Bears

[jsasker007]

Here in central minnesota we have bears all over the place. Every year we are seeing more bear than the year before. This year I have already seen bear on 4 different days and in 4 different places. One of my workers had to chase a bear off last night because his dog went after it and the bear was going to fight instead of run away which is typically what they do. This bear probably wasn't old enough to have cubs which is usually why a bear would fight instead of run away. Not enough people are hunting them to keep the numbers in check. Not good.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I agree. I get regular pictures of them on my trail cams. But daily pictures in my apple orchard. Most days they pass through. But about 4 days a year they decide to be dicks and wreck stuff. I have lots of berries around my place, plenty of oaks to drop acorns in the fall, and apple trees.

 

[Telemark]

Is it not legal to hunt them?

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Not sure if you are asking me, or the OP, but in my area, you have to get points, it takes 5-7 years to be able to get a bear tag. I have asked hunters in the past that had tags, and they said people actually pay them to go hunt their land. He said it wouldnt help me either, because he would bait to draw in more bear, then shoot the 1 largest bear, then all the younger ones that are the nuisance ones, now are in the area.

 

[BuckSutherland]

I drew a tag for bear hunting this year. Been a LONG wait to get one. I will be hunting between Grand Rapids and Leech lake. Looking likely that I will hunt by water since its likely to be a scare commodity the way things are shaping up. I know a spot that has a swamp about 150 yards from a corn field. Its right next to the road, but there seems to be LOTS of bears by that corn.

 

[bwoods11]

I have bears on my Otter Tail County/MN place. My son would like to hunt them this fall, last year, we had bears on camera (mid-day ) and just before dark.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

My buddy and I both drew Wisconsin bear tags and it should be a fun hunt. Hopefully the bears the apple tree damaging bears are in the freezer 3 months from now.

 

[QuackAddict]

9 years for my zone in Wisconsin. Neighbor treed one on my property last year and shot it during season, we all want the numbers reduced so if dogs tree one on a property they have the go ahead to pursue and harvest it. Had four on cam already this year, two hit the 3 foot marker on the sticks i keep by the trail cameras. Only 6 years to go for me..

 

[bigbendmarine]

Envy y'all who live in states where hunting bear is legal, regardless of hoops that have to be jumped through to hunt them and would warn you to fight any total ban with all your might, because once banned the fringe lunatics will prove much louder screaming to keep it stopped than those supporting restarting hunts can/will.





Sad thing is you'll end up having mostly folks who live in the most urban of urban concrete jungles dictating what they 1,000,000% believe just by their ignorant "feelings"... while the bears ABSOLUTELY will then face slaughter of a different and much more gruesome sort.

Here's a map showing bear roadkills in Florida.

 

[jsasker007]

I don't really care for bear meat myself but wouldn't mind getting one nice rug. If you don't bait them I don't know how you would harvest a bear otherwise. DNR needs to reduce the numbers somehow in my opinion. Seeing bear dead on the side of the road is getting to be pretty common here.

 

[jsasker007]

Envy y'all who live in states where hunting bear is legal, regardless of hoops that have to be jumped through to hunt them and would warn you to fight any total ban with all your might, because once banned the fringe lunatics will prove much louder screaming to keep it stopped than those supporting restarting hunts can/will.

View attachment 35462

View attachment 35463

Sad thing is you'll end up having mostly folks who live in the most urban of urban concrete jungles dictating what they 1,000,000% believe just by their ignorant "feelings"... while the bears ABSOLUTELY will then face slaughter of a different and much more gruesome sort.

Here's a map showing bear roadkills in Florida.

View attachment 35464

That's just plain sad. Hopefully those tree huggers get to have some unpleasant encounters with real live bears.

 

[BuckSutherland]

 

[ruskbucks]

My buddy and I both drew Wisconsin bear tags and it should be a fun hunt. Hopefully the bears the apple tree damaging bears are in the freezer 3 months from now.

Just had a pretty big one run in front of my truck right by the supper club on 8. No tags for us this year.

 

[westonwhitetail]

Surprisingly I have a bunch on camera on my new land here in Dunn County, WI. I hunted 15 min away from my new spot my whole life and only had 1 bear on camera in 13 years. I now have 6-7 different bears this spring and they are around multiple times a week, day and night.

Bears are new to me. How does a decent bear population affect deer habitat, management, and hunting?

 

[ruskbucks]

What I have noticed on my land is the deer tolerate the bears. The seem to co- mingle except maybe in spring when they might take some fawns. When we bait bear we get deer comming past the baits, I haven't noticed a decline in deer after bear hunting. From a habitat stand point they are terrible. They snap fruit trees in half, roll down corn fields, break trail cameras, destroy hives,they even chewed and scratched the legs on my friends tower stand causing it to fall.

 

[jsasker007]

Overpopulation forces the bears to be in places they would normally avoid. Don't put any molasses with your deer minerals--don't ask me how i know. They sure do like molasses. My 75 year old mother took the broom out to "shoo" a bear off of her deck behind the house and the bear left. Glad it went that way. About 25 years ago they estimated 5,000 bear in the state and about 5 years ago they estimated 25,000 bear. At that rate in 15 years we'll have 125,000 bear. Where will the DNR draw the line? It's just a matter of time before it's a big problem. Tree huggers are right at the top of my list for people that annoy me with their point of view. jmho

 

[jsasker007]

My son hit a bear going 70 mph on the highway at night and it plowed into the front corner of his pickup bending the bumper and then running off! He said it was real big and if the bear would have gone under his front tire while going highway speeds that could have been a very bad night. I think it would roll a vehicle in that scenario. Went back to the scene the following day and didn't see a bear laying anywhere. He was pretty shook up when he called me right after it happened.

 

[westonwhitetail]

Good to hear it doesn’t have huge effects on hunting. They have been a problem with my young orchard already.

When bow hunting does anyone carry to the stand in case you have a close encounter in the dark

 

[homerj1]

When bow hunting does anyone carry to the stand in case you have a close encounter in the dark

Does anyone not carry?

 

[jsasker007]

I haven't brought a gun with during bowhunting but I think I'll start. Didn't really want the extra weight---bowhunting for me is my bow, sometimes a rangefinder,grunt call,thermacell when it's warm weather and my phone. I still/stalk hunt way more than sit in a stand so extra weight sucks.