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Black Bear 2008

I have decided to tell this story in the form of a journal because a major part of this hunt will be the preparation of the bait site etc. Go to the bottom for the most recent entry.

July 23rd: Starting to make plans for our 2008 season. Just got good news from AR Fish and Game, we can start hunting bear with archery equipment September 15th this year. Can't wait!

We will be getting Bear baits out Sept. 1st. I have some fish and Elk bones in the freezer ready to go. I also plan on buying some surplus honey from my new neighbor hoefully that will draw them in.

All the reports are saying more bear then ever before, I think that is why the season is opening up early this year.

August 26th 2008: I got the new hunting hand book today, they not only moved up archery bear season but they moved the first legal day to bait bear from Sept. 1st to August 15th. Soon as I seen this I made plans to get some Yogi food out the next day. My daughter thinks I should use picnic baskets.

I did get 25# of dog food, 2 elk thigh bones, and a couple of bass put out for the critters to enjoy. I had to pack everything in on my back because my 4 wheeler is in the shop. Also I couldn't find the board I was using to cover the barrel. Without the board over the top any animal can get in the barrel.

September 16th 2008: Monday(9/15) was the first day of archery bear season. We worked hard on Saturday and dragged Jeffs camper out to the lease before Huracane IKE hit. It sounded like Sunday was going to be a wash out. I woke up to blue skies Sunday morning so I got ready and headed back to the lease. It was a beautiful day, I ran around checking stands and hunting coons. I also did a honey burn at the stand I wanted to hunt the next morning. None of our baits have been hit by bear, alot of coons.

When I got up Monday morning I could see my breath it was so cold and of course I didn't bring warm gear. Didn't see any sign of bear but it sure was great getting in the stand again.

Febuary 28th 2009:

Another Bear season comes to an end, no bear. We did have a few hits on the bait stations but no sightings.

Arkansas Black Bear

Fall 2007



 
 

Sept. 15th: My friend and boss Jeff Morris and I have been talking about a small lease (290acres) that he discovered was available in north/central Arkansas. Jeff wasn't able to get up there so my little hunting buddy and I made the trip to look around.

I was able to get on the lease with help of a member of the neighboring lease, Mark. He was also very helpful in giving me much information about the area. He reported not large quantities of deer but the area does hold some good bucks. He also said the turkey numbers are fair. The big news was they had a very good Black Bear population. They have got pictures of 8 or 9 different bears on their trail cameras. That was all I needed to hear, I was sold.

Sept. 17th: I reported back to Jeff with the information and my impressions of the area. Jeff decided to give it a try for a year and asked me if I would join him in this lease. Jeff, myself, and our families will be the only hunters on this lease, I have been very excited all week.

Baiting for bears is allowed in Arkansas on private land so I have been checking into baiting methods and supplies. I had a plastic barrel at home that I drilled vent holes all around and I also attached a chain that I can wrap around a tree so hopefully the bears won't drag it off. I have also been checking out the local stores for bait. I would like to find some bake goods and large cans of pie filling or syrup, something sweet at a reasonable price. No luck so far.

We have a lot of work ahead of us to learn the area, get stands and bait stations put out, but like I said I am very excited about this new challenge.

Sept. 22th: Jeff, myself, and one of our other co-workers, Mike packed up all our bear bait and headed up to Yell county. The weather was clear with the promise of turning warm. We got to the lease and drove though the gate a short ways and decided to stop and start scouting. West just off the road we found a small pond and sign of beaver, coon and deer. In the moist ground we could clearly see the tracks of fawns, medium deer and what looked to be a pretty heavy deer.

Looking on the aerial maps it looked like a pond or slew east of the road so we decided to head that way to see what we could see. Sure enough a few hundred yards back the woods opened up to reveal a beautiful slew maybe 3-4 acres. We also found a lot of critter sign.

After our little hike we got back in the trucks and decided to find the lease boundary. We drove south and found a clear cut and a steep winding road. Just east of the bottom of the hill was the SW corner of our lease. We backtracked up the hill and drove down the old trail that I had discovered on my first visit to the lease. It started getting pretty rough but we drove back maybe .5 mile until we were in a beautiful little gulch with clear running water (pictured above). We could see signs of game trails down both sides of the gulch. We decided this would be a great place for bear bait.



 
 

Our setup was a plastic barrel chained to a tree with a board across the top and rocks adding weight. We put corn, sweet oats, fruit loops, apple pie filling, cookies, maple syrup and Buck fuel in the barrel. We also spread corn and sweet oats around the outside of the barrel and poured bacon grease over the top. I then threw canned Salmon in some small trees and sprayed Vanilla all around. Sure smelled good.

Heading back to the main road we found a great place for a camp and another place for a bait site. This one we used 5 gallon buckets with paw sized holes cut towards the bottom. These buckets had most of the same stuff as the barrel but Jeff also added some Hog Wild and spread around some canned cat food. Jeff also hung game cameras at both bait sites.

We ended the day?s tasks by going back to the slew and hanging some deer feeders with corn and sweet oats. We got a lot done but it also opened up new ideas of what more needs to be done. Next trip we will be hanging stands, cutting out the camp site and much more exploring. Maybe the most important item, checking the bait sites, hopefully we will have some pictures to share!


Sept. 29th: We all headed out to the lease, anxious to see if our baits had been hit and if we had any pictures. The hanging buckets were tore up and the camera had 250+ pictures. The barrel wasn't knocked over but the camera had 490 pictures. Turned out all 490 pictures were of the barrel. The pictures at the bucket bait site were all at night and not real clear. But it was plain to see many raccoons were involved. Although some pictures had what looked to be bear paws reaching into the buckets. Not a bad start.



 
 

We spent most of the day cutting out the campsite and hanging stands. We put up 3 ladder stands and 1 tripod.

The deer feeder down in the slough had been cleaned out, we re-filled it and by Monday it was empty again.

We also did some exploring and found some more possible stand sites.

November 2007We ended our season without seeing a bear. However we did have a bear hit my barrel with authority. Jeff and his son were in camp one night well after dark when they heard something playing ping pong with my barrel. Jeff didn't think it was a good idea to investagate in the dark. Had to of been a bear, the way I had the barrel set nothing else could of knocked it around like that.

We didn't see any Bear but we sure learned alot and should be ready for Bear season 2008.





Black Bear Hunt in the Big Horn Mts. of WY.

Sept. 15+16th 2003

I just got back from hunting with Al Martin owner of Beaver Trap outfitters of Dayton, Wy. I have been talking with Al since last spring about a bear hunt. I found Al's camp high(9000ft) in the Big Horn mountains about 40 miles from Sheridan, Wyoming. The camp was full of Moose and Elk hunters, I was the only Bear hunter. An archer did take a bear the previous week and had reported a bigger bear he couldn't get a shot at.

The guides reported the bait was getting hit every day. I was ready to go but they only hunted bear in the evening, so we waited until 3:15 to leave camp for the 45 minute truck ride to the top of Dry Fork. From the top of Dry Fork we rode ATV about 3 miles down the gulch and then we walked up the mountain side about 1.5 miles to the bait site. Needless to say with the thin air and the uphill hike I thought my lungs were going to explode.

Monday night one of Al's guides, who went by the name Bing took me to the bait site. Bing checked the bait, it had been hit all the donuts were gone. This bear never touched the meat. The guides could tell it was a good bear by his paw print and the imprint of his butt were he sat to eat his donuts. We were set up by 4:30, we watched the bait till it was too dark to see, around 7:45 pm.

I talked with the guides that night I found out they put the bait out around noon everyday. Instead of sitting in camp all day I decided to go out by myself on Tuesday right after they put out the baits. Tuesday I found the bait site and got up the mountain right at 12 noon.

I settled in behind a couple of deadfalls with a good view, 75yds from the bait. I expected to be there all day. I was day dreaming, laying down behind the logs checking the bait once in a while. At 1:10 I glanced at the bait when I thought I was seeing things, this large pure black bear came tearing out of the woods focused on those donuts in the bait barrel. He stood on the log batting at the logs covering the barrel when I shot hitting him behind the front shoulder. He shuddered and ran in the woods. I waited 15 minutes and went to the bait to follow the blood trail. There was no blood around the bait site, I started a search patteren out from the bait, no blood. I was pretty sure I hit him? I finally found one patch of blood on a deadfall and there lay a pure black Boar around 225-250 lbs. It was a great hunt.

I seen this Bear track the first morning of a Spring hunt in Montana's Yellowstone River Valley. This is as close as I got.



 
 
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