Author Topic: I could use a little advice from experienced bear hunters (Read 4442 times)

billy_56081 · « **Reply #30 on:** January 06, 2008, 09:56:48 AM »

All of the calibers you mentioned are absolutely perfect black bear calibers. I would use the rifle that you feel most comfortable shooting. I would also advise using a scope to take advantage of low light shooting. If you need an excuse to buy a new rifle heres your chance. After all like I said the 45-70 is the perfect baited bear rifle. There are lots of other calibers I consider perfect for bears but you don't have to tell that wife that. Good luck and enjoy your hunt.

teddy12b · « **Reply #31 on:** January 06, 2008, 10:14:54 AM »

While I was at a gun store I showed my wife a Marlin 336 30-30 like mine and had her take a look at the size of the hole in the end of the barrel. Then I walked over to the Marlin 1895 45-70 and had her take a look at the hole in the end of that barrel. She looked at me and said that if I think I need a bigger gun I should buy it because she just wants me to come home alive. I bought the gun later and she didn't get mad at all. Pretty glad I married her!

blackbear · « **Reply #32 on:** January 06, 2008, 11:09:50 AM »

That is the most romantic thing I have ever heard. Sniffle

bhod1 · « **Reply #33 on:** January 15, 2008, 04:27:21 PM »

Teddy,

I wouldn't worry too much about the velocity. Most of your baits are going to be around 25 yds or so. That 45/70 with those bullets producing a reasonable velocity will thump any black bear at that range. I have lived in Maine my whole life and have been around a lot of Bear. They just are not the ferocious beast they are sometimes made out to be.

Sorry to hear about the poor experience you had hunting in Maine, bear hunting here can be spotty some years. Depends on how harsh the winter was, how the mast crop come through that fall, and in the fall you just can't get as many bears to bait as you can in the spring. Unfortunately, there is no spring hunting here anymore.

Barry

wyocarp · « **Reply #34 on:** January 23, 2008, 04:55:21 PM »

Okay, I have to wade into this fray. Bear and preditor hunting is just about all I do. I wouldn't take a 30-30 hunting with me but I'm a big bore fanatic and I do a lot of hunting in grizzly country. I have used a Marlin from Wild West Guns in a .457 which shoots the 45-70 round. It is a very accurate rifle. A veteran bear guide in Alaska and I were talking only a couple of weeks ago and he said he likes the .457 when needing to make back up shots on bears after clients make sloppy first shots. And he uses his out to 300 yards. I have had very few experiences where I couldn't get within 20-60 yards to a bear from even very long stalks. And my opinion is that baiting bears is for those who don't want to go out and hunt them. Might as well go to a bear farm.

wyocarp · « **Reply #35 on:** January 23, 2008, 05:03:24 PM »

Teddy, by the way, good work on the rifle buying with the wife looking at the barrel size thing. That was a great gig. Be truthful, you knew you were getting the 45-70 all along didn't you.

teddy12b · « **Reply #36 on:** January 23, 2008, 05:19:06 PM »

Oh you bet I knew I was getting that gun. She did too, just a matter of time. I've only gotten it out to the range once and it was a lot of fun. I've cleaned the barrel out the last two nights just for fun and another chance to play with that gun. That thing is just such a massive powerhouse. I'm still working up loads for the 460gr hard cast gas check rounds. Can hardly wait till after next Halloween and there are plenty of pumpkins around to get rid of.

blackbear · « **Reply #37 on:** January 23, 2008, 05:41:15 PM »

wyocarp, There is no possible way to stalk bear here in Minnesota. Even with baiting, Minnesota still only averages 35% +/- success rate each year. What comments like "shooting fish in a barrel" etc. does is give the PETA and other fanatic groups ammo for their anti-hunting rhetoric. "Even other hunters say baiting is not right." Anti-hunting groups speak without knowledge, hunters should not do the same.

bhod1 · « **Reply #38 on:** January 24, 2008, 05:18:32 PM »

wyocarp,
If you can stalk within 50yds of a black bear in jungle thick woods we have here in Maine than you are a heck of a lot better hunter than I am. I would love to hunt S & S, but you just can't do it here. The forest is just too dense. Don't judge what we do by the norms at your location.

If you can find the bears here and stalk them go for it...

Barry

blackbear · « **Reply #39 on:** January 25, 2008, 04:06:09 AM »

bhod1, Awesome country in your photos. I hunt in huge spruce bog country. Flat with no hills. In over 40 years I have never seen a bear in the woods except when they come in to my bait sites. One or maybe two times a year I see one crossing a road.

wyocarp · « **Reply #40 on:** January 25, 2008, 09:19:20 AM »

I'm sorry guys. I'm not trying to offend. I personally don't like the hunting over bait idea and I don't like shooting bears in a tree and watching them fall through the branches on the way down. I live in Wyoming. I have friends that have hunted all their lives here in Wyoming and in their 50's have never seen a bear in the wild as well other than in Yellowstone. Yet, the very first day I took my son bear hunting, we walked to a ridge overlooking a canyon and spotted a bear 200 yards below us. Bears take a lot of study and asking those who are out in the woods about what they are seeing. That first day, my son and I called that bear and toyed with him a little. We went back a week later and spotted him two miles up the canyon. We stalked him and came out right above him at about 20 yards away. That type of excitement isn't found in baiting or using dogs. I do a lot of calling and if I were in you guys' neck of the woods, I would do that. You haven't lived until you call a bear in to you. Of course you feel like you're going to die.

blackbear · « **Reply #41 on:** January 25, 2008, 10:04:19 AM »

Our bear season opens September 1St. . September 15 +/- archery deer season and grouse season open, meaning more people in the woods. Most bears become nocturnal from that point on. Our terrain is flat for the most part and covered with thick brush and swamp. With full foliage visibility is very limited. I clear a bait site about 20' circle. I do not see the bear until he enters that clearing. When he leaves my clearing he is again out of sight. I shot my last bear at about 20' while I was sitting on the ground with my back against a tree. There is no such thing as spot and stalk here. I would prefer your type of hunting. It is much cheaper and much easier than gathering, mixing, hauling and dumping several thousand pounds of bait to numerous locations over a 4 week period. Your method is also much cheaper. Baiting properly is really hard work. You don't just go dump a dozen donuts on the ground and count the bears that show up. I do it because it is the only way to see bear.

wyocarp · « **Reply #42 on:** January 25, 2008, 10:20:19 AM »

I realize the amount of work involved in baiting. I have baited and it's more work than I want to do.

bhod1 · « **Reply #43 on:** January 26, 2008, 09:55:56 AM »

wyocarp,

Fair enough. What type of call do you use. Whenever I use a predator call like a rabbit squealer, all I get are coyotes or foxes.

blackbear,
These pics were taken a couple hours north of where I live. But they were all I had on hand to make my point. It is definitely bear and moose country there. I live closer to the coast, its just rolling hills, and a lot more people.

Barry

wyocarp · « **Reply #44 on:** January 28, 2008, 07:32:10 AM »

bhod1, just shoot the coyotes and foxes then. That is a problem with blind calling. One never knows what is going to come in. Although I have a lot of mouth calls, I use electronic callers for blind calling for that very reason. The places I hunt, have a number of animals that come to the calls that aren't always Mr. Blackie. Mountain lions, grizz, and wolves. I have a couple of Fox Pro remote units that work well. It takes nerves of steel and a little stupidity to use them though unless I can set up in a tree strand.

bhod1 · « **Reply #45 on:** January 28, 2008, 03:59:40 PM »

Sometimes I do sit in a treestand. It is even worse here because there are places in our forests that you can't see 10ft when you are on the ground. Some of the Pine and Hemlock ridges you may be able to see out 75 - 100 yds in some places, but the predators very seldom venture out into it. They will skirt the edge and try to circle around.

I read on another post you are in Jackson. My wife's cousin and her husband live there. We have been talking about coming out for a visit.

Barry

wyocarp · « **Reply #46 on:** January 29, 2008, 08:58:48 PM »

bhod1, I live mostly in Jackson, but I am from Laramie. You don't have a location on your profile. You should make it out here during spring bear season.

bhod1 · « **Reply #47 on:** February 03, 2008, 02:26:06 PM »

My wife and I are already planning on a trip to New Brunswick. We do need to get out there soon though. I was thinking October would be a nice time to visit Wyoming.

wyocarp · « **Reply #48 on:** February 04, 2008, 11:55:32 AM »

A bear I shot last year with a Marlin in .457 dropped instantly. Didn't have time for a second shot because the bear was already dead.

blackbear · « **Reply #49 on:** February 14, 2008, 02:14:45 PM »

A fellow Marlin man. Do you own others too ?

ihookem · « **Reply #50 on:** February 17, 2008, 03:10:14 PM »

Next bear hunt I think I will use my 12 ga. When I went to Minnesota I was very surprised at the 20's and a few 12 ga. Makes a big hole and I don't have to buy another gun.

blackbear · « **Reply #51 on:** February 17, 2008, 03:31:49 PM »

ihookem, What are you thinking!

Quote from: ihookem on February 17, 2008, 03:10:14 PM

Next bear hunt I think I will use my 12 ga. When I went to Minnesota I was very surprised at the 20's and a few 12 ga. Makes a big hole and I don't have to buy another gun.

"Don't have to buy another gun"

? What makes a man think this way?

ihookem · « **Reply #52 on:** February 17, 2008, 04:50:28 PM »

I don't know for sure. I didn't make much money this month yet so that might be it, but I would buy a 12ga. barrel so I can mount a scope.

blackbear · « **Reply #53 on:** February 17, 2008, 05:22:37 PM »

Just kidding. Sounds like a good excuse to buy a new gun. I am sold on red dot sights for bear. That black background at last light kind of makes crosshairs useless for me.

Country Boy · « **Reply #54 on:** February 19, 2008, 09:11:00 AM »

I don't remember what you decided on but almost anything .35 cal works great for bear. I've taken over 30 bear with a .358 win. and have yet to track one.