April 25th -
Awesome at least 6 of 8 chestnut trees are alive from planting last November.
MISSOURI BLACK BEAR MANAGEMENT
Do have unknown photos of 6-30-2018 but can't say either way at Camera 7 - Could be anything.
Hindsight 20/20 - June 19, 2017 - Had a stack of privacy fence and something try to dig in between, the started breaking and ripping boards off no photos of any bears, so can't say for sure.
Just put this camera in this location this year, Custom pole filled with concrete in a bear box, lucky camera and lucky me.
Shows up 34 minutes later on Camera 7 - Guess he was busy eating fish food.
Notice on July 29th, 2018 my Fish Feeder tin guard had teeth marks and was bent back, but also my feeder was almost empty which was strange, figured it was a Raccoon since water level had dropped. Now I know and going to have to make sure spinner still working. This is just photo of fish feeder in 2017.
Lost Valley Lake does not show new shallow area.
Series of photos at this location, looks like he headed thru Watering Hole Food Plot and went up the hill road towards Lost Valley Lake over the hill.
Camera 4 - Location - Watering Hole Food Plot
July 8th, 2018
1st ever Black Bear photos
Camera 4 - Location - Watering Hole Food Plot
July 8th, 2018
1st ever Black Bear photos
Missouri Black Bear Season Management
What to look for when scouting for Black Bear in Missouri in Late September and Early October - Broken White Oak Limbs is a great sign.
Before you cut your White Oaks remember this - White Oak Flats are Bear Havens! - Do consider cutting the trees near the big white oaks give the that prefered white oak more canopy
Pokeweed in October - Pokeweed requires clearings.
Acorns 34% of diet.
Oak Mast most important
20000 calories in a 24-hour period while feeding on acorns
Black bears consume whole and prefer white oaks.
Look for White Oak that are 50 years and older but less than 120 years they tend to produce the most and best acorns.
Bear movements increase in response to acorn abundance, known as the fall shuffle.
Missouri is about to find out why they picked 3rd week of October in 2021 as a season.
BEARS DRINK FREQUENTLY AND ARE USUALLY FOUND IN THE VICINITY OF WATER. Water source in dry areas are. Are some of the best location to find bears.
Home ranges of adults are 5 to 20 square miles. August, September and October feed 18-20 hours a day.
Bear Research I did in 2005 and things to key off of
Post for Hunter's research is from 2005 Arkansas Black Bear Season on public land, no bait.
If it helps one bear hunter in Missouri. Worth the time to post.
White Oaks - Broken Branches on white oak tree are good way to track bears – Follow fresh to old branches.
BIOLOGY AND HABITS
Bears have poor eyesight and have an extraordinary sense of smell.
Older Bears short legs, looks closer to the ground and grove in middle of forehead and short eared.
Younger bear’s have longer legs, longer ears
Body growth among highest in North America
Infanticide by adult male black bears will occur.
Because of the reintroduction of bears was close to the same percentage 23 percent of the Bear now in Arkansas are brown or cinnamon in color in the Ozark Region.
Bear will stand on its hind legs with its nose in the air to scent the wind.
FOOD FOR BEARS
Will dig for roots and rip open logs and stumps for food.
Black bears are rarely vocal, but do have several calls.
Growls and huffs – anger
whining and sniffs
woof – woof- woof – female warning cubs
The cry of a bear cub is similar to that of a human baby.
Bears will eat almost anything.
Soft mass and hard mast in the fall. Acorns and Berries
Weight gain of 1 to 2 pounds per day.
Low human activity – active dawn till dark.
Acorns 34% of diet.
Pokeweed in October
Oak Mast most important
20000 calories in a 24-hour period while feeding on acorns
Bear movements increase in response to acorn abundance, known as the fall shuffle. Their Activity patterns change from being primarily crepuscular (Crepuscular is a term used to describe animals that are primarily active during the twilight. Crepuscular is thus in contrast with diurnal and nocturnal. Crepuscular animals may also be active on a bright moonlit night. Many animals that are casually described as nocturnal are in fact crepuscular. Within the definition of crepuscular are the terms matutinal and vespertine, denoting animals active in the morning (dawn) and evening (dusk) respectively), to nearly continuous activity to forage on acorns.
Localized mast resulting in increased effectiveness of archery hunters.
Black bears consume whole and prefer white oaks.
Look for White Oak that are 50 years and older but less than 120 years they tend to produce the most and best acorns.
Pokeweed requires clearings.
Paw prints in the mud or sand, Bear Scat, Turned over rocks. Claw marks on tree trunks are communication between bears – 3 to 6 feet off of ground are all the different ways to track a black bear in area it uses.
BEARS DRINK FREQUENTLY AND ARE USUALLY FOUND IN THE VICINITY OF WATER. Water source in dry areas are. Are some of the best location to find bears.
Home ranges of adults are 5 to 20 square miles. August, September and October feed 18-20 hours a day.
Calling usually brings in larger bears.
Bear can hear a call up to mile depending on terrain.
White Oak Benches are also great places to find bears.
Bears love to rolling around in beaver castor mounds and beaver is a food source
SURPRISE ENCOUNTERS
Few things I needed to know before going out was stand your ground. Shouting and Bear Spray
HUNTING
Where to aim – Broadside by following the line up the center of the nearside leg to a point 1/3 to ½ up on the chest. Wait for near side leg to move forward. Hunting without bait methods look for main food source – Hilltop ridges with white oak acorns. Clear Cuts from early spring or summer that will have pokeweed also great places.
Varmit Calling if a bear is sighted in the distance.
Outcropping of rock ledges and rock benches (Area on tops that lines are almost together or touching).
If you do have a down bear always approach down bear from uphill. Also a dead bears eyes should be open.
Predator Call – Never quit calling until ready to shoot.
Scents are great to use as long as they are not food based.
Join the FACEBOOK GROUP - Missouri Black Bears this is a group for like-minded individuals of Missouri that want to show growing Missouri Black Bear Population.
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.
Remember that this is a family orientated group, so please keep the post clean and respectful for the whole age group. Members from anywhere are welcome but the focus will be on Missouri.
Updated Missouri Black Bear Maps - Now able to change layers
(aka year range)
2019
2014 thru 2018
2009 thru 2013
2004 thru 2008
https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/report-wildlife-sightings/bear-reports
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Missouri Black Bear Photos Only
Click Here
Arkansas 2020 Black Bear Harvest Map
Arkansas and Missouri Black Bear Population is actually just one Population that also expands into Oklahoma, now reports in Texas and Southern Illinois.
But for Missouri this will help explain why Missouri Zone 1 is the Hot Zone for bears
Map from 2020 Black Bear Harvest.
MISSOURI FIRST BLACK BEAR SEASON
By: Allen “horntagger” Morris
As the Black Bear Population continues to grow and expand across the United States. The first Missouri Black Bear Season is in the history books, Missouri joins 32 other fall bear hunts across the U.S..
This historical 10-day Black Bear season in 2021 for Missouri is as important as the first Missouri wild turkey spring season in 1960, the first modern Missouri deer season in 1944.
All these events happened because of HUNTERS took a stand in 1935, about 75 Missouri hunters met at a hotel in Columbia were disgusted with then the current state of the wildlife regulations controlled by the government and special interest groups, which eventually formed the Missouri Department of Conservation in 1937. Hunters place a value on wildlife, habitat, and conservation. Because of hunters the Black Bear population across the United States continues grow.
Missouri Black Bear Season 2021 – 10 days – October 18 thru 27th. – Population of around 1,000 Black Bears.
MISSOURI BLACK BEAR SEASON BREAKDOWN
This very restrictive and highly regulated Missouri Black Bear started when 6,335 Missourians applied and 400 tags in May of 2021. The quota of 40 Black Bears was set and you had to decide on which Bear Management Zone you were going to apply for. This is a Missouri Residence only hunt and would only occur across Southern Missouri south of the Missouri River.
The very restricted part of the Missouri Black Bear Hunting Regulations is that NO baiting is allowed, NO dogs are allowed, and NO electronic calls are allowed. Also, the season timing is weeks after the acorns start dropping across Southern Missouri
The highly regulated framework included the bears allowed in each zone and if 80% of the quota was reached, they would consider closing the season for that zone before the 10 days were over.
Bear Management Zone 1 – Quota 20 Black Bears – 200 Permits issued
Bear Management Zone 2 – Quota 15 Black Bears – 150 Permits issued
Bear Management Zone 3 – Quota 5 Black Bears – 50 Permits Issued
Only single Black Bears could be taken by hunters, and MDC offered black bear hunting online classes since Missouri residence have never experienced black bear hunting in their lifetime.
Each night at around 10:15 p.m. was updated and the hunters would have to call the 800 number for the Missouri Department of Conservation Black Bear Status to find out current bear taken in Bear Management Zone and if the BMZ was still open or closed.
MISSOURI HUNTERS ARE SUCCESSFUL
Missouri First Historical Black Bear Season totals black bears taken was 12.
Bear Management Zone 1 – 9 Black Bears
Bear Management Zone 2 – 3 Black Bears
Bear Management Zone 3 – 0 Black Bears
Question asked when checking in Black Bear in Missouri – Sex, County, and Method – Reminder to pull tooth for MDC age research.
Current data with 12 of the hunters – 6 black bear boars and 6 black bear sows.
Current data with 12 of the hunters - 11 bears had no ear tags or collars and 1 bear had ear tags and estimated at 5 to 7 years old.
Current data from the Department’s bear biologist reported that they have tagged close to 300 bears in the state since 2010, and there are currently 16 collared bears in the state.
9 - Black Bears - Zone 1
3 - Christian County – 2 Boar, 1 Sow
2 - Webster County – 2 Sow
2 – Douglas County – 1 Boar, 1 Sow
1 - Barry County – 1 Boar
1 – Taney County – 1 Sow
3 - Black Bears – Zone 2
1 – Dent County - 1 Boar
1 – Reynolds County – 1 Boar
1 – Iron County – 1 Sow
History was made with the first bear checked on October 18th, 2021, Est. 250 lb. sow black bear which was taken by John Day in Zone 1, Taney County on private land – No Ear Tag.
2. Unknown Hunter - Zone 1
No. 3 - October 19, 2021 - 250 lb. Sow, B. J. Applegate, Zone 1, Christian County - Mark Twain National Forest – Ear Tag
4. Unknown Hunter – Zone 1
No. 5 – October 19, 2021 – Est. 300 lb. boar, Vincent Seidler, Zone 1 - Douglas County, Private Land, No Ear Tags
No. 6 – October 19, 2021 – Est 230 lbs. Sow, Mike Province, Zone 2 – Iron County, - Mark Twain National Forest – No Ear Tag, which was the first bear in Zone 2,
No. 7 – October 19, 2021 - 387 lbs. Boar, Josh Dotson, Zone 2 - Reynolds County – Private Land – No Ear Tags - Cinnamon colored bear
8. Unknown Hunter – Zone 1
History was made again with the ninth bear checked on October 21, 2021, a 268 lb. boar black bear which was taken by Kelsie Wikoff in Zone 1, Mark Twain National Forest the first female hunter to take a Missouri Black Bear.
10. Unknown Hunter – Zone 2
No. 11 – October 22, 2021 – Est. 500 lbs. Boar, Travis Rasmussen, Zone 1, Barry County, Mark Twain National Forest, No Ear Tags
12. Unknown Hunter – Zone 1
If you look at the BMZ for Missouri then look at the Arkansas black bear harvest map for 2020, which shows high harvest just south of the Missouri state line and Zone 1 in Southwest Missouri is the reason for the higher population and higher success rate in zone 1 for hunters.
THE OLD HISTORY OF MISSOURI BLACK BEAR – OZARKS
BEARS IN THE BOOTHEEL
The old history of black bears in Missouri was the history of high demand.
In September of 1700’s, missionary was descending the Mississippi River. Near what is now Scott County, Missouri, he noted, "To-day we saw over 50 bears, and of all that we killed only four to obtain some fat. Those that came down the Mississippi were lean, and those that came down from the direction of the Ohio were fat."
Bear fat was particularly prized by the early frontiersmen, often rendered into nutritious bear oil for transport and storage.
However, that was not all hunters desired. Bear meat was considered a more preferred, pork-like meat and making bear bacon was common.
While exploring the Missouri River, the men of the Lewis & Clark expedition had a taste for bear. They killed ten to twelve bears on their passage through the state in 1804. Clark reports that on June 7th, in what is now Howard County, Missouri on the north side of the Missouri River, the hunters, "who had given us only deer brought in this evening three bears."
Reports from other parts of the state indicate that bear numbers were equally impressive. In 1819, a traveler wrote "the wild below the Ohio, on both sides of the Mississippi abound with bear".
By the 1830’s large numbers of bear were being taken by hunters in New Madrid County, Missouri along the Mississippi River to protect the "cattle industry" and it was in these isolated wildlands in Missouri’s Bootheel, that the last known population of black bears were thought to have survived.
Other travelers reported that occasional individuals could be found in the Bootheel until the great flood of 1927.
OZARK MOUNTAIN HIGHS AND LOWS
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft traveled through the Ozarks in the winter of 1818. He noted in his journals that bear meat was a staple in the White River region which this river has had dams built and formed lakes like Table Rock Lake and Lake Taneycomo since that time.
A hunter named John Shaw was reported to have killed 300 bears near the southwest corner of the state in 1811. He had the skins and 800 gallons of bear oil to prove it. Another settler in the White River area reportedly had over 1000 pounds of bear bacon stored.
Just like the whitetail deer, wild turkey no wildlife could survive that kind of market hunting pressure and habitat changes by the clear cutting of timber; bear and other wildlife populations plummeted statewide.
Even Arkansas old history the state nickname was the “BEAR STATE” with guesstimates of 50,000 Black Bear in the state at one time.
HISTORY OF THE MISSOURI BLACK BEAR – OZARKS
ONE BLACK BEAR POPULATION of 10,000 in the OZARKS - SPANNING THREE STATES and expanding into others that is the reality, because black bears don’t understand state lines and travel looking for new home ranges. Two tagged Missouri black bears have been taken by hunters in Arkansas.
The Missouri Department of Conservation deserves credit for the management of Black Bears in Missouri from research, data collecting, bear sightings, bear den checks, ear tags, GPS collars and nuisance complaints and numerous public and online meetings.
Missouri black bear was considered extirpated in the 1950’s, The initial black bear population in the Missouri research project in 2012 was around 300 to 350 bears with some DNA testing a remote population in the Mark Twain National Forest still had small population since 1950. Today it is around 1000’s black bears in Missouri.
OKLAHOMA - OZARKS
This is the same path that Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation took for its management of Black Bear Season – FY 2000 - As a starting point the Oklahoma put the population at 450 Black Bears, admittedly a conservatively low number by the Biologist.
Oklahoma had its first black bear season in 2009 and 19 Black Bear were taken on a limit of 20 in one month of hunting in only four counties it was open in. More than 100 bears in the four-county area open to the hunt had been tagged for research or as nuisance bears, and none of them turned up among the 19 killed.
The limit of 20 was set as a conservative harvest, 10 percent, of the most conservative population estimate of 200. With well over 100 marked bears out there, the Oklahoma Biologist say there is a large number of bears if we harvest almost 20 and don't get a single one," "The upper end of that population estimate was 700. Oklahoma Biologist, there's a lot more than that."
With 13 years of Black Bear Hunting FY 2021, the quota, methods, counties have expanded on black bear hunting in Oklahoma and the population estimates are around 2,500 bears.
ARKANSAS - OZARKS
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is the real hero of the success story of black bears.
Reintroduction effort is still, to this day, considered the most successful reintroduction of large carnivores in history in the world. 1950’s before restocking of black bears into Arkansas the population was estimated at 30.
In the late 1950, black bears reintroduction of black bears in the Ouachita and Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. That initial relocation of about 250 bears from northern Minnesota and Manitoba, Canada, turned into thousands of bears in the mountains of Arkansas, which then expanded into southwest Missouri and eastern Oklahoma.
Even the DNA trait 23% of black bears reintroduce where phase color. That still exist today in Arkansas, can be seen in Missouri and Oklahoma. The population went from 280 bears in 1950 and 70 years later along with 41 years of bear hunting. Arkansas is now home of 6,500 Black Bears, with quota increases, and methods expanding, which the Black Bears come in and out of Missouri and Oklahoma and this Region with 10,000 Black Bears.
With the ever-growing population Arkansas averages about 120 nuisance bear complaints a year back in 2015 and Missouri reports several roadkill bears yearly now.
Because of this conservation success story along with huge population expansion and growth. Big black bears and the existence of older population exist today in all three states. A 500 lb. to 600 lb. tranquilized Missouri black bear was recorded during research project. A 600 lb. Missouri black bear hit and killed near Thayer, Missouri. In Arkansas 638 lb., 580 lb. black bears have been taken with the most recent 570 lb. Arkansas black bear in 2020. In Oklahoma a 675 lb. and a 550 lb. Black Bear have been taken by hunters. In the Arkansas black bear research, a 28-year-old female black bear was the oldest bear tagged in Arkansas at one time and was still having cubs at that age.
But the conservation success story does not stop in those three states black bears have been reported in Eastern Texas, Southern Illinois, Southeast Kansas along with Louisiana and Mississippi having reports now.
Corn Damage by Black Bears
Missouri Landowners with Black Bears.
Corn Food Plot might be your only chance!!!!
Your odds are almost impossible without bait.
But with boots on the ground in in New Hampshire and seeing firsthand the sign of bear damage to corn. If I have bears in fall on my property that would be my go-to hunting source.
Black Bear Scat, Black Bear Vomit in which bears will do, so they can continue to eat corn.
Bear Photography
Just like deer and turkey. Great photos will make memories last a lifetime.
As a photo hog. You can never take too many.
Same goes for bears.
This is a Michigan Black Bear and by far my favorite pose black bear pose for a hunter and his black bear. You can move yourself around and decide.
So, take a ton of photos. Then pick best out later.
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Missouri Black Bear Biologist Interview
Review of that podcast.
1. Black Bears travel great distances.
2. Missouri Black Bears are not a island of a bear population, but part of a much larger population in 3 states which is still growing and expanding range.
3. 2010-2012 was first hair snare study that gave a population of 300 to 350 Bears greater than 1 year old using several hundred snares.
4. Den Check on female since 2014 to present. Helps determine the growth and survival rates of cubs and sows.
5. 2019 - 540 to 840 estimated population range.
This model fits historical models from other Black Bear states.
6. 2021 - 600 to 1,000 Black Bear in Missouri estimated range.
7. To keep population range from getting wider as it moves away from first hair snares study.
2022 Spring Hair snares study will start.
8. Hunting in Missouri was very restrictive.
9. With multiple layers of restrictions, including season timing.
10. Spot and Stalk Hunting Bears from other states show that at the high end 12% success rate.
11. Even the success rates depending on state is only 30% with Bait or dogs.
12. Bears live at low density and travel long distance and even over harvest of a 40 Bear quota would have been sustainable.
13. Quota was set even lower which was set very conservative.
14. Including if it reached 80% of quota, they could end season.
If you’re on this page you need to listen.
If you have not listened to it yet.
This covers every single issue of population to hunting in Missouri.
Blood Origins is in Missouri.
#160: Missouri Black Bears || The Science Behind Missouri's First Black Bear Season
: 55 minutes
Sticking with the theme of Bears this week, Jason Sumner, Chief of the Science Division of the Missouri Department of Conservation, and Laura Conley, who was at the time the bear biologist of the state, discuss the Ozark-highland black bear population and more specifically the science behind Missouri’s first-ever regulated black bear hunt in 2021. File away the information in this podcast as its critical information for engaging in discussions on Black Bear management.
LISTEN where you PODCAST:
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/blood-origins/id1543788045?i=1000546485564
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4uWbclA8Z06eVkxX8Y9llc?si=1pEliik1RM2yEW4vNxS_kA&nd=1
Black Bear Hunting Series
November of 2009 – Plant Apple Orchard
Centurty Farm Orchard for apple trees. They sell hundreds of varieties of hetitage/vintage trees. Apples that you can't buy in a store, and are much better apples. Their website lists trees by ripening times, so you can have trees that drop apples in June, to get deer coming early, and trees that drop apples through hunting season. If you want to see apples in the next 10 years, buy grafted trees. Standard size trees take years to produce an apple. I recommend semi dwarf trees.
Always buy trees by caliper size. Let me say that again, always by trees by caliper size ½ is a good size, and, buy grafted trees. That will give you a tree that will produce apples quickly.
Also, you might consider apple trees that are resistent to Cedar Apple Rust. Arkansas Black is Cedar Apple Rust resistant, and holds its apples through deer season.
Va. Beauty and Arkansas Black available. So I order 4 of each.
They did recommend Hewes Crab for a pollinator as it blooms over a longer period of time and produces better fruit. I order two of each grafted.
Also they tell me if this year's trees are like past years, they will be much larger than 1/2" in caliper.
No Deposit and going to mail an invoice in October.
Shipping estimated of $16 and $20 for the entire shipment.
Order came in planted them Thursday before deer season and they came with planting instructions. They also have good video online for prunning and planting.
Always buy trees by caliper size. Let me say that again, always by trees by caliper size ½ is a good size, and, buy grafted trees. That will give you a tree that will produce apples quickly.
Also, you might consider apple trees that are resistent to Cedar Apple Rust. Arkansas Black is Cedar Apple Rust resistant, and holds its apples through deer season.
Va. Beauty and Arkansas Black available. So I order 4 of each.
They did recommend Hewes Crab for a pollinator as it blooms over a longer period of time and produces better fruit. I order two of each grafted.
Also they tell me if this year's trees are like past years, they will be much larger than 1/2" in caliper.
No Deposit and going to mail an invoice in October.
Shipping estimated of $16 and $20 for the entire shipment.
Order came in planted them Thursday before deer season and they came with planting instructions. They also have good video online for prunning and planting.
Hewes Crab (Virgina Crab):
This apple originated in Virginia, most likely during the early 1700’s. Its taste is unique. In most of the south, it is the finest cider apple. It makes a dry cider that is usually mixed with other varieties. Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson knew this apple’s qualities quite well. The fruit is very small, green with a dull red, and a flesh that is firm and acidic. Ripe in September.
Arkansas Black.....Mildly Sweet Firm Eat, Cook, Storage Good About 1870
Mid-October to late-November Drop. Arkansas Black: Originated in Arkansas around 1870. This apple is a good keeper and can best be described as “hard as a brick”. The tree is quite disease resistant. The fruit is a reddish-purple, almost black, with a hard, yellow, crisp flesh. The fruit begins ripening in late October and can be stored well into the winter months.
Virginia Beauty....Mildly Sweet Firm Eating and Cooking Good About 1810
Late September to mid-October Drop. The original tree grew before 1820 in what is today Carroll County in southwestern Virginia. The name implies an attractive apple, but it is also an excellent eating and dessert apple. In 1914, F. H. LaBaume, a Virginia farmer and fruit grower, wrote to the United States Department of Agriculture saying of the Va. Beauty; “ It has a distinctive flavor all of its own that clings to the palate and lingers in the memory for a lifetime.” The tree is known for producing wide branching angles, a trait that aids in producing proper tree structure. Fruit is medium to large with a glossy red or purplish color. Its flesh is greenish-yellow, fine grained, tender, juicy, sweet, and mildly subacid. Ripens in October.
