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Anyone hunting areas with high black bear population?

WISCO

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2022
Messages
445
Location
Northern Wisconsin
I recently had to change to a new property to hunt because my old on is too far of a drive. I've scouted the new property and set up some cameras and discovered this property has an abundance of black bear on it. The old property I hunted I would be lucky to get one bear on camera a year, so I never was concerned about running into them. The new property I am getting tons of black bear pictures and some sows with cubs. I know a little about black bears as far as they are most active early morning and later in the evening, the same time I will be going to and from the stand. I know most black bears with turn tail and run at the sent of a human or if they hear a human, and I know to talk and make sure bears know you are coming to not catch them off guard but making noise isn't what most deer hunters want to do walking into their stands. I plan on getting some bear spray and I always have a sidearm. Do you think walking in with a bright flashlight will be enough to notify bears of my presence or should I be talking as I am moving through the woods? These woods are pretty dense and most of the time you cant see far. Secondly I will be doing some ground blind hunting in this location as a saddle isn't an option all the time, When would you want to notify a bear of your presence if you were sitting in a blind? Would you want to make noise / talk as soon as you see him or do you sit quietly hoping he passes by? If anyone has experience hunting in locations with black bears like this I would sure love to hear your opinions / knowledge.
 

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I grew up hunting in an area with an extremely high density population of black bears, and I have a high experience/familiarity level with black bears (not just pertaining to chance encounters and sightings)... I almost always hunt(ed) from an elevated position, not because of the bears, but rather as a preference. The negative to hunting an area like this is that if a bear knows that you are in the area, there is also the chance that the deer may too. A bear's olfactory sense is greater than that of a deer, but their visual and audible senses are not. I personally would be prepared to intimidate a black bear, but I would not be doing anything to alert them of my presence ahead of time (or unless absolutely necessary). If you are uncomfortable with dealing with bears and/or contact with them, I would be pressed to say that this area might not have a high success rate for deer hunting. The other issue that I have dealt with is game recovery. If you have to leave it lay for a bit, bears will find it pretty fast, and I've had to push several bears off harvests in order to recover them...

This is not meant to discourage you, but maybe to help with your comfort level and what you might want to mentally prepare for. For example, I've had cubs and yearlings come up my tree lol, and the most individual sightings (not the same bears) in one night was 13...
 
Here is my experience.... On public land I have had bears inside bow range while elevated and they always knew I was there but just moves on...
I had a feeder set.on private . I walked in early 1.morning to set a ground blind and try and kill pigs. The feeder was gone and as i walked over to investigate something big and close took off thru the palmettos huff huffing... After looking at the card on the trail camera there was a big sow and 3 cubs bedded down 15 ft from me. Based on trail camera pics once the bear took over the feeder deer still moved thru but never stopped to eat. I think the bears wants an easier meal and the deer knows this but they both know that if deer slips up it can be different story...I have bear/deer interactions on camera almost 7 months straight....I don't think the deer really mind and the bears are more scared of u..
 
My state's official animal is the black bear and we have a lot. They will almost always know you are coming and get out of the way and attacks are rare.

Having said that, I don't want to be the person that gets hurt. We also have a lot of meth heads, which are more dangerous.

I walk in and out with a bright headlamp and have a 45 acp in a chest holster with +p 255 grain hard cast loads (underwood makes great stuff). Make sure you can see, can get to the gun fast, and that you have a good load to punch into the bear.
 
I've hunted, camped, fished, and worked in Northern MN (black bear country) for over a decade. This includes two seasons hunting bears over (legal) bait. Black bears are tough to find an purpose and very rarely found otherwise. Now and again a curious one might try to check you out, especially if you're using scent lures.

They are primarily food-motivated and will raid campsites. If one set of campers leaves food out and a bear finds it, it will return for more food until hazed away, relocated, or killed. If your stand is near a good food source - acorns, hazelnuts, berries, etc., or you're putting out molasses blocks, they're unlikely to check you out. If they do, it's almost certainly out of curiosity, rather than territoriality or other aggression.

Black bears will bluff charge. This can be dramatic, but they almost always stop 2-3 yards short. As I understand it, bluff charges seem to be intended to scare potential threats away from areas cubs are in. They will also make noises to intimidate you.

Black bears rarely attack people, but it has happened. Most of the attacks I've read of involve a bear being startled at close range while feeding, or near cubs. IIRC there was a bad one in Ely some time ago, a bear got into a garage and was happily eating dog food when the unwitting homeowner came out with a garbage bag, and got absolutely clobbered. Your headlamp strategy will almost certainly be sufficient.

Bears are also very curious, especially younger ones. Curious bears are usually pretty easy to run off.

If there is a homeowner near where you hunt who feeds the bears, leaves trash unsecured, sets out bird feeders, or the like, they may think of you as a source of food. If so their approach will likely be persistent but not necessarily aggressive - but can still be terrifying as it's a large, powerful wild animal that probably doesn't intend to kill you, but will happily eat you if you wind up dead somehow. Shouting, thrown rocks, bear spray, etc., will dissuade curious bears; an aggressive bear will be somewhat more determined. In your ground blind scenario, simply letting an approaching bear know that you're there will likely scare away the curious ones. If you have to spray from your blind, get your canister all the way outside the blind window or you'll wind up with a confused bear wondering why you gassed yourself out of your blind. Be very diligent about packing out food wrappers, crumbs, etc. because they will absolutely tear your blind apart to find your Little Debbies.

If you have to shoot a charging animal, you will have a better shot at the vitals if you drop to kneeling; if you shoot down at a charging dog or bear you're likely to hit hindquarters or even behind the animal. In my (limited) experience, .45ACP doesn't penetrate bears as well as 10mm, .357, .44Mag, or even 9mm. Skip the hollowpoints and go for hardcast or jacketed round nose as fast as you can get them.

Note that this just pertains to black bears. Brown bears are a far more large, aggressive, and dangerous topic.

If you can easily get a bear tag I'd recommend trying to fill it. They are delicious.
 
We get pictures of bears multiple times each week, especially in the summer. If you’re in a state that allows bear hunting they will absolutely run well before you arrive if you’re making a reasonable amount of noise.


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Yeah, I would be more amped about a large black bear population than worried about it. Just don't let your deer lay over night to track in the morning. It will be gone. I have hunted and walked back out with blacktails on my back through Kodiak country.
 
I grew up in TN and our area was a bear sanctuary. It wasn’t anything unusual to see 5/6 on a regular day in the stand especially if the white oaks hit hard. Always killed deer but the bears would eat every trail camera and tree stand seat they came across. Have had up to 7 bears in just one photo under the same white oak. Be confident and vigilant
 
I've had 9 different black bears on my cameras this year. Most just pass thru the farm but a few make my foothills home. If I were you, I'd be more concerned for your trail cam safety than anything else. Bears love cameras hanging off trees way more than sticking around stinky human. If they smell you they run. If the cubs smell you they run. That's all I've ever seen out of a black bear and when I say run... They can flat out boogie for a 200-400 pound animal.
But if you're concerned then carry a pistol.
 
I now carry bear spray at the ready when it gets dark. I've had close encounters with black bear on 2 separate occasions in broad daylight, and it was unnerving even with a high powered rifle.

I always felt naked walking in or out in the dark with a rifle or side arm. My perspective is if you get rolled from the side or behind you can't hit what you can't see or point at. At least with the spray you don't have to be precise to get the pepper spray in his nose. IMO.
 
I’m not worried about black bears. I killed 2 bears over the years but other than when I’m actually hunting them I rarely come across any even though there’s plenty of sign around. They do a very good job avoiding people for obvious reasons. They’re long gone before you get near them. If I was hunting in grizzly country well that’s a much different story. At the very least carry spray but a large caliber sidearm is even better.
 
Checked my camera one morning before climbing in my stand (about 70 yards from my stand). There had been a black bear there less than 5 minutes before i pulled the card. I honestly felt a bit better about them being around after that. Have had a few on my cameras each year and have never had any encounters on my way in our out. I do carry a 45 anytime i’m in the woods just in case. Just be diligent and watch for any hazards as normal.
 
Every camera I’ve checked. Scrape, funnel, bedding area for deer: there’s always a black bear close by as well.
 

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Where y’all gettin those huge black bears on camera? most of my visitor are about 175-200lbs. I’m in SE KY.
 
Have seen than many time hunting and kayaking. Only had one experience with a mama and cubs that made me uncomfortable but was probably a decade ago now. Not too concerned I keep an eye out for them.
 
Yeah, I would be more amped about a large black bear population than worried about it. Just don't let your deer lay over night to track in the morning. It will be gone. I have hunted and walked back out with blacktails on my back through Kodiak country.

Unless you’re trying to grow apple trees! I’ve planted 50 since 2018 and almost all have some sort of damage on the tree and/or cage. Bears are curious and destructive.


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Young bears will destroy stuff just for the fun of it. Trail cams, blinds, fruit trees, etc.

But to the OP question, I never made any noise going to stand on my old farm and never had any issues with the bears. I've had a few trail cam pics with bear in one pic and me walking in/out in the very next pic sometimes just a few seconds after the bear and I never knew it was there.
 
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