I'm in a super high bear density area my experience matches has been said - bear don't seem to have a lot of effect on the deer with exceptions of fawns in the spring, gnawing on trail cams, damaging fruit trees, and completely monopolizing bait if you put it out for deer (legal here.. for now).
Bears
- Thread starter jsasker007
- Start date
jsasker007
5 year old buck +
Howboutthemdawgs
5 year old buck +
Bummer for you guys. May be time to take some management in your own hands unfortunately.
Every year we have a bear tag, we get about 8 - 12 different bears on camera. They come in at all times of the day and night, up until the week of hunting they almost all become nocturnal. Last year my wife took her bait to stand, baited, turned around, walked 70 yards to ladder stand, climbed up, sat down and there was a bear in bait already. It was maybe barley legal size. She passed it. My son and I had 1 big sow and 3 cubs come in at 20 yards, very cool experience. Except for a 360 lb my friend shot 5 years ago. We have not been able to put a dent in the population.
MRBB
5 year old buck +
I live in a very high bear area( UI have also worked with bears for decades)
I used to average about 20 different bears I could ID per yr and who knows if others I couldn't raised that
bears simply live by FOOD< its there whole life, MINUS a few months of mating season when males go far and wide looking for love
in order for there numbers to rise, they must have food to support them
remove food from there area and there will soon be less bears in them places
what happens to a lot of food plot growers and habitat improves, is they make more food on there lands and as such, bear numbers increase in there area's
its just part of the game of life in nature
more food leads to more critters!
NOW< what also happens when folks start to SEE more bears, is when human expansion happens, and bears LOOSE a lot of the cover they used to be able to move about in and NOT get seen!
and in most places GAME dept's START to adjust hunting opportunities as they get MORE AND MORE complaints
IMO< It seems to take the game depts, far too long to make adjustments to keep things healthy
afdar too often they wait till things hit extremes before they act!
cannot speak for other states but will use PA as an example
the game dept has FAILED on many huge levels
they LOST the pheasants , didn;t react in time or properly to even TRY and save them!
they let deer numbers get SO high that they destroyed forest so badly that, many places a decade or more later are still not bouncing BACK as they hopes for!
they again failed to act in time to prevent the damages!
the Grouse in the state are about Gone now, again slow to react
and as of the past 2 yrs now, the BEARS they worked so hard to get back,(one of there success stories)
they NOW< have such liberal hunting seasons, there IMO< going to ruin what they worked to achieve
an example
from a guy that has worked with bears for almost 40 yrs here!
they went from an original 3 day bear season then raised that a few more days, to counter act the growing population and expanding human population/loss of habitat,
that was GREAT and was a good thing!
BUT the past two yrs they went from about 10 days to about 32 days of legal bear hunting
that's just a FAR too big a step
and IMO< it was NOT about decreasing bear numbers alone
it was more about gaining back the LOSS of $$$ they have taken from loss of hunting lic sales
there LOGIC< is, if the average hunter has SO many chances at killing a bear, they will sell more bear tags/lic's
and its working FAR better than they hoped it would
they sold more than twice as many tags since the new seasons started, almost getting back all the $$ they lost of lic sales!
an example on how well its working on killing bears too!
n the past I averaged loosing 1-3 bears a hunting season
since new seasons, I am now loosing 9-10, and of them most have been females!
making an even larger dent in the game , due to such early season hunts , where in the past they kept seasons later so most females pregnant would be denned!(mild winters haven't helped here either)
fear I have is, this states game dept, and its track record of being slow to react , will let numbers get TOO low before they adjust the dates!
SO< if you FEEL you have too many bears, COMPLAIN to the game dept often
as that is what it takes to get them to adjust seasons and bag limits
if NOT enough complaints happen, they will NOT adjust things!
and since most move slow, the sooner you all complain the better LOL
I used to average about 20 different bears I could ID per yr and who knows if others I couldn't raised that
bears simply live by FOOD< its there whole life, MINUS a few months of mating season when males go far and wide looking for love
in order for there numbers to rise, they must have food to support them
remove food from there area and there will soon be less bears in them places
what happens to a lot of food plot growers and habitat improves, is they make more food on there lands and as such, bear numbers increase in there area's
its just part of the game of life in nature
more food leads to more critters!
NOW< what also happens when folks start to SEE more bears, is when human expansion happens, and bears LOOSE a lot of the cover they used to be able to move about in and NOT get seen!
and in most places GAME dept's START to adjust hunting opportunities as they get MORE AND MORE complaints
IMO< It seems to take the game depts, far too long to make adjustments to keep things healthy
afdar too often they wait till things hit extremes before they act!
cannot speak for other states but will use PA as an example
the game dept has FAILED on many huge levels
they LOST the pheasants , didn;t react in time or properly to even TRY and save them!
they let deer numbers get SO high that they destroyed forest so badly that, many places a decade or more later are still not bouncing BACK as they hopes for!
they again failed to act in time to prevent the damages!
the Grouse in the state are about Gone now, again slow to react
and as of the past 2 yrs now, the BEARS they worked so hard to get back,(one of there success stories)
they NOW< have such liberal hunting seasons, there IMO< going to ruin what they worked to achieve
an example
from a guy that has worked with bears for almost 40 yrs here!
they went from an original 3 day bear season then raised that a few more days, to counter act the growing population and expanding human population/loss of habitat,
that was GREAT and was a good thing!
BUT the past two yrs they went from about 10 days to about 32 days of legal bear hunting
that's just a FAR too big a step
and IMO< it was NOT about decreasing bear numbers alone
it was more about gaining back the LOSS of $$$ they have taken from loss of hunting lic sales
there LOGIC< is, if the average hunter has SO many chances at killing a bear, they will sell more bear tags/lic's
and its working FAR better than they hoped it would
they sold more than twice as many tags since the new seasons started, almost getting back all the $$ they lost of lic sales!
an example on how well its working on killing bears too!
n the past I averaged loosing 1-3 bears a hunting season
since new seasons, I am now loosing 9-10, and of them most have been females!
making an even larger dent in the game , due to such early season hunts , where in the past they kept seasons later so most females pregnant would be denned!(mild winters haven't helped here either)
fear I have is, this states game dept, and its track record of being slow to react , will let numbers get TOO low before they adjust the dates!
SO< if you FEEL you have too many bears, COMPLAIN to the game dept often
as that is what it takes to get them to adjust seasons and bag limits
if NOT enough complaints happen, they will NOT adjust things!
and since most move slow, the sooner you all complain the better LOL
On my Rusk County place the bears negatively impact the deer hunting. They eat most of the fawns in the spring and it takes much longer for the population to rebound after a rough winter. My specific area of Rusk County has extremely high bear numbers though, so it is abnormal there. I found 3 bear dens on my land last winter without looking too hard and it is common to see more bears than deer while deer hunting. The new change to the bear zones will help us a lot though since now we can draw a tag every couple years as opposed to 8-9 years as in the past.
jsasker007
5 year old buck +
Over the counter bear licenses for a couple of years would go along way in my opinion.
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
If you want more, come on over and take as many as you want! I am not afraid of bear, I dont mind sharing the woods with them, but they are assholes! I loose a couple apple trees each year because of them, I loose a camera or two a year because of them, I need to make repairs to stands every year because of them. They have a thing for my grill. They think they must knock it over and drag it across the yard at least every spring, and fall. They will take my garbage can and drag it in the woods, spread garbage all over my yard, or a regular basis. There is such a thing as sharing the woods with nature, and just being a dick!
MRBB
5 year old buck +
HAHA< you can send all you want my way, I have NO problems with them
BUT if your having damage to your stuff, maybe you need to learn a little more about bears and how to prevent problems with them>
I have bears on my deck a few times a week, 6+ months out of the yr, (or more) grill is there, and in all my yrs, NEVER had them bother my grills
I learned yrs ago, when placing camera's to be sure to wear rubber scent free gloves when handling camera's, NEVER had a camera get damages since then
after all, there is a saying,
ifg you don;t learn from things the problems will never go away!
you cannot STOP a bear from being what it is
you plant food they eat, they will try and eat it
if you have things about that smell like food they can eat(trash cans, grills or??)
a bear will JUST be a bear
live where bears are, you have to take steps to NOT have problems
if you don't
don't go blaming the bears for being what they are
there just trying to live like all wild critters are
Most bear Human problems caused by Human's! and then blame the bear for doing what natural for them!
you either have to learn to live with them, or you will be upset all your time living where there at!, NO one MAKES you live where there at!
and MOVING a bear from an area, seldom works, 90% of the time they come back
Last yr, we moved two 100 miles away,
one was back in 28 days the other was back in 30 days,
one was a 9 yr old female, (ruff weight not on a scale but measurements were taken to get a ball park on weights, and both were ear tagged)other was its 2 yr old (about a 125 lbs) he was JUST kicked out from mom's care, caught a week apart, and both were relocated to about the same area(about 5 Miles apart)
This yr we moved a 4 yr old female( about 275 lbs) 80 miles away, and she was back in 24 days
as I said, I have hands on actual bear experience here, from trapping tagging, relocating and even raising them and doing re hab with injured ones and getting them back into the wilds as well as other things!
bears are very curious animals with SUPER memories! and abilities we still don;t know how they can do many things
But being a dick?? NO not one of them IMO!
they are just what they are!
needing almost 20,000+ calories a day to have enough reserves to get thru winter,
well, they eat a LOT things and DON"T know many times IF they can eat it till they try it LOL
but 99.9 % of things they eat or try, are all found by there noses and scent!
so, if your having material things getting damaged by them, your some how having scent on them things
remove that and odds are you will have less damages if any at all!
just trying to help
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
So when they climb up a 6 year old apple tree and snap it in half in May, it’s because it was hungry? In May I am lucky to have leaves on the trees, not to mention apples. They are dicks!
rocksnstumps
5 year old buck +
^^^ Yep. Nature just being nature doesn't make me like raccoons, yotes, or mosquitoes more because of that fact either.
MRBB
5 year old buck +
odds are they AIN"T climbing a 6 yr old tree, there most likely breaking the tree scent marking!
name of the game is, IF you know you get bear damage to fruit tree's you need to protect the tree's
extra work, costs <YUP
but that's the game your playing in!
NO one again MAKES you play it!
you plant things that animals use, and eat and well, damage at times>
if you DON"T want the damage, DON"T plant things, or protect what you plant
as mother nature is a cruel gal
like it or not its natural and nature being what it is!
even if there were ZERO bears in your area I will bet you due to how it works, when you plant fruit tree's or any tree's, there will be a percentage that DON"T make it
blaming a bear for being a bear is wasted energy! again when living where bears are, you either learn to take the steps needed to protect thing or you will loose them
co existing is the game, and YES added costs and time and energy!
but,
expecting ab bear to not be a bear is ????? name calling isn't a solution in any way shape or form<!
chucker66
5 year old buck +
Bears are still dicks. When you look in the dictionary for dicks, there a picture of a penis and a bear. Heck even wikepedia calls them dicks. Being a dick is ok, society and the wilderness need dicks. If we don't have dicks in the wild, then we can't know what are good animals right?. Bears are dicks, just accept it. Washburn county bears are real dicks. They actually started the diskdom of bears. You see back 30 years ago bears were not such dicks, but then one day this girl in Washburn county went out for a walk. She came upon this cabin by Big Mckenzie lake you see. Well she went in and found some porage on the table. The first one she tried was too hot, the second one was too cold and the third one was just right. Well you probably all know the rest of the story. So basically, bears became dicks after their house broken into and vandalized by a white girl representing the patriarchy. I mean can you blame them?
I really like bears, but only in reasonable numbers when they can be controlled by hunting them. Watching bears damage thousands of dollars in crops and trees and have no way to solve the problem can get pretty irritating. If deer cause damage I can buy more tags and fix the problem myself every fall. When bears do the same damage in the past I had to wait 8+ years to solve the problem. Wisconsin changed the zones in part because of extreme bear ag damage near my land. Hopefully the bear numbers are more reasonable in a few years and the damage decreases.
MRBB
5 year old buck +
I agree hunting should be a viable and well used tool to control numbers of all hunt-able animals
However, one thing I can say for sure is if your a real farmer, then odds are you CAN to crop damage on BEARS in most places bears live that I know of
its recreational and hobbies farmers that cannot!
and that IMO< is how it should be!
as again IF you plant food wildlife eats and you know before you plant it, you cannot CRY about things when wildlife eats it!
you knew ahead of time and made a decision to plant it any how!
IF you don't wish to take the steps needed to protect your Hobbies
then that isn;t the fault of the wildlife than finds it good to eat!
I am again ALL for hunting bears, and stated , if you Feel you have a over population of them, its time to start making complaints to your game dept OFTEN< the squeaky wheel gets the grease
lack of enough complaints and they will NEVER do anything!
and there always SLOW to change anything, so you HAVE to start as soon as possible and get DATA to support your complaints as well!
I Have also been a part farmer and helped managed farms for decades and friends with countless large scale farmers all over the USA
so again crop damage, most farmers can KILL bears if they have it, and MOST all farmers carry crop damage insurance! don't forget!
I would also think, that is a Hobby farmer wanted to BUY crop insurance they too can, DOUBT it would be cheap
but again, ?? there are options and things one can do to resolve issue's without name calling , and blaming a wild animal from being a wild animal! LOL
I rent my tillable acres to a real farmer and he hates bears. The locals just say shoot them in the guts with a .22 and the problem bear goes away. Some use shotguns with birdshot to keep them away. We have killed 3 bears on my land and 2 of them had birdshot pellets in their meat and hide. I actually really like bears since I like bear hunting, so the thought of shooting them in the guts or with birdshot doesn't sit well with me but it is very common since other options are limited. The bear ag damage program in Wisconsin requires you to open up your land to public hunting the entire season and that's not something most people are willing to do, so they shoot them in the guts with a .22 if they don't have a bear tag.
I've had numerous conversations with the head bear biologist in the WI DNR about this and he agreed it is a balancing act. The hunters who have waited 8 years to draw a tag get don't want to see anyone draw a tag sooner than they do. When the DNR issues more tags to a zone most of them go to the public hunting areas that have lower bear numbers, so it doesn't solve the problems in the chronic damage areas on the privately owned ag areas.
Wisconsin did adjust the bear zones this year and that should help reduce the bear numbers in our area. I think that will be good for both the farmers and the bears.
PatinPA
5 year old buck +
Where I am in PA (4B), we used to not have bear. I saw one as a teenager (almost 30 years ago) in the field behind my parents house and that was big news. Now it's very common to get pictures of them all spring. At a place I have permission to hunt I got pictures of 9 different bear one spring, mostly sows with cubs but one behemoth of a bear (below). Now they don't tend to stick around. I've never seen any in the fall. They opened up our area to allow bear kills in deer rifle season. I have yet to see one in any hunting season.
I'm not a good judge of bear size, but that is a big bear especially in June.
We seem to get a lot of problem bears around here. Multiple tags in each ear meaning they've been caught and relocated. They've learned that bird feeders and trash are easy pickings. A local farmer I know that had a bear problem and the game commission officer told him to shoot it because all of their traps were in use already.
We also hunt over bait in WV and sometimes they will just come in and take it over. They'll just lay in the corn pile for hours and not let anything come near it. Our group that goes have also had bear drag deer off before we blood trailed them. Sometimes within 1/2 hour of shooting them. The locals down there also hate them. They've told us to shoot them through the guts and let them run off and die.
I'm not a good judge of bear size, but that is a big bear especially in June.
We seem to get a lot of problem bears around here. Multiple tags in each ear meaning they've been caught and relocated. They've learned that bird feeders and trash are easy pickings. A local farmer I know that had a bear problem and the game commission officer told him to shoot it because all of their traps were in use already.
We also hunt over bait in WV and sometimes they will just come in and take it over. They'll just lay in the corn pile for hours and not let anything come near it. Our group that goes have also had bear drag deer off before we blood trailed them. Sometimes within 1/2 hour of shooting them. The locals down there also hate them. They've told us to shoot them through the guts and let them run off and die.
The bear my friend shot had birdshot in its rear end also. The new bear zone is bad for me. I was pretty much guaranteed a tag with 4 point. I know people that received their kill tag without even a point in zone c. They will now be able to run dogs in my area. I'm not happy with the new zone changes. It will take me a lot longer to draw a tag now.
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
I was just on Big McKenzie
MRBB
5 year old buck +
well I can agree that shooting a bear with bird shot ot other like things is WRONG and actually Illegal, and its not a very ethical way to handle things
but it does happen all over NOT just in your area!
some folks lack respect of wildlife and laws, in there trying to get personal justice that isn't there's to give out!
the issue your having I understand very well and know it can be frustrating(I do get it 100%)
so, I am NOT blind to your pains
BUT again, the issue;'s is bear damage
the solution is allow hunters to kill your bears , and it is a viable option that does work, HOWEVER!
I am sure this doesn;'t sit well, with you!
and I am sure , you I will worked hard to have your OWN land, and all you did to it to make it better!
and having the public hunt it, isn't something you WANT to have happen!
I fully get it
BUT that is a problem as if your land is better for wildlife, your pulling wildlife to it
you in a way created the issue's your not happy with
and again blaming the bear isn't the solution or going to fix anything!
The state cannot help you if you don't play THERE game
so,
all that is left again, is making your property bear proof on your camera's grill,s and other things
that or move LOL
they do sell RUBBER bullets, that's i'd suggest before using real lead shot at bullets(still be illegal to shoot them at a bear)
and they do sell bird bombs designed to spook things, but I doubt they will do anything
but it does happen all over NOT just in your area!
some folks lack respect of wildlife and laws, in there trying to get personal justice that isn't there's to give out!
the issue your having I understand very well and know it can be frustrating(I do get it 100%)
so, I am NOT blind to your pains
BUT again, the issue;'s is bear damage
the solution is allow hunters to kill your bears , and it is a viable option that does work, HOWEVER!
I am sure this doesn;'t sit well, with you!
and I am sure , you I will worked hard to have your OWN land, and all you did to it to make it better!
and having the public hunt it, isn't something you WANT to have happen!
I fully get it
BUT that is a problem as if your land is better for wildlife, your pulling wildlife to it
you in a way created the issue's your not happy with
and again blaming the bear isn't the solution or going to fix anything!
The state cannot help you if you don't play THERE game
so,
all that is left again, is making your property bear proof on your camera's grill,s and other things
that or move LOL
they do sell RUBBER bullets, that's i'd suggest before using real lead shot at bullets(still be illegal to shoot them at a bear)
and they do sell bird bombs designed to spook things, but I doubt they will do anything
