Man how time fly's! It seemed It was just yesterday that the baiting season opened for bear In Minnesota but It was not. It opened August 15th and Its now September 9th and my bear hunting Is over for the year, that stinks If you ask me!! It went by way to quick. Bear hunting was tough this year In the area that my/our small group has always hunted In. It seemed that there were was allot of natural food this year. The more natural food they have the harder It Is to get these bear to hit our baits on a consistent basis. I've been bear hunting for 19 years and at least one of us In our hunting party has gotten a bear. This year was a 1st. We were skunked for the very 1st time In the 19 years I've been bear hunting. The baits really never got rolling from day one. We had a few baits getting hit pretty decent before hunting rolled around September 1st but for the most part they were very slow and few and far between. For the people who think baiting bear is too easy, you are inexperienced and uneducated and that's putting It nicely!!! We've proved It year in and year out that Its the farthest thing from a guarantee. Opening night my dad had a 150lb range bear at 12 yards but the bear didn't stick around and give him the shot he wanted. He was there maybe a minute or so and headed out. The following night my dad seen a different bear that was a nicer bear probably weighing In that 200lb+ range but the bear never committed himself to the bait and thus the old man just watched him being he was to far for his longbow (30 yards). The 3rd night Is when things got real interesting for my brother. The bait my brother was sitting on had 2 dandy bear hitting hit. I'm pretty sure the one bear is a B&C bear (21"+ skull) and the other bear is a high 20" skull, allot like the big bear I got, maybe bigger! A few days before this we noticed that the one bear was very light in color from the other one in the infrared pictures that our cuddebacks and my RC60 was taking. That light colored bear finally came Into the bait during the day (4:00 PM) which Is odd being these big guys don't usually do this but anyway we got a picture of him and he's brown as can be which Isn't very common for Minnesota, just a beautiful looking bear. We usually don't get to our stands until about 5:00 pm, he beat my brother to the bait and was gone long before my brother showed up. What I just explained all happened on the 2nd evening of hunting for my brother. The 3rd evening was a hair raiser for him. At about 7:30 that evening browny showed up. He slowly came into the bait which Is about 10 yards from the tree my brother was sitting In. The bear knew he was there, the wind direction switched about an hour before dark and he had my brother pegged the minute he came In to the bait site. He looked up at him countless times and finally when he did present a nice broadside shot my brother pulled his longbow back and the bear darted away. My bro couldn't believe It, he was heart broken thinking he just blew It on a once In a lifetime bear. Low and behold the big bruin came back In and offered another shot but again he spooked! My brother Is thinking what the hell Is going on here, this sucker Is jumpy as hell!! Well It finally got to dark so he just sat himself down on his seat and watched the 300lb+ browny eat at the bait hoping he would leave so he can get out of the woods. I forgot to mention that every time this bear would bolt out he would woof and smack his lips the whole time, that right there was driving my brother nuts, he's a little on the nervous side anyway when bear hunting. 20 minutes after It was dark he thought the bear had walked away from the bait so he decided It was time to slip on out of there and get back to the truck to pick me up 3 miles down the road. My bro does carry a 45 with him when bear hunting, It makes him feel safer, whatever works to keep you comfortable Is what I told him. On his way down the tree he hits the last tree peg and is just about ready to step on the ground and all of a sudden something 10' away woofs at him and starts sto
I'm hearing that from allot of bear hunters so far. Up where I hunt the gas station that registers most of the bear in the area only had 4 registered in 5 days of hunting. Do you go on your own? PM me If you want.
Your right Steve, thats hunting! Sounds like you guys had a good time and your bro had a hunt he will NEVER forget! Time for Whitetails brother!
