A good bear year

Hungry hungry bears in this country this year. I had 3 guests, Nam Vets, with tags here this year all we’re successful. This bear was the smallest of the three at 431lbs on the scale. The other two were 34 and 58 lbs heavier. I do not have permission to show those folks.
I have never seen such lean bears, then again I have one on camera that’s more round than any I have ever seen. Go figure. That round bear and 3 other big framed bears were larger but were nocturnal. I got them to come in early enough to shoot but by that time tags were filled.
After the baits were established, big boars pushed sows and Cubs totally away. Hadn’t seen that before. Great year for new behaviors and learning new tricks.
Osky

Thanks for sharing Osky.

How's it been going?

Hi Steven
Going very good, thanks for asking. You have been well?
Trying to retire but man things just keep popping up.
The only downer lately is running out of Nam guys still energetic enough to come up bear hunting.

Osky

I may have to put a black bear hunt on my bucket list before I get too old to enjoy it one of these years

Give a holler.

Osky

Awesome! Thanks for sharing Osky, glad to see you posting. Always enjoy and appreciate your posts. Chancey

Nice Bear

Thanks guys.
A side note, when I changed over to a new bait mix I suddenly got wolves and bobcats on the cameras. Way more than normal. If I can find the pics I’ll try to post them up. The fellow in this picture and I were together one evening on the stand and watched a lynx come thru as well.

Osky

"After the baits were established, big boars pushed sows and Cubs totally away. Hadn’t seen that before. Great year for new behaviors and learning new tricks.
Osky" <This is the good stuff of Tman.

Been seeing a little sign here. We had a late spring frost but still seeing some soft and hard mast.
I'll be getting a better "view" as the deer rut warms up.
No baiting and no large group to hunt with makes it a "little" different over here.

Your bears you tricked are BIG.

In Minnesota the bear season starts roughly 2 weeks before the small game/grouse seasons. In a typical year the small game hunters really push the bears nocturnal when they begin in the bush here, all the activity and hunting dogs and atv’s. This year however it went the other way. Once the grouse hunters showed up the biggest nocturnal boars were showing up with plenty of evening shooting light.
Some of the reason may have been the bait change, but I believe there is more to it than that.

Osky

One season that comes to mind.
Large bear population with very little fall/winter feed.
They were eating bushels of sumac berries, ferns, and other yuck.
Many did not hibernate that cold winter,
Barns and corn cribs etc were raided heavy.

Take the basic bear behavior book and throw it out for that season.
Sounds like what you are experiencing.

The most successful folks here hunt in large groups, are experienced with one and other, know the area, and push the thickest steepest roughest terrain all day all season. It's work.

Outside of all this COVID nonsense it's been great.

You are like most other Minnesotans with a strong work ethic, ain't never going to,"retire"

Wright it’s pure thick bush here in my area and tags are by limited draw so pushing bears is not really an option. Other areas in the state can be utilized that way along with a more spot and stalk method as well.
Average hunt time was 3.5 evenings tho lesser sized bears were passed on every day.
Osky

Osky, how long does it take to draw a tag in your area? Any of those bears bow kills?

How was the berry/nut crop this year?

Awesome work and looks fun for all those involved. I have to admit I like big bears and I cannot lie.

On a side note, we have a Vietnam memorial in town so maybe I should go down and try to recruit you some folks. I wanted to take my kids to see it since I have no desire to ever go to Washington DC.

https://www.weau.com/2021/09/28/traveling-vietnam-wall-returning-oshkosh/


Also, my sister's father in law (vietnam vet) was out on a disable hunt for deer. When he got to his blind, he found it trashed. This little guy kept circling all afternoon.

We got an inch of rain all summer. There wasn't a berry to be found.

Those are some sizable bear, Osky. That's a heck of an average size, sounds like a season to remember.

Kelly
It takes 4years to draw in my zone..however.. each year tags are drawn at the end of April. Drawn hunters have about 2 months to actually purchase the tags. Tags that go unpaid go up for sale to anyone August 1st at 8:00 am I believe. You purchase online and be quick. I’ve had hunters here who have gotten licenses that way, no points needed.

WI.. I have heard you folks have about a 7 year wait for a tag? In Minnesota fully disabled Vets are allowed a bear tag every year if they want one.

Steven.. absolutely no wild foods here at all. Even the very small and rare pockets of oak did not drop.

Posco… A fact here is the vast percentage of bears killed in Minnesota are barely 200lbs, if even that. That leaves a bunch of big bears for careful patient hunters. The three hunters here this year were patient and super fun folks. What a hoot and two were musicians so my camp was as good time as it gets. Your right this season won’t be for gotten for a lot of goos reasons.

Osky

Very Cool Osky

Well done !

You might find this interesting, it goes along with what you mentioned about the number of smaller and more juvenile bear being taken. One of the young fellas that was hunting with me last year shot a bear I would have guessed to be a three year old. The biologist placed it as a ten year old female. I was really surprised.

Scroll down through this and look at the average age of bear being harvested. https://www.maine.gov/ifw/docs/2020%20Bear%20Age%20Report%20.pdf

Posco
Here is a pretty good chart explaining Minnesota’s bear harvest age. Of course very young males make up the majority, 2 years or younger. The majority of sows taken are about a year older on average. Sows are certainly more skittish around the baits no matter the age.
More time, patience, work, and trickery pays off well bear hunting in Minnesota, kind of like trapping.
Osky

Depends on zone. Either 1, 5 9 or 11 year wait for a tag. A few zones have a couple bear behind each tree.


https://p.widencdn.net/32ez0k/bearstat