Black Bear Hunting Series
Re-Published with permission from
Virginia Chapter of American Bear Foundation
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https://www.facebook.com/VABearFoundation
https://www.americanbearfoundation.org/
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The Missouri Black Bear is a hunting/conservation group designed to build a real resource for the serious hunters of Missouri. The Missouri Black Bear is the icon species for conservation.
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This may not all apply to Missouri Black Bear hunting, so use your common sense for each series.
Black Bear Hunting Series
Re-Published with permission from
Virginia Chapter of American Bear Foundation
Follow them on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/VABearFoundation
https://www.americanbearfoundation.org/
These are a series originally done by Unbranded Outdoors and shared by Old Dominion Black Bears. It lays the basics for what the black bear is. The other parts of this series and the ones to follow are designed to help make you a better bear hunter by knowing the incredible animal we chase.
Part 2 of Series - Hunting Methods
There are four primary methods of hunting bear across North America; ambush, baiting, hounds, and spot-and-stalk. Each of the four have advantages and disadvantages, and each of the four are essential tools to the management of bear populations. The four are also of equal merit as to the value to the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation and to the fabric of hunting. Whether any of these methods are preferred by you for your pursuits, it is incumbent upon all of us as hunters to recognize and respect the value and the worth of all four methods.
Ambush is a method that is legal in all bear hunting areas. In many ways, it is exactly like the ambush hunting tactics that hunters use for deer or elk; setting up in feeding or watering areas or along travel corridors and waiting for a legal animal to pass by close enough for an ethical shot. For this tactic to be effective, and not mere chance, a hunter has to learn and pattern the bear in the area to determine which food sources they are using at a given time (and when they shift from one to another), where they water, where they likely bed, and what their preferred travel corridors are. Stand location is critical, as is an understanding of wind and air currents; remember that nose a bear has and the discussions of it earlier – you will not beat their nose and no magic potion or device is going to cover you. Think back to how large a bear home range is, too; knowing when to sit and when not to is as critical as any other component for an ambush hunter. A bear might utilize the same trail into and out of an agricultural field twice a day every day for a month, but not visit that area at all outside of that month, or it might visit a certain waterhole once every ten days and not in between. Ambush is statistically the least selective of hunting methods simply because the number of bears observed are lower than other means and observation and shot opportunities are the most likely to be short-lived. For bowhunters and early muzzleloader hunters, as well as firearms hunters who do not utilize hounds, this is the method most utilized in Virginia.
Baiting is not legal in Virginia, but it is one of the primary methods of bear hunting in many regions. Baiting is most often legal in areas where other means of hunting are impractical or impossible (dense forest making spot-and-stalk impossible and ambush unlikely, for example). In those areas, it is a preferred method by wildlife management professionals to manage the bear population. Baiting involves setting various sites across huge areas of land in locations that not only are likely bear travel paths but also in areas where the bait can be reasonably accessed for refreshing and situated in such a way that a hunter can observe the bears at the site and get an ethical shot. There are some easy misconceptions about baiting, being primarily that it is unfair, it is easy, and that it lazy. None of these are accurate. To establish a bait site, a hunter first has to put the time into finding a proper location that offers all of the geographic necessities (bear travel, access, and stand location). That takes effort. Then, the bait has to be acquired, which is not cheap. Bait can be largely anything – as bear will eat almost anything and especially in the spring when bait sites in most regions that permit it are effective. Hauling in hundreds of pounds of bait every other week, or at times every week, takes a lot of effort and expense. Bears will feed on the bait at all hours, not just during legal hunting hours, and even one large bear can consume many pounds of bait each day. The bait does provide the bears that access it with a supplemental food source during a time of need (early spring), and it provides the hunter the opportunity to view numerous bears. This advantage allows the hunter to learn the differences between sows and boars and be very selective in the bear that they take; and often with time to wait for an optimal, ethical shot. It also presents the best opportunity of any hunting methods to potentially view a lot of bears and see up close bear behavior. Where it is legal, baiting provides one of the most selective harvest opportunities for bear management. Of note, though, please be aware that you have literally set a buffet table for bears with an active bait. Be cautious and alert coming into and leaving bait sites; not just for the chance at perhaps encountering a desired bear going to and from, but also because bear that do come to a bait site are intending to feed; a surprise encounter at close range could prove hazardous if you are not alert.
Spot-and-stalk hunting is a method that is primarily centered in the Rockies and with good reason. This method utilizes optics, whether high magnification binoculars or spotting scopes, to observe and study large, open areas in valleys and along ridgelines to find a bear out feeding and then have the hunter move from their vantage point across the terrain until the distance is closed for an ethical shot. Spot-and-stalk depends heavily on open enough country, or large and open breaks in country, where a bear seen out feeding can be reasonably expected to remain there long enough for a hunter to move several hundred to several thousand yards – almost always over broken and rugged terrain – to get within range. It also depends upon predictable or semi-predictable wind patterns so that an errant gust doesn’t get to the bear’s nose before the hunter gets a shot off. For these reasons, spot-and-stalk is generally not an effective means of hunting in the East where vegetation, terrain, and wind are not conducive. However, in more Western areas, this method is especially effective in the spring when bears are out feeding on early season grasses, insects, and small mammals on the first warm southern and western exposure slopes. It is a selective method of hunting as the hunter can often view the bears seen at a distance for considerable time, or perhaps for several days until an opportunity presents itself.
Traditionally, and to this day, the most effective means of hunting bear in the Commonwealth of Virginia and across North America is with the use of hounds. Hounds are a preferred method for the management of bear, especially in places where vegetation and terrain limit or eliminate the effectiveness of ambush or spot-and-stalk, such as the mountains of Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, etc., the northern forests of Maine, and the deep mountains of the northern Rockies. Hounds are often derided as unfair or lazy means of hunting; again, this is inaccurate. A houndsman is responsible for the care and training of their hounds every day of the year; they are as much part of the family as they are a hunting partner. This is an expensive, and extensive, endeavor with many hours and miles going into the training and hundreds of dollars per dog going into food, veterinary care, and tracking and training devices. The hunting of bear with hounds dates back to or before the European settlements, and both Colonists and Native Peoples valued hounds for hunting. That tradition continues today, and on an annual basis more than two-thirds of all successful bear hunters in Virginia report using hounds. Not only are hounds the most effective means of hunting bear in Virginia, they are also the most selective means and one of the most selective means of hunting bear anywhere they are legal. A hunter with hounds can, and many do, determine whether a bear is a boar or a sow, and guesstimate age based upon size and other features to determine whether they want to take that bear. Just as with baiting, this allows for a targeted harvest of older-age-class boars and can help exclude sows and younger bear. Whether a hunter “rigs” hounds from a truck (scenting bear from the dog box in the vehicle and then releasing where permitted), or “tracks” by lead (bringing a pack on foot down a Forest Service road or other conveyance until they strike), it can take hours or days and a lot of miles before a bear is scented that is close enough to pursue. Running with hounds is also an extremely challenging hunt, as bear can and often do cover many miles of rugged terrain before coming to bay or tree; taxing hunters who try to keep up to their limits. Bear, especially large bear, don’t always tree and when they bay on ground or in rocks, it’s a dangerous encounter for hounds and hunter. Even the smaller bear, much more agile and still far stronger than any hound, can be a formidable and deadly adversary. Houndsmen are close-knit, and the extension of generations of houndsmen who know the hills and hollers, hounds, and bear as well or better than any others. Knowledge as well as success can be gained from their company and should be seen as a valuable resource for all bear hunters regardless of method.
A “bonus method” for hunting bear that is not commonly used by hunters, either as a stand-alone method or in conjunction with other methods (especially ambush or spot-and-stalk) is calling. Bear are opportunistic predators and scavengers; they will take a high-value food source like a deer, or a calf, goat, or lamb, when the opportunity arises even if they are not actively hunting that prey. In the spring seasons out West, a fawn distress call can bring a curious, hungry bear in from a considerable distance. In places like Virginia with a fall season only, a deer distress call near an area where bear might have experienced an injured deer before (near a roadway or railway corridor), or in livestock areas a calf, goat, or lamb distress call for the same reasons, can help bring in bear that might not otherwise have ventured close enough. A word of warning, though; remember, any bear that comes to such a call is coming looking for an animal on which to feed. You rung the dinner bell, and the bear is going to come just about exactly to where that call originated. Be careful, and watch closely because if a bear comes in, it can either come in slow and stealthy, or in a rush. Calling from an elevated position is advisable if you can and be cautious on the way out especially if after dark.
No method is perfect; all have their advantages and disadvantages. Each represents an important tool in the management of bear populations across North America, and each are valuable to hunters and hunting. All of them require dedication, hard work, and an understanding of the incredible game animal that is the American Black Bear. Learn them, use them when and where you can and respect each of them.
(Bait site photo credit to Rob Patuto of The Stickbow Chronicles)
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