Hunting & Fishing Why hunt bears?

cronos0000

Commando
Banned !
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Apr 27, 2017
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Little Rock, Arkansas.
I was watching a show on one of the hunting/outdoor channels "Savage Outdoors." From Savage Arms. I like Accutrigger but I don't understand something. Sportsman Channel.

They were in Canada somewhere an there were about five or six of them. Briefly, they had set up barrels in the woods that appeared to have food in them, some kind of a attractant (illegal in my state from what I can read, Georgia.) Anyway, they waited for the bears to come eat and then two women shot some bears with a bow and later another guy with a Savage rifle.

My question. How is that hunting? Am I missing something? First, why are they using attractants? And why do they hunt the bears in the first place? Do they eat them? Does it thin the herd so bears don't starve like deer?

I can eat a deer and thin the population but I just didn't get the bear hunting on this show. It looks pointless and unsporting (if you can have such a thing killing animals.)
 
IMO your either in your out on this one, baiting bear is very common practice where bear hunting is legal. Another common practice is running them with dogs And yes, you can eat bear and they are somewhat similar to pork; they make great sausage.
 
Bear meat is good if they are not eating garbage. Make sure to cook it well though since they commonly have trichinosis. We spot and stalk them in AZ mostly. Sometimes run them with dogs, esp if they are causing trouble. It is very important to hunt them here to keep the population in check and maintain genetic diversity. We like a good cross section of ages as well since we are a trophy bear state and cannot support a large population of them.
Look up the Joe Rogan podcast with Cameron Hanes on bear hunting. They discuss why they bait them in those parts of Canada. Canada has a lot of boar only which is tricky to identify at distance or in thick stuff.
 
99% of the deer shot in Texas are eating corn from a feeder, so baiting is not that uncommon in some states. I'm not a "trophy" hunter (my personal preference), so I don't shoot any big game animal that I'm not planning to eat. I've never eaten bear, but if it was good, I would hunt them and eat them.
 
As someone who grew up in a non-hunting home, it was odd to me at first too.

After living in Alaska, and talking to residents, and wildlife folks, it makes more sense. In AK, the volume of bears is huge, even around the areas close to town. Near Fairbanks, residents can harvest up to 3 black bears (over bait, or not). Does it seem to "cheat" the bear by distracting it with food, so you can sit there? Maybe, but salt licks, deer feeders, and more are accepted in other areas. And as it is in most places, you can't shoot bears with cubs, keeping the population and nursing animals going. But many of my friends relied heavily on animal meat for food (caribou, bear, moose) due to the cost of store bought meat.

On a side note, I would rather have a distracted bear 15-25 yards from me, versus a deer.
 
Bear meat is good if they are not eating garbage. Make sure to cook it well though since they commonly have trichinosis. We spot and stalk them in AZ mostly. Sometimes run them with dogs, esp if they are causing trouble. It is very important to hunt them here to keep the population in check and maintain genetic diversity. We like a good cross section of ages as well since we are a trophy bear state and cannot support a large population of them.
Look up the Joe Rogan podcast with Cameron Hanes on bear hunting. They discuss why they bait them in those parts of Canada. Canada has a lot of boar only which is tricky to identify at distance or in thick stuff.

yes i have hear about trichinosis, if bear meat are not properly cook it can get you sick...but pro hunters know the right emp and how to salt the meat.
 
Rendered out bear fat makes the best pastry in the world. Bear meat is actually pretty good, depending on their diet. The bears of the interior of Alaska's diet makes for good eating, the bears of the coast not some much, because of their fish diet.

Cook it the same way as you cook pork.

I'm not fond of grizzly/browns, they tend to be greasy. Blacks are good, esp. young bears. I've tried polar bear too when I live on St Lawrence island. i'll pass on those in the future. Their diet constist of seals and they taste of such. Seal meat isnt my favorite but its really healthy.

I've heard the polar bear liver contains too much vit. A which could kill you though I havent met anyone who can confirm that.

I've live with and knew a lot of people who subsistence hunt. I've had to do that my self. I'll not begrudge of their "legal' methods if they consume what they kill. Same with fishing. I like fly fishing but there were times I had to use a net, trout lines, for snagging to get a supply of food.
 
Rendered out bear fat makes the best pastry in the world. Bear meat is actually pretty good, depending on their diet. The bears of the interior of Alaska's diet makes for good eating, the bears of the coast not some much, because of their fish diet.

Cook it the same way as you cook pork.

I'm not fond of grizzly/browns, they tend to be greasy. Blacks are good, esp. young bears. I've tried polar bear too when I live on St Lawrence island. i'll pass on those in the future. Their diet constist of seals and they taste of such. Seal meat isnt my favorite but its really healthy.

I've heard the polar bear liver contains too much vit. A which could kill you though I havent met anyone who can confirm that.

I've live with and knew a lot of people who subsistence hunt. I've had to do that my self. I'll not begrudge of their "legal' methods if they consume what they kill. Same with fishing. I like fly fishing but there were times I had to use a net, trout lines, for snagging to get a supply of food.


how you have lived one Hell of a life, tasting almost all bears, i didn't know bear nutrient affect the way they tasted, Thanks.
 
Regardless of the methods of harvest they are delicious and their diet does indeed affect their flavor . Personally I prefer free chase spot and stalk no bait or dogs and archery equipment depending on terrain . JMHO !
 
My brother lives in Alaska. He says while the bears are on berries as their main diet they are quite tasty. But once the salmon run starts they taste horrible and can actually be killed and hide skinned out leaving the rest to rot .
 
wow looks like big waste,

This varies by GMU, species, and date. The harvest requirements do change through the season. Part of hunting bear here is for the meat, and some of it is population management (keeping Moose and caribou numbers higher). Now, most hunters I know salvage all the meat, regardless of what section of the season they are in. When I get alerts for black bears and browns walking through neighboorhoods, there is a decent number of them (I actually like that, but other less outdoorsy folks don't do so well if there is a bear between them and their car).
 
Littlehendrick is correct in that bear need harvested to keep their numbers down. They are predators, pray on moose, caribou, the diet of interior Alaska Natives.

Its worse on the arctic coast. With this Global Warming BS, everyone whats to protect the polar bears. The problem is, polar bears feed on the same marine mammals that is the main stay of our coastal natives. There arnt a lot of jobs out there, and the food you find in a village store is expensive. So sea mammals, birds, etc, the food these people need to live, are being depleted. As the numbers of bears increase, they too spread out looking for food, often moving off the ice onto the land. Besides sea mammals they pray on nesting birds, and eggs, part of the food stuffs the natives need to survive.

As traditional food sources disappear, the government has to step in with their welfare. So instead of hunting, the become dependent. The Alaska natives are a proud people, and as their survival skills are no longer available, dependency causes depression. With depression comes alcohol abuse, child and spousal abuse, and suicides become more common.

We see the same thing happening today with wolves in the Mountain West.

Even feral cats. I dont know why city folks think rural people need more cats. They drive out in the country and drop them off. They multiply and become wild, they pray on song and game birds. In my area they've really hurt the turkey population. Wyoming now considers stray cats as varmints which can be shot on site.

The federal government is the worse game managers you can imagine. In the Thunder Basin Grass lands they decided to control the prairie dog population by putting in a few ferrets. Yeah they will kill prairie dogs but you need more then a dozen or so for hundreds of square miles. But to protect the ferrets, they banned prairie dog hunting in the NGL. The numbers of prairie dogs have increased to the point they have destroyed the Grass lands. Not only that, but now we are dealing with the burbonic plague ( yeah I know, I cant spell it).

At least they see the mistake, they lifted the ban on prairie dog shooting but we dont have the numbers of shooters to get rid of them.

I'm not a fan of wasting meat, on meat critters like deer antelope, and elk, but predators are a different matter. I get disgusted with those who say its wrong to shoot animals if you dont eat them.

Controlling predators is every bit as important to wildlife conservation as protecting game animals, more in some cases. Trophy or head hunters are just as important. When a critter gets to the point they are trophy's, such as huge racks or large skulls/bear hides, it means they are older animals. Consuming but often too old to reproduce. Thinning the old, makes healthier herds.

One of the greatest wild life Conservationist of all times was Teddy Roosevelt, but he also understood that hunting, even bears and other predators is a critical part of wild life management..

So there you have my morning rant.

As a side note, I"m serious about the prairie dog problems in NE Wyoming. If interested I'll put you onto some excellent PD shooting. We need more shooters.
 
^^^well said kraig. as usual.

I love bear meat. Makes fantastic sausage. Best ive ever had. Brats even better. The backstrap is def different tasting. Wont do those again prob.. The hams are amazing. Smoke em up right and they will be a big hit on the holidays.

I also wish baiting was allowed in CO ha. They are incredibly tough to hunt. Their sense of smell is akin to a blood hound (even better IIRC) and are tough to get close to shoot.
Unethical?? if that's the case then all firearms should be outlawed for hunting. Knife only... HA!
Depends on where you draw the line. I personally draw it at dead critter. YMMV.

BUT I would have zero problem tossing the meat if was bad or if known animal had a meat diet. I don't see anyone complaining about not eating coyotes lol (even tho I know of some who have. ugh lol).
Your view changes when you see a predator eating a calf as its being born maybe...


I may take you up on the pdog shooting. thanks for the tip! they only live in industrialized areas around me now...

DT
 
Bear meat in a stew is no different than Beef if they have not been on a garbage can diet , however I've found that it's much better the next day after it's cooled in the fridge and you remove the fat that's congealed on the top of the pot and re-heated for consumption !
 
Great info folks. I know nothing about bear hunting and had mixed fealings. This information is very helpful.

KraigWY... can you PM me some places or outfitters for those hunts please? I can't afford big game hunts in the Rockies, but this sounds fun.

Oh, and as a side note... i think the OP cronos is no longer with us. I think i read in the Bear Pit that Tucker booted him from the site after stiffing someone on a high end scope deal. I believe his account was from Lagos.

Either way, let's keep the thread going. Good info.
 
KraigWY... can you PM me some places or outfitters for those hunts please? I can't afford big game hunts in the Rockies, but this sounds fun.

WB300, I never used "ourfitters" in Alaska. A couple of charters, but no guides. Also I retired and left Alaska in '94.

Most of my dealings with bears was when I lived with the natives. I was and XO of one Native NG company, and CO of another. Hunting polar bears for non-natives is not legal, Browns as a non-resident is an expensive proposition. You have to have a guide, or hunt with a relative. Blacks are quite common and cheap to hunt even as a non resident. They are over populated in a lot of areas and they arent hunted that much.

In the interior, find some blue berry patches (which are all over the place) and you'll find blacks in the spring. Bears are night feeders, but in the spring in the interior of Alaska (late May-June) its shooting light all night long.

Its best if you know someone but black bear hunting in the interior of Alaska is pretty simple. Head to Alaska, once you cross from Canada, drive to Tok, Glenallen, and points south as you come upon a rise you can look across the country and see miles and miles of alders and blueberry brush. Several places you can find a two track road, take one (or several), once away from the highway find a high spot and glass at night. If you've found blueberrys youll find bears.

If you ever watched those Alaskan (non reality) reality shows, you see some where villagers panic because they discover a bear in the town dump. Thats silly, every dump in Alaska has bears. But we've all heard, you are what you eat, Bears are no different, animal is. For example you can buy grass fed beef, or grain fed beef, there is a huge difference in the meat of those two steers. Bears that eat garbage are going to taste like garbage, they eat fish they will have a greasy fish taste. But if they eat blue berries, roots and such, they are going to be better tasting.

A note about Alaska: Its not like you think. I first went there in 60-61 when my father was stationed at Eilson AFB near Fairbanks, it was wild and as we often think Alaska could be. I went back in '72, then lived in Lignite (3 miles north of Healy on the rail road, and it was still Alaska, if you go off the high way you could hunt. I moved to Anchorage and it started to change. You had to get away from town. I chose the rivers. But now, even the rivers are bumper to bumper, boats instead of cars. You have to fly out.

The interior is a bit different if you get away from town, but the highways, and ever the interior rivers are crowded.

Alaska is huge, but limited. The AK Native Claims Act set aside a lot of the state for Natives. Environmentalist set aside a lot of the state as protected wilderness. A lot of country, which a large percentage is locked up. State land is still available, but they still have restrictions. In the 70s you could just hike out, find a spot, put up a cabin and go on about your business. Not any more.

If I was to go back to live (which I wont) I'd go back to the West Coast on the Bering sea and live with the natives. But its hard to be accepted by natives You have to gain their trust, Once that happens you are part of the village, which means you are part of the family.

Hunting is a heck of a lot better right hear in Wyoming. If I do go back, and I will, it will be for a short visit, maybe a fishing charter out of Seward or Homer. Relatively cheap and good fishing. Wyoming has good fishing, but no halibut and salmon.

Sorry for the rambling, but No Sir, I dont know anything about the Outfitters and Guides, except they come and go, and it takes big bucks. Do an internet search but before you sign up get their references. It they are any good, they will furnish them. Dont be afraid to call his past clients. That is the only way you'll get the truth.

I only went out with one guide. He was funny but a joke. He had to leave the state because he owes the city and harbor master in Valdez a lot of money. Any way we were suppose to be goat hunting. Saw goats but you couldnt get to them in the time he gave us. He got drunk and I had to drive the boat back to valdez. I've never driven a boat that size, It was dark and cloudy and you couldnt see the stars or mountains on either side of the sound. He didnt have any compass or other navigation devices on the boat. Only way I found Valdez was when I spotted a Oil Tanker, riding high in the water, meaning empty and assumed he was heading to Valdez for another load.

You havent until, in the pitch black night, you ran into the wake of a super tanker. The only saving grace the guy owed me so the trip didnt cost anything. Otherwise he would have been one of the many unknown soles lost at sea.

Ive had some great times in Alaska, swamped boats in the Nenana River. Rescued by the Coast Guard, Jumped into Galena when it was 65 below, even run off by the Russians when our skin boat got too close to the Russian Navy Base on Big Diamode Island.

Alaska changed and I got old. There are a lot of things I'd like to do, but at 70, not likely. For example, lately I been studying the North West Passage. That is tempting. Good thing my wife has more sense then I do.

To the young reading this. Doing stupid stuff makes some interesting stories to tell your grandkids. Don't put your dreams on hold. Life is met to be lived. There is an old Western Saying "I'D RATHER SPEND 8 SECONDS IN THE SADDLE THEN A LIFE TIME IN THE STANDS"
 
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meat aside, bear hunting is to control a predator, one that is VERY hard on newborn elk/moose calves and deer fawns. Some bears will get to specialize in this. In Idaho for years we had two bear a year areas, then we adapted you have to pack the meat out, and the numbers of permit buyers dropped. after years of fawn decline, the pack the meat or pack the hide rule was put back in, and....nonresident tags were given to nonresident deer and or elk tag buyers. some of that is still in effect. In short F&G learned that just like our wolves, bears need to be controlled to have a healthy balance with the other critters.

Idahoorion
 
The OP is some POS from Europe who was trying to scam people in the px section. Makes perfect sense, Europeans tend to have a massive hard on against hunting for whatever reason