Bears in Mo

[Jordan Selsor]

:eek: My buddy shot this vid with his phone while bow hunting public land down by the current river in Mo. I have seen what bears have done to some of y'alls trees and Im not excited to see their population growing in Mo.

 

[Turkey Creek]

What is there current range in MO? I am sorry I would be a SSS man, though that is a rather large hole to dig.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

What is there current range in MO? I am sorry I would be a SSS man, though that is a rather large hole to dig.

They seem to be working their way up from south to north. We always have a couple confirmed bear sightings just 30 miles south of st louis. The area I hunt is BIG BIG ozark timber type woods and I have never seen a bear track and hope I dont! I am on the same page as you with the SSS!

 

[non-pro-archer]

My mother in law got video of one in a tree about 30 miles west of my place and a guy hit 2 cubs with his truck about 15 miles east so I figure that they have to be here. I don't know how I feel about them. I look forward to seeing them but if they are going to cause issues then they can go somewhere else

 

[dipper]

Bears don't need big woods, they do have large home ranges.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

Bears don't need big woods, they do have large home ranges.

Seems like in big woods country is where they thrive. One would think I would being seeing some sign of them between mine an my dads place if they were plentiful. I would imagine that their will be bear season in Mo in my life time. Plenty of habitat for them an they are protected. They will increase their pop sooner than later

 

[non-pro-archer]

Seems like in big woods country is where they thrive. One would think I would being seeing some sign of them between mine an my dads place if they were plentiful. I would imagine that their will be bear season in Mo in my life time. Plenty of habitat for them an they are protected. They will increase their pop sooner than later

Bear season would be nice, I have been thinking of a bear hunt for a couple years now.

 

[dipper]

Food is key when it coMes to Bears. The ag regions of wi are likely the best trophy bear hunting in the world. There is a lot of bear in the big woods of northern wi, but the trophy rate is no where close to the proximity to agriculture. One just shy of 800 pounds was shot this year, 400, 500 and 600 are around. They are maybe just starting to populate in your more wooded areas now, but bear don't need the security cover like deer do.
They really love corn fields early September.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

I used to think bears were a giant pain in the butt until I finally drew a WI tag. Well they're still a pain in the butt some of the time, but now I look forward to bear hunting on my land more than deer hunting. If tags were readily available in your area then you could still have good deer hunting while also getting the opportunity to hunt bears.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I used to think seeing bears was pretty cool. Once their population gets going, and you plant corn or other food plots and fruit trees, wait until you see how much damage they do. They are a big P.I.T.A. If your state starts a bear season ( if you have none now ) pray it's during Sept. - not Nov. like here in Pa. If it's a Sept. season, you can salvage some corn and maybe the bulk of your apples before the bears destroy everything. Here in Pa., by Nov. the sob's have eaten everything in sight and destroyed much in the process AND scared many deer off. I've had deer coming near my stands headed for plots or apple trees only to have bears show up heading for the same food sources. Bye-bye deer. You couldn't get the deer moving any faster if you took a dump on their head as they passed under the tree stand. You can have bears!!!

 

[foggy]

^ Not sure that bears wreak THAT much havoc. I've got a few bears around here at times. Maybe I'm lucky(?). I'm concerned about them....but as long as bear hunting keeps the numbers in check.....we seem to co-exist. Same goes for coyotes. I've got a too many of those devils here now.....but at least it isn't WOLVES!....which are fewer at least at present. Just last night I watched a coyote make a mad dash to try to catch two young deer within 20 yards of my stand. The deer were too quick......but they must catch a few....or they wouldn't try.

Wolves are a deer-killing machine (moose too IMO). The other carnivores have some impact at times (fawning mostly)....but the damn wolves are a HUGE problem IMO.

 

[West Branch]

Need to start growing apple trees that handle bears:

http://samcook.areavoices.com/2014/10/22/big-bear-enjoys-fruits-of-a-duluth-apple-tree/

 

[phil@thesidehill]

Couldn't agree more BnB! I can't stand them critters on multiple levels. Giant coons. They definitely keep deer away, they do serious damage to plots, crops, and trees. And I hate cleaning up the messes make at our dumpster for work!

Foggy...maybe you don't have the density we have here in PA?

 

[chummer]

We started getting bears a few years ago and their numbers seem to be going up fast. This is our first year with a bear season and it is open the entire 6 weeks of deer season. The locals hate bears so that should keep them in check.

 

[dipper]

Besides a bear flattening a rotten fence I've never had a problem. Never had any damage to apples yet. I've only noticed one time where a bear flattened an area of corn. A half a drop in the bucket compared to what damage the deer do.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

Besides a bear flattening a rotten fence I've never had a problem. Never had any damage to apples yet. I've only noticed one time where a bear flattened an area of corn. A half a drop in the bucket compared to what damage the deer do.

The farm I used to live on would routinely have several acres of corn get flattened....all from one bear. When I lived in town I once had a 300 lb sow with 3 cubs punch a hole through the garage door...because that is where i stored garbage. I stored garbage in the garage because you cant store it outside or the bears will spread it all around your yard...and your neighbors' yards. Our dumpster at the office largely does not have any food in it. Occassionly we would have some employees garbage from lunch. But it wouldn't be enough to fill one small garbage bag. Yet the bears would climb into the the 30 yd roll off and throw all the other waste material out so they could get to those few pieces of food related garbage! 2 summers ago we had 9 different bears coming to our dumpster...and we are in the middle of town! PGC came and trapped 5 different bears out of the dumpster in 7 days. My town is more or less surrounded by public land, State Game Lands and State Forest Land....the PGC releases trapped nuisance bears from other areas on these lands. Of the 5 bears that the PGC trapped out of our dumpster only one had 1 tag. All the rest had 2 ear tags each and lip tattoos...repeat offenders.

 

[Turkey Creek]

phil@thesidehill, post: 29904, member: 5[/EMAIL]] All the rest had 2 ear tags each and lip tattoos...repeat offenders.

So why arent they relocated farther away or "permantently" relocated?

 

[phil@thesidehill]

So why arent they relocated farther away or "permantently" relocated?[/QUOTE
I live in one of the least densely populated counties in the state and we have lots of public land. The PGC relocates nuisance bears from more populated areas into my area. These bears will travel huge distances from their release sites. The WCO who did all the trapping at our dumpster ran the tag/tattoo numbers of the bears through their data base to find out there history. Only one of the bears was a "local" bear and he was caught the previous year about 20 miles to the west and was relocated to a nearby game lands. The other bears had initial captures in some cases as far away as 70 miles. Some of the second and third captures were located even further away, and their release areas were not in my area. So the 3rd and 4th time they were captured they were 30 -50 miles from where they were released the second or third times. Every year there are tagged bears killed in bear season that were tagged 3-4 counties away. These relocated bears tend to roam alot....and alot of them end up back in the same areas as where they were initially caught.

bears are highly regulated in PA. PGC will not dispatch a nuisance bear until it is deemed a danger to humans or has caused significant damage to livestock. But if it is just dumpster diving and raiding bird feeders in people's yards they tell the residences to store their garbage indoors and take down there bird feeders until the bears go into hibernation....thats just "life" in bear country.

 

[Turkey Creek]

I know we are kind of drifting away from Jordan's original post, sorry Jordan! :D I do find this bear thing interesting. So how is a bear that routinely wanders among people not automatically "deemed a danger to humans"? Actually maybe this is just another example of a state's game commission run amuck. (I do have a customer who is a retired PA Game Commission employee that comes here to hunt deer that states thats why he hunts here for deer!) Here in Nebraska if a mounain lion is found within city limits it is euthanized on the spot.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

I know we are kind of drifting away from Jordan's original post, sorry Jordan! :D I do find this bear thing interesting. So how is a bear that routinely wanders among people not automatically "deemed a danger to humans"? Actually maybe this is just another example of a state's game commission run amuck. (I do have a customer who is a retired PA Game Commission employee that comes here to hunt deer that states thats why he hunts here for deer!) Here in Nebraska if a mounain lion is found within city limits it is euthanized on the spot.

TC...Our PGC has definitely had its fair share of blunders in recent history. But...in fairness to the bears...and i have NO love for them at all..black bears just don't attack humans very often. They do however cause a lot of damage to property. And I think the game commission looks at it as we as humans can change our behaviors that encourage this bear damage....i don't necessarily agree with that..but i see the point they are making. However, just because i live in a very rural area where the PGC dumps problem bears...and we have a very high population of bears to begin with...why should i have to change the way i do things on my property. I don't have a garage to keep garbage in until i can go to the dump (we dont have regular trash pick up out here in the sticks.), if i want to have a bird feeder or apple trees in my yard that shouldn't be seen as me giving the bears a reason to come and do damage. I know two people that keep bees to produce honey for themselves and their families. The bears have demolished their hives and the PGC has told them to either stop keeping bees, or install electric fencing and hope that works.