2023 - Issue 5 - September/October

Year

Ella’s Bear

Why You’re Not Seeing Bears A Coat of Many Colors 202 3

Nine Bear

Legendary Bear Hounds Part 45

The bear hunting authority for 23 years

t/O ct

French Canadian Black B

S ep

Why Do Male Bears Kill Cubs?

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Sept/Oct 2023 Volume 24 - Issue 5 Cover photo by Chelsea Hansler

By Chelsea Hansler

Houndsmen Weekend

By PNWild

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Nine Bear Year

By Travis Adair

Blast From The Past

22

Use of Leashed Tracking Dogs

By Ella McFadden

Ella’s Bear

Richard P. Smith

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By Stephen F. Fielder Legendary Bear Hound: Part 51 Piontek & Crawford’s Buck

Michigan Bear Calling Success

By Gus Congemi

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The Trip That Almost Didn’t Happen

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Why Do Male Bears Kill Cubs?

By Timothy D Fowler

30

Five Onion Bear Ragout & Biscuits

By Bernie Barringer

Bear Hunting Magazine Trail Camera Contest Winner

Columns 42 Bowhunting Bears

Wait til john comes to fill this thing!

44 Blood, Sweat, & Bears

Win a Moultrie Mobile Camera!

by Bernie Barringer - Bear Guru

#Sneaky_Sneaky

by Douglas Boze - Bear Dude

48 Black Bear Biology

by Dr. Jenn Ballard - Animal Doc

50 Western Bear Hunting

by Jana Waller - Western Hunter

54 Bruin Desinations

Submitted by: John Walters

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

by Al Raychard - Bear Hunting Veteran

56 Sacred Pursuit

by TL Jones - Hound Pro

58 In Hot Pursuit

by Barry ‘Bear’ Siragusa - Hound Dude

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Bear Grease

Kolby overcame a fear and noodled his first fish.

The Editor’s Note

Kolby Morehead

@kolby_morehead

Never did I ever think that I would say the following words: “I noodled a flathead!” I know all the responses you all have because I’ve heard them all since doing it. Most responses end with the question, “Why?” or “I could never do that!”

Getting into the muddy water, holding my breath, reaching into a hole, and going after thirty-four pounds of solid muscle was intimidating to say the least. I went down despite my reservations over twenty times until I could get this fish to play ball. With each submersion, fears broke off me and there wasn’t any turning from my new found determination.

For context, my father was a commercial fisherman when I was born (I was on the water a lot), and I had an overprotective mother that kept me from getting in the muddy water and implanted her own fear of me drowning inside my psyche. Growing up, I stayed out of the pools and never got out of the boat into the muddy water. It’s ironic, I was always on the water yet I never truly learned to swim. My mother’s fear of me drowning could’ve been my ruin if I ever had an accident around the water.

So, what does this have to do with bear hunting?

Our kids are the next generation of hunters, and we have to be careful what we instill in them. Our own preferences like not getting out of the boat, can instill things in them that come out of unhealthy ideals we hold. Be careful that you don’t instill your own bias towards different methods of bear hunting into the next generation and give the next generation the ability to be in less contention with one another. They’ll likely have more appreciation for the way you do it. As soon as I pulled that fish out of the water, I wasn’t wanting to go noodle another one, I wanted to go jump in a boat with my dad and go run some trotlines.

I also just got back from a bear hunt on the Oregon coast with the Onpoint Podcast, Hunt League, Vortex, & HuxWrx. We hunted with the On Point Experience winner, Cody Paratore, and were able to get him his first bear! Cody won over $12k in prizes and a five-day hunt with us chasing Pacific Northwest bruins.

We sat down with a local radio station and talked about the hunt. The recording will be available by the time this magazine comes out. Check out our social media for a link to hear a recap of the On Point Experience including a funny story from the bear recovery involving yellow jackets.

Also, checkout the Hunt League app and use code ‘BHM’ for a month free to track all species. Hunt League is basically a personal hunt log and there’s a community of hunters that won’t troll you and will celebrate your pursuits. You can choose to compete in leagues where mentoring and days in the field are prioritized over ‘trophy’ animals.

Garrett Weaver (Left) with On Point Experience winner Cody Paratore (Right) and Cody’s First Bear!

(Left to Right) Jared Newman from The Hunt League App, Kolby Morehead from Bear Hunting Magazine, & Garrett Weaver from the On Point Podcasts recording recounting the hunt for the airwaves.

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

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

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

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Houndsmen Weekend

An Annual Weekend of Following Hounds with Friends

by Chelsea Hansler

@chelseahanslerart

With nothing but a fixed blade strapped to my belt, I left my friend and our two boys in the Toyota as I darted across the overgrown logging cut towards the bellowing of the hounds. This bear had come up treed once before, only to make a run for it as the other group had arrived. Feeling foolish for leaving my rifle in the other truck, I headed toward the pack knowing that, at the very least, if things got western or the sun set before the shooter could arrive, I could call them off.

Every year we host friends for an annual “Houndsmen weekend.” It’s full of friends, family, good food, and, of course, running bears. Typically, my job for these annual events is to be at trail crossings to usher the hounds across safely, help get “shooters” onto bears, and sometimes carry kids into the trees. There’s often a backseat full of 10

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Sept/Oct 2023

children, and it’s a fun change of pace from the many days we spend out just with our family. This year, however, I told our shooter for the day, Matt, I was driving my truck and because his Toyota wasn’t operational, he had no choice but to let me run point with the dogs in mine. To my surprise, he had no issue with that proposal and it was reassuring that the guys, despite having their dogs in my truck, trusted me to make the right call.

The bellowing of the hounds echoed from the swamp below, filling the thick, jungle-like brush with the best sound there is. I’ve heard this sound countless times, but the close calls of last season for both myself and the hounds were lurking in my mind and I could feel my nerves washing over me. Last fall, I came face-to-face with a boar rushing the dogs only to be stopped dead in his tracks just feet from me. He looked at me, contemplating whether to commit to his charge through me to the dogs or retreat. I held my ground between us as Hooch came circling back to protect me once he realized what was taking place. Thankfully as soon as I yelled, the bear chose the latter, turning on his heels and running off in the opposite direction with the hounds close on his tail.

My hands were clammy and my heart racing as I took a deep breath to clear my head. I skirted along the

swamp edge, keeping a close eye on the thicker brush to my left where I could hear the dogs. With no one even within GPS range, I was on my own. This was far from the first time I had walked into a caught bear alone, yet I couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling that their lives and safety were solely in my hands. Knowing self-doubt would only be my demise, I pushed it aside and turned that fear into determination.

Before rushing through the brush to the dogs, I confirmed that the bear was, in fact, treed. Cautiously I maneuvered down into the thicker brush, choosing the most direct route across the soaked, mossy floor. I could feel the water trickle over my boots and the scent of the wet moss filled my nose.

As I approached, I scanned the tall pines above and was relieved to see the bear perched on a branch 20 feet up along an overgrown skidder trail. He had come down once before, so I knew that my presence would make him uneasy; there was a high likelihood he would try it again.

Even at a distance, I could see blood on a few of the dogs. My heart raced as I prepared myself for the possibility that the bear might come down and try for a second round with the hounds. Without a gun, I had no desire to do the dance on the ground and I praised the dogs so their intensity would pick up. They put on a show and I hoped this would be enough to keep him there until the shooter for the

The author with her son and hounds ready for a chase.

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The author reached her hounds solo and tried to keep the bear in the tree for the shooter.

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Sept/Oct 2023

day could arrive or I could at least get dogs tied back—whichever came first. No such luck. Before I could even begin hooking on the leads, the bear became restless. He shifted his rear off the branch he had been perched on as he evaluated the scene from his vantage point, picking his escape route. I yelled at him, hoping I would sound threatening enough that he would stay put. Again, no such luck. I heard the familiar sound of his nails scratching down the bark of the big pine, indicating that he was attempting to slide down as I fumbled with leads and caught dogs below him. Thankfully his descent was slow and methodical, giving me more time.

As I reached for the first dog, I continued yelling at the bear hoping my voice would carry above the cry of the hounds.

Then, I could hear branches breaking faintly over the barking and coming in my direction. I was relieved to see the familiar face of Matt, our shooter for the day, running in through the brush to help out. Matt’s presence sent the bear back up, giving us time to grab the remaining dogs. A second later a few more guys showed up and, with the added company, the bear made his choice to slide down with his claws scraping into the bark of the pine tree. Feet from the ground, Matt took aim and he fell to the brush below. Seconds after, the rest of the clan showed up, kids stammering in behind. With the bear’s last breath, we let the hounds loose to claim their victory. The sun was beginning to disappear behind the trees and I was thankful that besides some minor scrapes, all was well. The bear didn’t take the dogs for another run and we could head back to camp with a bear to fill a friend’s freezer.

The thoughts that ran through my head that day and almost every time since the close call of the year before seems dramatic, particularly when written down. It was a scenario

The shooter got to the tree just in time to catch the bear before it bailed.

I had been a part of many times over the near decade I have been running hounds. The difference for me this year and the one before is that the decisions and safety of the dogs fell into my lap more because I had learned and progressed as a houndswoman. My sole duty for many years was to show up, help when I could, keep the kids happy, and make it to the tree; that meant a lot of snacks, diaper changes, and playing in the puddles, and less being a part of the race.

We were told when it was time to move, when it was time to wait, and when they were treed. If the dogs were in danger, I stayed with the kids and Matt with the hounds. It was simple. The last few years as the kids have grown, I have set out to be more involved. I wanted to understand the dogs like my husband does, predict and interpret their movements, and ultimately become a better hunter with the overall goal of taking the dogs out on my own.

A few years ago, the fall season was coming to an end and, with a tag in my pocket, we decided to shoot one out to the puppies to reward them for their solid effort.

This marked several firsts for me, my first bear kill with a bow and the first time I had skinned, quartered, and packed a bear out myself. An unnecessary feat that particular day but knowing that I learn best by doing, I sent Matt on his way.

Happily, he took the dogs for another race and I spent the day preparing my bear before I had to get the kids from school. Simple goals like these that I have given myself each season have built my confidence in so many aspects, and I have finally reached the point where I feel more than capable of taking the pack out solo. www.bear-hunting.com

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Bear hunting is a family affair. The author’s kids love following hounds.

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There were so many components that I didn’t feel ready for and I knew that I never would, unless I practiced.

I found what made me nervous and I dissected each part, taking every opportunity to learn. Most of this came just by getting out there hunting with Matt as much as possible.

Some came when I practiced hiking deep into the woods by myself. The irrational fears that I once had slowly vanished and over time I have grown more and more confident in the woods and behind the pack. Perhaps my thoughts are excessive but being the perfectionist that I am, I had created this illusion that I must check these boxes that, in my mind, meant that I had earned the privilege of hunting these seasoned hounds.

Finally, after a few years of being fully involved in each and every aspect, from training puppies, navigating through the crown land, and every kind of scenario, I know that I am more than capable. That anxiety always lingers and I suppose it always will as I navigate this journey of becoming a houndswoman and keeping the hounds safe.

I have accepted that fear comes in all aspects of our lives and I have chosen to navigate through it instead of letting it hold me back. What once scared me now exhilarates me, and I look forward to pushing my boundaries and learning.

I will continue to learn and strive to better myself in many aspects of my life as a houndswoman, a hunter, a mother, a wife, and an artist. I hope that in the upcoming fall season, I will see my first solo tree, start to finish, and can write about it next year. After that, well I guess I’ll need to start my own pack of hounds!

The author with an Ontario bear she got with her bow over her hounds.

The author is an artist specializing in painting hounds. Check her out on Instagram.

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Nine Bear Year

By Pacific North Wild |

@PNWILD_

The 2022 hunting season was one for the books. As a team of three, we harvested a spring bear in Montana and four bears in our home state of Washington. In Washington you are allowed two bear tags over the counter and the season runs from August 1st through November 15th. Jeff helped our good buddy Jon get his first black bear, which was a beautiful jetblack healthy sow. Also, Jeff and his wife Janie set out to get her first bear and she was also successful. As I stated in the previous article I wrote about my experience spring bear hunting in Montana, Washington did not have a spring bear hunt last year, or this year. Could that be why there have been so many bears out the last couple of years? Possibly. I also think it has a lot to do with how late the seasons have been, and the accumulation of moisture has been a lot higher. Whatever the reason may be, it is obvious that there is no shortage of bruins roaming around this state and we definitely have a predator problem. It seems that no matter who I talk to, whether it be another hunter or someone who hikes a lot, they have either noticed more bears or have seen a lot more bear sign.

On opening day of bear season last year, Jeff and Jon decided to take the day off of work and see if they could get it done on a quick day trip. With no other trucks at the trail head and not having to worry about pressure from other hunters, they had high hopes for the day and made their way up the trail. They did 16

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Jeff (right) helped friend Jon get his first black bear!

Jeff was able to help his wife Janie her first bear soon after!

Sept/Oct 2023

Jeff filled his own tag after his friend passed up this bear.

Zack with his first bear of 2022!

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not even make it a half mile down the trail before spotting a bear. About eighty yards down on the river bank stood a jet black sow that was completely broadside, and Jon pulled up the rifle and shot.

The bear climbed up a tree despite taking a hit in the lungs, so Jon shot her again and she fell out of the tree. Bear down! The following weekend on the same trail, Janie and Jeff played cat and mouse for most of the day trying to get within shooting range of a bear that they spotted just after first light. After getting setup and missing this bear on two different setups, they were able to get to eighty yards as well and she made a great shot to finally put this bear down. Getting new hunters out into the field and helping them successfully harvest an animal, will only spread the love for wildlife and the outdoors. So if you’re able to, take a child or an adult on-set hunter hunting so we can keep the tradition we love so much, going strong for generations to come.

Now that Jeff had helped his buddy and wife get their first bears, he was ready to notch a tag of his own. The next weekend, Jeff and Zack headed back to the same area after work on Thursday, and Friday morning they were able to get on a bear right away. Zack had spotted the bear but decided to pass because he thought it wasn’t very big. But we know how deceiving the size of bears can be. Jeff was more than willing to take this bear and made three great shots to get his first bear of the year down. Ground shrinkage is a pretty common thing, but on this bear, it was the total opposite. It ended up being a lot bigger than they both thought it was and had a beautiful chocolate coat with a white patch on its chest.

Friday evening I loaded up my truck and headed over the mountains to meet the guys at bear camp. Since there has been so much success in the same area, we headed out using the same trail where everyone else had taken their bears. It was late in the morning when we decided to have a nice break and a snack next to the river. While enjoying the sounds of the flowing water, I noticed a light colored animal moving throughout the thick brush a couple hundred yards up the hillside from where we were sitting. I threw up my binos, and sure enough it was a blonde color phase bear. The guys were about to doze off until I whistled at them, and they knew exactly what that meant. In no time, I had a range of 195 yards and they had a camera on me and the bear. One shot out of my Tikka 7mm Rem Mag shooting a 168 Berger dropped the boar right where he stood. Zack had a very successful bear season last year as well and was able to fill both of his tags on solo hunts. Both bears were taken in a different part of the cascades than where the rest of us have been hunting. He got his first bear on opening morning and then filled his second tag a few weeks later. It is a lot of hard work to hunt, film, and pack out animals all by yourself, but he managed to do all of that with no help at all. What a stud!

Throughout our years of bear hunting, we’ve figured out that the biggest key for success is to find their food source. In August they will be feeding primarily on berries. Blueberries, huckleberries or thim-

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Bob Petit with a nice blonde bear!

blueberries, to name a few. Before the season even starts we will do quite a bit of e-scouting on our GoHunt maps and find the areas where those berries are most likely going to be ripe during the time we will be hunting. During the first half of August last year we focused our efforts in the 2800-3500 elevation range. As the season progresses into late August, those berries down low will die off and they will start to ripen at higher elevations. Keep in mind that this spot has full sun, so spots that are shaded will take longer for berries to ripen. When September finally came, we gained some altitude and hit the alpine. It has been a tradition for the past few years, on Labor Day weekend we like to get high and glass. So instead of hunting the bottom of drainages, we hit the tops of ridges and glassed down and watched the walls of mountain sides. I have found that spotting bears is pretty easy compared to deer, because they are constantly moving in search of food. So find their food source and you will have a good chance at spotting a bear.

The guys and I had an incredible hunt in the mountains during the long Labor Day weekend. To say that we had a successful hunting trip would be an understatement. Jeff and I both filled our second bear tags and that made the Pnwild crew all tagged out on bears for the 2022 Washington State fall bear hunting season. We got some Intel from a buddy that a bear was hanging around one of our old 18

Bear Hunting

Zack with his second bear for fall 2022!

Sept/Oct 2023

Jeff closes out his season by filling his second bear tag!

Bob Petit with his second bear for fall 2022!

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hunting spots not too far out of town from where we were heading. With about twenty minutes of shooting light left, Jeff spotted the bear as we put the truck in park. Immediately we all put our boots on, grabbed a rifle and went after him. By the time we got within shooting range, the bear had made its way back into the trees and we lost sight of him. The original plan was to head up to the high country and hike in, but knowing that this bear was in this spot and not going anywhere, the plans changed.

Never leave a bear to go find bears.

Since Zack is all tagged out, Jeff and I were the only shooters and neither one of us really cared who was going to kill this bear. Jeff had spotted it that night, and the following morning I was the one who picked it back up.

We both grabbed rifles and went after him. But of course, when we got down to where we could shoot, he was already in the timber. We came up with a game plan where Jeff was going to be on his rifle in a comfortable shooting position, and I was going to wrap around the backside of this timber pocket and try to push him out the other side towards Jeff. I eventually made it to the other side and after forty five minutes of waiting for him to pop out, I got impatient and followed a game trail right into the thicket where he had gone. About ten or fifteen steps into the timber I saw an oddly dark shadow underneath a tree. Thinking that it could be the bear, I intentionally stepped on a pile of sticks to see if it would move. As the sticks crunched beneath my boot, the biggest black bear I have ever seen sat up from his bed and locked eyes with me. For those brief seconds of staring each other in the eye, it was almost like we had a spiritual agreement that I was going to harvest this bear and it was his time to go. From twenty yards away, in his bed, I quickly put him down. Having footage of this bear from the night before, we knew he was big. But once I got my hands on him, it was then that we realized just how big he was. An absolute monster of a bear and the biggest one that any of us have ever put hands on.

After getting my bear broken down and taken care of, we made our way up into the high country in search of bears feeding on berries.

By the time we got up there we had a few hours of day light left and Bear Hunting

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decided to hike out a couple miles and put the glass to work. To our surprise, no bears were spotted. On the following morning, our luck would change. Immediately upon arriving at our favorite glassing knob I spotted a bear. Two minutes later Jeff spotted a bear in another drainage. Our buddy Chris sent us a Zoleo message that he had a bear spotted just a mile or so away. Now we were in a dilemma of which bear we should go after.

We chose to go after the bear that Jeff had spotted because it seemed to be in the best spot to get in close for a good shot. Zack was left behind on the spotter and was told to hang an orange sheet up if either a cub came out, or the bear was no longer visible. We were over half way to the bear when we looked back and Zack had hung up the orange sheet. Turns out that this bear was a sow with two cubs. In Washington State it is legal to harvest a sow with cubs but we choose not to. It wasn’t thirty minutes later and I had another bear spotted in a very steep bowl beneath us. As we were getting set up to take a shot, out came another cub. A good reminder to take a little extra time before you shoot a bear and make sure it’s not a sow with cubs. We decided to hike over a pretty gnarly ridge to check out a new spot that has been on our radar for a while. Boy, I’m sure glad we did, because this new basin was loaded with berries and after a few hours of glassing, a beautiful chocolate bear came out. With Jeff on the rifle and the bear slightly over two hundred yards away, we gave him the green light once the cameras were set up.

The shot rang out, and immediately he knew it was not a good shot. After reviewing the footage, the shot was low and hit the rocks just beneath the bear. We searched for hours and did not see a single drop of blood. Very unfortunate, but sometimes things do not go as planned while hunting. Jeff was understandably feeling pretty bummed so we decided to pack out and head home first thing in the morning.

One of the cool things about hunting is anything can happen at any given moment. On the way home we figured we’d stop at a spot known for having lots of berries, we’ve seen bears there before, and the hike in wasn’t all that bad. Just as we rounded the corner that opened up into a

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huge meadow, Zack immediately spotted a big black ball in the middle of a berry field. Game on! With the wind in our face and the bear focused on inhaling berries, we snuck into just over three hundred yards and Jeff was able to take his time getting comfortable behind the rifle. He waited for the bear to turn completely broadside and then let one fly from his seven rem mag. The reassuring sound of a thwack and seeing the bear roll was all we needed to hear and realize that we had accomplished our goal of harvesting six bears. All six of our fall black bear tags have been filled, and it was an emotional moment. Especially for Jeff because he literally started weeping. Sorry buddy, had to throw that in there. Zack and his buddy Kaden did the high buck hunt last year, and Kaden ended up harvesting a beautiful color phase boar. So that makes a total of nine bear harvests that we were a part of for the 2022 season. I’m not sure that we will ever top that, but we will sure try. Happy hunting to everyone, and stay safe out there.

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Sept/Oct 2023

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

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Blast from the Past

Bear Hunting with the iconic Sharps 1873

by Travis Adair

@wildernesslawyer

This spring I experienced an epic adventure in Idaho using a nostalgic weapon of the American West. My appetite for bear hunting is rivaled only by enthusiasm for firearms and ballistics; I prefer larger calibers and I usually shoot custom, long-range rifles on my hunts. I take pride in making ethical, precision kill shots on big game. I have always appreciated classic firearms too, but until recently I hadn’t owned any let alone hunted with them. That was about to change after I acquired my first .45-70 last winter.

Over the last few years I have begun bear hunting over bait in Idaho. This was an entirely new style of hunting for me, as opposed to spot-and-stalk western hunting that is more conducive to long-range shooting. The exhilaration of up close encounters with these impressive carnivores is something I crave, and I look forward to this hunt every year.

It is the perfect hunt for a nostalgic weapon, preferably one that can still put a bear down quickly.

The 1873 Sharps is one of the most iconic guns in American history. It is the buffalo killer and precision rifle of the old West. The famed .45-70 straight-walled cartridge has also been utilized for bear hunting since its inception 150 years ago and it is the oldest rifle cartridge widely produced today. The idea to bear hunt with a Sharps was triggered last winter while researching loads for my new Chiappa Kodiak .45-70. That gun is a brilliant remake of John Moses Browning’s famous 1886 action and hits like a freight train with custom high-pressure (+P) ammunition out of a standard 18.5inch barreled lever action. This type of ammo takes the lever gun to a whole new realm and is responsible for its modern resurgence as a formidable dangerous game weapon. I soon discovered the same .45-70 +P loads also shoot safely out of certain modern Sharps replicas with the longer barrel lengths producing higher ballistics (+P loads are NOT safe in many rifles). I envisioned how this relic of the old West could be used as a single-shot bear hammer and needed to get my hands on one of these beauties.

The rifle I purchased is a Pedersoli 1873. It’s a behe-

moth weighing 14 pounds with a 34-inch octagon barrel. The gun has an ultralight double set trigger and is extremely accurate. I tested many loads, and the results proved a substantial increase over lever gun velocities. With my +P ammo of choice, the Sharps have devastating power. It sends a 300-grain bonded bullet 2566 feet per second, producing 4400-foot pounds of muzzle energy. This heavyweight would be more than capable of killing anything.

As spring approached, I began preparing with my good friend and bear baiting guru, Matt Drake (Instagram handle: @mattdrakebaits208), for another do-it-yourself hunt. We exclusively use Boar Masters baiting products. We stocked up on bulk trail mix, spray and paste attractants, and frosting and sow estrus. Early May found me and my friend in scenic Idaho.

There was still lots of snow, but the bears were hitting the bait.

I left my Utah home at 5:00 am and that afternoon we rode 13 miles by ATV before hiking into the bait. The deep snow drifts and the weight we carried made for brutal hiking. I had been training at the gym for months prior to this hunt, but was quickly served a dose of humble pie.

The bait site lies in a massive dark timber canyon on a well-traveled bear trail carved out of the steep mountainside.

The ground blind is near the edge of the tree line about 50 yards above the barrel. As we crested the top of the ridge into our steep canyon, we had to descend a treacherous snowdrift that ended 20 yards above the blind. Matt went first, breaking through crusty, waist deep snow and soon crested out of sight. I then followed and after reaching halfway, I could see Matt motioning excitedly towards me from the bottom. He had spotted a huge boar through the thick timber and deadfall down at the bait. I quietly dropped my gear and continued my descent with the Sharps. The snowdrift ended in a vertical shoot and one wrong move would send me tumbling down the steep canyon and certainly blow that bear out of there. I dug my boots in and managed to slide down without spooking the bear below. We then quietly moved into position looking for a shooting window through the dense timber. The bear kept moving positions and

The author decided to kick it old school by hunting with his Sharps 1873.

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Sept/Oct 2023

The author baited bears with trail mix, frosting, and commercial scents.

by the time I found a sufficient shooting window, he had started walking off into the thick woods. I was mere seconds away from killing that trophy boar with my Sharps.

The weather turned for the worse later that evening.

We rebaited aggressively each day and sat for long hours, but the wind and intermittent snowstorms slowed the bear activity. We did not see another shooter bear on the trip, but I would return a month later to hopefully seal the deal. The week after I departed, it warmed up and the bait caught fire again. Matt returned and passed numerous bears, and ended up killing the same boar we saw on my trip—a huge, chocolate color phase with a skull almost 20”. I was thrilled for my friend and knew we would have other great bears continue to show up at the bait.

When I returned in June the landscape was green and vibrant. My spirits were high as some stud bears had been pounding the bait. When Matt and I pulled into camp, it was sunny and 70-degrees but there were some dark clouds on the horizon. This time of year in the Rocky Mountains, the weather will change fast and can be unpredictable. As we rode up the mountain, we heard distant rolling thunder and the clouds were forming quickly. As we crossed a large, exposed mountainside, rain started to fall and the thunder was getting closer. Within minutes we were caught in a ferocious thunderstorm getting hammered by hail as lightning crashed around us. We rode through it and reached the trail to the bait, where we hunkered down for the next hour while the epic storm passed. Everything was soaked and we were freezing. That evening stayed windy and we saw several smaller bears but most of them were hesitant to commit to the bait. The next day brought several thunderstorms and insane temperature swings during our long sit in the blind.

The bear activity was slowed by the persistent wind and only a few smaller bears came to the bait.

The third day started calmer on the mountain, but gradually another windy thunderstorm blew in and the temperature dropped. Out of nowhere we heard a massive crash right outside the blind and watched in disbelief as a massive, 80-foot pine uprooted, snapped in half, crashing to the ground right below the blind. The fallen tree now obstructed part of our view to the side of the bait. We had a good laugh about it after taking a moment to collect ourselves. Around 6:00 pm, the weather finally broke and the wind stopped. The

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sun poked out and the woods instantly came alive. We knew bears would be back on the move.

It didn’t take long before Matt spotted movement down below the fallen pine tree. After a few moments we could see a stunning, cinnamon color phase bear working its way up the trail toward the bait. It clearly had some age to it. I readied the Sharps as the bear crossed through the large fallen tree and neared the bait. The bear briefly stopped broadside before reaching the barrel and looked directly up towards the blind. I settled my sight and gently squeezed the double set trigger. The Sharps erupted and the bear nearly did a front flip, clawing furiously at the air as it tumbled downhill. All the work, sweat, and sacrifice culminated in a quick and humane kill on a beautiful animal. The bear tumbled just 10 yards and expired within seconds.

Matt and I celebrated another successful DIY bear hunt and fulfilling adventure. He is a great friend and one of the few people I know who is as crazy as I am and will stick it out during the worst possible conditions. Our adrenaline was sky high after watching that cinnamon bear approach the bait soon after the pine tree eruption that nearly squashed us. The behemoth Sharps .45-70 proved itself to be a very formidable bear gun, and I have a feeling it will find its way back into the woods again.

The .45-70 proved itself to be quite the bear gun on this Idaho adventure.

Bear Hunting

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The author with her 510lb giant Arkansas Bruin!

Ella’s Bear

By Ella McFadden

I am a lifelong hunter, but new to bear hunting. My dad and I actually began hunting for bears by accident out of curiosity. Three years ago in the summer of 2020, my dad was able to hunt on a new piece of land, and it wasn’t until we checked the trail cameras that we knew that we had bears on the property. There were no deer or anything else except bears, so my dad started to get as much bait as he could.

That summer was when my dad, brother, and I got hundreds of pounds of Santa Claus and snowman marshmallows. The bears loved those marshmallows. Every day, the bears were coming in to eat our bait and we grew more and more excited. Fall bear season came around in mid-September, but it wasn’t until October 1st that I was able to kill my first bear. It wasn’t just me who got lucky that day because 30 seconds after I shot, my dad grabbed his bow and killed one too! That night was the night that lit the spark inside of me. I love the thrill of bear hunting because it’s different from deer or turkey hunting. Bears are a whole different challenge as they are predators, unlike deer or turkeys.

I love to document hunts, whether they are of myself or my family members. In 2021, there was a huge bear on our cameras for a while and since my grandpa had never killed a bear before, our only focus was to get him to kill one.

We even named this bear Big Earl, and he turned out to be a 470-pound boar.

That year was something that I will never forget because I had the opportunity to not only hunt with my grandpa when he killed his first bear, but I was also able to film the whole experience.

2022 was the year that we went crazy. When I say this, I mean it. My dad found a place where we were able to get a whole carload of bread for only $40.

We also emptied our whole pantry and used everything just for bait. The season also started 10 days earlier than the previous year, so we knew that we would have some action. There were two big boars on our cameras that would come every single day; we named them Tag and Blaze. Tag was a newcomer who had 24

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It was an all hands situation when the author’s dad found a deal on bulk bread.

With a bumper crop of acorns, the author was surprised to find a giant bear on her camera!

Sept/Oct 2023

What a bruin!

Great job Ella!

ear tags on both his ears and Blaze was a bear we were familiar with due to his huge size and the white streak on his chest. Opening day was September 17 and we were a little discouraged at first because the acorns seemed to be falling, and that led to our bears not showing up as much.

However, the night before we got photos of a huge chocolate-colored, sleek-haired bear. Once we saw where this new bear had come in, we decided to give that spot a try.

The whole hunt was just me and my dad sweating and swapping at the gnats and mosquitoes. It was hot and humid, but once the sun started to go down with just minutes left to shoot, everything seemed to happen in slow motion. My dad and I were just about to pack up and leave when I looked to my left and I saw the boar standing there looking around his perimeter. I told my dad to get ready The author with because I was going to shoot. The bear walked fast to our her first bear barrels and immediately plopped down on his stomach and circa 2020. started to eat a white powdered donut. This was funny to me because I had never seen a bear do this before, but the butcher. Then we decided to haul the bear that night I also knew that this bear was the huge chocolate one from the night before. I raised up my crossbow and got my to the butcher even though it was late. It’s a good thing the butcher didn’t mind waiting for us. Once we got there, crosshairs right at the donut the bear was smacking on, then I slowly moved the scope down past his neck, past his all they could do was stare. It turns out that they’d had a shoulder, and then found his midsection. I shot and the bear slow day at work and once we came in, it was a sight to got up as fast as he could and ran off right where he came see! We all wanted to know how much my bear weighed from. I was so pumped and excited; I couldn’t believe what because none of us had seen a bear this big around the area. was going on.

The butcher got his chain and wrapped it around Since the bear had run off and we knew that it the bear’s wrists, then slowly lifted the bear up. My dad would be very unwise to immediately look for the bear, and I couldn’t see the scale because we were behind it. we packed up and headed to meet my grandparents. We The butcher had us all guess the weight, so we all said drove up to where my grandparents had been waiting to around 400 pounds since my bear seemed to be around hear what happened, and while telling the story to them my aunt, uncle, and cousin showed up so all of us could go the same size as my grandpas from the year before. Howlook for the bear. I was so excited, but I was also nervous as ever, when that butcher swung his scale around, we were heck because, not just with bears, but with any animal I am all in shock; the scale read that my bear was a little over 510 pounds! We couldn’t believe it. always nervous that I made a bad shot or that the animal That night was something I will never forget is wounded or still alive and we will spook it. I believe a lot because I not only killed my biggest bear, but I got to of hunters feel this way, so when my family and I saw shiny share the whole moment with my family. I feel like I can chocolate fur with our flashlights, I was ecstatic! I was so happy and proud that I was able to kill such a bear and that now officially be called a bear hunter. My family has been making this a tradition for the past three years and we will I was able to share this moment with my family.

It took a long time to load this beast up. Thankfully, be hunting bears for many more. I love all types of hunting, earlier that day my grandpa had come up with a sweet bear fishing, and being in the wilderness for any reason. Hunting hauler out of a big plastic container, or we would not have is also a privilege, so I make sure not to take these awebeen able to get the bear out of the woods. It was hot that some adventures for granted. I am so thankful to my family for giving me these opportunities and I look forward to day and it wasn’t going to get any better that night, so we called our taxidermist and asked when we should take it to many more. www.bear-hunting.com

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Michigan Bear Calling Success s

By Richard P. Smith

Twenty - four year old Spencer Kloc from Freeland, Michigan wanted more of a challenge than a typical bear hunt over bait or with hounds during his first ever bear hunt during the fall of 2022 in the state’s Upper Peninsula (UP).

His original goal was to ambush a bear utilizing a natural food source, but he ended up using a predator call to lure a bruin to him on the last day of his 16-day hunt. Calling bears is a popular method of bear hunting in the west but is seldom used elsewhere. Kloc’s experience confirms the technique will work in the Midwest, too.

Kloc said he had been accumulating preference points for four years in anticipation of a UP bear hunt and decided to apply for a license in 2022, which was his fifth year of applying. He was drawn for the second hunt in an Upper Peninsula Bear Management Unit (BMU) and started on September 12 that year.

Michigan, like other Great Lakes States, has a limited number of bear licenses available each year. Hunters who want to hunt bears must apply for either a preference point or a tag during a month-long application period from May 1 to June 1 each year. There’s a nonrefundable $5 application fee. Hunters can apply for three separate hunt periods in each of six UP bear management units.

The first five days of the first hunt in each of the six main UP BMUs are limited to methods that don’t involve the use of hounds. There’s a lot of competition for those tags since most Michigan hunters use bait, and the license quota for that hunt is the lowest of the three. It can take a minimum of five preference points to draw a tag for the first hunt.

The second hunt starts six days after the first and that’s when bear hunting with dogs begins, but all other methods are also legal. The third hunt starts on September 25. The highest number of licenses are available then so hunters don’t have to wait as long to be drawn, but the chances of success are lower than the first two hunt periods.

For information about applying for a Michigan bear license, go to the DNR website (www.mi.gov/dnr).

After being successful in the drawing for a second season tag, Kloc spent as much time as possible doing research online to prepare for his hunt.

“I spent hundreds of hours researching,” Kloc explained. “I looked at habitats and for potential natural food sources. Basically, I concentrated on looking for stands of oak trees that would produce acorns. This is the way I wanted to hunt.”

Kloc’s father, Robert, who was 70 years old at the time, accompanied him on the hunt for support. “My father was along for the ride,” Kloc said. “He tended to our camp and cooked our meals.”

The pair camped on public land, sleeping in tents.

They set up camp two days before the hunt to allow for preseason scouting. “My hunt started on Monday, and Saturday and Sunday were scouting days,” explained Kloc. But, finding what he was looking for actually took longer than expected.

“The first 10 days I pounded the ground, looking for bear signs such as tracks, droppings, and feeding activity,” Kloc commented. “On the tenth day, I found old and new bear signs in two locations.

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Spencer and his father at bear camp in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan.

“The first week and a half the weather was hot,” he said. “It was in the 80s. I got the impression that bears were not actively feeding on acorns yet due to the weather. The weather skewed the game plan I had been forming all summer.”

After finding locations with bear signs, Kloc hunted those spots from a climbing tree stand. He was right about bears being in the area, but bear hunters who were using dogs got those bears before he did.

“Hound hunters killed two bears from the same locations where I found bear signs,” he said. “I was in my tree stand and heard the dogs at both spots.”

Part way into his hunt, Kloc bought a Primos predator call in Kenton. The call mimicked the sounds of a jackrabbit in distress. That type of call is typically used to bring coyotes, foxes, and bobcats into shooting range for hunters, but he had heard about that type of call used to hunt bears in western states and wondered if it would work in Michigan.

The weather turned cold during the last days of Kloc’s hunt. On the final day, he was in his climbing stand about 12 Sept/Oct 2023

feet from the ground in some oak trees where he originally started bear hunting. He got in position about noon and the weather was cold and wet.

Kloc had tried the predator call he bought in the UP a number of times without success, but he used it again on that last afternoon. The wind was blowing in his face from the south and that was the direction he was looking. A while after using the predator call, he heard a couple of huffing sounds.

“I looked down and a bear was practically at the base of my tree,” Kloc related. “He came in from downwind behind me. I never thought of looking that way. After 16 days of sleeping in a tent, I’m amazed it didn’t smell me.

“When I saw the bear so close, I just froze. I thought if I moved, it would take off. The bear eventually put two paws on the tree I was in and then started coming up the tree. It came up about six feet.

“I scanned the area for other bears. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a sow with cubs. When I didn’t see any other bears, I assumed it was a boar. I was able to study it through the rungs on my stand.

“The bear seemed to sense something wasn’t right and dropped back to the ground. As soon as he hit the ground, I grabbed my rifle. When he got out to 36 yards, he turned broadside and I shot him. It was 3:46 p.m. when I shot the bear.”

Kloc shot the bear with a scoped Winchester.308 Model 100 semi-auto that he inherited from his grandfather.

The date was September 25, 14 days after his hunt started.

When he climbed down from the tree, he immediately went to

get his father and the pair returned to look for the bear 1.5 hours later.

They followed the blood trail 70 yards to the edge of a swamp. Since the muck wasn’t disturbed at the edge of the swamp, they assumed the bear didn’t go in the swamp, but a thorough search failed to find any more blood. Then rain started pouring down. Next, they tried to locate hound hunters that they had been seeing almost every day to ask about using one of their dogs to search for the bear. Unfortunately, they were unable to locate any hound hunters. Through a series of phone calls, Kloc was eventually able to make contact with Al Sherman, who operates Dat Spotted Dog Big Game Recovery out of northern Wisconsin. Al agreed to meet them the next morning to look for Kloc’s bear.

“The dog found the bear in five minutes,” Kloc said.

“The bear was 40 yards beyond where we left the blood trail at the edge of the swamp. The bear did go in the swamp after all. Al took 10 steps in the swamp and he hollered back, ’We have a dead bear in the swamp, guys.’”

The bear was indeed a male that had a dressed weight of 246 pounds.

“It was really an incredible ending,” Kloc commented. “It was also an incredible experience with my dad. My original intent was to only go for eight or nine days, but it’s a good thing we stayed as long as we did. If the hunt had been shorter, I wouldn’t have gotten that bear.”

And if the bear had smelled him from downwind and left, it would have been gone without him even knowing he had been close to a bruin, which is what happens to many bear hunters.

After a quick track by the reinforcements, Spencer was able to recover his bear 40 yds from where they quit tracking the night before.

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Bear Hunting

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The Trip That Almost Didn’t Happen

By Gus Congemi | @LiveTheWildTV

After two years of pandemic closed borders, I was finally able to return to Canada to hunt. I was excited to go. The trip began smoothly. I got to the airport with no problems, checked my bags with three hours left before departure, and had enough time to sit and order breakfast before my long journey across the country. Then it happened. I received the notification that my flight was canceled. I spent the next few hours trying to work the logistics of flight rescheduling and, bigger than that, retrieving my bags. My bow, supplies, hunting clothes—all of it—competing with a sea of people in the same situation. It was a nightmare, but eventually I got my bow and gear back just in time to get ticketed for my alternate flight.

My rescheduled flight routed my layover through Toronto, which made me have to collect my gear, go through customs/immigration, then get on a domestic flight to Edmonton. My bow made it, which was great, but my gear bag didn’t. I try to plan for this and break up packing so that I’ll have something just in case. I had my weapon and base layer/outer layer, boots, and a few basics so I could at least get into the woods. After assurances that the bag would come, many phone calls, visits back to the airport, and staying in Edmonton for an extra day for my bag, I finally had to continue on to camp with the one bag in hopes that eventually the rest of my gear would arrive.

My first night in Alberta was cold and rainy and put a damper on the week; the temperature change shut the bears down. They had been seeing some great bears on baits from trail camera shots, just not while we were there. Five days in and we hadn’t really seen anything, some small bears but just not what we were looking for.

It seemed like the bears had figured out where the stands were. They were coming in downwind and would leave.

During the five days on stand I noticed that they would circle us, checking the wind before they would come into

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The author with a beautiful chocolate bear!

Sept/Oct 2023

the bait. The bears were not stupid and wouldn’t come in just to get to the bait.

On the sixth day, the weather warmed up a bit and Joel Deslauriers suggested a radical decision to put up a new tree stand to better suit the wind conditions. Chancy, but it worked.

Sure enough, the bear that we had seen on the trail cam the day before, a big chocolate bear, came in. He was still very cautious, had his head towards me giving me no shot. He grabbed a piece of beaver and left. I thought that was it; this was my last day and last hours of the hunt. About a half hour later, he came back with a sow and a small boar who was at the bait earlier. The sow and boar went to the barrel and the chocolate went back to the beaver. For the next half hour I stood on stand, bow ready, waiting for him to make a mistake. He finally stepped off the beaver to make his way to the barrel and I got my shot.

It was pretty incredible to find a colored bear that size.

It’s not that they don’t grow that large, but I find that people think that they’re rare and take them before they mature. I feel fortunate to have found him. This was an amazing hunt, an amazing bear—truly a bear of a lifetime.

There were a few times during this trip that I just didn’t think it would happen, between the flight, the missing bag (which arrived three days after I got to camp), the weather change, and not having the bears I knew were there come in. This was the last day, the last two hours on stand for this hunt. Goes to show you that you never give up. People always talk about last minute, last light (which has happened to me on more than one occasion), so I’m thankful that I stuck it out.

This was my second time hunting with Alberta Bush Adventures, owned and operated by the Deslauriers family for the last 26 years. They have a great family, are good honest people who work hard to make a memorable hunt, and they don’t treat you just like a client. I felt like they took me into their family. I will definitely be back.

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Bear Hunting

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Legendary Bear Hounds: Part 51

Piontek & Crawford’s Buck

by Steve Fielder

@stephen.f.fielder

Owner, Michael Piontek

This story is one about diversity and loyalty in unexpected places. It’s a revelation of the uses of resources for occupation and recreation. It’s also the story of the reversal of roles, of students becoming teachers and of learners leading the learned. At the heart of the story are hounds in pursuit of bears, bobcats, coyotes, and raccoons, and the recognition that perhaps breed, despite long standing loyalties, doesn’t matter as much as the outcome. This is the story of a Northwoods lad that took to hound hunting at a very young age and learned a lifelong trade that became his passion for 61 years.

Michael Piontek, a career lumberjack and houndsman, was 10 years of age when he got started.

Piontek says, “I’ve had hounds for 51 years. I’m now 61. I was born in Wabeno, in the northeast part of the state, right in the heart of logging country. I’m self-employed in the logging trade and I work year round. I met famed Plott man, Everett Weems, when I was 10 years old. When he was 77 years old, he came up to hunt with me and he told me when he was ready to leave, ‘I’ve owned and hunted with a lot of good dogs in my life, but none better than yours.’”

Continuing to speak of one of the most famous crosses in the history of Plott bear dogs, that of Weems’ Plott, Butch, to Weems’ Plott, Jill, was crucial to Piontek’s early hunting experiences. He had gone out with Larry McKenzie as a kid, who lived about a half-mile down the road from his parents. McKenzie and Weems partnered in the breeding and promotion of the Weems-bred dogs for many years. Piontek recalled, “We hunted in the Spring. The first bear I saw treed by dogs was Larry’s Butch/Jill-bred dogs. We trailed a bear off the back side of a dump. The dogs caught it and treed it, but it came out of the tree. They caught it again and it stayed put.

That was my first bear tree.”

As part of the interview process for this article, Piontek and I discussed the Weems Butch and Jill dogs. My father and I owned two hounds from the cross and, naturally, I was interested in his experiences with them. He said, “The first time I hunted with Weems’ Punie, he treed a porcupine. Larry started Punie on bears and Everett wanted the dog back, so he took him home to Illinois.” I hunted with Punie several times and bred a female to him that figured heavily in our breeding program. I never hunted bears with Punie, but my father did when Weems brought him out to West Virginia in the mid-seventies. Somewhere along the way, Piontek strayed from the Plott path and began to hunt, although not exclusively, with Treeing Walker hounds. He described the process this way: “I started with Plott dogs. Fifteen years into it, I began to train dogs for other hunters and did so for six summers.

With taking seasons occurring in December in Virginia, hunters wanted to have their dogs ready instead of laying them up all summer. To do so, they would send them to me. The dogs they sent were some really good Walker dogs and were mainly Finley River bred, a popular strain of Walkers from back in the day. Bobby Crawford, Dennis Nicely, John Henry Ritchie, and his cousin, Bruce Ritchie, were some of the guys that sent dogs to me. Most of my clientele were from Virginia.

“I was using Plotts to tree the bears for the trainees, but these Walker dogs inspired me. Part of what I was looking for to improve the dogs I had, I found in these Walker dogs.

They inspired me because they barked more on a cold track 30

Bear Hunting

A young Michael Piontek with the legendary Piontek and Crawford’s Buck.

and, overall, they were better open trailers. In many cases, the offspring I had from the Butch and Jill-bred Plotts were silent trailers. After 15 years of hunting, I found myself hunting Plotts and Walkers.

“Some of the first of the Walker trainees were a pair of hounds named Buck and Bobby, littermates sent to me by Bobby Crawford of Fulks Run, Virginia. It was probably in the mid-nineties,” Piontek continued. “They were probably a year old and were totally green dogs.

They had never been hunted. A lot of the dogs I received, usually totaling six to eight dogs a month, had never been on a leash. It was crazy.

“The first thing I had to do was correct them for running deer,” he said. “They were deer crazy. The first bear I put them on was a treed bear that was coming out of a tree. That set them on fire.” Piontek began to work the Buck and Bobby pair into his pack and two months into their training they would run, bay, and tree bears.

The following summer, Crawford gave Piontek half-ownership in the male hound and Piontek had him every summer after that. He would send the hound back to Virginia for the month of December. Crawford had told him, “You hunt him hard all summer and I’ll hunt him hard the rest of the year in the mountains.” The plan kept Buck and the others in great shape, and tuned them up for bear hunting year round.

I asked Piontek to describe Buck. He replied, “He wasn’t tall or leggy as some hounds are. He was a big, stocky-built hound, and when he was in shape, his Sept/Oct 2023

Wisconsin logger and houndsman, Michael Piontek, at the den of a Wisconsin black bear.

was hot and sticky and we had a hard time striking bears. We put on a small bear at 11:00 at night, and they were still running and fighting the bear at 11:00 the next morning. We caught Buck at noon that next day. When I went to load the dogs, Buck’s feet were swollen to twice their normal size. The hounds had been running in blackberry and raspberry briars and all kinds of thick stuff. Bobby didn’t come out of her box, but Buck came out and jumped onto his box. He wanted to go, but he couldn’t. His feet were swollen and his eyes were matted shut. He had run 35-40 miles the day before.”

Piontek recalls several hunts with Buck.

“Here’s what he would do if we put several dogs out on a bait,” he said. “I recall it was the last year I hunted him. It was back in the beeper-box days.”

Piontek is describing hunting with radio telemetry equipment commonly referred to by hunters as “beep-beep”, the equipment’s method of indicating the direction of the hounds by emitting audible signals. “Buck was going one way and the other dogs were going the other. I needed to go with the group and had to leave him. Later, I would go and find him treed by himself. He was such a good track dog that if there were two bears on the bait, he would take a track by himself. I’ve hunted hundreds of dogs and I’ve owned 10 dogs that I would consider exceptional track dogs. Buck was the best of them.”

Michael Piontek (right) with Plott and Treeing Walker bear dogs.

endurance was out of this world. After three hours into a race, he would leave everything else behind. I saw him run bears 7-12 hours at a time.” I asked him to tell me more.

“He had a chop mouth on the tracks and trees, and was a wide open trailer,” Piontek said. “He was an outstanding rig dog with a real good nose. I believe he would have treed until he fell over dead. He liked bears and wouldn’t mess with coons. He often would split off from other dogs and get on a bear by himself. Maybe the others would be messing with a coon and he would get out of there. When we would catch a bear, Buck would have holes in his hide from one end to the other. He worked a bear really close and hard.” Buck and Bobby were about identical in Piontek’s view and he ran them primarily as a pair that first year. Crawford then decided to keep the female in Virginia and didn’t send her back to him the following summer.

Piontek spoke of a hunt he and Crawford took the first time he visited after sending the dogs to Michael. “After I had been running the two dogs for a month,” Piontek remembered, “Bobby came to hunt for a week and a half. He told me, ‘I paid you to run the dogs for two months, but would you let me see the dogs go just one time?’ It www.bear-hunting.com

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Michael Piontek (left) and a fellow houndsman with a nice lion taken by a mixed pack of Plotts,

Piontek hounds and a Wisconsin black bear.

Michael Piontek (right) with a nice Wisconsin black bear.

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Sept/Oct e t 2023

A mixed pack of Piontek bear dogs.

Piontek describes himself as a Plott man training hounds of all breeds for others. He began hunting bears with Plotts and he still hunts them. He said, “I would say the second summer I had Buck, we had lots of baits. I raked everything.”

Raking the dirt around baits gives the hunter needed information about the species and size of the animal that visits the bait. “If we had a bait with coons in addition to bears on it, we would put Buck and a Plott female named Rose on it. Buck wouldn’t fool with coons. If there were no coons at the bait, I would put down a pair of Plotts named Nick and Trouble. Nick was a grandson to Weems’ Punie.

Trouble was a grandson of Bear Path Gunner. I hunted them on everything that would climb a tree: coons, fishers, bears, and bobcats. When the bears would go in for the winter, I would road those two in the headlights. When they left the road they would tree a coon, fisher, or bobcat. www.bear-hunting.com

I also hunted them on fresh snow in the daytime. I caught more game with the Plott dogs than any other hound.”

Piontek remembers a hunt with Buck the Walker that he described as one of the many times the dog impressed him. “Buck was the best white Plott I ever had my hands on,” he recalled with a laugh. “He had it all.

One of the many times he impressed me was when I had a split chase. Buck was treed solo, south of the town of Laona on the west side of Highway 32 behind Pete Kelvilis’s firewood business. I left him treed there for eight hours. We found the rest of the hounds treed hours later, way to the west of town. I came back and walked into Buck. He was treeing as hard as he was when I had driven away from him that morning.”

Piontek had a Plott female named Rose that for several years formed an awesome team with Buck.

He said, “Buck was about equal with the best in the first five hours of a

race. But then, watch out! On a running bear, he would give you another three or four hours when everything else was dropping out—too tired to run any more.”

Unfortunately, as is the case with many of the good ones, Buck didn’t live a long life. He was killed by a bear, and Piontek’s words are all too common among houndsmen losing a good hound: “that one hurt.” As a tribute to his exceptional hound, a hound that inspired him to stray from his beloved Plotts, Piontek said, “I haven’t had my hands on a hound of that caliber since.”

To me, writing the life stories of legendary bear dogs is akin to writing the biographies of great men and women of history. These dogs distinguish themselves amongst their peers and with their owners by their heart, heroism, and phenomenal hunting abilities. Piontek and Crawford’s Buck certainly checked all the boxes ascribed to truly legendary hounds. I’m honored to bring the story of Buck and his fellow bear hounds to these pages.

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Five-Onion Black Bear Ragout & Biscuits

by Timothy Fowler

@timothydfowler

A Trick to Tenderizing Bear can be tough, but making it tender is simple. To prove a point, I took a foreleg from a spring bear, removed the meat, cut it into small cubes, seared it with five kinds of onions, simmered it for three hours, and enjoyed a richly flavored and tender bear ragout.

The biscuits were baked on top of the ragout, yielding a biscuit like a baked dumpling.

Flavor, Time, and Temperature It’s been hot here for the summer; 34 degrees Celsius (93.2 Fahrenheit) is smoking hot for the great white north, an area that sees -34 C regularly when the sensible bears are sleeping. A long, slow oven cook is the last thing my family wants when we are trying to keep the house cool, so I have been expanding my experience with grill cooking. This entire recipe was cooked on a three-burner grill in a Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven.

I had two goals when I tackled this recipe— make a tough cut of bear tender and make it delicious.

Five different onions (six if you consider the fresh chives in the herbed biscuits) made their way into this recipe: leeks, scallions, shallots, garlic, and yellow onions. The goal of mouth-watering and tasty food was achieved.

Equipment • Dutch oven • French knife • Paring knife • Wooden spoon • Cutting board • Cup measures • Grill (three-burner is preferred, but use what you have) • Baking sheet • Spatula / lifter • Rolling pin • Biscuit cutter

Ingredients • 2 pounds or 900 grams of cubed bear (use the tough stuff for this one) • 2 Tablespoons of canola oil • 5 green onions, white and green parts finely diced • 1 leek, sliced crosswise, both white and green parts • 8-10 shallots, peeled and sliced lengthwise • 3-5 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced crosswise • 1 large white onion, peeled, halved, and sliced • 2 ounces or 60 grams of guanciale (if you can find it) or side of bacon, diced • 2 Tablespoons liquid concentrated beef stock • 2 Tablespoons dijon mustard • 1 cup red wine • 1-2 cups of water, as needed to keep the ragout moist

Method 1.

Trim and dice the bear meat (I used meat cut from the foreleg, probably the toughest and grisliest part of the bear).

2. Prepare and measure the ingredients for the ragout.

3. Turn your grill to high and heat the dutch oven.

4. Once the dutch oven comes to temperature, add the oil and chopped guanciale/bacon. Stir every few seconds to make sure it doesn’t burn. As soon as most of the fat is rendered from the bacon, add the bear meat and make it level in the pan. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Leave the heat on high and stir once the bear browns well. Stir to brown the bear and leave on high until the moisture evaporates. You want the flavor of well-browned bear meat in the final result.

6. Add garlic, onions, and shallots to the bear and mix well into the meat, then cover and cook for 3-4 minutes.

7. Remove the lid, stir in the red wine, mustard, and beef concentrate. Lower the heat on the grill to a simmer and cover the dutch oven (my grill is a three-burner, so I turn off the center burner and turn the two outside burners to the lowest setting. This maintains a slow simmer). Adjust the flame on your own grill to maintain a slow simmer.

8. Every 30 minutes or so, remove the lid to check the simmer, adjust the heat if required, stir well and add water to maintain the level of liquid in the ragout. You want the meat to be at least half covered in liquid.

9. At two and a half hours, add the chopped green onion and leeks to the ragout.

10. Continue to simmer for total of 3 hours. The goal is bear ragout the consistency of medium-thick gravy.

11. At three hours check to taste a piece of meat. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper, if you like.

12. When the bear is tender, mix and bake the biscuits on top of the ragout.

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Sept/Oct 2023

Grandma Ellen’s Buttermilk Buscuits

Equipment

Biscuits are a simple and quick bread.

Here’s what I do to make exceptional biscuits: use 1/2 pastry, 1/2 all-purpose flour, and fresh buttermilk, then mix these very little. Grandma Ellen, my mother-in-law, taught me to mix the buttermilk into the biscuit with a few quick strokes from a heavy wooden spoon. Don’t knead these. Turn them out on a well-floured board, sprinkle the tops liberally with flour, roll gently, and cut with a biscuit cutter. These should be the best and most tender biscuits you have ever had.

• Chef’s knife • Cutting board • Cup and spoon measures • Mixing bowl • Rolling pin • Biscuit cutter • Wooden spoon • Lifter/pastry scraper • Searing hot grill and dutch oven full of burbling bear ragout

Method 1.

Turn the grill to the highest setting when you’re ready to mix your biscuits.

2. Measure and mix dry ingredients.

3. Cut chilled butter into niblet-sized chunks and rub into the flour with your hands until the mix is the texture of dry oatmeal.

4. Add chopped herbs.

5. Measure and add buttermilk.

6. Stir with a few aggressive strokes to bring the soft dough together.

7. Turn the whole sticky mess on a floured board; sprinkle the top with flour.

8. Press the dough evenly with your palms or roll gently with a rolling pin until almost two-centimeters (¾ inch) thick.

9. Cut rounds with a biscuit cutter, the rim of a glass, or a tin can with both ends cut out.

10. Place rounds on a rimless baking sheet or something similar so you can slide the biscuits onto the bear ragout.

www.bear-hunting.com

Ingredients • • • • • • • •

2 cups all-purpose flour 2 cups cake flour 3 Tablespoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt ½ cup chilled butter, cubed 2-4 Tablespoons of finely chopped chives 2-4 Tablespoons of finely chopped parsley • 1 teaspoon black pepper • 2 cups (500 ml) buttermilk

Bear Hunting 35

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Sept/Oct 2023

Ne w Ame r ic an Be ar Foundat ion Ch ap te r: Washing ton St ate

By Douglas Boze

There is a battle going on in this nation. Not a conventional war using bullets and bombs, but one of stealth, infiltration, and global social influence. It is the war on predator hunting and, specifically, bear hunting. From the Biden Administration’s defunding of archery and hunter safety courses for public schools, to the very dangerous infiltration of covert, anti-hunting, or “preservationist” commissioners on game commissions, it is becoming more and more obvious of the intentions of influential individuals and organizations. This is where the American Bear Foundation, among others, comes into play.

Bears and bear hunters need a voice. The American Bear Foundation has that as a founding principle. In Washington State, our way of life has been under direct attack for the last three years and it is only intensifying.

Just this week, some of the same antihunting agents that cancelled spring bear on the game commission brought up the idea of cancelling bear and cougar general season hunting as soon as April of 2024 and changing our overthe-counter elk season to draw only. The deck is stacked against hunters in Washington currently. The commissioners, openly against hunting and the science that backs up the sustainability of such hunts, far out weight those who support sustainable hunting. So, what can we do?

First, no matter where you are, no matter what state, no matter if you hunt bear with bait, hounds, spot and stalk or don’t hunt bear at all, you must, I repeat, MUST speak at game commission meetings, write emails, call decision makers and encourage others to do so in a polite manner. Howl for Wildlife makes this extremely simple (howlforwildlife.org). With a simple input of your name and email address, you can quickly email directly to decision makers. In fact, Howl has been so effective that antihunter orgs recently called them out during a public comment period, saying it was unfair that we (pro hunters) out emailed the antihunters three to one against a so called new “conservation policy”, which is little more than trying to cut outdoors men and women out of the picture. They also claimed Howl was using AI to write the emails, which is laughable.

The fires of antihunting vigor will spread from Washington to other states and knock down what we love to do one incremental step at a time. Speaking, showing up, writing, and calling will let those in charge know that we are there, we are involved, and we won’t stand for it.

The Washington chapter of ABF is proud to stand up for bear and bear hunters during these meetings. We will be working at helping the WDFW (Wa dept of fish and wildlife), who are in full support of bear and cougar hunting, further www.bear-hunting.com

study bear, the density, help relocate and educate.

We are currently contacting local logging companies with the intent of documenting spring bear damage. We know it happens all over and is quite costly for our logging industry. Spring bear hunters can help with that issue. Having our spring bear hunt taken away because some found it “unethical” on the commission and even went as far as calling the term “recreational” hunter offensive is simply unacceptable. We will work to get this sustainable opportunity back by showcasing the management need for such a highly regulated hunt.

But we need your help. Membership to the American Bear Foundation is important. It supplies membership numbers to showcase during speaking events, it supplies funds that will be used directly in the conservation effort of bears and bear hunting, and it directly helps your state chapters local issues. For example, if you live in a state with a chapter, your membership money will go to that chapter, which is based upon the address you put in for your membership. If you live in a state that does not have a chapter, those funds will still go directly to the ABF and the fine work they are doing and have been doing nationwide. Plus, I hear you get a pretty good subscription to one hell of a bear hunting magazine if you sign up!

I don’t write this as a doom and gloom article.

Really, it is an article that should bring hope. The American Bear Foundation is spreading with more chapters on the way and that is encouraging. And let me tell you, with all the local black bear sightings in metropolitan areas and recent cougar attacks in our state, predator management is essential. As hunters we are on the forefront of this management effort and I applaud you all for doing such a fantastic job of showcasing honor in and the many uses of, bear hunting. But I also write this as a plea. We all must become active in speaking in defense of hunting. I am not only talking to the average blue-collar hunter here, but especially to you, social media “influencers” and, yes, even hunting gear companies. If we all do not start speaking up, your audience that you “influence” and the customers you sell to, will no longer care about what you are using or what they can buy from you because they no longer have a use for it. The act of hunting will fade and with it, proper management, wildlife, and the commerce it generates.

I am proud to the president of the Washington chapter. We have a lot of great people on our board and in leadership roles. Honestly, it is something I was hesitant to take up. I enjoy my quiet time alone, in the woods, listening to the sounds of nature and the faint rustling of a bear eating black berries. But I know that if we do not carry this burden, if we do not take the time to speak up, my time in the woods will be limited to being separated from the most natural act a human can do, hunt. We need you. Join us. Guard the gate.

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Sept/Oct 2023

The 2023 North Carolina bear hunting season questions from the hunters in attendance with regards to is about to commence in the western-mountain region, bear hunting in the MBMU. and there’s some early indications from mid-season hard It is the opinion of the NC Bear Hunters Associmast surveys that are showing a lot more mast in the ation (NCBHA), that the deer hunting season for modern tops of our oaks and hickory’s than we had last season. firearms will absolutely change. There’s nothing that can Consequently, our bears may not travel as far and wide be done to dissuade or prevent a deer season change. as they typically do during lean mast years while they Frankly, it will happen one of two different ways, and it will search for food. Hunters may find it highly productive to be as early as the 2024 hunting season; 1) the NC Geninvest in some scouting trips to find where the hard mast eral Assembly will pass local legislation inclusive of the is abundant, especially on adjacent federal lands. entire mountain region. There’s no telling what our legislaThe coastal regions had a bountiful summer with tors may come up with and based on our history with such soft mast and seed clusters from May until August. Hunt- legislation everyone should expect this to be akin to major ers noticed during training seasons that Bay Bush, Little surgery without anesthesia (its gonna hurt), or; 2) The Gallberry, Inkberry Holly, Black Aronia, grapes and cherry WMD will consolidate all the hunter input from the forums were blooming heavy which should indicate an excepand bring a regulatory proposal to the NCWRC for considtional soft mast crop. What’s more, hard mast surveys are eration by the NCWRC his winter. looking weak and volumes of hickory, pecan and oak.

Accordingly, this could mean the most productive hunting Based on our observations of hunter comments and queswill occur early in the coastal plains before Thanksgiving. tions at the combined forums, we were able to determine It comes as no surprise, that North Carolina’s that: black bear population has grown dramatically, we have bears populating places that haven’t seen bears since 1. A slight majority of bear hunters said they don’t 1870. Managing our largest carnivore in a state with have any concern with overlapping seasons with increasing human populations and land development deer hunters and would like the bear season to requires NC to address bear management issues never largely be unchanged. before seen in the state. North Carolina’s Black Bear 2. However, there were still some western bear huntManagement Plan (BBMP) steadfastly maintained that ers and hunting clubs would like to keep the bear the use of hunting to achieve and maintain black bear and deer seasons separate. However, this will population objectives was the most effective conserrequire the bear season to be adjusted. vation tool. However, in the case of the Mountain Black 3. Last there were a few bear hunters at the Murphy Bear Management Unit (MBMU) hunting has not achieved forum who wanted no changes, because it could stabilization of the bear population in the western mouninterfere with their bear hunting season in adjointains of NC and the population continues to increase ing states. and enlarge. This despite that bear hunting has grown in popularity and harvest numbers remain high, the increase Other items that surfaced during the Bear Hunter forums in population continues to out-pace our ability for west- was: ern bear hunters to stabilize the population within the 4. There was a strong interest in opening the bear current framework of seasons and regulations. Likewise, season on Saturday (ie: the first or second Saturthe Whitetail Deer population has grown commensuday of October). rate with the bear population and occupies a similar 5. geographic area in the mountains. Consequently, Clay, 6. There were serious concerns about Game Lands Cherokee, and Haywood County Commissioners enact(USFS) roads that are closed, whereby achieved formal Resolutions demanding that the N.C. Wildlife ing a 4% increase in the bear harvest is likely not Resources Commission (NCWRC) address the inequities’ realistic. of the western deer seasons. Additionally, there has been 7. a groundswell of interest by deer hunters for a increase 8. There were numerous requests to extend the wild in their hunting season segments. hog season throughout January and February.

During July, the NC Wildlife Resources Commission / Wildlife Management Division (WMD) held three (3) The NCBHA will be in attendance at the Big Game Bear Hunters Forums in Murphy, Clyde, and Morganton. and Commission meetings for the remainder of the year The purpose of the forums was to educate hunters on and will monitor development of possible proposals for issues related to 2024 deer hunting season changes and public hearings later this winter. the possible overlap with bear hunting seasons. AdditionWe invite you to join the only statewide associally, hunters heard exceptionally detailed presentations ation dedicated to bear hunting and hunting with dogs. about bears and deer harvest targets and designing the Membership applications and renewals should be sent to: most effective hunting seasons for meeting WMD goals. NCBHA Member Services, 130 Holly Mt Church Road, Mt. Each meeting was well attended with approximately 180 Gilead, NC 27306.

Be safe and take a kid hunting and hunters and produced a lot of insightful comments and fishing! www.bear-hunting.com

Bear Hunting 39

Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association Inc. Sept/Oct 2023 There are a few new developments in Wisconsin as summer moves on, first is the filing of 2 petitions with U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to recognize and delist a Western Great Lakes Distinct Population of wolves in Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota while the other petition requests FWS to exercise specific management options on remnant wolf populations existing outside of the Western Great Lakes population of wolves. The WBHA with our good friends UP Bear Houndsmen Assn and Michigan Bear Hunters all participated with the Sportsmen’s Alliance leading the charge to be able to manage wolves again in these three states. We feel that this new strategy on dealing with remnant wolves where they are not recovered (other states outside the Western Great Lakes) while acknowledging that our states are fully recovered will allow us to manage wolves.

But there is yet another hurdle. The state of Wisconsin has not released their new wolf plan yet and rumor has it, it will not have a goal number!!

Save the date: This is BS we need to have a goal number close to • The Northeast Town Hall Meeting will be held on Saturday 350. The Wisconsin DNR is pandering to the Anti October 28th, 2023 at the Old Town Hall in Townsend WI. • The Southwest Town Hall Meeting will be held on Saturday Management/pro wolf crowd. The WBHA needs December 9th 2023 at the Pittsville Lions Club, Pittsville, WI our membership to let the DNR know that this is not • The Southeast Town Hall Meeting will be held on Jan. 13th acceptable. Their strategy is not to have a number 2024 at the Berlin Conservation Club, W898 Whiteridge Rd, so they can constantly increase the population Berlin, WI based on emotion not science and sound game • These Town Hall Meetings are “member’s only” events, with memberships available at the door. These events will include management. It’s funny how social science works guest speakers, legal updates, door prizes, raffles, silent one way, only the pro wolf crowd is in that mix. auctions, and a good place to get to know your WBHA Board The other side of that coin is the social science of of Directors and Officers. Doors open at 1:00 PM losing pets, livestock, hunting dogs and the constant worry of when it will happen again. The folks that must live with the damage that wolves cause is totally underrepresented, and the social scientists think we do not matter. Just remember what the long game is to destroy our way of life because we don’t have the numbers. Please contact the DNR Secretary and respectfully let him or his office know that we need a goal number of 350 wolves!

The last thing to update you on is the Pelican Lake land purchase. It was rejected but hopefully in the next legislative session we can come up with a compromised plan that will make most of the people involved to an agreement to get this done. Stay tuned this impacts a lot of bear hunters in the northeast.

Have a great season!

Carl Schoettel, WBHA President.

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Sept/Oct 2023

The Michigan Bear Hunters Association believes gray wolves in Michigan deserve to be managed by the state, and is taking action to urge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove federal protections.

The MBHA teamed with the Upper Peninsula Bear Houndsmen Association, Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association and the Sportsmen’s Alliance to file a pair of petitions with the FWS in late June calling for the federal government to take action on a long-term plan to ensure wolf management is based on science, rather than politics or legal maneuvering from animal rights groups.

The first petition requests the FWS recognize the recovery of and delist wolves in Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and areas of adjoining states, while the second urges specific management options for remnant wolf populations outside of the Great Lakes and Northern Rocky Mountain population segments.

The petitions point to wolf populations that have far surpassed recovery goals in the Great Lakes for years, with a total population now in excess of 4,000 wolves.

Wildlife managers estimate about 2,700 wolves reside in Minnesota, with another 1,000 in Wisconsin and about 600 in Michigan.

When the FWS initially set recovery goals, the aim was for 1,400 in Minnesota, and a minimum population of 100 in Michigan and Wisconsin combined, according to the petition.

“Michigan’s gray wolves have exceeded recovery goals for over two decades now and it’s far past time to give our state’s professional wildlife managers the authority they need to make the best science-based decisions for both the animals and residents that call our state home,” MBHA President Keith Shafer said.

“Michigan’s recently updated Wolf Management Plan, crafted with input from all stakeholders, shows we’re ready and able to take over that responsibility today, to ensure gray wolves are sustainably managed for generations to come like all our other wildlife.”

The FWS has removed Great Lakes wolves from federal protections several times in the past, but legal challenges from animal-extremist organizations have repeatedly resulted in federal courts reversing the decisions. The rulings did not raise concerns about Great Lakes wolf populations, but rather FWS’ alleged failure to address “remnant” wolves outside of established population segments. Federal judges have repeatedly highlighted concerns about the impact removing protections in the Great Lakes could have on remnant wolves elsewhere in the country.

The second petition would help to fix that issue through two specific actions. The first would create a West Coast Wolf population for partially recovered and rapidly growing populations west and south of the Northern Rocky Mountain population. The new population segment would cover wolves in California, Oregon, and Washington, and the coalition recommends listing that population as threatened to provide maximum flexibility for state wildlife managers.

The second requested action would create a www.bear-hunting.com

category of wolves in the lower 48 states not included in other distinct populations, allowing management of those wolves as endangered with federal protections under the Endangered Species Act. “While not immediately obvious, these two petitions are following a blueprint established by the federal courts on gray wolves and the ESA,” said Todd Adkins, vice president of government affairs for the Sportsmen’s Alliance. “Instead of a quick fix, this is a long-term strategy to get wolf management back in the state agencies where it belongs instead of locked up in litigation brought by the extremists to keep their fundraising juggernaut running full steam 24-7, 365.”

Removing federal protections for gray wolves in Michigan could benefit hound hunters by allowing state officials to remove wayward packs that have preyed on hunting dogs across the Upper Peninsula in recent years. In total, wolves have killed 74 dogs and injured 36 – including 63 hunting dogs killed and 27 injured – across 13 counties since 2009, according to Michigan Department of Natural Resources data.

Michigan’s wolf management plan also provides protections for farmers dealing with attacks on livestock, while allowing hunting as a means to control the population.

“It’s critical that we put together a long-term plan to get the science back in wildlife management on wolves,” Adkins said. “The ESA petition process is abused by the animal extremists to handcuff wildlife managers, but in this case, we are using the same process to get the state agencies and science back into the mix.”

The coalition submitted both petitions to the FWS on July 29.

The petitions will undergo an initial review to ensure they present substantial information. If so, the FWS will vet the requests using peer reviewed science and commercial data, and expert opinions. From there, the FWS has a year to decide whether the petitioned actions are warranted, and will move to delist if there’s a favorable determination.

The delisting process then involves a published proposal in the Federal Register, announcements in selected newspapers throughout the impacted regions, and public meetings and feedback. FWS officials weigh that input with the science to make a final decision.

The first step on reviewing information presented is typically completed within 90 days, with the result published in the Federal Register.

“While the process is long and complex, the MBHA is confident U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials will come to the same conclusion as they have more than once in the past: that gray wolves in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota are no longer in need federal protections,” Shafer said. “All three states have a strong track record of sustainable wildlife management that ensures wolves across the Great Lakes will continue to thrive for years to come.”

Join MBHA to make our voice stronger, and receive our association’s 16-page publication, The Bear Facts, four times a year, plus Bear Hunting Magazine, with its MBHA column, six times a year.

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

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The Strategic Bear Hunter

Why Do Male Bears Kill Cubs?

by Bernie Barringer

Some things are tossed around as fact so often and for so long that they become generally accepted as truth. Bear hunters sit around campfires and discuss what they have seen or heard, and opinions are shared. Many times, the narrative does not meet with reality. The long-accepted answer to why male bears kill cubs is to put the cubs mother into estrus so the male can breed her. I began to question this a few years ago and after really diving into the biology and behavior of black bears and their breeding cycle, I have become convinced that this is nothing more than a myth.

A little background in the black bear’s reproductive process needs to be understood to begin with. Across most of North America, black bears breed in June and July, and then the sow carries the fertilized eggs for a few months before she actually becomes pregnant. In the fall, the eggs implant in the uterine wall and start to grow as she enters the den for the winter. The cubs are born in mid-winter and nurse as they grow. When they emerge from the den in the spring, they are about the size of a house cat and totally reliant on her for protection and training. Plus they are still nursing, and even though they immediately add natural foods to their diet they will nurse for several months, often until they go back into the den with her in the fall.

They will den with the sow the first winter, and then as spring comes around, she becomes ready to breed again. She then separates from the cubs as she comes into heat and the males start coming around. This is a complicated process that could be discussed at some length, but for brevity, she will become pregnant and then den alone that year.

This time-honored cycle has served the bear well down through the eons. Those cubs are very vulnerable during their first few months of life. Adult bears, wolves, eagles, and other predators have been known to target 42

Bear Hunting

these cubs as food. But if a cub is killed by a male bear, will the sow completely break this cycle and come back into heat the first year rather than the second? As far as I know there is no scientific evidence that she will, and that’s just one of many reasons why I believe this is a myth. Here are a few more.

Sows rarely have one cub. Where habitat and food is good, they have two or three at a time and even four or more are not uncommon. In Minnesota, our bear biologist says their research shows that black bears average 2.7 cubs, so more have three cubs than have two. She’s nursing those cubs and will not come into heat as long as she is lactating, so killing a cub is not going to bring her back into heat. The male bear would have to kill all the cubs, not just one. I’ve never known that to happen, and I have not talked to anyone who has seen all the cubs killed at once.

If the sow only had one cub and it was killed, or by some stroke of luck the male bear was able to kill all of her cubs, the sow couldn’t immediately come back into heat. It would take weeks at best as she stopped lactating and her body processes changed. Where is that boar going to be weeks from that point, and what are the odds that he would be the one to breed her if she did come back into heat at some point?

Here’s another thing that doesn’t add up: from a survival of the fittest standpoint, why would a species trade living, viable members of the species for potential members? It doesn’t make sense to remove healthy members that can advance the species in exchange for the possibility of future members of the species.

When presented with this problem, I have had some people respond that the male is trying to advance his own line by removing the DNA of other bears and spreading his own genetics. But my problem with that theory is how would he know that he is not killing his own cubs?

I have observed a male bear killing a cub in person just one time in all my thousands of hours in the woods observing bears and sitting at bait sites watching interactions between bears. I have talked to a few others who have observed this behavior in Sept/Oct 2023

person, and I have watched many videos of it taking place. All of these instances have one thing in common: the bear doing the killing ate the cub. There may be cases where the male did not eat the cub, but I do not personally know of any, and for certain, this would be a rare exception.

This is the reason I believe male bears kill cubs. Black bears are not efficient predators, but they relish meat. They get some carrion, and they occasionally kill small mammals or happen upon an injured animal they can catch and eat.

They catch a few deer fawns or moose and elk calves in the spring, but they don’t get meat in their diet all that much. Cubs are made out of meat. When they happen upon an opportunity to turn that cub into a meal, they take advantage of it.

To support this theory, I will also add that there are some videos out there of sows killing cubs and eating them as well. I just saw one on YouTube the other day. Two sows, each with cubs, encountered each other and one sow killed a cub of the other sow and dragged it off, presumably to make a meal of it, although the actual eating of the cub did not take place on camera. But why else would she drag it off while being badgered by the dead cub’s mother if it wasn’t to eat it? I can’t think of any reason.

So that’s my theory and you are free to disagree with me, of course. But I have become convinced that the standard belief that a boar kills a cub in order to bring the sow back into heat is a myth. Your mileage may vary. www.bear-hunting.com

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Blood, Sweat, & & Bears with Doug Boze

@bozeandbears

The Reasons You’re Not Finding Bears

Shot

For many in the U.S., by the time this article is pub-

lished, fall bear season will be starting up. Oh, what a time it is! The hot days give way to cozy, pleasant evenings, the air is filled with the smell of berries warmed by the sun, and the anticipation of the coming deer and elk seasons are creeping up. But the immediate challenge remains, where are the bears?

We’ve discussed a lot about how to become a bear hunter, how to find bears, call bears, and the list goes on. But I haven’t really talked a lot about why you may not be finding bears, despite following the many tips and advice previously laid out. First and foremost, I wanted to remind especially our new bear hunters that it is okay to find it a challenge locating bears. If it was easy, everyone would do it. Some places are easier than others, but I think bear hunting advice is universal for much of bear territory. So, why are you not finding our amazing bears?

Issue 1: You are moving too fast.

You say, “What do you mean I am moving too fast?

Bears travel fast and I have to beat out others on public land, so I have to get moving.” Well, a lot of that is true. Hunting on public land can be a challenge, not only to find animals but to avoid people. Seems to get worse every year, at least where I live. But let me break it down for you. I talk about this a bit in my book, The Ultimate Guide To Black Bear Hunting, but I will reiterate it for those who missed it. Slow yourself down both mentally and physically. In our modern life, that

can be a challenge, but it is necessary when hunting. We are hyped up in today’s modern life with traffic, work, to-do lists, social media, coffee, energy drinks, instant messaging, instant gratification, and the list goes on. I have a hard time with this a bit too, but I must remind myself to simply slow down on all fronts.

Before I even get to my hunting spot, I will turn off my music on the radio—especially if I am by myself, which is about 90% of the time. I’ll do this probably 20 minutes or more away from where I park. I do this for two reasons: 1) to help my hearing adjust to the lack of sound and 2) to quiet my mind and focus on the task at hand. Now, I will have a coffee or caffeinated drink most likely, but that is par for the course for me, so I am not too worried about that. Who doesn’t like a cup of joe on their way to hunt?

When I arrive at my spot and I start my hike, I will walk at a steady pace for a bit. This will vary depending on where I am hunting. Some areas have good hunting almost right away while other areas require a more extensive hike.

But one thing is for sure, when I think I am getting close to decent hunting, my pace slows to a crawl. I am very aware of the wind, if any, and I am looking around at the ground for signs like scat, peels, rubs, bear tunnels, and so forth. I am also cognizant of how I am walking and what I am walking on. If the logging road I am walking on is noisy with gravel, I move along the side of the road or center where the grass is located, or I use the sides of my feet as I place down my weight to quiet my foot falls. I move with purpose, but force

There’s a bear in those woods! Slow down and look for the bear sign.

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Bears are sometimes closer than you would think to areas traveled by people.

myself to slow down.

Issue 2: You’re not listening to the story nature is telling you.

What do I mean by that? “Trees don’t talk! Squirrels won’t fill me in!” You’re saying. Well, they do sometimes. When you’re deer hunting and you pass an alder that has been shredded and there is deer hair stuck in the sap, that tree is telling you something the best way it knows how—a buck used it as a rub. Bear hunting is no different. If I pass a blackberry bush that looks like a kid took a stick to it and beat it to hell, I will stop and see if that is what happened. I will look for hair on the thorns, which is usually a very good way to tell if a bear got to those berries. That bush is telling you a story, so stop to listen. Be observant.

Say I am passing a creek draw and beyond in a nice stand of mature trees, some squirrel is going bananas down at the bottom of the draw maybe a hundred yards or so from me.

Why is that? Squirrels do not limit their irritating alarm to the lone deer or elk hunter in the fall. They blast that chirp for all sorts of animals, bears included. So if I hear that, I will not just keep walking; I will stop, look, and listen. Do I hear branches breaking? A bear snorting? Stumps getting torn into? I will sometimes wait for several minutes or more before moving on from a tip like that.

Next, you must make sure of your target. If someone heard me while I was climbing out of a gulley with a bear on my back, they might think I am the bear due to my breathing, busting brush, and so on. Always make sure of your target!

Even if you see a flash of black, stop and make sure. A hunter could easily have a bear on his backpack and you assume it’s a bear, making a life changing mistake. Do not make that mistake.

Issue 3: You are bypassing quality areas because they’re close by. www.bear-hunting.com

A prime example of this occurred last year. I was walking out at dusk from my “bearadise” area. The nighthawks were buzzing in the sky, crows were headed in to roost, and the mosquitos were hounding me like a drill sergeant to keep up my pace, as I was staying just out of biting reach. It was then that I heard what I believed to be a bear in the very thick brush just up ahead. I heard him snort, break branches, and saw some movement.

As I crept further to take a look, I started to hear a few people talking and it was getting closer. I then had two hunters on electronic bikes coming up the road at me. The bear heard this too and quieted down. They blew by me and up the hill. As they went out of hearing distance, the bear continued on his merry way—just out of reach thanks to the brush—and returned to his noisy endeavors. But I got to watch him scurry along a bit before I simply smiled and walked away quietly. My point is, this was not far at all from the gate where we parked.

If I was on a bike, I would have likely never heard that bear and would have blown right by a possible opportunity. I have observed on numerous occasions hunters hiking far and deep, when in reality many could have found success not far at all if they had only slowed down and paid attention. I am not saying don’t head out to the woods for the deep and steep places looking for adventure—that is half of what it is all about.

But don’t bypass success simply because you want to see what’s over the next ridge. Success might be found on the very ridge you’re already on.

Issue 4: You’re not listening enough.

Yes, this is different from Issue 2, which dealt with the story nature was trying to tell you. This issue pertains to you not physically listening enough, in general. When I am bear hunting, I listen very closely for sounds. I will pause at the slightest rustling of brush if I hear it. I will freeze and listen intently for several seconds or even minutes, depending on if I can pinpoint Bear Hunting

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Bears will often go after insects in stumps and logs. Look for scratched up logs when looking for bear sign.

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the noise and what made it.

More often than not, I hear bears long before I ever see bears. Once I think I hear a bear move, I will stop, focus on the area, and see if it continues, see if I spot maybe a paw coming out of the brush grabbing berries, etc. Sometimes, it is as simple as a bird eating something off a bush and he flitters off, giving me the okay to continue my quest. But sometimes, it is what I am after, and that is when the fun begins.

time working through that area.

Issue 7: You’re not thinking like a bear.

This is fairly simple to underIssue 5: You’re missing obvious bear signs (to the experistand, but I still see a lot of people miss this point. Say it is enced hunter). mid-August, 85 degrees, and clear blue skies. It’s hot, midday, What do I mean by this? Well, most hunters know to and you’re sweating up some hill in a fresh clear cut in a t-shirt look for scat and prints—those are basic. But, and this goes and jeans, sweating away. You’d rather be in the shade somefor deer or elk too, do you know to look for less obvious, but where, maybe by some water near a cool draw and waiting for still clear signs of bears? For example, elk have wallows and rubs, not just tracks and scat. Deer are the same way with rub relief so you can go fill up on some grub. Most bears have this lines and scrapes, but the more inexperienced hunter may just same idea in mind. They are avoiding the heat, waiting for it to cool before coming out. Hang out all you want in the heat, blow by those neon clues. Bears will leave other things than glass, look for signs, etc. But I usually hunt in the afternoons just scat and prints: bear tunnels (actual, noticeable tunnels through thick brush), tree peels, brush thrashings (as discussed and evenings for bears, especially in the early fall season. I am not saying you won’t find one out in the heat sometimes, but previously), torn stumps, rolled logs, rolled rocks, marks on just like in the rain, they tend to bed down during that time. trees, and so on. Learn to identify all sorts of bear signs and Don’t get burned out hunting all over in the heat when you you will be surprised how much there is. could save your efforts for early mornings or early evenings.

Issue 6: You are not focused on their food source for that Issue 8: You’re not taking a midday nap. time of year.

This is a surefire way to find a bear. Take a nap in the This is a big one. This is like the golden rule for bear grass with the sun beating down on you. When you wake up, hunting, the “thou shall not kill” of commandments. You must focus on food sources that are available for that specific time a bear is likely close by. This has happened to me more than once. Of course, I say this half-jokingly! of year, because that is exactly what the bears are doing.

When I talk about these issues, these are some of Bears are all about calories. Without packing on the pounds, they might not make it through the winter. The thinner the sow, the shortcomings I used to have. It took me a while to figure out what I was doing wrong and why. So really, most of these the less cubs she has. The fatter the sow, the more cubs she things are about me and my failures and how you can avoid has, so it benefits her species to be plump. them. So when you go out this bear season, just remember So, if you are in an area with unripe berries or fruit, to take your time and enjoy the process. And if you’re lucky, you need to find where the fruit is ripe and the acorns have you might soon find yourself in the glorious misery of a pack dropped (“akerns” for some of you southern folk). If you find out, being eaten alive by mosquitoes while you question your a food source that is ripe but no scat or other signs of bears, you might want to move and maybe recheck that site in a few choices to hunt. But then, of course, only to turn around the next day and want to do it all over again. Happy hunting, my days. But if you find a food source with some fresh scat, you friends. are in the red zone. Slow down, listen, and really take your Pace yourself and don’t focus too much on trying to find bears in the middle of the day. When temperatures are high and the sun is overhead they aren’t typically active.

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Black Bear Biology

A Coat of Many Colors

with Dr. Jenn Ballard @arwildlifevet

Few things define a species so distinctly as their outward appearance—bright feathers, sharp spines, sleek scales—but among mammals, the American black bear stands out for the wide range of colors, or more technically “colourmorphs,” it displays across its range. The quintessential black morph is the most common overall, characterized by inky black fur with tan accents across the muzzle. Then there is the spectrum of lighter shades referred to by descriptive names like chocolate, cinnamon, or blonde. Finally, there are the legends, the gray glacier and white Kermode morphs of coastal Alaska and British Columbia. But what creates this remarkable diversity and what does it mean for bear management?

In 1987, a researcher from Manitoba named Dr. Richard Rounds published a seminal paper comparing decades of regional reports about black bear color distribution with contemporary surveys from biologists and outfitters. In total, they examined over 40,000 records of harvested or tagged bears and documented the percentage of black and non-black morphs, the latter being a collective term for all brown, gray, and blonde variations. According to that analysis, non-black morphs were virtually absent from eastern populations at the time. They gradually became more common on a gradient from east to west across the Great Lakes region and into the Rocky Mountains. Throughout the west, small pockets were identified where non-black morphs comprised the majority of local bears and prevalence was mapped out in a vaguely topographic fashion. The study explored several hypotheses for why brown morphs occur in certain areas, but these have remained a topic of debate. Large observational studies like this were groundbreaking in their time, but new technologies allow researchers to validate and expand our understanding of these age-old questions.

One research team, led by Dr. Emily Puckett of the University of Memphis, is examining the question of black bear coloration through the lens of modern genomic science. In a study published earlier this year, Dr. Puckett’s team reported finding a genetic mutation that explains the vast majority of brown and blonde colourmorphs. The researchers examined hair samples from across the black bear range, measuring their chemical composition and ability to reflect light. They expected to find measurable differences between hairs plucked from black and brown morphs, which they did. Hair from brown morph bears contained less pigment and reflected more light than hair from black morphs. The team went on to compare these differences with genetic sequences from the donor bears and identified a single, shared mutation in nearly all lighter morphs.

The mutation works like this: under a micro48

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All About Color Phase Bears scope, a bear’s skin looks like a rock wall with an overlapping arrangement of flat cells. At the base of the wall are specialized cells that produce a pigment called melanin; this pigment diffuses through the layers like a dye giving the skin its color. Hair follicles are lined by these same layers and pigment-producing cells. As hairs grow, melanin is incorporated into their structure, the shade and concentration of the pigment determining the color of the individual hairs and, ultimately, the entire hide. To make melanin, these special cells use a series of chemical reactions nudged along by enzymes. The mutation Puckett’s team discovered changes just one of those enzymes, affecting the way it works and moves in the cell. That small change is enough to interrupt the entire assembly line, reduce the amount of melanin made, and produce bears with permanently light-colored coats.

After identifying the underlying cause of these lighter morphs, Puckett’s team went on to map the prevalence of the mutation across bear populations as well as using mathematical models to estimate the time and location where the change likely originated. Imagine their excitement when the genetic maps turned out virtually identical to the color distribution maps developed by Rounds nearly 40 years prior. Their models also suggest that the mutation arose in a western bear population around 9,000 years ago, spreading outward as bears dispersed across the landscape. When I spoke to Puckett about their work, she felt that these were the most surprising findings of the project. The near perfect alignment of the two studies despite drastic differences in time and technique lends tremendous confidence to the results, and she emphasized how shockingly new the genetic change is from an evolutionary standpoint. It’s hard to consider 9,000 years ‘new,’ but black bears emerged as a species between 1 and 2 million years ago. That means brown color morphs have been present for less than 1% of the total time black bears have wandered North America.

Even though mutations arise by random chance, they don’t become common in wildlife populations unless they prove beneficial to their hosts. Puckett’s research suggests that brown colourmorphs have an advantage to black bears, at least in certain ecosystems. Theories abound as to why, but mimicking the formidable grizzly bear, improved camouflage, and reduced heat absorption in open terrain have all been proposed. Neither Rounds nor Puckett were able to identify a singular cause and, ultimately, the selection may be multifactorial or too complex to tease out.

Puckett readily points out that their findings don’t apply to the two rarest colourmorphs. While the mechanism responsible for the smoky, blue-gray appearance of glacier bears remains a mystery, a study from 2001 documented a remarkably similar mutation affecting the pigment-producing cells of Kermode morph bears. The mutation in these bears occurs in a hormone receptor on the outside of the cells meant to regulate melanin production. Instead of interrupting the assembly line, this change may prevent the process from starting altogether and lends to the characteristic white coat of the revered “Spirit Bears.”

Puckett concluded our conversation by graciously acknowledging the contributions of her expansive research team, with over 40 coauthors on the most recent paper; she also expressed gratitude for the support of hunters and conservation agencies, without whom such intensive sample collections would not be possible.

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Research suggests that lighter colourmorphs have an advantage to black bears, at least in certain ecosystems. Theories abound as to why, but mimicking the formidable grizzly bear, improved camouflage, and reduced heat absorption in open terrain have all been proposed.

Research has been unable to identify a singular cause for the success of this mutation.

The conservation of wildlife species in a modern world requires a variety of tools, and the ready availability of cutting-edge genetic technologies has been a game changer for understanding the health, diversity, and connectivity of populations. Genetic diversity is fundamental to species adaptability. Where animals move, they breed, leaving behind genes like a trail of breadcrumbs and infusing diversity. Where connectivity is lost, gene pools stagnate with sometimes dire consequences. As human development continues to expand, the isolation of wildlife populations is certain to increase.

Decisions about when and how to protect unique genetics versus ensuring sufficient overall diversity are surprisingly complicated, but genetic research can inform these difficult questions by quantifying diversity, defining biologically relevant populations, and detecting early signs of stagnation. Puckett’s study is a great example. It doesn’t just answer a question about bear color, it is a snapshot of the ongoing evolution of a species and a roadmap of bear movement over millennia.

References Puckett EE, Davis IS, Harper DC, Wakamatsu K, Battu G, et al. (2023) Genetic architecture and evolution of color variation in American black bears. Current Biology 33(1):86-97.

Ritland K, Newton C, Marshall HD (2001) Inheritance and population structure of the white-phased “Kermode” black bear. Current Biology 11:1468-1472.

Rounds RC (1987) Distribution and Analysis of Colourmorphs of the Black Bear (Ursus americanus). Journal of Biogeography 14(6):521-538.

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Western Bear Hunting

A Prince of Wales Adventure!

with Jana Waller @skullboundtv

Photos By: Heath Helgert | @h2o_films

Bear hunting, in my opinion, is the most diverse kind of big game hunting because every hunt is so different than the next. From spot and stalk, baiting, or hound hunting, to the incredibly vast types of terrain that black bears live in, no two hunts are the same—that’s why I’m always open to new bear hunting adventures.

Prince Of Wales, Alaska is a bear hunter’s paradise. Until this past year, I had only dreamed of the thick, green rainforest that blankets most of the relatively desolate island. I have been blessed to hunt black bears in Alaska before, in Petersburg and on the Yukon Flats near the Arctic Circle, but never on POW island. Known for its pumpkin-headed black bears, POW is also home to wolves, sitka blacktail deer, flying squirrels, and not-so-cute banana slugs. And while the land-based wildlife is incredible, the bays and inlets are brimming with frequent sightings of humpback whales, porpoises, sea otters, seals, and sea lions. I had heard stories over the years of exciting bear hunts on the island and I was thrilled when my then-fiance now husband, John Bair, had the idea of applying for black bear tags for the upcoming season.

We’ve had numerous friends who have gone to POW for hunting and fishing adventures and have stayed at Eagle Lodge near Whale Pass.

Eagle Lodge specializes in do-it-yourself style hunts where the hunt is up to you but there’s a nice, relaxing lodge, hot shower, and delicious meal waiting for you after a long day’s hunt. The only mistake we made was putting in separately for the tags and not as a party. As luck would have it, I drew a fall tag and John didn’t. Many people visit Eagle Lodge for the renowned salmon fishing alone, but I’m not sure that was at all consoling until he was actually hauling in huge salmon on the trip.

The island is only slightly larger than the state of Delaware, but it’s actually the fourth largest island in the United States and has approximately 6,000 residents. Thanks to the logging industry at the turn of the century, POW has a road system but many miles are not paved. In my opinion, that only adds to the adventure. Once we booked the trip for the first week of September, we were advised to fly into Ketchikan and catch the Inner Island Ferry. It operates every day, taking passengers on a beautiful three hour ride from the airport in Ketchikan to a town called Hollis. From there, the fine folks at Eagle Lodge picked us up and we hit the main paved road that cradles the entire island.

The cabins at Eagle Lodge were nestled into the hillside directly above the beautiful bay that was loaded with starfish, sea urchins, and sea otters. Eagles were soaring overhead, letting out their screams as they searched for spawned out salmon and other sea life. The cool, salty ocean air smelled refreshing and the skies seemed to be

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The author’s husband, John Bair, showing off his fishing skills.

There are some world class fishing spots in Prince of Wales.

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whispering the hint of a rainstorm. Big, finger-sized slugs crawled along the wooden staircases that lead from the cabins down to the bay. We dropped off our hunting and camera gear at our cabin and were treated to a delicious dinner at the main lodge that would rival any five star New York restaurant.

On this do-it-yourself style hunt, Eagle Lodge offers each hunting party a vehicle to use during their stay. If you’re hunting in the spring, you can use a ski boat to cruise the shore line in hopes of finding bears scavenging for ocean life. In the fall, most hunters use one of their trucks or SUVs to drive to the numerous creeks and rivers hoping for black bears gorging on the salmon as the pinks and silvers make their way upstream to spawn.

Unlike any other bear hunt I had been on, this trip offered the luxury of salmon fishing while you hunt.

We drove our truck just a few minutes from the lodge every day to various river locations that were brimming with salmon. You could see the hundreds, if not thousands, of fish swimming their way upstream to their fateful end. Most looked healthy and alert, darting quickly through the fast moving water, while others we named “zombie fish” sat on the bottom, their bodies white from deterioration and mouths gasping for a few final breaths.

We slid on our waders, gathered our hunting, fishing, and camera gear, and walked through the incredibly dense rainforest down to the river’s edge. I remember wondering if the paths we were on were created by fishermen or bears. I later discovered the answer was both. I brought along my Desert Eagle .429 pistol after hearing stories of many bear hunters having close encounters along the creeks and streams. I also had my trusty 28 Nosler in case we couldn’t close the distance.

Heath, my good buddy and cameraman, is an avid fisherman but he was having the same dilemma I was. Could he be fast enough to put down the fishing pole, go grab the camera, and be prepared if everything went down fast? With the terrain being so thick, it was easy to see how a bear could suddenly appear at the water’s edge, grab a fish, and efficiently disappear into the lush undergrowth of the forest before we could even get a shot off or capture it on film.

After only twenty minutes of fishing, that exact scenario happened. We were all in the water casting our egg patterns when suddenly I caught movement to my left at the river’s edge. A bear appeared out of nowhere, walked down a moss-covered fallen tree, and grabbed a fish. As fast as he was there, he quickly disappeared into the brush with his breakfast. He wasn’t a giant, but it was so exciting to see a bear that quickly on our trip. Heath was able to get to his camera and capture some great footage of him as he popped back out on another log to eat his prize.

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The first couple of days, we had a few other bear encounters that were under 50 yards.

On one particular occasion, a nice bear suddenly appeared on a log on the opposite side of the river (about forty yards away). Heath got some fantastic footage of the bear submerging his head underwater and coming up with lunch. That day there were a couple of fly fisherman on the river nearby and I didn’t want to light up the woods with a loud shot from my .429. They call it a hand cannon for a reason. It was early in the trip and sometimes it’s fun to simply watch a bear’s behavior and enjoy their company.

Light rain showers were frequent every day, but that’s to be expected on POW Island.

Good, dependable rain gear is a must for staying comfortable on this kind of hunt. One of the days forecasted heavier rain all day, so we took the SUV for a cruise around the area. We stopped and fished a few creeks and rivers and soaked in the beauty of the rainforests. Sika deer peppered the roads, feeding on the lush vegetation, and we were even lucky enough to see a beautiful buck in velvet just off the graveled road.

On the last day of the hunt, we made a game plan to perch ourselves high above one of the main rivers so we could get a nice advantage point and see down the river’s edge. I brought along the trusty 28 Nosler since we could glass approximately 400 yards from our position. I found a solid mound on the forest floor where I could comfortably sit with a stable rest in a semi prone position. It wasn’t 30 minutes later that Heath spotted a bear way down the river’s edge. We watched him walk up and down the fallen timber, checking out what are most likely his favorite fishing spots. Just as quickly as the beautiful bear would appear, he would vanish back into the mass of twisted downfalls, vines, and ferns.

He was always on the move and appeared to be heading in our direction on the opposite side of the river.

Every few minutes the jet black bear would pop out of the jungle, but he was always on the move. I got behind the Nosler in hopes we would see him in an opening, and finally we all spotted him a mere 80 yards away making his way down a mossy, green downfall. “I’m on him!” Heath exclaimed. I steadied my breath and squeezed the trigger before I watched the bear dive off the log and into the green abyss. John watched through his binoculars and reported back that my shot looked good. We took a moment to recap what had just occurred and celebrated with hugs all around followed by some serious contemplation. “How in the world are we going to get over there? And boy, he’s going to be so fun to get out!” I exclaimed, both with excitement and a touch of sarcasm.

John attempted to make his way down 52

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The crew traversed a lot of water while fishing and looking for black bears.

Quick shoutout to cameraman Heath Helgert (Left) from H20 Productions Inc. Jana brought her 28 Nosler on this hunt. It’s a good bear caliber that packs a punch.

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A beautiful POW bruin worked his way in and out of the vegetation getting closer to the author.

off the hill towards the river to find a spot we could possibly cross. It wasn’t ten minutes later that he came back. “There’s no way we are getting down and across right here,” He begrudgingly commented, “Let’s take all of our gear back to the truck, unload, and look for other possibilities.” After unloading any unnecessary weight, we downed a salmon cake sandwich, put our packs on, and made our way through the jungle to a spot along the river that appeared low enough to cross. We marked on the OnX map where I shot the bear in hopes he didn’t go far and we could find that exact spot. It’s not an exaggeration to say that John or Heath could be standing six feet from me and I couldn’t even see them in the thick, Jurassic-like rainforest. After a few minutes of combing the area, John yelled out some music to my ears, “He’s right here!”

We huffed, puffed, and struggled to get the beautiful boar out from underneath a maze of plants so we could get some nice photos and start field dressing. The bear’s big pumpkin head was heavy to cradle and we were all so thrilled that our adventure came to the perfect ending. This trip was such an amazing getaway, from the incredible fishing to the amazing sea life, and so different than any other bear hunt I’ve been on. Heath worked his magic and captured everything on video so I could share it on Skull Bound Chronicles on the always free CarbonTV app or CarbonTV channel.

Watch the Episode on CarbonTV

The author shot straight and the bruin went down fast.

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ry

Great Hunts

Bruin

Destinations

Georgia’s Peach Tree Bruins

by Al Raychard

When it comes to hunting black bears, states in the Rocky Mountain West, the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, a handful in the upper Midwest, the Northeast, and Canada typically get most of the media attention. Statistically it makes sense. Black bears are found, are doing quite well, and are hunted in other regions and states but comparatively the populations are smaller and the hunting more highly regulated.

This does not mean to say hunting them is not worth the time or effort.

A good case in point is Georgia. Prior to the eighteenth century, bears were common and found throughout much of the Peach State. Following the Civil War, habitat loss due to development and unregulated hunting saw the population plummet. By the start of the twentieth century only a few hundred remained, primarily in Georgia’s northern mountainous counties. In the early 1920s, the bear season was closed and remained closed for the next half century. During that period, bear numbers in Georgia increased. Finally, under a set of new regulations and guided by modern management practices designed to increase the bear population, the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division (GWRD) opened a short, limited hunting season in 1979.

Today, Georgia’s bear population numbers are between 4,100 and 5,100 according to the GWRD, but that number is just an estimate. The population is thought to be increasing, bears are extending their range, and sightings are becoming more common outside core habitats.

Presently, three distinct regions (or bear zones) hold the vast majority of bears. Hunting bears is allowed in each of these zones but under different seasons, bag limits, types of hunting, and allowed weapon regulations. The largest zone with the largest number of bears is the northern mountain counties along and south of the Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina borders, with bears occurring as far south as Hall and Forsyth Counties. The bag limit is two bears, but hunting with hounds is prohibited except under special regulations on the Chattahoochee and Chestatee WMAs. The zone offers the largest amount of public land, largely in the form of the Chattahoochee National Forest. Bear hunting is allowed in most northern counties, but in recent years Dawson, Gilmer, Lumpkin, Murray, Rabun, Union, and White Counties produce a large portion of 54

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bears. Fannin, Habersham, Pickens, and Towns also produce their share.

The second principal bear zone is in central Georgia along the Ocmulgee River drainage system in Bibbs, Bleckley, Houston, and Twiggs Counties. Since 2011, bear hunting is allowed only on private land, the season is limited to one day with firearms, the limit is one bear, and hunting bears on WMAs is prohibited. A second hunt may be set if a certain quota is not met.

Georgia’s third principal bear range is in the southeast region, primarily in and near the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, the largest, intact, freshwater black water swamp in North America. The zone includes Brantley, Camden, Charlton, Clinch, Echols, Lowndes, and Ware Counties.

The firearms season typically takes place over several days in September and October. The limit is one bear. Hunting with hounds is allowed except in Lanier and Lowndes Counties.

Compared to some northern states, Georgia hunters don’t kill a lot of bears each year but the number is on par with several states in the middle and southern Appalachian regions that now have hunting seasons on the books. The record legal number was 690 in 2011. The take in 2018 was 638, but only 511 in 2019. In 2020, the latest year in which numbers are available, was 565. As they do just about everywhere, annual harvest numbers tend to rise or fall due to weather conditions, food availability, and other factors.

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Estimated Population: 4,100-5,100 +/Bag Limit: 2 statewide, but only one may be taken in the Southern and Central Bear Zones.

Hunting Area: Only in Northern, Central, and Southern Bear Zones.

Spring Season: No Fall Season: Yes

Georgia

Overview

2023 Season Dates: Northern Zone-Archery-September 9-October 13 Primitive-October 14-20 Firearms-October 21-January 14 Central Zone- Firearms-December 16 Southern Zone-Firearms-September 21-23 and 28-30, October 5-7 and 12-14 Popular Hunting Methods/Particulars: Still hunting and hunting natural food areas. Baiting is prohibited in all bear zones. Hunting with dogs is legal in the Northern Bear Zone on the Chattahoochee and Chestatee WMAs under special regulation and in the Southern Bear Zones except Lanier and Lowndes Counties. Hunting with hounds is prohibited in the Central Bear Zone. Hunting bears on wildlife management areas (WMAs) in the Central Bear Zone is prohibited (private land only). All bears must be checked at designated locations after harvest—visit the GWRD website for locations and times. The killing of females with cub(s) or bears under 75 pounds is prohibited in all zones.

License Availability/Cost: By telephone, online, or from vendors statewide. Visit the GWRD web site for details.

Legal Weapon Types: Rifles, handguns, muzzleloaders, bow and arrows, and crossbows.

Contacts: Georgia Wildlife Resources Division, 1-800-366-2661, www.georgiawildlife.com parts.

Bear Questions/Answers With Al Raychard

Q-I have a fall muzzleloader bear hunt planned and would like to hunt with my .50 caliber loaded with a roundball (which I typically hunt with). Is that sufficient for black bears?

A-The first black bear I ever killed was with a .50 caliber loaded with a roundball. I have taken several since with the same load. So yes, it is sufficient. As far as ballistics, the roundball has good cohesiveness, mushrooms well, makes a good wound channel, provides good penetration, and packs enough energy. Range can be a factor as roundballs tend to lose speed quickly compared to conical or saboted bullets, but if the hunt is over bait it shouldn’t be a major concern.

And as always, shot placement will be key. Good luck.

Q-Just wondering, is it legal to sell bear galls?

A-In the United States there is no federal law addressing the issue of bear parts, so laws are set by the individual states—though legislation has been introduced as recently as this year. The most recent report I can find says that 45 states have laws that regulate the trade of bear parts, including gallbladders. Of that total, 33 states prohibit the sale of galls outright within their borders and eight states did not allow the sale of galls from bears taken within their borders, but did allow the sale of galls from bears taken legally in other states. In another six states, the sale of galls was legal. These numbers may have changed. In Canada, the sale of bear parts is also regulated by the provinces and my understanding is the selling of galls in particular is largely prohibited, although there are exceptions. You might check with your state wildlife department or outfitters for more information.

My suggestion is to enjoy your hunt and forget about selling bear www.bear-hunting.com

Q-My fall bear hunt is just around the corner. I was wondering how long after the kill should a bear be skinned?

A-My personal practice has always been as soon as possible, especially if the weather remains warm. Fall bears generally carry lots of fat that can start to spoil quickly, affecting meat quality. Even in cooler temperatures, I rarely hang a bear for more than several hours, a day at most, typically skinning and taking care of the meat and hide the very next morning following a successful afternoon or evening hunt. Over the years, I’ve seen too many bears go to waste simply because hunters were too busy congratulating themselves rather than taking care of business first. The time to celebrate is after the animal has been tended to.

Q-Is salting or freezing best for preserving bear hides?

A-Depends where you hunt and what is available.

In remote areas or where freezing is not available, salting hides that have been fleshed is obviously best.

If you plan to freeze it later, complete fleshing is advised since the salt lowers the freezing point and makes freezing less effective. If freezing is available, I prefer to go that route. Just make sure the hide is as dry as possible and properly wrapped. Check with a reliable taxidermist if possible: explain where you will be hunting, what’s available, and, if salting is necessary, advise on what type of salt is best, how much to use, and other procedures.

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Sacred Pursuit with TL Jones

Common Sense, Common Courtesy, @TLJonesHVP

& A Common Cause

If hound hunting is as important to us as we say it is, then we need to do our part in keeping it alive. Common sense and common courtesy will go a long way in protecting our common cause.

Clay Newcomb uses the phrase “guard the gate” to describe the importance of hunters conducting themselves in a manner that helps protect our privilege of hunting. We’re all aware that anti-hunters and sometimes hunters who are anti-houndsmen are looking for leverage to use against us. Unfortunately, we are in an ongoing battle to save our way of life for ourselves and our children. It’s in our best interest to conduct ourselves in ways that promote a positive image in the general public. It’s true that no matter how ethical we are, some will still seek to sink our ship.

But we should use common sense and common courtesy in hopes that it will help us in the long run. As hunting season approaches, I’d like to share a few thoughts along these lines.

The Outlaw Image is Outdated Hound hunting is a hardcore methodology, and it attracts hardcore men. Some of these men come from backgrounds that are prone to view outlaws as folk-type heroes. Clay Newcomb often explores this aspect of human nature on his podcast, Bear Grease. This outlaw image is considered cool, like the old images of the Marlboro man were on billboards across America. But just like America had to come to terms with the reality of the harm tobacco use has on the human body, some houndsmen need to come to terms with the harm the outlaw image has to our 56

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way of life in the future. The outlaw image is outdated. Times have changed, the national perspective has changed, and we’ve got to change if we’re to survive. It’s cute when a baby gets food all over its face, but it’s not cute when a full-grown man can’t feed himself. And the outlaw mode of life isn’t cool unless you think giving ammunition to your enemies is cool. I personally don’t agree with every law on the books, but I know it’s best for all of us to work through the appropriate channels to address these matters of disagreement.

Gaining a Voice Although it pains me to admit it, our future is largely in the hands of others. Elected officials and government agencies hold almost all the cards. Every state needs a strong hound hunting organization who can earn a voice at the table through numbers and diplomacy. It doesn’t work any other way.

And every hunter needs to build positive personal relationships with the powers that be. I highly recommend you, as an individual houndsman, putting serious effort into building a positive relationship with your local Sheriff, area game wardens, county commissioners, and state legislatures. Call them. Visit them.

Have a hound topic you want covered?

Email requests to: sacredpursuit@protonmail.com Sept/Oct 2023

Take them out for a meal. Do everything you can to allow them to know you as a human being and friend, and not as an enemy. Don’t depend on others to do it for you. Personal relationships is how business is done on every level of government. You can have a real voice through positive relationships.

the minority.

We need a good reputation among the majority; it’s that simple.

Common Courtesy Among Other Houndsmen Houndsmen will either stand together or they will fall together. Any house divided against itself will fall. Treating other hunters with common courtesy is beneficial to you and your children’s future. All of us know the unwritten rules of houndsmen; it simply boils down to respecting others the way you want to be respected. Yes, there are some men who are absolute jerks and impossible to get along with, no matter how hard you try. I don’t deny that. In those cases, ignore those people the best you can and don’t hand your dirty laundry out on the line for everyone to see. Social media and the negative attention that it brings is no place for houndsmen to settle their personal differences. Making friends is far better than making enemies among hunters of all methods.

A Common Cause I think every houndsman on the planet can agree on at least one thing: we want to keep our way of life. This singular cause should be enough to motivate us to handle ourselves in ethical ways among reasonable people. Even if I don’t like another hunter who lives near me, I still hope he and I can stand together against common enemies.

If hound hunting is as important to us as we say it is, then we need to do our part in keeping it alive. Common sense and common courtesy will go a long way in protecting our common cause.

Common Sense in the Community The community in which you live is full of voters who hold your future in their hands. It’s insane to act in ways that alienate our communities unnecessarily. Allowing dogs to run amuck, trespassing with ill intent, and illegal baiting—among other unscrupulous activities—genuinely hurt us. It’s suicide by a thousand cuts. At some point, you’ll need your community to vote your way and they aren’t helping someone who’s run roughshod over them. I understand that undesirable things happen while hunting that lead to unwanted issues, but those should be curtailed to a bare minimum by using common sense in our approach. We’re in

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{Hounds and Bears} Column

IN Hot PUrsuit

By Barry ‘Bear’ Siragusa @thehuntinghound

We houndsmen can be an ornery lot. Like our intact male hounds, we can be grumbly, can posture, and (figuratively) see who is marking farthest up the pee tree. For every question asked, you will get as many answers as there are houndsmen.

Every breed has its diehards that would never dream of running another breed of hound. Just about every houndsmen has a breed they would rather quit hunting –or die– than have to run.

I, at least, spend so much time alone with my hounds that when it is time to socialize ourselves and get out amongst our canine and human peers, my most maladjusted young dog sometimes behaves a shade better than I do! The Corona pandemic and all the restrictions inflicted on us made me even more anti-social, and I’m not alone in that. I once saw two houndsmen come to blows over which of their dogs was responsible for instigating a deer race (honestly it was neither, as both were so far off the pace that they couldn’t have caught up to a beagle with a cinderblock tied around its collar).

Usually, being slightly antisocial is not more than an annoyance and mild social handicap. Where it becomes a major problem is not at tailgate or drinking too much around the campfire—although a suddenly combusting houndsmen does liven up the party—but major problems start when the anti-hound 58

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Building Bridges Overcoming Our Image Problem to Preserve This Lifestyle for Future Generations.

hunting folks come after us and we are so prickly and irritated with each other that we can’t muster ourselves to stand united to protect our lifestyle. When our different opinions around breed preferences, color, game, dog food brands, and podcast preferences get in the way of our ability to stand together, then we have a collective problem.

I think it is easy to overestimate the number of people who are vehemently against hound hunting. My experience has been that most people who would say they were against hound hunting don’t actually know much about it and, therefore, aren’t impossible to sway. Our tolerance for the people on the fence should, ideally, be infinite until they choose a side. Ridiculing, name calling, and trolling on social media in no way helps our cause. Lashing out definitely gives vent to pent up frustration, but calling someone stupid for not having the same knowledge that we do is not only foolish but directly counterproductive. We live in a world where “facts” and “rights” are decided by public and popular opinions. Houndsmen need to be more patient, well-spoken, accommodating to questions, and more welcoming to the people who don’t know enough about our lifestyle. I can make someone hate me in two seconds; it takes no effort. Coaxing someone to want to Sept/Oct 2023

learn more about me and what I do is much harder, but infinitely more rewarding. It’s so important to make allies instead of adversaries.

We hound hunters have an image problem, and the only people who can change that is us. People like Clay Newcomb, Janis Putelis, Kolby Morehead, Becky Dwire, Jason Duby, and Seth Hall make an effort to introduce skeptics to our lifestyle and persuade them that we are not all Disney villains, swigging from a jug with XXX written on the side while our dogs run Bambi’s mom.

Houndsmen and advocates like the above mentioned make people take pause—people who wouldn’t usually give us a chance.

Long live those amongst us who take control of the narrative! These folks are well-spoken, blunt, direct, funny as a mule in a party hat, and passionate. They do more for us, and for ensuring the next generation can still drop their tailgates, than I think we realize. There are some great clubs, associations, and organizations that have been at the forefront of the fight to protect our rights, opportunities, and freedoms as houndsmen.

The Michigan Bear Hunters Association is a classic example of good folks fighting for the benefit of us all. I would love to see the same spirit of camaraderie in the hound hunting community as a whole.

So what about the Bear Siragusa’s of the hound world?

The slightly grumbly, hound hair covered, vaguely smelly, bootson-the-ground types? What can we do to help? I reckon that if I can raise my sons to be humble, polite, and firm in their beliefs, that is a good start. For that to happen, I need to show them by example how to handle the uninformed and ignorant of the world. If I fly off the handle every time I meet misinformation and don’t take the time to answer questions, then I am not being a good example. It can be tough. I don’t mean to brag, but I am an

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expert at profanity-laced rants. I like to play to my strengths, so it takes a lot of effort not to rant incoherently!

Social media has made it so easy to communicate with each other, and I would love to see that used more and more as a tool for positive change and fostering solidarity: extending seasons, fighting restrictions, welcoming newcomers, and standing together as a united front protecting this lifestyle for future generations. We don’t own this lifestyle, it owns us. It’s just our turn. Let’s make the effort to leave it on better footing than we find it now.

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John Rowland Michigan Fall 2022

412 lbs

19-14/16” Skull

Forrest Bernier Montana Spring 2021 20-3/16” Skull

Edward Ash New Hampshire Fall 2022

Blake Ramsey Alaska Spring 2023 First Bear!

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Sept/Oct 2023

Donald McKinney Spring 2023 Called in with Predator Call!

Tracen Sines West Virginia Fall 2022 First Bear!

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