The baiting has begun

[IdahoCTD]

I knew you had a lot of bears Mike. I didn't know you could see that many in a day though. Your bears seem to be out in open fields a lot more than ours though. Most of ours are in the mountains because the low hills are open sage brush. I'd imagine north Idaho get's a lot more out in fields like you do because the terrain is quite similar.

I couldn't agree more on the not hunted enough part. I'm not sure why they don't allow multiple tags all across the state. So few of the people I know actually hunt bears or have hunted specifically for them. Even less have actually shot one. I think they extended the season 15 days recently to try and encourage more people to hunt but it would be more effective to allow more tags for those that actually do hunt them.

 

[DrMike]

We're allowed two black bears each year. When they've been grazing on oats or wheat, or when they've been feeding in the berry patches, the meat is excellent. I've not taken a bear for the past two years, and that is most unusual. I usually have two each season. Nothing quite as delectable as fresh bear ribs on the grill or a three alarm bear meatloaf. Undoubtedly, black bear is one of my favourite hunts. My hunting partner delights in waking me when we're driving into the mountains by softly saying "Bear." He says I come awake reaching for my rifle and trying to open the door simultaneously. I'm headed out at four Monday morning to see if I can't find a decent specimen to invite to come home with me.

 

[IdahoCTD]

Daylight starts early that far north. Good luck. Hopefully I get to finally fire off my Lott tomorrow. It's hard to sit and watch when I've had two of them in the cross hairs, and I spotted them first, even though it's cool to see others shoot too.

Can you guys bait up there Mike? None of these bears have stunk even though I've smelled a few that were pretty stinky. I would bet the meat is pretty good.

 

[DrMike]

No baiting in BC. The concern is the possibility of drawing in grizzlies and/or shooting a grizzly instead of a black bear. There is baiting allowed in parts of Alberta, but not where the grizzly population is established. Actually, it is reasonably light (certainly light enough to walk about) at 3:30 in the morning at this time.

 

[IdahoCTD]

I remember a few times when I was traveling for work and would get woken up at 4am when the sun would shine in the motel window in northern Idaho. That's always special when you drive until 1am and get to rise at 4am. Also in Alaska fishing when you barely have 4 hours of twilight. It's not really dark at any point. It's about like 10 minutes after the sun has gone down for 4 hours.

 

[DrMike]

My first time fishing on the Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories, we got to bed at 11 p.m. and it was still light. When I went to sleep, ours was the only camper in the parking lot. I awakened at 1 a.m. needing to relieve myself. I stumbled out of the camper, wearing my skivvies and not much else, all prepared to obtain some relief near the water's edge, when I became aware of three new campers that had appeared in the interim. The sun was already up. Man, talk about disconcerting. I stumbled around in the camper trying to find my sandals and shorts so I could make the trek to the far side of the parking lot to the toilet. The mosquitoes were feasting, the sun was beating down and I was made fully aware that it wasn't the south.

 

[sask boy]

First time visiting Dawson Creek, last night my wife and I went of a drive approximately 15 minutes north we watched a young black bear feed in a grain field right of the paved road it was called Sweetwater Rd. If you can do that at 6:00pm in the evening then the population is healthy to say the least.
If I was living here there would be little doubt that I would start hunting them again as they are grain fed and Mike knows of a gentleman that will cut and wrap them :lol:

Blessings,
Dan

 

[IdahoCTD]

Winter is so long they have to graze like cattle all day long to get enough food to last through the 7-8 month long winter.

Dan,

You spend too much time in the mountains you'll want to live there. I've been to about 35 states and none of the states outside of Rockies have any appeal to me what so ever. Just think you could go bear hunting all the time and shoot them out of fields. It's a sportsmans paradise.

 

[IdahoCTD]

Well no bears tonight. We did find out there are at least two more bears on the bait still and both are quite a bit bigger than the 3 we have taken. The biggest is a color phase and the other is black. All of the trail cam pictures are using night vision. 9:07pm is the earliest they have come in and we can still shoot then but not for very long after that. I'm going to have my buddy send me pictures off the trail cam and I'll post them when I get them. The color phased bear has a huge butt and a wide body in general. If we get one of them we probably won't get it on video unless we get lucky and they come in earlier then they have in the camera pictures.

 

[IdahoCTD]

Here is a picture in the daytime of the bigger black bear.

 

[SJB358]

Oh man! Nathan, that picture made my heart flutter a little buddy! That is one of the coolest sights in all of nature!! Man, I hate being stuck here in the AFG!!!!!!!!!!

Bears are going to catch heck next year I think. I can't hardly stand this right now! Hope you get a crack at him.

The wife is dieing to hunt black bear again, so that is a big plus as well....

 

[DrMike]

Nathan,

He's a nice looking bear. His hide looks to be in good shape. I hope I can score this morning. I had a report from the area I'm heading in to. A fellow was in there Saturday evening; he counted ten bears. Well, I only need to see one, if he is the right size. He did say one was a nice cinnamon bear. Generally, the colour phase bears don't get very big up here. They are shot before they can grow. Pity. I've only seen one that was BIG.

 

[IdahoCTD]

You ought to see the colored bear Scotty. It's got some junk in the trunk. A big old fat butt on that one. I'll call my buddy and ask him to send me pictures of both of them around the barrel. We moved the camera and probably got 100+ pictures of each of them on the barrel in the dark. If we can't get them to come right before dark I might try hooking up a photo cell to a light with a battery to see if keeps them from coming in the dark.

 

[jmad_81]

That looks like a pretty dang nice bear! I sure wish Oregon would let me get a tag more often than once every four years. Spring bear hunting just gets me all excited!

 

[CatskillCrawler]

You ought to see the colored bear Scotty. It's got some junk in the trunk. A big old fat butt on that one. I'll call my buddy and ask him to send me pictures of both of them around the barrel. We moved the camera and probably got 100+ pictures of each of them on the barrel in the dark. If we can't get them to come right before dark I might try hooking up a photo cell to a light with a battery to see if keeps them from coming in the dark.

We've found that a motion-activated light doesn't dissuade them from getting into residential garbage cans but it does make them neater eaters. giant rats they are.

 

[SJB358]

Man, I am all in Nathan... Your thread really has my heart beating alot buddy! I don't plan on missing many Spring bear seasons after I retire from the Corps.. You can be sure of that!

 

[IdahoCTD]

You ought to see the colored bear Scotty. It's got some junk in the trunk. A big old fat butt on that one. I'll call my buddy and ask him to send me pictures of both of them around the barrel. We moved the camera and probably got 100+ pictures of each of them on the barrel in the dark. If we can't get them to come right before dark I might try hooking up a photo cell to a light with a battery to see if keeps them from coming in the dark.

We've found that a motion-activated light doesn't dissuade them from getting into residential garbage cans but it does make them neater eaters. giant rats they are.

These bears aren't accustom to light really so it might work. I know there not going to look away from a free meal but it might mean they come first thing in the morning instead. That would mean we get to pitch a tent on the road, where we shoot from, and have to be there first thing in the am. Then again you might be right and it won't bother them at all, who knows. If we can't get them that way we might try a predator call an hour or two before dark to see if they will be curious enough to come in. Another idea is to take a generator, or any motor for that matter, up and run it with a light all night long.

My buddy couldn't get the pictures to where he could email them so he burned them to a CD for me. There is actually 3 more bears on the bait not 2 like we thought (it was hard to look at them while he was driving back last night and not hit all the deer on the road :grin: ). There is another smaller color phase bear. So that is 6 bears in 9-10 days from when the first one hit it. The down side is all of them now are at night.

 

[SJB358]

What a bait! That is really alot of bear! Hope you are able to take a nice bear buddy! Looking forward to the story..

 

[IdahoCTD]

The down side is my wife is due to have our second son June 14th and is already walking around 3cm dialated. So I might be done bear hunting really soon. If not because of the birth then because I'm 2 1/2 hours from home and there is no cell reception where we are. Another down side is my business is pretty busy and the work we have requires my attention. So I'll probably only get to go once this week and maybe this weekend. After that the kitchen pass will probably be over.

 

[SJB358]

Good luck Nathan! Hope you can make it happen before the big day!