & Eric Voris

@dialedinhunter & @latetothegameoutdoors

www.bear-hunting.com

Bear Hunting 11

spotted a giant red boar at last light. It was one of those bears you dream about. Big blocky head, huge crease down the center of it, with a swagger that would send other bears running for the hills.

I couldn’t wait to tell Eric about this bear. Watching him tear up that meadow bit by bit was a sight to see. With not enough light, I planned to get into the area dark and early the next day in hopes of putting the bear to bed for a stalk. When I awoke the next morning, I realized that was wishful thinking on my part. The weather changed for the worse with little to no visibility. Can’t glass if ya can’t see. Coincidentally, this was the day Eric was heading up to camp. When he arrived, he told me he brought his bear curse with him. I assured him that wasn’t the case and brushed it off.

For the next two days, the weather did not cooperate in the least. Knowing that there were bears out there, but being held up by weather, felt like having the keys to a Ferrari, but not being able to drive it. From a never ending rain to gale force winds snapping trees like toothpicks, it was quite frustrating and had the bears laying low. My old friend, the country we were hunting, seemed as if it was angry with me or something. As merciless this country is, its temperament grew more calm with each passing day. On day six, after inclement weather, and no bear sightings for days, finally we caught a break. I’ll let Eric take it from here. ~ Eric Voris: I left camp that morning less than hopeful, if I’m honest.

As far as I was concerned, I had shown up, brought along my curse, and ruined my friend’s hunt. Since I only had that morning left because I had to get back for work, I figured I’d hike out with Josh, glass for a couple hours, then bid him farewell and hike back out on my own. I was confident that moments after leaving, Josh would call to let me know he shot a bear, because that was just my luck with these Arizona bruins.

Bear!

As we settled into our glassing point, I was already thinking about the burger I’d get on the road and texting my wife that I’d probably be home by dinner. Hardly a winning mindset, I know.

That’s when Josh said the one word neither of us had uttered from behind the glass the entire hunt: “BEAR!” I almost didn’t believe him; after two and a half days of grinding with no bears to show for it, it took me a second to process what was actually happening.

Josh pointed out where he was, and I barely got a glimpse of this lone bear who was bouncing from food source to food source two ridges over before Josh said, “dude, we gotta go!” We quickly threw all of our gear in the packs and started to race over in order to get in range of this bear. Even though it was “Josh’s bear,” because he spotted it, I was beyond excited just to finally be on a stalk. After years of not turning up a huntable bruin, I couldn’t wait to see the process play out firsthand.

We trekked down, up, down, and up again through nasty deadfall and some of the thickest, thorniest brush Arizona has to offer until we came to an imposing bluff just around the corner from the ridge that we needed to be on. Josh threw his pack down and started to ready his rifle, and I came huffing and puffing behind him.

At that point, we assumed the roles of hunter and cameraman. With Josh on the trigger, I was actually excited to have some of the pressure off and be able to focus solely on getting the best footage possible. Slowly, we stalked through the thick timber and found a less than perfect spot to glass from, because the wind ruled out the one spot on that hill that offered the best visibility. Then we dropped packs, sat down, and decided to wait.

“Did I Just Cost My Friend this Bear?”

12 Bear Hunting

Sept/Oct 2021

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Bear Hunting 13

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As we peered through every gap we could find in the trees, that bear just would not show face. I was already starting to feel the guilt: “Did we miss him because I had to stop a couple times on that final climb? Did I just cost my friend a shot at this bear?” And right as I was about to start apologizing, Josh caught some movement in the bottom of the drainage. He raised his rifle and took a look. Sure enough this boar was working his way over to our side of the draw. Unfortunately, he was also moving down the drainage to our right, which was exactly where the wind was headed. Lacking a clear shot, Josh hopped up and began creeping over to head him off while keeping the wind; I followed close behind trying to run two cameras and capture the intensity of the moment. As we closed the distance, the bear disappeared behind a thick patch of aspens. We stopped and waited.

Frozen in place, Josh whispered to me, “I might have you shoot this bear.” This wasn’t the time to argue, but I was floored by the words I just heard. He glassed the bear, he planned the stalk, and he was holding the rifle (mine was still on my pack 50 yards behind us). Why on earth would he do such a thing?

But, before I could even object, the bear was on the move again.

He had now changed course and was working his way up the drainage moving to our left, so we quickly backtracked and found a good spot to set up for a shot.

Josh settled into a seated position that offered some decent shooting lanes, while I stayed five yards back setting up cameras to capture what was about to unfold. I had already forgotten what he said moments earlier, and was completely engrossed in how amazing this footage was shaping up to be. We heard a few does 100 yards to the left of us start blowing, and assumed we had disturbed them. When we looked over though, they were actually looking straight down the drainage towards where we had last seen that bear, and then suddenly took off running. We knew the boar was on his way in, and even without a rifle in my hand my heart was pounding in anticipation.

Sept/Oct 2021

Check out Josh’s new book “Becoming a Backpack Hunter”. You can find it on Amazon.

Josh (left) and Eric with his first black bear taken in Arizona.

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Bear Hunting 15

A Turn of Events I saw a flash of chocolate in the bottom, and watched Josh raise his rifle again. Double checking the cameras, I thought, “this is it - I’m about to get incredible footage of him shooting this bear!” All of a sudden, Josh took the rifle down and waved me over. Somehow, I still didn’t realize what he was doing, so I made sure the cameras were still set and crept up to see what he needed. Josh handed me his rifle, pointed to where he had last seen the bear, and sat behind me. It slowly dawned on me that I was about to shoot my first bear.

With no time to contemplate the gravity of the moment, I quickly tried to get myself comfortable behind this unfamiliar rifle, found the bear in the scope as he moved in and out of the thick timber, and managed to roll up the magnification a few notches for a more precise shot. The boar stepped out from behind a tree, placed both his paws on a fallen log, and stood there with his chest puffed out as if posing for a picture.

Time stood still. Instinctively, I put the crosshairs on the inside of his shoulder, started squeezing the trigger, and the rifle went off. After the shot rang, I could see the bear spinning like a top down the hill, followed by disappearing into the shadowy bottom.

The Death Moan We waited there in total silence, ears ringing, hearts pounding, and then I heard a sound I had always heard rumors of but had never been witness to: the death moan. It is equal parts haunting and exhilarating, and I knew in that moment I had finally accomplished this feat that had evaded me for four grueling years.

Every harvest is an emotional experience, but this one hit me harder than any other. The combination of years and painstaking effort, paired with my friend’s unimaginable generosity, left me standing on that mountain with tears in my eyes and an overwhelming sense of gratitude. ~ Josh Kirchner: A Curse Lifted For the next three hours we wound our way back towards the truck, walking in the same footsteps that led us to that bear. This time our packs were much heavier. With each step I kept reflecting on those chats over coffee I had with that eager new bear hunter who sent me an email years ago. The fact that he was now right behind me with his first bear hide ever in his backpack really brought things full circle. Giving up an opportunity at an animal might be seen as a hard decision, but in all honesty, it wasn’t. Handing Eric my rifle is something I’d do time and time again if we turned back the clock. His respect for the animal and enthusiasm for the hunt was reward enough for me. Not only was Eric now hooked on bear hunting for life, but his so called “bear curse” had finally been lifted. Through all of the obstacles a new bear hunter goes through, his persistence never waned. The decisions to embark on new adventures and take on new challenges like Eric did, are ones that I’m afraid are growing less and less prevalent these days. By doing these things though we grow as people. Barriers are toppled, limits are crushed, and our confidence sky rockets. The path of least resistance oftentimes provides the least reward.

16 Bear Hunting

Eric (left) and Josh celebrate over a backcountry snack after Eric takes his first bear. Moments like this are hard to forget!

Sept/Oct 2021

www.bear-hunting.com

Bear Hunting 17

The author, left, and Heather on their backcountry Idaho bear hunt.

J

une of 2019 my dear friend Heather, her husband John and I set out for what was my first bear hunt. Heather is very knowledgeable about

bears and has a lot of experience hunting bears. I didn’t have any experience with bears but was curious and wanted to learn. In 2018 I reached out to Heather and asked her if I could tag along on a bear hunt with her. She went above and beyond and asked me if I wanted to plan a spring bear hunt in Idaho for 2019. My answer was YES! The hunt was set and I began to count down the days. I took ten days off of work and we set off for this amazing adventure. As we sat down and ate supper the first night at camp, we discussed the plan for the next morning.

The next morning, we planned to hike in on a closed road that proved to be a popular area for the bears. We switched to the other side of the drainage for the evening hunt. It was thick with brush and not the best place to hike into, but it was worth it. We spotted our first black bear, but too far away and on the side of the drainage where we had been that morning. We backed out for the night with high hopes of finding him in the morning.

At 3:00 a.m. the night silence was broken by the sound of cell phone alarms. We were eager to get into the

18 Bear Hunting

Sept/Oct 2021

Helicopters &

Bears

by Brooke Smith

www.bear-hunting.com

Bear Hunting 19

The author’s hunting partner Heather had to be flown out of the backcountry after breaking her lower leg while bear hunting.

spot where we had seen the bear the night before. Suddenly Heather pipes up “There’s one.” Across the drainage nearby, a black bear was feeding across the hillside. In order for us to get to him we were going to have to go where we had been the night before.

As we made our way through the vine maples and a waterfall we arrived at a nice little meadow with lush green grass. A heavily used game trail wound its way through the tall grass, Heather suddenly stopped and the hair on the back of her neck stood up.

There was this monster pile of griz scat. We cautiously continued on when we came upon a very large bear bed. Again, we stopped and Heather turned to me and emphasized the size of this bear, she then asked me if I wanted to continue on or back out. I told her that I thought we should continue on, but I thought it would be best if we planned on being out of the area before dark.

We made our way on top of a good vantage and spent several hours glassing. After several hours John spotted a large black bear. Before I knew it, he was at about the closest that he would ever get to us, straight down 250 yards from where we were sitting.

I took a rest on my pack and waited for him to step broadside, I squeezed the trigger and missed.

As we made our way out, John was in the lead and I was bringing up the rear. We began to climb the small incline out of a creek when all of the sudden I heard Heather scream. As she fell, she spun around facing me. My attention went to her right foot, it was facing a direction that was not normal. I knew that this wasn’t good. I knew how we had to go and the terrain that we had ahead of us. Heather knew that it wasn’t good because we weren’t too far from where we had seen that grizzly bed, and we were in a cool creek bed. John and I gathered sticks to make a splint for her leg.

Heather was determined that she was going to get out of there on her own power. Walking wasn’t an option but she knew that she was in a bad spot and was not going to stay where she was. She sat down and scooted herself backwards through the brush, over rocks and up the creek bank into an opening about 100 yards from the spot where she had broken her leg.

John took Heather’s gun with him; he wasn’t hunting so he only had bear spray on him. He headed out for help. It was about 4:30 in the evening and I didn’t know what the rest of the day was going to look like. All I knew to do was to keep her occupied, so I just talked to her about everything. She held her bear spray close and I never set my rifle down.

I began to gather wood while talking to her. A couple of times I

20 Bear Hunting

faced away and fought back tears of fear. I didn’t know what to do to help my friend. I just felt helpless. As the sun began to set, Heather began to shake worse than before. I started a fire near where she sat to try and help keep her warm. All of the sudden she and I were startled by the sound of John’s voice on the radio. John informed us that help was on the way, they were sending a helicopter in from Montana to pick her up. Search and rescue did not know, however, if they were going to pick me up or not. The helicopter was going to be another couple of hours. I hung flagging ribbon all around us while we waited.

I put the fire out about an hour before we expected the helicopter to get there.

Darkness was sitting in and we began to wonder if help was really coming. She began to close her eyes

Sept/Oct 2021

Heather with a backcountry splint on her leg.

for longer periods of time and I just kept talking to try and keep her awake. In the last minutes of daylight, we finally heard the chopper come over the mountain range, we turned on our flashlights and waved them in the air.

A sheriff’s deputy repelled down just feet from where I was standing. As much as I hated to waste his time asking questions, I needed to know if they were going to pick me up or not. He informed me that it would be up to the pilot if they took me or not. Heather wasn’t terribly excited about the helicopter and she was even less excited when she saw what she referred to as “the string” that was supposed to lift her and the deputy to safety.

Just before they were lifted up, the deputy informed me that they would try to get me.

I watched as they were raised from earth and very quickly disappeared into the helicopter. As the bird circled around my location a few times I wondered if they were going to stop or not. All of the sudden the deputy www.bear-hunting.com

lowered down. He handed me a harness and helmet, and while I am putting those on, he put on my pack. Before I knew it, we were fastened together and air born. A couple of months later I found out that Heather played a huge role in getting me in that helicopter.

They weren’t going to come back for me and she told them that if they didn’t, they needed to put her back down on the ground, because she didn’t want me to be out there by myself.

I think it was around 9 p.m. when we landed beside a road, where an ambulance was waiting for us. The next few hours consisted of x-rays, another ambulance ride and Heather going into surgery. During all of this John was on the other side of the mountain range, tearing down camp and rushing to get to the hospital. He made it to her side 30 minutes before she went into surgery.

Heather was in the hospital for a few days with some new hardware in her leg. She worked hard the entire summer to heal up enough to take part in the fall hunts she and her family had planned. We talked about trying again for that spring bear in Bear Hunting 21

2020. We had plans and then there were so many things associated with COVID, state shut downs that I wasn’t able to go, but her and John went and Heather brought home a beautiful bear from the same area where we had been the year before.

I was never so happy to get that picture from her and see that smile on her face. That bear was so well deserved.

We started planning for the spring of 2021 and she asked me early on if I would mind if her daughter joined us.

Rachel graduated high school this year and this was going to be part of her graduation gift. I won’t lie, I had a little anxiety about the hunt, and the trip itself. However, I really wanted to get a bear and I knew that I was more prepared this time if something were to happen.

Heather had two goals in mind for this 10-day hunt; she wanted her daughter and I to both get bears and she was going to do everything in her power to make it happen. As usual Heather was spotting bears left and right a mile away. On day three I was excited when my alarm went off at 3 a.m. We made our way to a closed road and slowly started our way in.

We were walking side by side down the old tire tracks of the road, when we came to a right hand turn in the road. I slowly worked my way out where I could see around the bend in the road and there it was. The first bear that I had found or seen without it being pointed out to me. I calmly stopped and slowly pointed to the bear in front of me who was feeding in the opposite direction. Heather said that is a nice black bear, take

him. I took a knee to give myself a better rest and when I did so, I couldn’t see him. I stood back up and tried to hold still enough, but Heather and I both knew that wasn’t a good option. The whole time I was thinking about that bear that I missed in 2019, and I didn’t want that to happen again. So, I put my gun down and tried a different plan. He continued to feed and I made my way to what I thought was a good position and dropped to one knee, I had him in my sights and waited patiently for him to turn and give me a good shot. He finally stepped to the left and gave me a broadside shot. I squeezed the trigger, watched the bullet hit him and felt relief--I knew I had made a lethal shot.

This being my first bear, Heather was great at explaining how to skin and quarter him out. As I began filling bags, she started packing them out to a snowbank near the road.

Rachel was standing guard in case we had any visitors and helped me cut rib meat and hold legs when needed. As we filled the last bag we made our way out of the brush, divided up the loads, strapped them down and made our way back out to the truck. I felt so blessed that the Lord had given me this opportunity, I was honored and proud to be packing meat out of this vast landscape with these two amazing women by my side.

This hunt took two years but the memories, lessons and experience that I have gained will last a lifetime.

Brooke and Heather’s bear hunt was interupted in 2019 with a broken ankle, but Brooke went back in 2020 and took this nice bear in Idaho.

22 Bear Hunting

Sept/Oct 2021

www.bear-hunting.com www.bear-hunting.com

Bear Hunting 23

W hether you are an experienced bear hunter or a novice, there is always some-

thing to learn and skills to develop when hunting new states, especially the western states. Spring bear hunting in the West can be a blast

from mid-April to mid-June and provide hunters with an unforgettable do-it-yourself experience whether they punch their tag or not. The mountains and sunrises are impressive, the weather is unpredictable but usually mild, and the bears are out and about in good numbers.

There are many reasons to head to the western states and chase bears, and this article is not here to convince you to go; instead, this article is written as a step-bystep guide to hunting black bears in the West. From the moment you decide to go hunting, preparation is vital. If you are not living in a western state, spring bear hunting can seem overly complicated, with chances of getting a bear nearly impossible; however, the truth is that the chances for success during your first year are high. You can figure out excellent spots and have an opportunity to see multiple bears a week. You can do this hunt on a limited budget, and this hunt is my most enjoyable and stress-free hunt of the year. With some preparation, time off, and a good long-range rifle, spring bear season can be something you look forward to every year.

Step 1: State Selection

There are around eight states that allow spring bear hunting in some form or another; however, for a novice western bear hunter, this number could be narrowed down to three top contenders. In my opinion, the best states to hunt for spring black bears are Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. Of course, some of you are thinking, what about Oregon, Washington, or even Alaska? Yes, there are a lot more western states that allow you to hunt black bears in the spring, but, let’s face it: you have a limited amount of time, so why not go where the bear numbers are highest, the travel there is not a headache (sorry Alaska), and you can get tags over the counter.

You may be wondering why bear numbers are so high in these states. Well, that’s because these states have some of the nastiest, steepest, thickest country that exists in the United States, and bears thrive in this environment.

Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming have over-the-counter (OTC) bear tags for specific units. Wyoming is the only one out of these states with a specific quota of female bears that can be harvested within each particular unit, and this information is available daily. Look at the season dates, the license costs, and your travel logistics, and pick one of these states to start your research because all of them could be great. The next step is to dive in and pick a specific unit within the state.

Step 2: Unit or Wildlife Management Area Selection Since Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming all have excellent bear populations; you cannot go wrong in selecting any of them. The real challenge starts as you try to narrow down the unit and then spots within the unit. To pick a good unit, you want an over-the-counter season, good bear harvest statistics, and a good amount of public land. In years past, I would get on the state’s website to try and find harvest data and compare it with 24 Bear Hunting

a map of public land to see what might or might not be a good unit. To efficiently do this, I would print off statistics and highlight units with good numbers of bears harvested. This system worked for me; however, it was quite cumbersome and time-consuming. In recent years I discovered a fantastic tool that I would like to introduce to the readers of Bear Hunting Magazine, and that tool is goHUNT. GoHUNT is a western tool that allows subscribers to electronically filter the units within a state by available hunting data to find the best huntable units within the state. You can search by overthe-counter seasons, the number of bears harvested in the spring, harvest percentages, public land percentages, and goHUNT even provide some information about camping areas, access points, and bear activity within the unit. I used this technology to plan my 2021 spring bear hunt in Wyoming within ten minutes. This filtering technology allowed me to search for a Wyoming bear unit that provides over-the-counter opportunity, with greater than 50% public land and more than 15 bears killed last spring. Within seconds the goHUNT Filter 2.0 displayed all options that met my criteria.

From there, I reviewed my options and picked the unit I liked the most.

For nearly five years, I have used goHUNT to plan my deer and elk opportunities with success and recently discovered that they expanded to support bear hunting data, making planning bear hunts in new western states so much easier. Instead of pouring over the data for hours to pick a unit, you can make a knowledgeable and confident decision within minutes. GoHUNT is an annual subscription that gives subscribers access to the filter for all species in all western states as well, content, an incredible shop, mapping services, and monthly raffles. For a limited time, Bear Hunting Magazine subscribers can use the code “BEARMAG” when purchasing a goHUNT subscription in order to get $50 to the goHUNT gear shop.

Step 3: Spot Selection Once you pick a state and a unit within that state, it is time to hone in on specific spots within that unit. Before we get into the nitty-gritty of what to look Sept/Oct 2021

Western

Bear Hunting 101

by Jake Horton

Planning a trip into the West for bear can be intimidating. Break down the process into these steps and go hunting.

www.bear-hunting.com

A breakdown of how to get into Western bear hunting Bear Hunting 25

for in satellite imagery, it is essential to talk about spring bear behavior and what that means for your hunting spot selections. In the spring, bears leave their dens between March and June, depending on the snow line and weather.

Every year will be different; however, you can bet that the lower the elevation a bear is denning, the sooner they will typically emerge. Bears tend to live and den in the dense forest, but they usually make a beeline towards food once they emerge from their den. The easiest and most accessible food for these omnivorous mammals to get are new blossoms, flowers, berries, tree buds, bugs, and grubs found on south-facing slopes, where the sun has allowed for earlier growth. If a bear emerges from its den at an elevation still covered in snow or that is lacking spring growth, it will naturally drop in elevation and seek out these green areas.

This all is important because you can plan a hunt at any elevation; however, it is essential to have multiple elevations as backup plans because spring comes at different times in the West, depending on the elevation. It is possible that a mid-May hunt planned around 7,000 feet in elevation can be perfect conditions one year and under a foot of snow the year after. Successful western bear hunters will prepare for the unknown and adapt to the specific year’s conditions.

Keeping all of this in mind, it is time to begin your online scouting and plan out some spots to sit for your hunt.

Online scouting can be super beneficial during spring bear season in order to drastically increase your odds of spotting and harvesting a bear. Start by finding a reliable satellite imagery website with up-to-date images within the last five years. There are a lot of great mapping companies that can give you this information; however, I like to use Google Earth or goHUNT maps because they have great 3D features that allow you to tilt the map and get a great idea of the terrain. Then, search areas a mile or two from trails and roads and mark any open parks, two to five-year-old burns, avalanche shoots, controlled logging areas, or prominent logging roads near dense forests. These are the places that bears will be likely to feed once they emerge from their dens.

The next step is to see if there is a place to spot and shoot from within a decent distance from the bear feeding habitat. These potential shooting points can be either across, above, or below the location where a bear may appear while hunting. If there is no shooting area within my rifle’s range, then the spot is not a good one. Personally, I determine this by using Google Earth or goHUNT’s measurement tool to see how far the potential shot would be. With practice and good ammo, an average rifle today can shoot out to 400 yards, give or take. A long-range rifle can shoot much farther — even up to 600 to 700 yards for a skilled marksman. However, while scouting and hunting, it is important to be honest with yourself about your rifle and skill. It does you no good to hike back off the trail multiple miles and see a bear that is 2,000 yards away across a valley and not be able to take the shot or get any closer. It is equally as harmful to attempt to take a shot that is too far for you or your rifle and end up wounding one of these animals.

In my experience scouting, for every 20 perfect bear spots I find in a unit, only one has an opening to shoot from that I can make with my rifle. Keeping that in mind, if a spot is not perfect, move on and find another. Places like Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming seem to have endless open south-facing areas near dense timber if you look closely.

It’s also important to note the elevation of the spots you are scouting and planning to hunt. I like to pick multiple hunting spots for every 1,000’ in elevation change from 26 Bear Hunting

the valleys to the upper basins. As previously mentioned, depending on when you are hunting and what the winter was like that year, bears can emerge from their dens at different times of the spring, putting them in open areas at different times. The last thing you want is to come out to your glassing location in the middle of May only to find two feet of snow on the ground; trust me when I say it is not a good feeling.

Step 4: The hunt After finding some good spots and entering them into your GPS, take some days off of work and go after some bears. Bears are typically out and about at first and last light, so you need to be at your shooting point for the first few hours of the morning and the last few hours of the day. Of course, you can plan on hunting all day, which is fine, but I usually find something to do besides bear hunting during the mid-day. This is why I feel that bear hunting is way less stressful than other hunts that keep you on your feet and pushing all day long. I usually like to plan for a morning and evening hunt and some fishing during the middle of the day.

If you are deep in bivy camping, days can be long, so bring a hunting buddy or two along to help pass the time and to help you pack out when you finally pull the trigger. During the spring, bears can habitually feed in the same area for a few days to weeks in a row, so I would typically give a specific spot one to two sits before moving on to a different hunting spot. Constantly changing spots also keeps your morale up and allows you to see more beautiful spring country. If you are successful and harvest a bear, make sure to have a plan to get the meat to a butcher and the hide to a taxidermist, especially if you are out of town and want to get it back without spoilage.

Spring bear hunting in the West can be a blast for a hunter of every experience level. Of course, it can be overwhelming, especially if you have never been to a western state or bear hunting; however, once you try it once, you will be hooked for life. It should go without saying, but there are a lot of bears out West and even grizzlies in these western states, so be bear-aware. This means that a sidearm is probably a great idea and when camping, store your food away from your camp suspended in the air between two trees.

Bears are incredible animals, and hunting them can be the biggest excitement of your year, but be sure to do it safely.

Good luck this spring and for the springs to come.

The author says you’ll be hooked for life once you start bear hunting in the West.

Sept/Oct 2021

www.bear-hunting.com

Bear Hunting 27

The

10-day Bear Bait

In some situations, less may be more when it comes to baiting bears.

There is a lot of debate over the most

effective time frame to bait bears before the season. In some regions, laws regulate baiting time frames, but in other places you can bait bear yearround.

The variable that ties them all together is that you can’t hunt until the first day of the season. What you’ve done up until that point is irrelevant compared to the answer of this question: Do you have bears visiting your bait site on opening day?

Is it better to bait for three months before the opener or is it more effective to bait much closer to the season? Everyone has an answer and there isn’t a wrong one. However, challenging your own ideology on baiting bears in your region may be just what you need to do to increase your odds for success.

The concept of the 10-day bear bait has many advantages and has been proven effective. This can be a great method to harvest those wily, hunter-shy mature boars. It’s financially friendly and it’s easier. Sound like the cure all for your bear baiting woes?

Maybe it is.

The Rational Mind Frame When you are new to bear baiting it makes rational sense that the longer you bait the better, or as long as the law allows. You would think that bears would never get tired of the endless supply of sweets and goodies, however, that’s just not the

case. They do get tired of unnatural food. Every bear is different but it has been my observation that a bear, especially in the fall, will hit a bait hard for 10 to 14 days, and then begin to lose interest.

Why they quit is up for debate as well. Much of it has to do with the availability of natural foods.

In spring bears respond to bait until the grass is green.

In the South, Upper Midwest and East, fall bears respond well until the acorns and hickory nuts hit the ground. It could be vice versa in the northern bear woods which are dominated by late summer berries.

Bears may respond to bait better later in the year, just before they enter their winter dens.

Aside from attractive natural food sources pulling them away, we can assume that a bear’s body would eventually respond to massive amounts of sugar and processed carbohydrates the same way a human would – they become lethargic and want to eat something different. I’m convinced that a bear’s taste buds aren’t like ours and definitely they don’t think like we do. A bear doesn’t receive conscious enjoyment from indulging himself the way humans do; he is simply in the business of gathering calories.

Whether he gets them in the form of white oak acorns or donuts, it does not matter. Hunger and instinct are the drivers of his actions and both push him to gain massive amounts of weight any way that he can.

Eventually, his body tells him that he’s had enough of the unnatural food and he begins to ignore man-made baits. Some bears stick with the donuts longer than others, but they all follow this pattern.

Will and Adam Beason’s Success Will and Adam Beason of western Arkansas started doing a 10-day bear bait several years ago with great success. Basically, they put out 500 to 1,000 pounds of bait two times before the season starts. There are a several positives to this type of hunting and they are convinced that it has helped them in killing five 20-inch-plus bears in the last 10 years. Also, they are doing this in a region that isn’t known for consistently producing giant bears. The key to their success with this method rests on one fact about their area – the bears are already there. This is the key to this type of baiting. If it takes a week for bears to find the bait, you’ve probably messed up by baiting so late. However, if they find your bait quickly every year, you might try waiting until closer to the season.

Over time the Beason’s have developed a system of baiting that works for them. Here are five reasons why you should consider a short bear-baiting session:

28 Bear Hunting

Sept/Oct 2021

www.bear-hunting.com

Bear Hunting 29

The 10-Day Bear Bait tive to intrusion and skittish to unnatural human activity.

Big bears are the same way.

Some northern wilderness bears aren’t like this, but most bears in the lower 48 are afraid of humans. If they know you’re there they won’t come in. By reducing the overall amount of disturbance in the baiting area, older bears are going to feel more comfortable at the bait site. Two to three trips to replenish the bait before the season opens may be better than more numerous trips spread out over the course of a month or more.

I see it every year: the biggest bears will use my baits in the daytime for a while, but they gradually become increasingly nocturnal. By waiting until a few days before the season opens to put out your baits you’ll have a better chance because you’ll be hunting during the “honeymoon” phase of the big bears’ interaction with your bait. Sometimes less is more.

2. Bears Stick Around

established bait site that the bears are familiar with. A key component of this style of baiting is using powerful commercial scents to jump-start the bait. It would also be a good idea to do some extensive scent drags with used fryer oil, especially on the first day of your baiting. I personally suggestion Northwoods Goldrush as a grease additive. It’s incredible stuff.

Another addendum to the 10-day bear bait would be to go in a month before season one or two times and put a small amount of bait and lots of scent. The intent would be to let the bears know you are in business. This will draw their attention to the site without over-feeding them or inundating the area with human activity. Later, when the 10-day mark rolls around, put out the massive amounts of bait necessary to keep the bears in the area.

Give the 10-Day-Bear-Bait a try and you might find that it is easier, less expensive and more productive. Good hunting!

The primary feature of the 10-day bear bait is that the bears don’t lose interest in your bait before the season starts. We’ve seen a trend of bears hitting the baits hard for 10 to 14 days and then trailing off. By only baiting for 10 days you’ll have a better chance of holding onto the bears you’ve got. Especially where there is natural mast competetion.

3. It’s Cheaper and Less Involved In today’s world one of the biggest challenges of baiting bears is finding the time and finances. In Arkansas we are allowed to start baiting 30 days before the season opens. Many people wear themselves and their wallets thin baiting for the entire legal timeframe.

Unless you are baiting in your back yard, most hunters are driving a good distance away to put out bait. When you account for fuel costs alone, reducing the number of trips to the bait site to 10 days can make sense without jeopardizing your chances for success.

The 10 day bear bait also involves using less bait. Gathering bait can one of the most arduous tasks of the season and it can be expensive, especially if you are buying bait from a commercial bait distributors.

Above: Will with his 488-pound Arkansas bear. Below, his son, Adam, with a 560-pound black bear. Both bears were killed using shorter baiting times.

3. Established Baits Don’t Need Months of Preparation Established baits in good areas don’t need much time to get going. My best bait sites start getting hit within a day or two. Just as a bear remembers a productive white oak ridge or a good berry patch, he’ll remember a well-stocked bait site. The animals may even start visiting an established site before you start baiting in the fall or spring. I’ve had guys say they’ve seen bears arrive on the very same day of the year multiple years in a row. The players in the natural world have a phenomenal way of keeping track of time.

4. Use Commercial Scents to Get Jump-Started The only potential negative of the 10-day bear bait is the bears not finding it in time for the season opener. Like I’ve said, this technique is best used on an 30 Bear Hunting

Sept/Oct 2021

Will Beason of Arkansas harvested this 510-pound. Will and his son, Adam, have been very successful using their strategy of a 10-day bear bait. Collectively, they’ve harvested five bears over 20 inches.

www.bear-hunting.com

Bear Hunting 31

Many claim bear hunting is different, but why?

by Douglas Boze

@bozemandbears

The death

of a bear

32 Bear Hunting

Sept/Oct 2021

I’ve been pondering a question. What is it

about bear hunting that makes it different for me personally as a hunter, compared to that of deer or elk hunting? As hunters, I think,

collectively we can all agree that there is an indescribable excitement, respect and remorse cocktail that wells up within our souls when we take an animal’s life. This cocktail overflows for me when it comes to bear. I have a great and wonderous admiration for bear and their life force.

They are masters of survival living in wild and rugged places, vicious, tender, smart, savvy, stealthy, playful, sentient beings. I feel connected to them in a way. Not in a Timothy Treadwell type of way, I do not associate them as people, I do not think of them as my friends. But, rather in a mystical, ancient, almost spiritual sense. Judging from ancient mans history, I know I am not alone in this. They have been revered for a millennium.

So, the question remains, why is that? Why do I feel this primal connection like so many throughout human history? What is it about bears that makes us feel this way? I am not sure I can answer that completely in this article, but I can explore it. For myself, watching bear is a pastime of great enjoyment, as voyeuristic as it may sound. From the way they peel trees in the spring for the cambium layer, to how they gorge themselves in the fall on berries, to anxiously tearing into a long ago, rotted tree that once stood mightily above the bear offering shade but is now reduced to offering feed in the way of ants and termites, the view is always a joy.

But there is one thing, and one thing particularly that I have noticed with bear, which strikes my being in a way no other animal has done. That is, the bears final moan, also known as a “death moan” or “death bawl”. It does not happen every time a bear dies, but on occasion, as a last act of a bear’s existence it will let out a roar or a bawl just before death, that, if you have heard, you know just what I am talking about.

If you have not heard it however, let me explain it slightly. If a bear is wounded mortally but doesn’t instantly pass, perhaps a few seconds linger before death takes hold, the bear will bellow out this sound that strikes the hunter to their core being. The first time I heard this was when I shot my first bear, an amazing color phase cinnamon bear. When I heard this I felt as if an ancient warrior had let out his final act of defiance to the world before heading into the next realm. I do not hear this from deer who die quietly. Nor have I heard it from the normally very vocal elk or any other creature I have happened to hunt. Only the bear, and that is yet another unique quality of this fantastic animal. In general, it signifies that the bear has passed away once the roaring stop.

I know, this seems like dark subject matter, and in truth it is a little bit. But, hunting itself contains tough subject matter. It is no easy thing to take another animals life for the sake of continuing yours, nor should it be.

It’s a violent act, but not an act of malevolence or hatred.

Just as much as it is violent, it is ancient and engrained in our history, our bones, our DNA. We are hunters, bear are hunters, we share this common trait. A bear hunts a

www.bear-hunting.com

Bear Hunting 33

fawn, not out of hatred, not out of guilt or innocence of the fawn, but out of the need to eat. We hunt for the same purpose and with the same intent.

You may be asking, “What is the point of this article”? For that I am not sure I have an answer. But, if I had to say, it would be to showcase the deep, profound respect I have of bear, their role in nature, and for the things they have provided me in life. Most of my shots on bear are close, well under 100 yards, usually under 50. It is up close and personal. With that, there is not much that is hidden from me when I fire the shot. I can usually see the bear fall, watching the final moments of an animal that deserves respect. It is unfiltered and raw.

So, when I say I am a bear hunter, and people question how could I do that, I wonder in the back of my head, how can they appreciate, and love bears as much as I do? Can they fathom what it is like to touch a bear after it is down, feeling the coarseness of its fur, painstakingly taking care of the meat, skinning and preserving the hide, enjoying the sustenance it provides? Do they know that the bear is used as food and the hide is kept at a place of honor in my house? Do they or can they understand how I feel when I take a bear? Unless they have done the same act, I can promise you they cannot.

The death of a bear that I have taken is not an event that you will find me jumping around going crazy with excitement (although I have a reserved personality anyway). It is a solemn occasion when I pull the trigger or release an arrow. I take a moment and contemplate things, about the death and life of the bear, about its story, where it came from, where it lived and how it ended. Its private, its respectful, its ancient, its personal. It changes me in a way. Being a bear hunter has made me a better person, physically and mentally. It has helped reinforce a mental toughness that one has to draw upon to face tracking a wounded (or already dead) bear in chest high brush.

In truth, a biologist will likely tell you that the death roar is more of a reflexive response to the shutting down of organs or shock to the system of the bear. But, there are greater things at work in this world than biological sciences. The death of a bear, not the “harvest”, not the “taking”, but the finality of the releasing of the spirit of that bear is something that will always affect and be a part of, my soul. For that experience, I am forever grateful.

The author with an Alaskan black bear. As bear hunters we take very serious the taking of life and seek to treat the moment with great respect.

34 Bear Hunting

Sept/Oct 2021

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Bear Hunting 35

Stay Classy with a Bear Scapula Belt Buckle

by Dave Coleman

Bear hunting is unique, nostalgic and con-

jures up black and white photos of the days of old. A picture of a stretched out hide with the hunter

standing next to it wearing a wide brim hat and a wild and burly mustache. The frontier and a piece of Americana that does not exist so much nowadays.

Bear hunting is exciting and at times even thrilling. It is those moments of excitement and adventure we wish we could share, savor, and pass down to our children for generations to come. We have all heard hunting stories and most likely shared a few of our own. How do we retain those memories and the epic story behind them waiting to be told? Maybe it is through traditional taxidermy of a mounted bear or a bear rug, maybe it is through pictures or video. It has been said we should use as much of the animal we harvest as possible. A rare and distinct method of recalling a great hunt may not have origins rooted in soil but on water. Battling the elements at sea on a wooden vessel hunting whales, using their blubber like a bear hunter who renders the fat of a black bear. In their spare time whalers would etch drawings into the byproducts of whales such as bone and teeth. This historic and largely obsolete style of art is known as scrimshaw. Some credit the origins of scrimshaw to the whaling days of New England over 200 years ago. Scrimshaw is scroll work, engravings, and carvings done in bone or ivory. Although, the historic days of whaling are over, modern scrimshaw still exists.

An unusual and exceptional way to recall a special hunt is through scrimshaw. What could be more personal than creating an heirloom of a memory containing your own fingerprint and creativity?

In September 2020 in the midst of the pandemic, I was fortunate to harvest another black bear. During the process of taking care of the bear I kept both shoulder blades (scapula) of the bear. The goal was to create a belt buckle. But I could not stop with just a buckle, it needed something more. Having never seen an authentic bear buckle before, not to mention making one myself, it required some thought and research. With a scrimshaw kit ordered for less than $20, lacquer purchased from a hardware store, nail polish remover, and a few tools in my garage a new memory was being created.After cleaning and drying the scapula’s, it was time to get to work.

First the bone needed to be made flat. The front of the scapula is flat with a natural wave in the bone. The backside has a raised triangular piece that connects to the joint. By removing the triangular piece with a saw and some sanding it became flat. This is important because when the buckle is applied it is flush with the bone and adheres properly.

36 Bear Hunting

Next was determining the size and shape of the buckle. Again, using a saw to remove a piece of the scapula to pare down the size of the buckle. Choosing the thickest side closest to the joint. This was followed by sanding down the cut portion and the outer edges of the scapula to make it more rounded. The shape and size are personal decisions and done at your discretion. Take your time as the bone you remove cannot be replaced.

Now that the size and shape has been determined it is time to think about scrimshaw. I am not an artist and my creative ability is limited. The image I had in mind was to have a bear walking with mountains and pine trees in the background. Recalling my hunt in the White Mountains of New Hampshire as the bear slowly walked past. I practiced drawing it out on a sheet of paper, knowing to keep it as simple as possible, not to overly complicate the drawing.

Once comfortable I made the drawing on the bone using a pencil. A few mistakes were easily erased. You could also use tracing paper which will leave the outline of the design on the bone. Once happy with the drawing I sealed the bone in a coat of clear lacquer and let it dry for 24 hours.

The lacquer will cover the drawing and seal the bone while helping protect it.

Although I purchased a scrimshaw kit that came with an etching tool, I found an exacto knife worked best for etching. By applying pressure, you make deeper grooves while etching. The deeper the groove the darker the line will be when the ink is added. I simply etched the drawing by following the outline. Any mistakes made while etching can be removed by gently rubbing it with steel wool or sandpaper.

With the etching now complete it is time to apply the india ink that came with the scrimshaw kit. Using a Q-tip dipped in ink, I rubbed the ink into the etched grooves. Allow the india ink to dry for a few minutes before removing the excess ink. Using a damp paper towel and some nail polish remover to wipe away the excess ink once dry. A Q-tip dipped in nail polish remover could be used to help remove ink in detailed areas. The lacquer that was applied is now playing a pivotal role. Without the Sept/Oct 2021

lacquer the excess ink will leach into the pores of the bone making removal difficult if not impossible.

If you need to darken the etching, repeat this step in the process. Once you are happy I would recommend applying another coat of lacquer to help seal and protect your work.

The buckle still needs to be attached to the back of the bone. You can purchase a buckle blank for approximately $10. Keep the width of the belt in mind when ordering your belt buckle blank. I prefer a wider belt and purchased a 1.5 inch buckle.

The buckle on most belts are on the left side, good

to know when you attach the buckle. Centering the buckle and ensuring it was level I marked its position with a pencil. I applied a two-part epoxy glue and clamped into place for 24 hours or until dry. The last step is to apply a coat of lacquer to the back of the bone surrounding the buckle.

You now have a bear buckle! Attach the belt to your one-of-a-kind bear buckle and enjoy a piece of your hunt and a great conversation piece.

A simple and affordable way to recall your hunt in a very personable and meaningful way.

Looking for something unique?

Spending less $40 the author made his own bear scapula belt buckle.

www.bear-hunting.com

Bear Hunting 37

Whole Bear Charcuterie A

by Tim Fowler

@timothydfowler

s I held the forepaw of my youngest son’s 2021 spring black bear for skinning, he said, “why don’t we make the whole bear into charcuterie? I need some ingredients and love Chorizo, Tasso ham, confit, and smoked bear shanks. I want to make baked beans, Cassoulet and Jambalaya.”

Sometimes your kid gets what they want.

Whole-bear cure So that’s exactly what we did. We already had one bear completely cut and in the freezer: fresh cross-cut shanks, cutlets, steaks, roasts, and stew. We even had a bit of trim put away in 15-pound bags to make sausage later in the year. So we put the bear on ice and continued to hunt for two more days. When we got home; Josh took the backstraps and the tenderloin for cutlets and fresh barbeque and everything else we made into charcuterie––a catchall phrase for a cure. (If Josh didn’t want those backstraps fresh, I would have made maple back-bacon. You can read about this process in a back issue of Bear Hunting Magazine, and the story and recipe are on the BHM website. It is definitely worth the effort.)

Chorizo Chorizo would’ve made great stuffed sausage, but we really wanted taco and tostada ingredients, so we didn’t stuff casings. We cooked the sausage mixture fully and packed it in one-pound packs, ready to thaw, heat and make tostadas. We mixed coarse ground black bear shoulders 2 to

Charcuterie is a French term for a branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products, such as bacon, ham, sausage, terrines, galantines, ballotines, pâtés, and confit, primarily from pork - but we’re using bear.

1 with pork belly and shoulder trim. We seasoned the mixture with five different dried chili peppers: Poblano, Ancho, Cascabel, brown chipotle, Morita chipotle, and Guajillo, all finely ground. We added diced shallots, smashed garlic, sliced onions, 1.5% salt by weight and a good sprinkle of black pepper. All this we cooked on high heat in a cast-iron frying pan until well browned, which turned out to be 180°F, well beyond the USDA recommended 160°F to be safe––no trichinosis.

Tasso ham We adapted Michael Ruhlman’s book Charcuterie recipe for Tasso ham, a quick-cured salt-box method for ham. Ruhlman gives clear and precise ratio and measurements for salt, sugar, and cure. Dredge ‘ham steaks’ in the cure mix, shake off the excess, and refrigerate, which takes less than four hours. Then rinse the cured bear steaks in cool

Black bear and pork chorizo sausage is a winner. The author likes to use it as taco meat.

38 Bear Hunting

Sept/Oct 2021

When you treat wild game meat like a delicacy it has the potential to be a delicacy. As hunters, we take great pride in utilizing bear meat in unique ways.

www.bear-hunting.com

Bear Hunting 39

running water, dry, and dredge in a spicy Cajun mix of cayenne and white pepper, allspice, and other good things. After resting in the fridge overnight, hot smoke to at least 165°F. Remove from the heat, chill, vacuum pack, and freeze. Our family uses Tasso as a most excellent addition to shrimp jambalaya, gumbo and any other slow-cooked dish that would benefit from a bit of lean, spicy ham-flavored protein. Opportunities will show themselves. Add to mac and cheese? What about a lazy Saturday Omelet? Diced fine in bean soup, or any soup for that matter? Why not?

Smoked shanks Ruhlman and his chef-partner Brian Polsyn have a recipe in Charcuterie for Canadian bacon cured in a wet brine. We adjusted this a bit and mixed up the brine, let it chill in our spare fridge overnight, and cut hind and foreshanks into fist-size balls of meat and bone. We added carrots, onions, celery, and celery root to the brine and some fresh sage, thyme and parsley.

Every day we stirred the brine and turned the shanks over. On the seventh day, we rinsed them in cool running water, dried them well with paper towels, and put them in the fridge overnight on a rack to dry and develop a pellicle––that sticky outer coating that helps the meat absorb smoke. We smoked the shanks at 225°F for five hours and pulled them from the smoke at 180° F, when they were a red mahogany color to cool and vacuum pack. These are destined to enhance molasses baked beans and navy bean and onion soup for the winter.

If you’ve never had tasso ham, it’s worth a shot. Great way to use bear meat. (on the grill below)

Confit The French word “confit” has evolved to represent a magical and sophisticated process to make the delicious and silken textured center of the plate meals in fancy dining rooms where real silverware rests on crisp linen tables cloths and the waiter bows and regularly says ‘Madame.’ But confit started several hundred years ago by farmers in rural France as a way to not die over winter. Confit is a process to salt and cure meats to preserve (particularly duck) for many months––even years––without refrigeration. We

The vegetable brine for the smoked shanks

40 Bear Hunting

Finished tasso ham off the grill.

Smoked bear shank. Good stuff.

Sept/Oct 2021

Bear confit being seasoned.

no longer required confit to preserve our meats, but we still really enjoy the unique taste of a well-crafted confit, so we continue to do it.

You can learn more about the process of confit by listening to my podcast interview with Kate Hill from the south of France, where she offers a week-long hands-on duck butchery and confit course.

When we get back to normal post-Covid, I hope to go. Michael Ruhlman leaned on Kate Hill from Agen, France, when he crafted the confit section of the book Charcuterie. Hill is an American ex-pat who has logged a couple of decades in France, paying particular attention to the local butchers and their charcuterie processes––confit in particular.

I have adapted her recipe to make bear confit.

Hill adds 3% salt to meat by weight and leaves it to sit in the fridge overnight. The following day she rinses

the (cured) meat in cool running water and dries it. Then she covers it in fat and simmers in the oven at 180° F for 5 to 8 hours––until fork-tender. I did mine in rendered bear fat in the sous vide bags for seven hours at 180°F. The bear turns out mildly salted and fork-tender. We use this as an ingredient in our own wild game cassoulet. (A second podcast with Kate Hill) Pan-fried bear confit is perfect simply as a pre-dinner celebration of chunks of bear fried with sliced onions and eaten with your fingers and slices of fresh bread.

When the process was complete, my son and I had a year’s worth of menu enhancing specialty ingredients, and…yes, we do feel proud of ourselves.

Bear confit in the cooker.

www.bear-hunting.com

Bear Hunting 41

Make Your

Own LED

Bear Skull

by Kolby Morehead

It’s fun to find new ways to display, remember, and honor the animals we’ve harvested. This LED light bear will make a conversation piece in your house wherever you put it. This is the same bear skull from the July/August 2021 issue of the magazine that I cleaned using the maceration process. I then whitened it in a peroxide bath. I was amazed at how well the web of complex nasal turbinal bones were preserved and I knew it would look cool with some LED lights behind them. This is a fun, cheap, and easy craft that may take ten minutes to do and you will have a cool skull light that turns different colors adding ambience to any room using a TV backlight kit with AC plug. I found this one on Amazon for $25.

The author ordered the TV backlighting LED kit off Amazon for $25.

42 Bear Hunting

Sept/Oct 2021

If you’ve got ten minutes and $25 you can make something that’s sure to get some attention

Just like putting lights on a Chrismas tree, make sure that all sections are working.

Connect the LED sections together making sure that the arrows on the strips and the connectors line up as shown.

Fold the strip in half again and insert into the brain cavity from the base of the skull.

Remove the backing from the first three LED sections and fold them in half joining the adhesive strip together. www.bear-hunting.com

Bear Hunting 43

Fold both middle sections of LEDs in half a second time and insert one in each nasal cavities from the bottom of the skull.

Remove the adhesive from the last section and line the inside of the lower jaw. Cut any excess off of the strip on the marked cut lines.

Use a zip tie pull the cables together hiding them under the nasal cavity.

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44 Bear Hunting

Trail cameras at every site

Sept/Oct 2021

Scent Myths

Massively misunderstood, learn how scent actually works

Scent is a mysterious and often

grossly misunderstood aspect amongst those who not only pursue game with hounds or other hunting dog breeds, but all hunters in general. I am not a scientist, but

well qualified to testify on this subject matter. I am an experienced hunter and houndsman, but more importantly a retired Man Trailing Bloodhound Handler. It has been necessary for me to study scent behavior and partake in the pleasurable experience of observing hundreds of individual canines working scent trails.

Like you, I absolutely enjoy watching real working dogs work!

Scent is simply comprised of micro particles of disturbed vegetable matter and/or released dead body cells drifting from the targeted subject. Vegetable matter can be crushed plant material or even minute surface dwelling bio-material living upon hard surfaces like concrete or rock. Dead body cells consist of drifting dead skin, fur or feather cells eventually falling to the ground. This may also include fluids, oils and vapors the body expels.

How long does a scent trail last? That depends on given environmental conditions. The trail won’t exist very long if it has been hot and windy over dry surfaces. In contrast, it will survive much longer in cool, moist conditions upon grassy areas with no wind exposure.

Hunting friends have been encouraging me for some time to write an article about how scent relates to hunting and help quash some of the existing myths and wives tales about scent behavior. Here are just a few;

Myth #1.

“Animals can’t smell me when I apply scent-free products like special soaps, sprays or even wear scent free clothing.” If you are living and breathing, you are giving off scent. Although these products may lessen the scent intensity from your person, my Bloodhound and I can find you in the woods within minutes. It is impossible for any human to be scent free.

Myth #2. “Hounds can’t run a scent trail in the rain.” Scent particles tend to be hydrophilic, meaning they readily soak up moisture and create an effluvium of scent for the canine olfactory system. I’ve trailed with hounds and successfully found humans and animals in the pounding rain. Any good hunting breed should be able to trail game in light to moderate rain.

Keeping your powder dry or sliding on a muddy road is another story!

Myth #3. “My dog sometimes ground scents and other times he air scents.” I suppose if your dog’s www.bear-hunting.com

by J. W. Kunkle - Bloodhound Trainer

Scent is simply comprised of micro particles of disturbed vegetable matter and/ or released dead body cells drifting from the targeted subject...If you are living, you are producing scent constantly. nose is on the ground, you can call that ground scenting and if it’s in the air, you can call that air scenting. Is it called water scenting if he sniffs a running creek or tree scenting if he barks up a tree? Scent is scent! The canine’s nose is attracted to the strongest scent source available at that moment during trailing. The canine has thousands more scent receptors than you or I. A roaming nose is a hunting nose; let it be.

If you want to see how your dog scents, ignite a brightly colored smoke bomb outdoors with plenty of room to observe and follow the pockets of floating smoke. Watch how clouds of smoke slowly break apart, climb high into tree tops, sink down into ravines or just lazily snake over the high grass. Wind, atmospheric pressure, humidity, temperature, etc….all affect the smoke as it does with scent. That is why your trailing dog runs, stops, circles around, runs again….. Let him work it out without interference from you. Scenting is his world, not yours.

You can improve your game scent trailing by taking advantage of the best environmental conditions available, as well as staying away from proven scent killers, i.e.….hot and dry surfaces, vehicle exhaust fumes or petroleum products. Trying to scent a hound on a fresh track next to a chugging hunting rig is like us trying to smell a rose over a smoky camp fire.

As much as we now know about scent, there is still plenty of scientific work to be done. As a hunter, you must understand how scent works whether you use a canine partner or not. Whether hunting birds or bears, scent is always there and your pup knows it before you.

Trust him and follow his lead. You just might fill your tag a bit sooner.

Keep the wind in your face, the sun to your back and hunt like a predator!

Mr. J.W. Kunkle, ljsj4k@att.net Retired Law Enforcement Bloodhound Handler, NRA, Hunter Education Instructor, California Houndsmen for Conservation, Hunter, Houndsman and outdoors sportsman.

Bear Hunting 45

Legendary Bear Hounds: part 39

George Duncan’s Henry Article by Clay Newcomb Orginally published in the Mar/Apr 2017 issue

George Duncan was 15 years old in 1957 when he started gathering a pack of hounds from sundry places

across the Pacific Northwest. He picked up hounds from shel-

ters, from raccoon hunters, and from any place he could get a dog that would hunt. His intent was to build a pack that could tree a bear. He lived in the rugged state of Idaho, and at the time, there weren’t many bear houndsmen. Idaho would later become a jewel and refuge for bear hunters all across the country. It was difficult to get started, and it was a full year before he treed his first bear.

When George was 19 years old, duty to his country called and he enlisted in the Marines. He distributed his rag-tag pack of hounds to different friends. He told them he’d be back in four years to get his dogs. George recalled, “Well, I was gone for 5 years. And I came back with some health issues. It was another year after I came home before I hunted again. I got some pups out of my original dogs and that’s where my line started.” Ten years after he got his first hound, he began building a legendary line of hounds known around the region, and the country, as George Duncan’s “white” dogs.

The hounds were grade dogs and were primarily a mix of Treeing Walker and a smaller portion of Black and Tan. “I was never interested in papers. I was interested in performance.” George said.

Surprisingly, Henry’s sire Jack was colored like a Black & Tan.

46 Bear Hunting

“Most of my hounds were primarily white with black heads. There weren’t very many tri-colored Walker dogs. Some might have a few spots.” As George’s line developed, he bred in some proven bear, lion and raccoon hounds. “The hound world up here is fairly small and if someone had an exceptional dog, I would buy a pup or breed a female.” He bred hounds from Al Renick’s stock on the Oregon coast, Bob Ferguson and Ora Lee Medlock. He considered these breeders to be influential in his foundation stock.

George’s goal in breeding was to produce one thing – true bear dogs. “In my opinion, a bear dog is one that will tree a bear by itself. A hound needs speed, stamina, nose, and to be an aggressive bay dog that will take a hold of a bear to make him climb.”

When George was in his thirties he began having great success breeding hounds and treeing bears and lions. In 1978, at the age of 36, he started Duncan’s Outfitting based out of Orofino, Idaho.

From this platform he made a living for 40 years

“In my opinion, a bear dog is one that will tree a bear by itself.”

Sept/Oct 20210

George Duncan’s White Dogs: Idaho

Henry was born in 1976 on George Duncan’s place in Idaho. Henry lived to be 11.5 years old and treed over 650 bears.

Photo: One of George’s clients with Henry in the 1980s.

off the work of his hounds. “We took about 60 bear hunters every year in Idaho. I also outfitted for mountain lions in Nevada.” Dogs in his breeding program were only kept and bred if they caught game consistently.

Henry One hound stands out to George as his best hound of all time. The dog’s name was Henry. He was born in 1976 in George’s kennel and was raised and hunted by George his whole life, except for a short period of time when the famous bear houndsman and Michigan Conservation Commissioner, Carl T. Johnson owned the hound.

George recalled, “Henry’s grandfather on his dad’s side went back to a coon dog brought up from Arkansas. It was a grade, black-headed Walker dog. I bred him to a female that was ¾ Black and Tan and ¼ Treeing Walker named, Susie.” George went on, “That cross produced the sire to Henry named Jack. He was an extremely well put together dog that excelled in all aspects of bear hunting.

I caught over 400 bears with Jack in his lifetime.” Jack www.bear-hunting.com

looked like a Black and At the time this was the best hound he had ever owned and he sought to breed Jack with a worthy mate.

He decided on a female out of a Treeing Walker named House’s Chief. The registered female was named Queen and was owned by Joe House of Kentucky. The cross proved exceptional, and George kept three males named Rock, Tom and Henry. However, when Henry was four months old his stomach twisted and he nearly died.

George took a chance on the young hound and took him to the vet where he quickly recovered.

George said, “I started hunting Henry and his littermates with their father, Jack, when they were seven months old. By the time they were eight-months old they would run and tree with him on every track.” George said, “The first bear Henry ever treed by himself was right by our house when he was ten-and-a-half months old.” George said, “After Jack died, those three dogs were the nucleus of my pack.” When Tom was five years old he sold him to Carl Johnson in Michigan. A bear in Idaho killed Rock when he was six years old. Henry was the only dog in the Bear Hunting 47

George Duncan (rt) with a big Idaho bear and a young Travis Reggear holds Henry. Travis used to write the bear hound column for Bear Hunting Magazine.

litter left in Idaho. George said, “After his brothers were gone, Henry made my living for me in the bear woods.”

“Henry was a one-dog bear pack.” George remembers. “He was exceptionally fast and would run a cold track like it was hot. He was also an exceptional rig dog. Back in those days that was the only way we struck bears – off the rig. I’ve known him to rig and then go ½ mile before he struck the bear.” By time he was 18-months old he was the lead strike dog of the professional pack. George went on about Henry, “He was a tough dog for other hounds to follow because he didn’t bark much on a cold track. That may have been his only fault. But when he jumped a bear he barked every time his feet hit the ground. When he had one bayed he had loud, fast chop.”

Henry was 62 pounds at hunting weight and he had the loudest mouth in the pack. “We were hunting before telemetry and GPS. If you couldn’t hear your dogs, you drove to a high point. If there wasn’t a road, you walked to it. I could always hear Henry further than I could hear his littermates.”

Henry treed the largest bear that George ever killed in his outfitting career. The pack split and Henry went on a track by himself and got treed. However, the other hounds also treed a bear and the hunting party went to them first. When they finally got around to Henry several hours later, George said, “I noticed that Henry was barking funny and I knew something wasn’t right.” When they got to him, a large portion of his lower jaw was severely damaged by the bear. “It 48 Bear Hunting

was clear that he had locked jaws with the huge bear, but still managed to put enough pressure on him to make him climb.” He had been treed for hours with a significant injury. George’s hunter shot the bear and it squared over 8-feet! Often, the big bears want to stand and fight, which this bear clearly had. To make a big, mean bear climb, it takes a dog putting a lot of pressure on him. “There was no quit in Henry and that was what I wanted to perpetuate off my hounds.”

George said, “As far as handling, he was smarter than most hounds. He handled like a trained border collie. I could tell him to get on top of the dog box or get in the dog box and he’d do it without a lead. He acted like a housedog when he came in the house. None in his line were cranky or wanted to fight with other hounds.”

Henry’s notoriety spread quickly in those early years of hound hunting in the Pacific Northwest.

A Treeing Walker breeder and inspector for UKC, named Sam Falk, approached George about single registering Henry. Sam had hunted with Henry and was impressed by the dog in every regard. George wasn’t interested in papers, but Sam told him, “It would help upgrade the Treeing Walker breed.”

Sept/Oct 2021

George Duncan’s White Dogs: Idaho George agreed and Henry was singled registered into UKC primarily based upon his performance.

Henry with Dale Cochrell & Dick Long from New York.

White Dogs Henry’s no-quit desire was what significantly separated Henry from other hounds. “The only way to get him off a bear was at the tree or to catch him off while crossing a road.”

He noted. “Any serious houndsman that has attained dogs that are that capable will find ways to perpetuate those traits rather than breed it all away. Henry came along before they could collect semen, or I would have collected some.” However, from that point on, George would line breed his “white” dogs off of Henry and his offspring.

George went on to make some comments about line breeding, “Breeding a dog to an unrelated female, you lose half of it in the first cross. And if you breed it again to unrelated cross you’re down to a ¼ and then into an 1/8 of what you started with. What you’re trying to preserve disappears unless you line breed.” He bred grandfather to granddaughter and uncle to niece for several generations. However, an important part of line breeding is outcrossing at certain times. “Every third generation I like to make an outcross to a hound with similar characteristics. If you don’t do this you can run into some health problems with your dogs.”

The Last Years Henry was a foundational member of the pack until he was 10.5 years old. Over the years, George had developed a great relationship with Carl Johnson. In Carl’s assessment, Henry was one of the most significant bear dogs of the time.

Carl had tried to buy Henry when he was four years old, but he wasn’t for sale. George then relayed a very interesting exchange between the two friends, “When Henry was 10.5 years old Carl called me and said he wanted to buy him.” George replied, “Carl, he’s old, are you sure you want to buy him?”

Carl replied, “George I’m 70 years old, I’m not worried about his age.” Carl couldn’t be talked out of it and was willing to pay a hefty sum of money. George couldn’t refuse.

Carl took the hound and hunted him for one year before the hound fell ill. He wouldn’t eat. “I told him to send the dog back to me and I’d take to the best veterinary clinic in the region at Washington State University.” George said. After

The Nite Life Nation Podcast is hosted by Brent Reaves, Nick Gilliland, and Steve Fielder. From pleasure and competition hunting to training hounds, listeners are welcomed into a relaxed discussion geared toward helping hunters from novices to the most seasoned veteran.

Episodes focus on the time honored traditions and current trends of coon hunting with first hand accounts, humorous anecdotes, and intriguing interviews. The Nite Life Nation Podcast is always fun, always family, and always free.

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Henry was sold to Michigan Conservation Commissioner, Carl T Johnson when the hound was 10.5 years old.

This photo token the day he was taken to Michigan.

Hunt big Hunt color Hunt here

some tests, the vets diagnosed Henry with cancer and he died within a few days. “I took Henry and buried him on my place. It was 1988.” George remembers.

Since Henry’s death, George has bred 16 generations off his line.

He remembers, “Henry was the heart of my outfitting business for eight years.” In Henry’s lifetime, he was on over 650 bear trees, many of which he treed without help. It was undoubtedly a great time period to be a houndsmen in Idaho, and many great dogs were produced during that era. Undoubtedly, Henry was a legendary bear hound and his lineage continues on today.

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Bear Hunting 51

NEW 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.”

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Bear Guns 6.8 Western

By Kolby Morehead

W

@kolby_morehead

e are always chasing the ultimate caliber that is accurate, has a flat trajectory, carries good energy down range, and has manageable recoil. Browning and Winchester teamed up to produce what they consider the ultimate round that checks all the boxes with a long heavy-for-caliber bullet in a short action platform.

New for 2021 is the 6.8 Western. The 6.8 Western is based off a .270 wsm (Winchester Short Magnum) round with a trimmed down case paired with a longer/heavier bullet. The new bullet allows for a higher twist rate barrel going from a 10-1 rate in the .270 wsm to twist rates as fast as 1-7.5.

The heavier round is very stable and at 500 yards it still has 1,771 ft/lbs of energy that will do a little more than tickle the target. Available factory rounds include a 165 grain Accubond LR and 175 grain Sierra Tipped GameKings. The rounds have good BC and are smoking out of the barrel at 2800+ fps. This round will take down most North American big game including moose.

As far as recoil goes it is supposed to be manageable and is said to be comparative to a 7mm Rem Mag. This is likely to become a go to caliber for many hunters wanting to take off a little pack weight with a short action rifle and the 6.8 Western’s long-range capabilities. This is one we look forward to getting our hands on to test in the field.

52 Bear Hunting

Browning X-Bolt Western (New for 2021) Price: $1099.99 - $1,219.99 MSRP Bolt-action rifle with heavy sporter contour barrel Removeable muzzle brake Removeable magazine Top-tang thumb safety Extended bolt handle Composite stock with new adjustable comb system and A-TACS AU Camo finish

Caliber Summary:

Good for all North American big game (even a moose) Bullets: 165gr – 175gr Sectional Density 165gr: .307 Muzzle Velocity: 2,835 fps – 2,960 fps Energy at 500 yards: 1771 ft/lbs Ammo: There are few options available currently for the new cartridge.

Sept/Oct 20210

NCBHA Members, Since the 2021-2022 Session of the NC General Assembly convened on January 2020, we have seen several issues come up that was of interest or concern for the NCBHA members.

House Bill 181 - REVISE REQUIREMENTS FOR HARVEST OF BLACK BEAR: § 113-291.7. Regulation of bears; limited retention of local acts closing bear seasons. (c) Any hunter who has harvested a black bear (Ursus americanus) shall submit at least one premolar tooth to the Wildlife Resources Commission no later than January 31 following applicable prior bear hunting season. The tooth submission shall include all of the following information on a form specified by the Wildlife Resources Commission (hunter’s name and mailing address, hunting license number, harvest authorization number, sex of the harvested bear and county of harvest).

Violation for failing to submit at least one premolar tooth shall be an misdemeanors infraction, punishable by a fine of thirty-five dollars ($35.00). A hunter guilty of an infraction for violations of this section for two consecutive years or upon failure to pay outstanding infraction fines when required to do so, would be subject to revocation bear stamp privileges. The Bill has passed in the House and has moved to the Senate where it passed its first reading and is presently in the Committee On Rules and Operations of the Senate.

HOUSE BILL 671 - CHANGE STATE MAMMAL TO BLACK BEAR: § 145-5. In recognition of the importance and majesty of North Carolina’s black bears, it is fitting to designate the black bear the official mammal of the State of North Carolina. The Bill has passed in the House, where it had broad support and has moved to the Senate where it passed its first reading and is presently in the Committee On Rules and Operations of the Senate.

As reported to the NCBHA Board of Directors: The Board reviewed reports that some NCWRC Commissioners of the Big Game Committee, discussed restructuring elements of the Coastal Bear Management Unit (CBMU) hunting season, possibly allowing an exclusive fall archery season. The NCBHA and numerous other bear hunter stakeholders have always opposed any exclusive bear hunting seasons segregated by method of take. Nothing has changed, the NCBHA continues to strongly oppose segregated seasons in any form.

The NCBHA Board reviewed reports, that some Big Game Committee members inquired again about a second (2nd) harvest tag. It’s an interesting idea and we have supported earlier considerations of a second tag provided it was implemented appropriately, however everyone must stay focused on two key issues here: 1) North Carolina

www.bear-hunting.com

is meeting population objectives as outlined in the Bear Management Plan (BMP), so there is absolutely no reason to endorse an expanded harvest. The population is at just approximately ZERO growth (not measurably increasing or decreasing), and; 2) The NCWRC Wildlife Management Division must implement the CBMU Population Study, across the CBMU over a minimum period of 2-years to scientifically determine a focused estimate of the coastal bear population.

We’ve been funding this type research through our Bears Harvest Tags and it needs to be implemented to provide all stakeholder with this valuable information.

This would be an inaugural study to produce a non-biased population and density estimates across the CBMU zones.

Density estimates would help us evaluate the boundaries and bear hunting seasons of the 5 CBMU zones. With the bear population estimate, we could standardize our current methods to monitor bear population trends and ascertain the most accurate data points and information In closing we want to offer Remembrance of two very special bear hunters: Charles Presnell - Our great friend and fellow bear hunter Charles Presnell passed away in January after a long health battle. Charles was a faithful and instrumental member of the NCBHA Board of Directors. Charles served 18 years on the Board of Directors, provided excellent counsel on many important deliberations and sat on several NCBHA committees involving our games lands, bear baiting rule and USFS land access. Charles and his wonderful wife Sherrie were always willing to take on special activities. I’m sure we speak for all NC bear hunters in saying we already miss Charles and his calm steady demeanor. God Bless you Charles we will meet again.

BJ Johnson - We received notice that our dearest friend and bear hunter BJ Johnson passed. BJ served on our Board of Directors since 1989, he always attended our meetings and provided a stalwart voice for bear hunters in North Carolina. He was a proponent of a practical bear baiting rule and the right to hunt with dogs. BJ hunted with a large club for years and was known amongst the old-school bears hunters of the 60’s and 70’s when bear hunting was a tough endeavor. We will miss BJ and look forward to meeting him again.

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 NCBHA.com.

Be safe!

Bear Hunting 53

Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association Inc. Sept/Oct 2021

BIG FRIG Coolers WBHA SPONSOR

I hope everyone is having a safe and productive training

season so far. Usually in this September issue I am fortunate to recap everything the WBHA Foundation has done in the last year. 2020 as I’m sure you are all aware, for a lack of better words, had been cancelled. Trap and Sporting Clay State tournaments were cancelled, there were no Youth in the Outdoors events along with no annual convention in 2020. As we thankfully made it through a financially tough 2020, I’m happy to announce that we are back at it in 2021 and are going to be better than ever!

For the first time, our Governor’s Harvest Tag raffle sold out completely and provided the Foundation with $10,000. We were also fortunate enough to have Hunter Nation auction off our other Governor’s Harvest tag for another $10,000! With our significant funds, we were able to donate to the State Trap Tournament where more than 85 high school teams featuring more than 2,000 student athletes participated. We also donated to the Wisconsin Sporting Clays Association.

Thirteen Scholarships totaling $7,000 were awarded in March 2021 to qualifying applicants. We will be able to award 40 landowners $50 each this fall as well in our Landowner Appreciation Drawing. Check out the WBHA website for details!

One of my favorite events of the year is Richardson’s Youth in the Outdoors Day. Kids of all ages get to participate in a variety of outdoor activities including archery, trap and sport shooting, fishing, .bb gun shooting, bird house building as well as learning about turkey, pheasant and bear hunting after enjoying a campfire pudgy pie.

Close to 100 kids show up for a full day of family activities and almost ALL leave with a door prize. This years Youth in the Outdoors event was just held on August 14th. I want to thank all the volunteers at Richardson Sportsmen’s Club and all the generous sponsors for putting on such a fun and successful event year after year!

Speaking of success and volunteering, I want to leave you with this. Remember that each and everyone of us are an ambassador of our sport. Everything that we do as individuals reflects on hound hunting as a whole. Being a good ambassador entails being mindful of what we post on social media, our radio communications, and our interactions with the general public. Every time we interact with someone we have the opportunity to promote Great Public Relations, along with winning one person at a time in the court of public opinion.

proactive.

Becoming a member, or renewing your membership in the WBHA. Contacting your legislators, taking time to fill out surveys, attending meetings, promote public relations, and being good stewards of our sport. The next generation is watching and learning from you. “Preserving Tomorrow’s Heritage, Today” is the motto of the WBHA and our focus is on protecting and promoting quality hunting opportunities for years to come. You can either be part of the problem, or part of the solution. THE CHOICE IS YOURS! Have a safe and successful harvest season!

Stephanie Hanson WBHA Foundation President

The days of defining our love of hound hunting is no longer just running our hounds every chance that we can. The new definition is now being involved, and

Mail to: WBHA, 594 Rural St, Berlin, WI 54923 Call John Trochinski 920-229-0365 or email at bigjohntro@gmail.com 54 Bear Hunting

Sept/Oct 2021

Michigan Bear Hunters Association Defenders of our wildlife heritage www.mibearhunters.org

Report from MBHA

By Victor Skinner

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.

www.bear-hunting.com

Bear Hunting 55

Frank Carter Prince of Whales Alaska

Dallas Hohnsbehn DIY Idaho Spring 2021

Bruce Larrison & Crew Maine 2020

Jesse Shipley New Brunswick Canada

Rick Thompson Idaho DIY Spring 2021

56 Bear Hunting

July/Aug 2021

Rebecca Spring DIY SE Alaska Spring 2021

Bruce Larrison & Crew Maine 2020 340 lbs Left to Right - Chris, Thomas, Jeff, Zach, Bruce

Justin Spring (his wife above) DIY SE Alaska Spring 2021

Matthew McCormack Grandview,Manitoba Silver Creek Outfitting First bear - 475 pounds

Amy McPherson 7th Bear Canada

Find us on

Magazine Photo Gallery

Check out the Bear Hunting Magazine YOUTUBE Channel & our PODCAST

Email your high resolution bear photos to info@bear-hunting.com or mail a copy to PO Box 168, West Fork, Arkansas 72774. We reserve the right to not publish photos based on image and photographic quality. www.bear-hunting.com

Bear Hunting 57

The Strategic Bear Hunter

ten attributes of the perfect bait site

by Bernie Barringer

Location is everything when baiting bears.

I

s there such a thing as the perfect bait site?

I’m really not sure because I have been looking for them all my life and so far I have not found one.

But I have found a handful which are really, really good year after year, and they all have a few things in common. I’ve made a list of 10 things that make up the perfect bait site, and when I’m choosing bear baiting locations, I try to find sites that have as many of these attributes as possible. Some of them are deal breakers, some are just added bonuses, but all of them, when put together, create the ideal location to shoot a bear.

Maybe someday, I will find a location that has all 10 of these, but in the meantime, I’ll stick with the spots that have most of these attributes, and keep killing bears on these spots. For me the hunt for great locations is just as fun and challenging as the hunt for the bear itself.

1) Of course we need to find general locations that have a high bear population and the things bears need in order to thrive. This includes natural foods, water, security cover, low human interference, and cool bedding areas (which are normally associated with water.)

2) Once we have found the general location, we need to narrow it down to a more specific location and the first thing I look for is high ground. There are two reasons for this. Scent tends to pool and swirl in lower areas, both your human scent when hunting, and your lures that you need to spread the word on the wind that there’s something good to eat.

On higher areas, the wind tends to be more directional and predictable. Your lures will carry farther and bring the bears in. Also keep in mind that I’m targeting big, mature males, and when travelling, these bears prefer to walk on the higher ground rather than push their big bodies through the thick stuff in the bottoms. The high ground also helps them find your bait faster because they’re likely to be travelling through in the area.

The ideal tree gives the hunter background cover by concealing his outline. It also allows me to put a stand 15-18 feet up.

3) Speaking of proximity, all my baits have year-round water within 200 yards or so and often closer. Bears are consuming tens of thousands of calories each day and need a lot of water intake to aid in digestion. They have a thick coat and a layer of fat that means they need to keep cool during warm days, and that means swamps, creeks, ditches, lakes, ponds and any place where they can get wet when they need it. Place your bait where water is nearby and you’ll have bears more consistently approach the bait in daylight because you gave them a place nearby to comfortably spend the day.

4) Yes bears like to be comfortable. And one of the things that will raise their comfort level is giving them a way to approach the bait site without exposing themselves to open areas during daylight. Mature bears tend to avoid crossing areas without ground cover during legal shooting hours.

That means open fields and it also means old forest growth 58 Bear Hunting

Sept/Oct 20210

with heavy canopy and poor underbrush. If they have a corridor of ground cover to move through they will be much more likely to show up at your bait during daylight hours.

5) Access is very important. You need to be able to get into the bait with a minimum of effort and disturbance.

I avoid driving an ATV right up to my bait because it advertises the presence of a bait to anyone and everyone.

I don’t like strangers approaching my bait sites for a long list of reasons. I walk the last 50-100 yards or more to all my sites. That means carrying buckets and barrels and bags, so I want to be able to get in and out without any more physical labor and sweat than necessary.

6) Wind direction is of course a critical factor in choosing a bait site. Ideally, I would like the wind blowing from the bait to the stand as often as possible. In fact there are a few baits I will not hunt in the wrong wind because of the way the bears approach the bait. Know the prevailing wind direction in the areas you hunt and take that into consideration. When possible, I would like to have the setting sun at my back, both to avoid looking into the sun, but also because the sun can protect you from being seen in the tree by a bear on the ground. They don’t like looking into the sun any more than we do. But if I had to choose between the sun and the wind, I’ll take the wind every time. A perfect bait site will give you both advantages.

7) Whenever choosing the exact bait site location, I pick a tree for the stand first. Then I choose the spot where I’m going to place the bait. It’s surprising how often it can be difficult to pick the right tree in exactly the right spot, so that takes priority. Of course that tree is going to offer a clear path for an arrow or bullet to reach the bait

itself.

8) That perfect tree is going to have some features that are a big deal. I used to say that for concealment purposes, I want a tree that’s wider than I am. That’s getting more difficult as age catches up with me. I’m looking for a tree with good background cover and if possible some foreground cover. I want to be able to have foliage behind me that will help break up my outline.

9) The perfect tree is going to be 15-20 feet from the bait and offer me a place to put a treestand 15-18 feet high. This will get me up to where I am less likely to be seen and smelled by a bear and even more importantly it will give me the right angle for a low exit wound. Being strictly a bowhunter, the shot angle is important to a quick, clean kill and a short blood trail.

10) Trail cameras are such an important part of my bear hunting strategy that I factor that into every bait site location. I’m looking for a tree within 12-15 feet of the bait to attach a camera. I use bear safe metal boxes to protect my cameras from curious bears and any person who might have bad intentions.

By now you can see why it’s extremely difficult to find the ideal location. There are so many factors to consider.

But if I look back at all the bait sites I have used which are consistently visited by multiple bears every year, they all have 7-8 of these factors. And that’s what I shoot for each time I go out looking for that perfect bait site, even if it doesn’t actually exist.

A bait site in the ideal location ensures consistency of daylight visits by multiple bears year after year. Great sites are hard to find, but worth the effort.

www.bear-hunting.com

Bear Hunting 59

@backcountrybrian

Western Bear Hunting

Forget the horns, chase the fur

with Brian Strickland

For many hunters, mule deer, elk

and whitetails take center stage as the chill of au-tumn begins to settle in, and who can blame them.

It’s hard to compete with the bugle of a rutting bull elk, the impressive rack of a mule deer buck, or the sight of a rutting whitetail buck.

Honestly, I used to be in that camp as well.

But as my affections for Ursus americanus have deepened over the years, so has my desire to chase them dur-ing the fall. Needless to say, they have found a spot on my burgeoning fall to-do list.

Now, I’m not trying to convince you to put your affections for one of our horned un-gulates to the side. I wouldn’t dare ask that. However, if you’re looking to add a little flavor to your hunting experience, a fall black bear hunt is a good option. Not only are they plentiful across many western regions, but tags are often easy to come by. Fur-thermore, fall bears forage up to 20 hours a day to increase their body weight by 30% or more before they torpor into winter’s slumber. This “hyperphagia” stage literally means “abnormally increased appetite,” and the hunter can take advantage of this over-active activity.

That said, fall bears are not easy. I would even argue they are more difficult to track down now than in spring. However, if you’re lucky enough to find the right food source, the only thing keeping you from filling your tag is your inability to make the shot. More than once, I have seen multiple bears feeding in the same acorn patch here in my home state of Colorado during the fall, and a buddy in Montana recently shared with me that he once witnessed nine different bears in a burnt scared huckleberry patch several falls ago. The point is, if you can find the right food source, chances are you’re going to find bears.

Obviously, food sources vary by region so knowing what a particular area is likely to produce any given year is key. In Colorado, Gamble Oak acorns are key, as well as Pinion nuts, especially in the central and southwest regions. Serviceberry is also plenti-ful on the western slope, and in areas that have been hit with wildfires, raspberry patches can be a good fall food source. Other fall food sources farther west include huckleberries, Hawthorne, grouseberry, elderberry and blueberry.

Always keep in mind that black bears are opportunistic feeders more than anything

60 Bear Hunting

With bear numbers abounding out west, fall is a great time to add some flavor to your freezer. else, and in the fall that can mean gut piles from successful hunters.

Although it’s ille-gal to bait in many states, there’s nothing wrong with using the scent of rotting flesh to notch your bear tag.

Speaking of baiting, there are certainly some similarities when it comes to baiting bears in the fall and spring; however, there are some distinct differences that a hunter should take note of before establishing a food source. First off, with food supplies peaking this time of year it can be hard to draw and hold bears to a pile of sweet treats for a long period of time. Plus, if you let the bait go dry your opportunity could be lost as bears move on. Also, while some bears like the carbohydrates that pastries, candy and other sweet treats offer in the spring, many feel fresh meats, grains and other fatty foods are more effective to hold bears longer in the fall. Bait locations can vary, but a good start is generally close to

There are not shortage of fall bears in Colorado and Bill Vanderheyden, developer of Iron Will Broadheads, proves it with this impressive color phase bruin.

Sept/Oct 2021

water near natural travel corridors where you see multiple game trails intersecting.

With all this in mind, where you might ask are the best states to notch an over-the-counter tag? Montana should certainly make your shortlist for starters. Generally, about 1,100 bears are harvested there annually, and considering the only way you can hunt them is by spotand-stalk or calling, those are pretty good numbers.

Looking at the numbers, the best area to start glassing is Region 1 in the northwest. On average over half of the bears harvested statewide come from this area. This is where the some of the best habitat is, and bear numbers tend to be well-above average. Be-cause this area offers a level of remoteness as well, it tends to produce Montana’s best trophy potential.

Colorado is also another good spot, but with the number of elk and deer hunters the state eagerly invites annually, you won’t be alone. Although most successful bear hunters in the Centennial State are more opportunistic, meaning they harvest bears when they happen to run across one while deer or elk hunting, they still kill just over 1,000 annually. These are excellent numbers considering Colorado outlawed spring bear hunting in 1992.

Colorado offers a couple of ways to grab a bear tag: over-the-counter with caps and a pure preference point draw system. Over-the-counter with caps means a specific num-ber of tags are sold on a first come first serve basis until that limit is reached in a spe-cific unit.

The preference point system allows hunters to build points in unsuccessful draw attempts, but once enough points are accumulated for the specific unit, the ap-plicant draws the tag.

My third option would have to be the Gem State, although not because it would rank third.

Frankly, it might be the best western bear hunting destination as far as opportuni-ties go. With the ability to hunt them virtually any way you desire, as well as having vast amounts of public land to chase them on, it truly is a gem.

Over 2,000 bears are harvested annually, which tops all other western destinations. Although it has a reputa-tion for producing smaller bears, some real head-turners live there as well. In fact, my biggest western bear to date came from Idaho a few years ago, and he weighed nearly 300-pounds, was a 6-plus footer and had a 19 inch skull.

Last but certainly not least would be Oregon. In 2020 the Beaver State saw over 2,530 bears harvested, with the southwest region taking top honors with 579, followed by the northeast region with 440. Although Oregon’s spring bear hunting opportunities are on a draw, fall is a general tag that can be purchased over-the-counter. They even offer a second bear tag for those wanting to stock up on bear grease. Roughly 30,000 black bears call the Beaver state home, and with a generous season running from August 1st to December 31st, and tags priced right at just $16.50 for both resident and non-residents alike, a thick Oregon bear hide would make any trophy room complete.

www.bear-hunting.com

The author on a packout with a Western bear.

Bowhunter Justin Davis is the youngest hunter to ever achieve the Colorado Big 9,

Bear Hunting 61

y

Great Hunts

Bruin

Destinations

Virginia bears VIRGINA’S OLD DOMINION BRUINS

by Al Raychard

The history of black bears in Virginia is much

the same as it is throughout the eastern United States. At the time of first settlement in the 1600s, bears are

believed to have been abundant throughout the state. Due to extensive deforestation, burning, agriculture expansion, grazing, settlement and other human endeavors in the 1700s and 1800s, bears were pushed ever westward into remote mountain regions and the great swamps of the Southeast. Virginia covers some 39,594 square miles but by 1900, it is estimated the state was home to only 1,000 bears and were near extinction.

Over the next several decades things started to change.

In 1918 the creation of the George Washington National Forest, the Natural Bridge NF in 1933, Shenandoah National Park in 1935, the Jefferson NF in in 1936 and the creation of several state parks and state forests safeguarded vital habitat.

In the mid-20th century, agricultural land also reverted back to forest creating even more prime living space for bears. Starting in the 1950s extensive research programs including population dynamics, sex ratios, age structure, reproduction, survival rates and mortality factors, food habits, home range and denning, among others conducted by the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, as well has carefully managed hunting seasons have seen bear numbers and bear range increase dramatically. Since 2001 the statewide bear population in Virginia has increased by about 9.5 percent annually. According to available recreational sightings, hunter harvests, road kills and DWR staff bears are now present or occur in at least 92 of Virginia’s 95 counties.

Statewide Virginia’s bear population is currently estimated at 18,000- to 20,000, one of the largest in the East.

When it comes to hunting Virginia was never as high on the destination list among non-resident bear hunters as other states. In 2019-2020 visiting hunters contributed about eight percent of the annual harvest but there are reasons to believe that percentage may increase in coming years. To help control rising bear numbers, hunting seasons have been extended by a few days, others by a week or so. A new hunting season was added in western portions, long considered the black bear stronghold in the state and in 2017, a three-day early bear season was implemented in some counties in northern Virginia and on both sides of the Blue Ridge. In 2019 firearms hunting of black bears was expanded in the southside, southwest and portions of the east. In 2020-2021 Virginia hunters killed 469 bears, more than 13-percent of the total during the early threeday firearms seasons and 1,649 were killed during the firearms season, more than 47-percent of the total.

All this has provided increased hunting opportunity and hunters have responded in kind. Last year the number of non-resident hunting and bear licenses sold was up and the number of Sportsman Hunting and Fishing Licenses that allow residents to the take deer, bear or turkey increased to 37,392, three times the number sold in 2019-2020. As a result hunters killed 3,464 bears last year, two-percent lower than in 20192020 but the second highest on record and 24-percent higher

62 Bear Hunting

than the previous five-year average.

In general bear hunting in Virginia can be considered good throughout much of the state. In 2020-2021 hunters killed bears in 83 counties but year after year western counties produce that largest number to the annual harvest. The list varies by year but Alleghany, Augusta, Bath, Botetourt, Nelson, Rockbridge and Rockingham are in the top ten. These counties, among others, offer not only prime bear habitat but offer lots of public land in the form of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest. Combined the forests cover over one million, six hundred thousand acres. With its steep heavily forested mountainsides, deep ravines and miles of backcountry hunting it, however, can be physically challenging so hunts should be well planned and hunters prepared.

Unless hunting with dogs, the key to success is plenty of preseason scouting looking for natural foods and fresh sign.

Eastward from the Alleghenies and Blue Ridge the topography flattens to the Piedmont and coastal plain, much of the land is private but throughout these regions and state over 40 wildlife management areas covering over 200,000 acres and 26 state forests offering an additional 70,000 areas provide more hunting opportunity.

Not all offer prime hunting for bear but a good many do.

As it is in the more bear-rich western counties preseason scouting generally proves the key to success. Hunters should be aware hunting some of these properties calls for special permits along with the appropriate hunting licenses.

Sept/Oct 20210

Virginia

Overview Virginia OVERVIEW Estimated Bear Population: 18,000-20,000 Areas Open to Bear Hunting: Bear hunting is legal statewide unless prohibited by local jurisdictions.

Spring Bear Season: No. Fall Season/Dates: Yes. Archery- October 2-November 12 statewide*, Youth-October 9-10*, Muzzleloader-November 6-12* where muzzleloaders are allowed, Early Bear Season-September 27-29* in certain counties only, Firearms-Varies by county starting as early as October 1 and ending December 18 or January 1*.

Legal Limit: One bear per license year.

Baiting Allowed: No Dogs Allowed: Yes with certain limitations.

Legal Weapons: Archery gear, crossbows (crossbow permit may be required during some seasons), muzzleloaders unless prohibited by county, centerfire rifles and some handgun calibers.

License Fees: Resident Sportsman’s License-$100, Resident Hunt (age 16+)-$23, Resident Bear License-$21, Non-resident Hunting License (age 16+) $111, Non-resident 3-day Hunting License (age 16+)-$60, Non-resident Bear License-$151.

Contacts: Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, 1-(804)367-1000, www.dwr.virginia.gov. *2021 season dates may vary slightly.

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Bear Hunting 63

@timothydfowler

Fleshing it Out with Timothy Fowler

Eat crowing:Change your perspective Hunting over bait is legal, valid and worthwhile. And I learned that baited hunts for a committed spot and stalker is good medicine.

It’s been a good long while since I’ve eaten a

plate of crow: this one I cooked myself.

Let me explain. I went on a baited bear hunt. You see, my first bear hunt 20 years ago was over bait, and after that less than satisfactory experience, I said, “I’ll never hunt over bait again––no, I’m a dedicated spot and stalker.” I’ve killed 14+ black bears in the last 20 years––all spot and stalk––since that first unsuccessful bear hunt. I wore that “spot and stalk” philosophy, kind of like an arrogant badge, and shared my perspective with pretty much anyone who wanted to listen. Sadly, my orientation was, “It wouldn’t hurt me if baited hunts were sacrificed. I’ll never go on one again.”

Then I read Clay Newcomb’s Guard the Gate| 7 Things You Can Do To Preserve Bear Hunting: “It’s in the best interest of all hunters to support and defend all legal methods of bear hunting publicly, monetarily, and intellectually. Here’s why: the anti-hunting groups are dedicated to stopping all forms of hunting through incrementalism, meaning they want to chip off one piece at a time. Though it seems insignificant to a non-bear hunter, a win in bear hunting will result in a step up the ladder to the next rung.

The most important battle for our future is the battle that we fight right now. Bear hunting is in the crosshairs, it’s an easy target, and it’s clearly a favored target. Bear hunting is easy to misunderstand and demonize with low-grade propaganda to that 90% of non-hunters in the United States.”

After reading this piece, I had a big stare in the mirror, and determined I would go on a baited hunt and see what it was like, revisit the experience with an open mind, and write about it. This revelation is what is behind my bear hunting experience at Tate Island Lodge. I want to share it with you.

First, a little background, I’m a journeyman cook, and a friend of mine owns Tate Island Lodge on Tate Island in the middle of Reindeer Lake, in Saskatchewan. It is a beautiful place. The fishing is spectacular, and every evening we sit by the massive fireplace and review the bears that came into the baits that day. There are some great-looking bears. I cook there from time to time for hunting and fishing guests.

This spring, the owner said, “Tim, I’d like you to return to the lodge, but I haven’t got the volume of guests we normally have, so we can’t pay you what we did last year.”

“Well, that’s fine,” I said, “not everything is about money.

What else can you offer me?” (Besides trophy Lake Trout, Pike, Walleye, and Grayling fishing.)

“How about a bear hunt? There were few bears taken last year, and there are some great bears about.”

That made the whole deal sweet, and we settled.

I would cook split shifts, fish some, cook some, and if we could find a decent bear, I would hunt. I learned some things: the crew at Tate Island work hard at baiting. I have yet to put that kind of time into a spot and stalk hunt. Weeks before

64 Bear Hunting

hunting commences, baiting is gearing up.

They bait with kitchen scraps, bacon grease, vegetable peelings, expired leftovers, and bulk dog food. I brought a jug of Moutrie Bear Magnet bacon-scented liquid.

We poured this over the bait and barrel the day before my hunt. The day I was in the stand, we lit two Tink’s Bear Smokin’ Sticks in Honey Bacon Scent.

Hunting over bait is a bit of work for the crew: stands have to be selected, bait barrels assembled and chained to suitable trees, shooting lanes cleared, baits need to be established weeks in advance of the hunter’s arrival and refreshed daily, trail cameras need to be set up, images retrieved with SD cards, SD cards swapped and checked daily, bear images and activity monitored––all of this data allows hunters an opportunity to target a specific bear.

Three days before the season ended, supper dishes were done and put away, breakfast was prepared, and bread baked. Late into the evening, we finally got around to reviewing the day’s images captured.

“Oh, that’s a good one,” I said, as senior Kozak, Randy flipped through the photos of a decent black bear reaching over the bait barrel.

“That is a shooter!” the younger Kozak, Trevor, “Look, he was there from 6:30 AM to 11:20 AM. Better start early.

You’ll want to be in the stand at 4 AM.” (At that time of year, sunrise was 3:56 AM, if I recall correctly.)

“I’ll take you at 3:30,” Randy said.

“I’ll have breakfast ready at three,” was my response.

At 3:25 A.M., we packed the Bighorn Armory lever action in 500 Smith & Wesson in the boat, my backpack filled with enough sandwiches and water for an all-day sit. At 3:49 A.M., I arranged my backpack and closed-cell mat to sit comfortably just as the sun rose. Tate Island Lodge uses double-wide stands that are comfortable for a long-term sit. Randy lit the Tink’s Smokin’ Sticks, wished me luck, and in a few minutes, the sound of the outboard drifted into the sound of the waves lapping 50 yards from my stand. The gentle breeze blew the smoke in a single line directly out to the lake.

I woke up to the smell of bacon cooking. I open my eyes to look for bacon and saw wisps of smoke from the sticks; the wind shifted and shifted again. It was 6:15 AM; at that Sept/Oct 2021

moment, the breeze carried the stream of smoke directly away for me parallel to the lakeshore and into the heaviest part of the woods. I immediately spotted a bear in the woods, but the binocular helped me see it was a raven. I continued to dissect the woods and spotted another raven. This time the blackbird raised his head into the stream of smoke from the smoldering Tink’s; the crosshairs of my Leupold 1 to 4 power scope found a crease between the front legs of the bear. I admired the shot and the speed at which the bear hit the ground, the authority of a 300 grain Hornady FTX in 500 Smith and Wesson. I imagined my buddies slapping me on the back, “heckuva shot there, Tim,” they would say, and at that very moment, the bear got up and walked away. I sent another round after it. Beginners mistake for a 20+-year hunter…now I wait and wait, fearing the worst.

While waiting, I use my Spot X 2-Way Satellite Messenger to text Randy, “6:25 A.M. shot bear. Wandered off. Will track at 6:55.”

At 7:05, the text said, “Bear found 20 yards from bait.”

It wasn’t long before I could hear the hum of that outboard motor again and, shortly after, footsteps and chatter. Success! We rolled the bear onto a tarp and drag-hauled it to the boat. I skin the bear on a different small island away from the bait site, and small enough, you know there are no bears on the island. We don’t want some bear walking in to surprise me while I’m skinning it. We hang bear quarters in the cool in the breeze in the shade while finishing cutting chores. We retrieved the bear heart for marinated grilled heart skewers for guests before dinner.

Back at camp, we hung the bear quarters overnight in a shed with good air circulation. The next day I boned and cut up the four quarters, packaging, and vacuum packing most of the bear.

I roasted bear bones to make brown stock destined for French onion soup. And I pressured-canned most of the bear shoulders using the cold pack process and just sea salt.

That night I cooked braised bear shanks and braised bear loin cutlets dredged in rye flour and cooked in carrots,

onions, celery, and red wine. Four of the folks around the table had never had bear before, and between the grilled bear heart appetizers on a bamboo stick and the braised bear, they were converted to bear meat lovers.

I can tell you this experience of a baited bear hunt was completely different from my previous baited hunting experience. I thoroughly enjoyed the process and was able to tag an impressive bear. I will go on another baited hunt, and will share my opinion with anyone who wants to listen.

I finished my plate of crow and wrote this article.

The author helped in the kitchen at bear camp.

The author was unsure about a baited hunt, but learned a lot and truly enjoyed it.

www.bear-hunting.com

Bear Hunting 65

{Hounds and Bears} Column

IN Hot PUrsuit

By Travis Reggear

What makes a really good dog?

Whatever it takes.

(originally published in 2013)

Over the years I have been asked the “What” question at least a thousand times. What breed of dog is the best? What

style hound is best? What gender do you prefer?

I always answer the question the same way, I like a good dog no matter what fla­vor or gender or size it may be. I am partial to a cer­tain strain of dog, but overall I tell everyone that I like and appreciate a good dog. Then I get asked the question; just ,what exactly makes a good dog?

After many hours of contemplating this question I believe I finally came up with an answer.

Drum roll please, “The Gun Shot” is what makes a good dog. Whatever it takes to make the gun go off, that is what a good dog does. A good dog does whatever it takes to make the gun go off or have the chance to go off. If a dog has to trail a scent across hot, burning sand or cold, frozen ice to catch its quarry, that makes it a good dog. If it has to stay treed for a day or two for the hunter to arrive, it makes them a good dog. If the dog has to stay bayed for hours until the hunter can get to it, that makes it a good dog. So a good dog does whatever it has to do to give the hunter the opportunity to shoot whatever the dog has caught.

This fall, we had a very interesting and exciting day of bear hunting that I believe really illustrates what I am referring to when I am talking about dogs doing whatever they have to.

My daughter and I had scouted an old camping area down by the lake that we live by. The area that we scouted has many dif­ferent fruit trees that provide a smorgasbord of food for a bear.

After hiking throughout the area we had found that there was certainly enough bear sign for us to start the next day’s hunt in that location. After meeting up with a good friend, Chris, and his son, Tyler, the next morning, we collared all the dogs and got the hunt underway.

Tyler and I each took a few dogs and hiked off into the camping area. The remainder stayed in the truck for backup. After a 15-minute walk into our spot, our dogs struck on a scent and went to work trailing up a bear. Not long after the dogs got the track lined out, the bear was jumped and running. The bear made a few loops on the hillside and then started to line out in a direction that I had never had a bear run before.

The bear was going to have to cross the main road or end up in the lake. He was running out of 66 Bear Hunting

real estate.

Tyler and I decided that since we could no longer hear the dogs, that we would start our hike back out to our vehicles. We still had our dogs on GPS and could track them, even though we could not hear them. About half way out the GPS showed the dogs were in the water. I told Tyler that this time of year the water was way down in the lake and sometimes when the dogs get near the water, even though it shows them in the water, they are not ac­tually in it. About the time I got those words of wis­dom out of my big mouth my son called on the radio and said, “Dad you better get up here, things are getting wild!” I instantly knew that the GPS that we had been looking at was not lying. I asked him if the dogs were in the water and he said, “Yes, they’re all in the water, dogs and bear.” We doubled-timed it out to my vehicle and in no time got to where we could see the dogs.

At this place, the lake is over 800 yards wide. Chris and my son Walker were standing there with the hunter, watching the dogs and bear swim and fight out in the lake. At times the aquatic dog and bear show was quite spooky. The dogs would manage to get up alongside the bear and try to pull it down. When they did, the bear would demand respect and try to do the same back to the dogs. At times the bear and the dogs would all disappear under the water. Our hearts would about stop knowing that there was nothing we could do. All morning long there had been boats going up and down the lake, but where was one when we needed it?

The aquatic dog and bear fight reached about the center point of the lake and the bear turned and start­ed down the middle of the lake. It

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looked as if he were going to swim down the middle of the lake into anoth­er zip code when he finally turned and started to the far shore. Knowing that there was a trail in above where the bear was headed, we decided to have Tyler take a few fresh dogs and try to intercept the swim­mers when they reached shore. It worked as planned and within a short time Tyler had the dogs packed in and the dog and bear fight went from water to land. The bay show was less than a hundred yards under the road and I still had a box full of dogs. I tripped the tailgate and in a few seconds every dog we had, young and old, was at the bear bay. I told my hunter to get his gear and rifle ready, then we left the road and headed to the dogs.

Chris had pulled his truck in behind mine and headed over the hill with me and the hunter. Within a few minutes, Chris and I had the hunter in amongst the dogs and the bear. One time I saw the bear jump up on the side of the tree, so I thought the bear had treed, but then the dogs would pull him off and the fight was on again. The bear fought his way around until he could get some relief in a patch of blown over trees. I got a big cedar tree between the bear and us, making it possible for me to get the hunter within 1 O feet of the bear. When we stepped out from around the tree the hunter was ready and when the dogs were clear enough to shoot, he killed the bear. This would have not been possible without good dogs and the definition of good dogs, are dogs that do whatev­er it takes to get the gun to go bang.

Everyone has a preference of what they like in a dog but good dogs are good dogs no matter what breed, color, shape, sex or size they are. Lately my preference has been the style of dog that Mike Kemp of Three Bear Kennels is producing. They have the de­sire to run and catch that I like and most of all they are a very intelligent. All in all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder when it comes to hounds. Just remember, if the dog does whatever it takes to make the gun have a chance to go off, it is a good dog.

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Bear Hunting 67

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

Q-I have a black bear hunt over bait in September and plan to hunt with my 150-pound crossbow. Is it powerful enough to get the job done?

A-There’s a number of variables that determine a quick kill when arrowing a bear including hunter efficiency, a bow properly sighted for accuracy with an arrow and Broadheads that provide sufficient speed, momentum and deep penetration, among others. Thus matched your 150-pound crossbow is more than enough to “get the job done.” I’ve killed several bears with crossbows of the same draw weight over bait at under 40-yards but for greater momentum and penetration use slightly heavier arrows than used on deer. And of course, shot placement is key.

Q-I have a self-guided bear hunt this fall and will be miles from freezer facilities. What is the best way to preserve a bear skin?

A-Make proper skin care a key part of your hunt plans. In general, it is important to skin the animal as quickly as possible to prevent spoilage from body heat and hair slippage. Bear hair can start to slip within a day in warm weather conditions.

Remove as much fat as possible and keep the skin cool, clean and dry as possible. Lots of ice salting with non-iodized salt is generally considered the best way to go, but it takes a lot of salt, 10-15 pounds or so for an average bear perhaps twice as much for large bears. When storing and transporting use cloth game bags, never plastic bags. Based on personal experience,

68 Bear Hunting

my best advice is to consult with your taxidermist before the hunt. Tell him or her where you are hunting and ask the best way to preserve bear skins in remote areas. At a minimum plan to get the skin to the taxidermist as soon as possible.

Q-I’ve heard some hunters say bear meat provides excellent table fare, others say they won’t touch it with a ten-foot pole. Which is right?

A-I would definitely say the former, but like all game good bear meat quality begins the field, not the kitchen. When quickly skinned and cooled properly in the field, bear meat is extremely tasty as well as nutritious. This is especially true of spring bears that carry less fat and fall bears not feeding on salmon.

Bear meat is slight darker in color than beef and has a coarser grain, but the cooking preparations and applications are similar to beef. The key to a tasty meal is removing as much fat as possible during the skinning process and any leftover fat on individual cuts before freezing. It is also highly recommended to cook bear meat to an internal temperature of 170-degrees for at least three minutes and there is no pink meat or fluid, especially around joints and close to the bone.

Submit your questions to alraychard@sacoriver.net

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