Has anyone here ever delt with releasing a bear out of a foot hold ? I've had them snap my traps , but thankfully their paws were too large . I know the day will come , I trap alone and would like to know the best way and different ideas to get one out, and equipment to carry along to accomplish this .I could see a small one 100 pounds or less not being too bad but a larger one may be a different story !

Contact the DNR for help.

The best tool you need for that is a cell phone with your favorite game wardens number in it .
So they can dart it and release it is a good method up here when setting wolf traps up here I doubt the average fox or coyote trap will hold a bear for very long under normal circumstances but once you make a comment like that it'll happen so never say never ha ha
Allan

Game wardens do it here.

My buddy lives In Northern WI and has released several black bears. He just uses a catch pole. But he said they were all small bears. I would guess that most of your bigger bears would just pull out.

Release

A number of years ago..

Thanks for the video clip DT.

Beav, Im wondering if that issue would be covered in the wolf trapping class ? I could see a K9 extreem holding a bigger bear. I think Ill have to have a talk with the local warden .

Yes It could be a problem with the type of trap. I was trapping In Oconto county and caught a bear well all there was was a catch circle. 2 sets of tracks the sow and her cub. I caught the cub. The thing I would worry about the most That If you caught a cub where would the mother be.

I've caught and released 1 bear over the years....with a choke stick. It was a cub and weighed about 50 lbs. If it had of weighed 51 lbs I couldnt have done it.....

...they are super strong.

Glad we don’t have those here. I am waiting for the legendary Black Panther though!

Eight cents and a shovel, if the warden doesn't answer the phone is definitely an unacceptable option. Am I right?

Or you could release it like a man

The video "Western Coyote Trapping" by Andy Weiser has clips of a bear, wolf and mtn lion release. The mtn lion looked like the worst of the three. More reach and a lot more attitude!

One of the F&T episodes on TV Jeff dunlap released a decent sized bear with a catch pole. It pulled him around pretty good until he could get the trap off. Very strong animal.
Jim

Give em a few more years. Bear population all over south Ga is increasing.

A few years ago, I released a small bear, twice with-in 2 weeks.
I won't do that again.

I released 2 in one morning.

Here is one of them. The catch stick got stuck. I had to kill the sound for YouTube because I said a few choice words.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFeUxdNYmZQ

My thoughts exactly ... catch a cub, where is mama? I would want extra eye in the back of my head.