Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Been watching bear hunting videos

One after another in the evenings. One thing that bugs me about all these "sniping bear" videos is it seems like they don't know the first thing about bears, and specifically about the bear they're hunting. They just walk or drive around until they find one, or the one, and step to the nearest rock pile to lay on and shoot him.

Bears are so fascinating they really deserve much more respect than most nimrods give them.

If you spend the time to get to know an individual bear you will be very humbled that such a large animal can live in the wilds eating the smallest things like insects, grasshoppers, berries, and seeds, putting on 100 or more pounds over the course of a short growing season. Of course they eat deer and elk if they can get them, but around here they eat an awful lot of seeds, nuts, and berries. Did you know that a bear is so habitual at certain times that it will literally walk in it's same footprints, every day, within minutes of the same time? You can find their trails that amount to large offset holes in the forest duff where they repeat the same route, over and over again. These are the bears to get to know!

For the guys that hunt over bait, I'd encourage you to abandon the practice for just one season and look for a bear you can pattern and hunt in his home range on his terms. His nose can smell food for several miles so focus on food! In hot weather they need water every day, so stay close to water too.

Not being judgemental, just encouraging any bear hunters to really know their quarry one on one. If you'll try this for one season, I really believe it'll take your bear hunting to another level, and you'll really enjoy the hunt much more getting to know a bear vs. shooting one over bait.

Just my humble desire for every bear hunter. Get out and start scouting now, and good luck as season approaches all.

Spot on!

Bears are indeed a very interesting critter to watch. Some of my most memorable times hunting was watching bears do their thing. A momma bear and cubs will keep you entertained for hours.

Not to be judgemental but I suggest you go out and try baiting bear. It is much more involved than dumping a barrel of doughnuts in the woods and waiting for Yogi to show up. It is even harder to pull in a big bear, one of 300# or more, as they have had a fair number of experiences with people and have become wary.

Successfully baiting bears requires the same skill sets as you point out. Scouting is paramount though any scouting done this late in the year is to set up for next year's hunt rather than this fall. Knowledge of bear habits and requirements are paramount to being successful, probably even more so than most other animals as areas and times where baiting is most often used has extremely restricted visual range. All but one of my stands are within 15 yards of the bait, the exception is 32 yards as I shoot over a small creek. There isn't much glassing and stalking in the September woods of the Great Lakes states and eastward.

Unlike TV shows or videos, I don't shoot the first bear I see. There are the same types baiting bears as hunting deer- some shoot the first legal animal they see, some hold out for a particular animal they have patterned, with the rest falling somewhere in between. Observing the bears on the bait is a lesson on future ideas and techniques as well as a means of judging the local population dynamics. Seeing a 250# bear confidently coming into the bait in the last hour of shooting time tells you it is the dominate bear around- having him come in at 4:00 PM looking all jittery and you can be sure a larger bear is in the area.

Baiting is just as much "hunting" as spot and stalking. The knowledge of bear habits and necessity of scouting is just as important for one as the other. One sees bears under somewhat different lenses but the ability to observe them are there. I have not done the stalk part on bears but I have done a fair bit of spotting. What I have learned over bait has helped explain some behaviors I observed Behring the binocs. What I have seen glassing has helped me understand other aspects of bear behavior. Having done both I feel has made more rounded in my knowledge of bears.

No doubt you have been a keen observer of bears.

Getting to know a specific bear is a real thrill. Where he beds, when he gets up to water, how he moves an where he feeds at different times of the year and on what. Some of the best hunting ever. As a side benefit, bears can be found up and moving any time of day.

woodsmaster, I appreciate your reply. I've done relatively little bear hunting in my own opinion, and almost all over bait. It has been intensely fascinating. Hunting over baits is a highly labor-intensive process, and sitting on stand over bait is one of the most interesting hunting activities I've ever done. By being on bait, you get to see bears doing things you would rarely if ever see on a spot-and-stalk hunt.

Last spring I went on a guided bear hunt in Alberta's north country (near Peace River). The outfitters ran about 60 baits at the beginning of the season, which had been whittled down to about 25 by the time I arrived in late May. I was the only hunter in camp the entire week I as there, so I had the privilege of running with the guides every day in addition to my evenings on stand over baits. I helped refresh baits, place and check game cameras, watch bears in the fields as they moved around during the day.

During the course of my week, I was on stand for 5 of the 6 nights. I saw at least 2 bears on the bait every night, and on one stand saw no less than 6 bears over a 5 hour period. I watched a particular young sow on 2 different baits who had four (4!!!) cubs with her; she was feeding at 3 different baits, according to our game cameras, and I saw her at two different stands. On my first night on the stand where I took my big bear (I took 2, a 450+ pound all black bear and a 350 pound cinnamon) I watched no less than 5 bears come in to the bait, watched them feed, interact, and even watched 2 of them have a squabble.

I saw more bear behavior in one week than I did in an entire summer of bear biology work when I was in college.

Fireball2; Much can be said and aptly applied to any specie of game we fellow Nimrods hunt. I yearn for the days when tales of a good hunt were shared at a hunting camp over a cold beer instead of put out on media for everyone to see and speculate. As much as it pains me to say it, I appreciate how some of the Europeans hunt vs us here in the states. We as hunters need to start respecting the game and the art of the hunt more for the sake of keeping our heritage alive. Hunting is fast losing ground and it isn't necessarily ALL to do with anti-gun groups and anti-hunting groups. Fact is this new generation of kids just don't see it as a worthy tradition because of what they see on youtube. We need to change that and show them that it is something worth keeping and it is a tradition that has usefulness. It is frightening to me to think of when I grew up knowing that hunting was just a given. It was something that you knew you were going to do, there was no questions asked. Much like going into the Military to serve your country. Now, it is so much different in what seems to be such a short period of time.

More on topic, I don't believe that baiting is necessarily just dumping garbage and plucking one off the pile. I've baited bear before and know better. I have also ran bear with hounds and that is much more than what it seems to the casual observer. And, I have spot and stalked bear. All have been rewarding and IMHO I believe the Black Bear in general is greatly misunderstood. Most people either view it as a pest or a cartoon character and have no real idea. One thing for sure is that the Black Bear is a species that is disputed over. In that I mean that the "general public" sees no need to hunt it unless it is tearing up there trash or menacing them in some other way. So, we as hunters should be very prudent with how, where and by what means we hunt them.

Amen brother.

Still watching Youtube bear hunting videos today as I rest up for the coming weeks work. I am more than a little disappointed in the lack of "maturity" of the modern bear hunters I'm seeing on video. Most seem like 20-30 something year old millenials with the attention span of a gnat. I watching one kid shoot at one at over 900 yards and miss by several feet. Not that I would do any better at that range, but wtf is he doing even shooting that far beyond his practical limit? Btw, he did the same again later and missed by 3'. He made it sound like an equipment shortcoming when clearly the deficit was between his ears.

Doesn't anyone get to know their quarry anymore?

I'm convinced hunting is in big trouble if these people are the ambassadors of the future of hunting.

For a variety of reasons, my bear hunting is limited to Maine or New Brunswick. In the densely forested areas of these regions spot & stalk hunting just isn't an option. More often than not, a bear isn't visible to a hunter until its nearly on top of him. While I would really love to watch, study and hunt bear as you have described, it's just in the cards for many of us bear hunters.

Bears are very active right now around here. Seeing a lot of tracks and sign of feeding.

Black caps and two kinds of blackberries are ripe right now, many seed plants available, ants and termites, huckleberries just a few days out. Acorn shrubs and oak trees not for a while yet. They're very patternable working from bed to water to food in the afternoon and to bed again in the morning as the sun hits them and begins to warm them uncomfortably. Look for them to bed on an old rotten log they can hollow out a round bed in, or against the base of a tree. If it's hot they may get up midday to lay in a mountain pool. Otherwise, around here 5pm is prime time to catch them moving in Aug/Sept. By 6 pm they'll be feeding full on, so know the preferred food.

Not much opportunity for spot and stalk around here either, usually close quarters.

I hunted bait this year after 13 years of applying for a tag. I didn’t think a bear I would want to shoot would show up to the bait. I planned on doing spot and stalk as I was a little judgmental and didn’t think it would be very fun and I wasn’t going to shoot a small bear. You don’t often hear of mature bears hitting bait during daylight. I set the bait so my 7 year old could see some bears. I also promised myself I wasn’t going to shoot the first bear I saw.

Im glad I lowered myself to invest in the bait and give it an honest effort as this was no question one of the funnest hunts I’ve ever been blessed to be a part of. I also shot the first bear I saw. He was a 7’ 6” bear and his official green score is 21 14/16” and was15-20 years old. I didn’t get to know this bear although I’m pretty sure I saw him a few years earlier while archery elk hunting eating acorns in the top of some oak brush. I sniped him from 130 yards out with my beautiful 7 year old right by my side and I did it guilt free.




Not being judgmental to you but I pretty much violated every personal ethic you have and the best part is, you’ll never be able to take this hunt away from me or downgrade it to what you think a righteous trophy is.

I’ve never cared about “book” trophies before but this guy is going in if he qualifies. He deserves to be remembered and recorded and I don’t think there have been any other bears from the unit I killed him in to make the all time book but could be wrong on that.

Happy bear hunting, no matter how you choose to do it. If it’s legal, and you don’t loose any sleep over your method of killing one, more power to ya.

Todd

Nice bear Todd, glad for you and the little one. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Huge headed monster! I've no doubt anyone that baits invests in the process and hunt. Effort is effort, no matter the type. You won fair and square.

For me, that kind of hunt would have been compounded in satisfaction if I had known the bear better. Not always possible, but that's my preference, and I feel blessed to be able to do that where I hunt. That doesn't take away from your hunt and congratulations on a beautiful bear.

Don't think a hunter/guide who sets up bait sites and stands does not get to know their quarry. More time is spent before the hunt in scouting and preparation than actually sitting the stand during the hunt.

Sometimes, bears will leave the most experienced among us scratching their head, especially when a "textbook" setup never gets touched. There can be some hardtail sits waiting for little reward.

Working baits is just that. Hard work.

One of the most annoying things about hunting is when people think that their method is the only way. Chances are their method makes sense in their hunting area and they like it. It doesn't make them special.

If you like it, do it, if you don't, don't.

You only gotta make yourself happy. Works for me.

Bears don’t horn me up to much, but that hammer there does!! Good work and great story!! Grats

I'm liking 900 yard bear shooter guy, he's special.

Thanks Judman!

Todd

That is a dandy bear!

Justahunter, Good for you to set up for a kid and take your daughter. That HAWG of a bear was a bonus!

Justahunter;
Good evening to you sir, I hope this finds you and yours well.

Congratulations on the grand bear - doubly so that you were able to have your daughter there with you, that's very cool indeed.

We live in an area where black bears are relatively common and some years we'll see more than 10 of them, so I can say with fair confidence that its been more than 100 black bears I've looked at over the last 34 years here in BC. I can say with equal confidence I have absolutely never looked at one that big - alive or dead.

When I teach the provincial hunter safety course each spring, I tell the class that as long as it's legal and ethical, there's no one, correct reason to hunt, that is to say we all derive different things from our hunts.

In BC we can't bait bears, but can run them with hounds. I've been given to understand that some provinces to the east are the reverse of this and that's fine for them - as Scott said, it's about getting what you want out of the hunt.

Thanks again and all the best to you and yours this summer.

Dwayne