Jerry, thanks for your sensible posts. I have a very similar opinion of bear hunting.
I have shot 3 bears in my life. The first was on a friend's farm in the 70's. He had a bear that was raiding his garden, and he wanted it shot. He didn't hunt. I did. I came over one evening after work and shot the bear for him (he had an agricultural tag for it). He kept the hide and skull.
I've spent a lot of time in bear country, mostly in Alberta, backpacking and fishing and hunting. I have had many "close encounters" with bears in the non-hunting world, but none that resulted in bloodshed--mine or theirs. I like bears. Like Fireball, I find them fascinating. The wilderness is just a bit more wild for having wild bears in it. I carried a firearm for protection against bears in some places where it was legal to do so, and on one occasion was very glad I did. But no bloodshed was required.
However, a few years ago I was taken by the notion to hunt bears. I'm not sure why or how this notion formed, but it did. There are no bears down here in Texas, but I knew first-hand that there are a lot of bears in Alberta, so I went back there, to the Peace River country. I engaged an outfitter and spent a week hunting bears over bait, and it was a fascinating and enjoyable time. I saw bears every night on stand, and even though the wildlife biologists said the population density in that area was really high, I only saw one bear not on the baits. And that wasn't for lack of looking. I was out in the woods and fields all day every day, I only saw one adult bear away from the baits, and that was a sow with 4 (yes, FOUR) cubs, and she was obviously a harassed mama and outside of her usual habits and haunts as she tried to take care of her brood. But on stand I saw a plethora of bears.
I eventually shot 2 bears. I "hunted" both, inasmuch as you can hunt bears over bait. Hunting over bait isn't spot-and-stalk, and as much as I like spot-and-stalk hunting, in some places and times it's simply not possible. Such was the case on my Alberta hunt. This hunt involved looking at game cameras at the various stands each day, selecting the stand(s) that offered the best chance at a good bear, then waiting on the selected bear to show up. I shot my first bear that week, a big black boar with a white chevron on his chest, late on the second night on that particular stand. I passed on at least a dozen lesser bears that came in to the same bait before he showed up. My second bear, a nice but smaller cinnamon boar, was taken in similar manner. In my 5 nights on stand, I saw more bears than I could have imagined. I found the observation of the bears delightful. I killed both of my bears humanely, with well-placed shots, and according to the laws of the place I hunted them. I kept most of the meat of the cinnamon, and left it with my brother in Alberta. We ate a bit of tenderloin before I left, and it was delicious. The big black was inedible, being quite old and full of worms. The hides and one skull came back to Texas with me.
I didn't think this was unethical hunting, or non-sporting, or any other such bad stuff. It seemed to me this was a lot like sitting on a stand over a corn-feeder for deer or hogs here in Texas, and nobody seems to have a problem with that... but when I reported my hunt here on the 24HCF, I got some hate mail from folks who think that hunting bears over bait "isn't the same" as hunting deer, or hogs, or leopards, or any other creature over bait. Somehow hunting bears over bait is different in the minds of these folks, and they don't have any problem saying pretty mean things to you about it. Hell, some folks have said some pretty damning things about hunters like me on this thread.
Does it make any logical sense? Not really. These folks can't give a real reason that hunting bears over bait is "different" from hunting other species over bait, but in their minds this is irrelevant. Sadly, this is an increasingly common attitude.
The hunting world is full of hunters who disparage other hunters because the other hunters "don't do it the right way". Which is too bad, because hunting is getting enough attacks from outside as it is. We hardly need to be attacking each other over perceived differences in how we take game.
I doubt I will ever take another bear over bait. I'm not opposed to it, it's just that if I hunt bear again it will be in a different place, and by a different method. I'd like to take a spring grizzly in the mountains by the spot-and-stalk method, in a place where that is practicable. But if the opportunity to take another bear over bait presents itself, I may well take the opportunity. Life is short, and hunting opportunities are rare and wonderful. It's best not to waste them.
