Much of it depends on where the land is because there are quota areas there and others with over the counter sales. If you are talking about hunting right now chances are not very good that many bears will be still coming to baits. If the acorns have started to fall there then the bears will be scattered feed in on them and not interested in doughnuts. Your best bet would be do some scouting and prep some stand and bait sights for next year. The times that I hunted bears up there the first few days of the season saw the most activity and results and then tapered off rapidly latter in the month of September. You can start baiting 2 weeks before the opening of the season, which is usually about Sept 1st, and you need to get bears used to coming to bait. The guys I hunted with would re-bait about every 2nd or 3rd day especially if a bait was getting hit. After the bears got used to the baiting the sound of a 4 wheeler bringing fresh bait was just like ringing a dinner bell, and had friends say that small bears would move in about as soon as they could hear the 4-wheeler drive away. One guy shot his bear before the outfitter could even get the 4 wheeler loaded on his trailer about a mile away. He wasn't even there long enough to get bitten by mosquitoes!!
loneranger
Well-Known Member
Which is why I never could see the thrill of shooting a bear. Shooting an animal that is eating your doughnuts in front of you. I guess the thrill is, that this animal could cause you some serious harm, if you are not careful. Still,,no excitement for me.
NWBuck
PMA Member
In all seriousness gentlemen, these are comments of those ignorant of the experience. Like any hunting experience, sometimes it's really easy, and many times it's not. I can tell you that the rush of putting an arrow through a bear at close range is unlike any you have experienced shooting a deer. Do it once and you'll be able to make much more intelligent replies...
NWBuck
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NWBUCK you are absolutely correct. Not to say that you other guys are ignorant, just that you can't really speak until you have experienced it. If you think that it is exciting watching a 10 point buck walk down a trail toward your stand, you just can't imagine the rush when you look away and then you look back and there is a 400 pound bear standing on your bait! You never saw it or heard it or anything, IT WAS JUST THERE 12 YARDS AWAY!
As for the method of baiting, in most of their habitat that is the only way you will ever see any bears while hunting. There is almost no where in Minnesota, where I hunted, that you could see much over 50 yards much less spot and stalk anything! There were times when we were following a blood trail literally crawling on our hands and knees to get under the brush and ferns looking for a wounded but hopefully dead bear in the dark. Hard to get a lot more thrilling than that!:way:
As for the method of baiting, in most of their habitat that is the only way you will ever see any bears while hunting. There is almost no where in Minnesota, where I hunted, that you could see much over 50 yards much less spot and stalk anything! There were times when we were following a blood trail literally crawling on our hands and knees to get under the brush and ferns looking for a wounded but hopefully dead bear in the dark. Hard to get a lot more thrilling than that!:way:
loneranger
Well-Known Member
Don't want to get into arguement about hunting techniques or ethics. As I get older I just like taking any life less. I think it is an evolutionary process of life.The main reason I hunt deer is love of venison, and gives satisfaction harvesting food yourself. Racks on the wall mean less and less. My wall space is limited. Sometimes I think I may graduate to a camera for shots of bucks. I did have the thrill of bear hunting yrs ago. I knew an outfitter near Yellowstone, who took out bear hunters. We went to sit on baits just so I could see a bear. There was always the chance a Griz, would show up too! His nephew came back from watching bait once with story of two grizzlies fighting over it. The sounds made his hairs stand up, he said. One evening, while dusk was falling, and the timber was darkening, and Ravins were making strange sounds in the trees like spirits, my friend said there is a big boar at the bait. We were on the ground watching. He'd had enough shooting things in his life but he said large boars, killed alot of calf elk, so if one showed up, he'd take it out. He raised his rifle and shot the bear dead on. It took three shots to keep the bear down! That was exciting,,you bet, but I still felt bad ,,,him shooting that magnificent animal. He would not touch bear meat. Mainly because he always said, he knew what those critters ate, and he wanted no part of them.The thrill may be confronting a creature that could kill you or really harm you anyway. Up in a tree,with a bow, not much protection I guess. Just me,,If I don't want to eat it,,leave it alone. I do have a black bear mount on my wall however. It was hit on the road up in MI, where I worked. People didn't want it, so I mounted it.
SaskGuy
Active Member
I've never killed a bear through hunting them. The only time here you'd ever kill a bear away from a bait site is on a fall oat or barley field.
I'm no expert and am not a big fan of baiting whitetails but do see baiting as a realistic method if you're shooting for success in many places due to the dense habitat. Maybe that makes me a hypocrite as I'd like for baiting deer to some day be illegal here but also know if I ever shoot a big bear during hunting season, it'll likely be over a bait.
I'm no expert and am not a big fan of baiting whitetails but do see baiting as a realistic method if you're shooting for success in many places due to the dense habitat. Maybe that makes me a hypocrite as I'd like for baiting deer to some day be illegal here but also know if I ever shoot a big bear during hunting season, it'll likely be over a bait.
Bill Hartzell
New Member
I've gone bear hunting 4 times in Ontario and killed twice with my bow. A rush like none other. Shoot a bear and he disappears into the "bush" then get on your hands and knees to find a place where you can see 10 feet. If that doesn't get a person excited I'm not sure what will. But hey, everyone has an opinion on all types of hunting styles.
Good luck in Minnesota and have fun with it. That's the name of the game anyway.
Good luck in Minnesota and have fun with it. That's the name of the game anyway.
kelcher
Well-Known Member
I hunted bear in Minnesota once and shot a nice big bear. I agree with what some of the others have said. I don't see how you could hunt them in Minnesota without baiting. I enjoyed it a lot and the steaks were good too. A little tougher than deer steaks, but they tasted good. Made some tastey pepper sticks too. Good luck and have fun. Bears are really neat animals.
dc240nt
PMA Member
I've killed about 15 bears, all over bait and in MN. Never had a problem with it not being exciting...or for that matter, ethical. As with any hunting it can be very easy at times. How many times have you heard some guy brag that he smokes cigs on stand, spits snuff, pee's, and kills a buck every year? Or the guy that walks into the woods and kills a 50 inch moose 5 minutes into season? Things like that happen every year with hunting all game animals. None of my bears came easy, most of them I remember I worked my tail off. There would be very little bear harvest in MN if it wernt for baiting. I've lived and spent most of my life in MN's north woods, and I could count on both hands the number of bears I've seen in the wild that were not on a bait. Anyone can stumble into an animal, but hoping to sneek onto a bear in northern MN would be quite impractical.
180 class spend some time on the Mn DNR site reading the bear info. You can probably hunt every year depending on which zone you are in.
I warn you, bear hunting is addicting! Don't pay any attention to the ignorant who have never done it. It is a LOT of work and it's a longshot to get a bear to come in to a bait during the daylight. It's a very difficult thing to bag a bear over bait, and if it weren't for baiting it would be virtually impossible to get a bear in Minnesota.
I warn you, bear hunting is addicting! Don't pay any attention to the ignorant who have never done it. It is a LOT of work and it's a longshot to get a bear to come in to a bait during the daylight. It's a very difficult thing to bag a bear over bait, and if it weren't for baiting it would be virtually impossible to get a bear in Minnesota.
Hardwood11
It is going to be a good fall!
Bear hunting
180 class: Find the county in MN and match up the zone on the website, or PM me and I know most of them by heart. My land is in the no quota zone, but I do not have many bear on my land so I have passed on hunting.
I will definitely make it a hunt in the future. Minnesota's bear population is high, too high is some areas. I almost hit one with the vehicle one time (imagine what that would have done). Hunting them without bait would be impossible up here, and the population would be ??
Good luck.
180 class: Find the county in MN and match up the zone on the website, or PM me and I know most of them by heart. My land is in the no quota zone, but I do not have many bear on my land so I have passed on hunting.
I will definitely make it a hunt in the future. Minnesota's bear population is high, too high is some areas. I almost hit one with the vehicle one time (imagine what that would have done). Hunting them without bait would be impossible up here, and the population would be ??
Good luck.
bowhuntr311
IowaWhitetail Addict
Same here 180. Let me know a rough idea via this thread or PM, where the property is located and I can direct a little bit when it comes to the rules/regs.
Bear hunting on your own is unreal as to how much time it ties up. There are outta-towners that show, throw a bait out, come back for a 3 day hunt and kill a bear. But that is definatly a lower success rate.
This year I had 1bait. It was 3miles via road and then a 2mile atv ride to get to it. I spent no less 1hour 15min per trip. I ran my bait 8times between the trip that i placed the bait and the time I decided to pause hunting becuase of acorns. (Currently paused will resume in another week)
As far as Hardwoods comments about bears being too high, it really depends on the area. As far as the others comments about not being able to take a bear without baiting; I agree 200%, I have seen 4 adult bear while hunting something other than bear. When I guess that I've spent 1000 in the woods in the last 10years your odds arent real good.
Bear hunting on your own is unreal as to how much time it ties up. There are outta-towners that show, throw a bait out, come back for a 3 day hunt and kill a bear. But that is definatly a lower success rate.
This year I had 1bait. It was 3miles via road and then a 2mile atv ride to get to it. I spent no less 1hour 15min per trip. I ran my bait 8times between the trip that i placed the bait and the time I decided to pause hunting becuase of acorns. (Currently paused will resume in another week)
As far as Hardwoods comments about bears being too high, it really depends on the area. As far as the others comments about not being able to take a bear without baiting; I agree 200%, I have seen 4 adult bear while hunting something other than bear. When I guess that I've spent 1000 in the woods in the last 10years your odds arent real good.
Hi guys. Its my father in law that purchased the property :drink2:. It is located in Pine County. Thanks for the advise!!