First time black bear hunt- any advice?

[curlis]

Great information here. One thing that I would add. You will be spending LOTS of time in a stand, enjoy it. Look around, it's very cool all the wildlife you will see around a bait site. I would take a paper back book to read and look up after every page. This helps kill time and keeps you still on the stand.

Good luck and have a great time. It can be WORK if you let it. It should be fun!

[Legolas]

William,
The book is a nice touch. I deer hunted this year and listened to my Ohio Univ. basketball team with an earphone in one ear. That was a treat. Of course I won't be doing that.

Paul

[sparrow]

Pretend you are hunting smoke because that is usually how they appear. I agree with most of the advice but I have had enough bears come in once and then never come back that I would take the first GOOD shot presented. Shoot them right and they seldom make it much over fifty yards. Expect ground shrinkage! You don't have to apologize for any bear you shoot. They are fascinating animals and each deserves our greatest respect. It will probably be warm so get the skin off ASAP. Don't roll it up but spread it out even if you put it in a freezer. After it has cooled down then you can roll it up. You will have a blast.

[Legolas]

Well I did the hunt and did not see any live bears but my fellow archer bagged one.

Bear hunting sure is exciting and feels so different than whitetail hunting. I just got on some bait that was not active and moved to new bait the last day.Hunting something that can eat you sure does kick it up a notch.
Minnesota does not allow use of flashlights after dark if your bow it not cased and that was scary cause I did not pack any heat. The unrecovered bear are eaten at night by the wolves. I have to admit that I finally said screw it, I will pay the fine I need to see getting out of the woods.

Thanks for all the advice.

Paulie

[Goose]

Bummer on not getting the bear.....but it sounds like you had a good time, and probably learned a lot.  Nothing like actually getting out and doing it!

Maybe your next bear hunt will get you a rug.

Good luck.
Goose

[Legolas]

Goose,
I did learn alot!
This was the first time I also ever paid for a hunt. Here in SE Ohio I just have private land to hunt on anytime. Paying was foreign to me.
I got to tell you we were 3 archers in a 20 something group of rifle hunters. When I took my longbow out to shoot on the 3D bear it quickly got heads turning and alot of "that's cool" kind of comments. I had heard the head guide at times will ask to see a hunter shoot and I just got at it before he asked. After about 12 arrows I heard "That is good shooting there, just be sure that bear has his front leg forward". I turned around and it was Dale Himes, owner of the camp.
Boy, was that a confidence boost.

Someday I will try again.

Paul

[killinstuff]

Legolas,

I to did my first bear hunt this year but up in Canada and I learned a lot. Like nothing gets my heart pumping like a bear up close and personal and snuffers won't punch through the shoulder and leg bone of a big male bear. Dale Himes is right on there. I'll stick with my good old two blade STOS next time. Also, cmao didn't matter much and trying to hind your scent was pointless, those bears knew your were there. One even climbed up to my tree stand and bit a chunk out of my seat while I was back at camp having lunch. That was exciting. They devided up the rifle hunters and bow hunters into to two camps 40 miles apart which I like as well. Never heard a gun shot the whole week.

CJ

[Bow n' errors]

Good info here.  I have a Homer Ocean charter arranged for Spring 2010 for coastal blackies and plan on taking a 60# SR Swift or 65# Robertson VF using 2219's with about 200grns up front (about 700grns total).  I usually use Stos, but after this discussion, I think I'll try to go to a good 3 blade like the Woodsman and make sure to hit him where it's been recommended here.  Really looking forward to this adventure, all acounts have been positive in TBM and hope it's all it's touted to be.

[Ray Borbon]

Wait for a good shot. Never shot one over bait.

I concurr with what others have said about the size of the bear being somewhat difficult to determine.

However, I think it depends on how many bears you have encountered and I believe that encountering them within archery range it is much easier to get a good estimate on their size. Therefore if you are going to take the time to get a look at a good bear at close range it will be somewhat easier.

I shot one with a longbow and another one with a rifle. It was much easier to tell the size when I was standing 15 yards or so away than it was when I shot with a rifle from 50 yards.

Another thing to consider is what you want from the bear. The hide, the meat or both. Some bears have better hides for rugs and some eat better if they are on specific diets. I know the one I shot this September was grazing on blueberries and was really a treat to chew on. It was almost like beef.

Glad you enjoyed your hunt.

[bowmaster12]

just remember bears have big bellies that hang low its easy to shoot to low because of the way their bellies hang some good advice i was given is draw a line through the middle of their body horizontally and on vertically makng a + has long as you are on teh head side of teh virtical line and close to the horizonal line youll have a died bear  i shot mine to low only caught one lunge very bad blood trail  because of the long thick hair also youll wnat to knwo what you are going to do with the bear once you have him rug or full body or 3/4 mount and talk to your taxidermist find out how they want you to skin him.  Cant tell you how many bear hides we get in that are skun wrong for the type of mount they want good luck !

[Coonbait]

If you plan on using a headnet make SURE you practise with it on! That little bit of advise would have helped me on a beautifull bear in New Brunswick a couple of years ago. Came to full draw and my finger caught the headnet and bunched it up right in front of my eye. Bear saw me let down and took off. Last decent bear I saw on the rest of my trip. I was sick, just an oversight on my part.
GLENN

[Schultzy]

Bear hunting In Minnesota was a tough one this year. My/our small group of 5 only got one bear, should of had 2 being one wasn't recovered via bad shot. The bear numbers were way down where I bear hunt. I run 15 baits and not one of them had sow and cubs at them, not good! I really believe that the sows and cubs and the younger bear's never made It out of there dens In the spring of 2008. We had a early snow storm that denned them up early and also a late snow storm that kept them In the dens In the spring. Allot of them ran out of fat and died In there dens I believe. It's going to take a few years for the population to come back. Most of the bear that we had hitting our baits were some of the biggest bear that I've ever seen. 95% of the bear hitting our baits were big older males. We had trail cams out on every bait.