BWCA Bear Hunt
- Octang
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BWCA Bear Hunt
I just got back from my bear hunt in Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area. I can honestly say it was the most challenging hunt of my life. I tackled the hunt with my brother 'n law, who oddly enough is pretty afraid of black bear (he wouldn't step out of the canoe to help me set up my stand and was very worried about bear attacking us at night).
We arrived at the BWCA in the late afternoon last Thursday and were greeted with a monster portage we completely underestimated. My canoe hauler was simply no match for the narrow mile long portage featuring rocks, hills, swamps, mud, and deep standing water. Transfering all of our gear turned into a momentous three hour ordeal that stretched beyond the last glimmer of sunlight. When we had finally reached the other side we anxiously paddled in the dark to the only campsite on the lake, eternally grateful to find it vacant.
We set up camp for the night, and the following morning we navigated deeper into the Boundary Waters, traversing 2 more smaller portages and made it to the lake where we would spend the remainder of our trip.
Despite being Labor Day weekend, we had the entire lake to ourselves and barely saw any paddlers making their way thru the lake (maybe 1 per day). We spent the first day scouting and I honed in on a low lying area between two hills that would work for any of the predominate winds. It looked like ideal bear habitate and any wind direction except an east wind should blow my honey burn scent into great bear habitate.
I learned a few things about honey burns during the hunt:
My honey burns seemed to last 1 hour per 8oz of honey/oil with a Coleman burner set to low.
2 of the 4 nights my burns ended up bursting into a fire at some point as overflow(i assume) would combust.
I used honey, sardines, koolaid, bacon grease and leftover oil from our lunch fish fries.
If I were to do a honey burn again I would not use a Coleman propane burner, since even its lowest setting seemed to be too hot, but rather sterno canisters.
If I were to use a Coleman burner I would use a MUCH steeper sided pot (my current one has 6" sides)
On the third day, I climbed into my stand and within 30 minutes of sitting there I heard big branches breaking. I knew there was a big animal nearby. Shortly thereafter I heard what I initially thought sounded like my predator call (an animal in distress) but after listening for a while I came to the conclusion it was an angry animal, not a dying animal. A bobcat perhaps? Pretty quickly afterwards I heard what was making it angry... an equally angry bear. It was growling and snarling, and this continued off and on for about an hour 20-50 yards away from me. I had my gun ready to fire multiple times expecting at any second a bear would tumble through the dense brush into the clearing in front of me. Unfortunately, this was the only night of my hunt where there was an east wind. None of my honey burn was being blown towards the bear. I had my predator call in my pocket and I was REALLY tempted to use it, but i was sitting on a rock 15 ft above my honey burn with very dense brush around me. If the already angry bear decided to respond to my call and come up from my side or behind, I would not see him until he was within a few feet of me. It turns out I don't have big enough cahoneys for that.
The weather also continued to worsen during the sit. I endured multiple downpours and not only was I soaked to the bone, my brother n law was chilling in the canoe out in the bay by himself waiting for me to finish the hunt. Finally, the wind rapidly picked up and the horizon looked even more ominous and I decided to call off the hunt for the night. In hindsight I kinda wish I sat it out, but I felt bad about my brother n law waiting out in the storm.
I climbed out of my stand and made my way to the shore line where I signaled my brother n law to come get me. Once I was in the canoe I pulled out my call and wailed on it a few times. Almost instantly a very large black bear appeared from the bushes 20 yards away from where I climbed in the canoe moments earlier. Before I could raise my gun he spotted us as humans and turned and ran. The gig was up.
The following day I had one last chance at him, the weather cooperated and the wind was perfect but he never appeared. Though every inch of me wanted to harvest him, part of me was relieved I wouldn't have to carry a bear over those monster portages, and I was simply thankful for the epic experience the night before. My hunts may aim for trophies, but I am really in it for the adventure, and it was epic.
Despite the inherent challenging of hunting the BWCA, I think shooting a bear up there is quite feasible if you have the time to commit. I am fairly confident if I had 7-10 days I would have certainly brought home a bear, but possibly I only needed 1 more night, who knows?
We arrived at the BWCA in the late afternoon last Thursday and were greeted with a monster portage we completely underestimated. My canoe hauler was simply no match for the narrow mile long portage featuring rocks, hills, swamps, mud, and deep standing water. Transfering all of our gear turned into a momentous three hour ordeal that stretched beyond the last glimmer of sunlight. When we had finally reached the other side we anxiously paddled in the dark to the only campsite on the lake, eternally grateful to find it vacant.
We set up camp for the night, and the following morning we navigated deeper into the Boundary Waters, traversing 2 more smaller portages and made it to the lake where we would spend the remainder of our trip.
Despite being Labor Day weekend, we had the entire lake to ourselves and barely saw any paddlers making their way thru the lake (maybe 1 per day). We spent the first day scouting and I honed in on a low lying area between two hills that would work for any of the predominate winds. It looked like ideal bear habitate and any wind direction except an east wind should blow my honey burn scent into great bear habitate.
I learned a few things about honey burns during the hunt:
My honey burns seemed to last 1 hour per 8oz of honey/oil with a Coleman burner set to low.
2 of the 4 nights my burns ended up bursting into a fire at some point as overflow(i assume) would combust.
I used honey, sardines, koolaid, bacon grease and leftover oil from our lunch fish fries.
If I were to do a honey burn again I would not use a Coleman propane burner, since even its lowest setting seemed to be too hot, but rather sterno canisters.
If I were to use a Coleman burner I would use a MUCH steeper sided pot (my current one has 6" sides)
On the third day, I climbed into my stand and within 30 minutes of sitting there I heard big branches breaking. I knew there was a big animal nearby. Shortly thereafter I heard what I initially thought sounded like my predator call (an animal in distress) but after listening for a while I came to the conclusion it was an angry animal, not a dying animal. A bobcat perhaps? Pretty quickly afterwards I heard what was making it angry... an equally angry bear. It was growling and snarling, and this continued off and on for about an hour 20-50 yards away from me. I had my gun ready to fire multiple times expecting at any second a bear would tumble through the dense brush into the clearing in front of me. Unfortunately, this was the only night of my hunt where there was an east wind. None of my honey burn was being blown towards the bear. I had my predator call in my pocket and I was REALLY tempted to use it, but i was sitting on a rock 15 ft above my honey burn with very dense brush around me. If the already angry bear decided to respond to my call and come up from my side or behind, I would not see him until he was within a few feet of me. It turns out I don't have big enough cahoneys for that.
The weather also continued to worsen during the sit. I endured multiple downpours and not only was I soaked to the bone, my brother n law was chilling in the canoe out in the bay by himself waiting for me to finish the hunt. Finally, the wind rapidly picked up and the horizon looked even more ominous and I decided to call off the hunt for the night. In hindsight I kinda wish I sat it out, but I felt bad about my brother n law waiting out in the storm.
I climbed out of my stand and made my way to the shore line where I signaled my brother n law to come get me. Once I was in the canoe I pulled out my call and wailed on it a few times. Almost instantly a very large black bear appeared from the bushes 20 yards away from where I climbed in the canoe moments earlier. Before I could raise my gun he spotted us as humans and turned and ran. The gig was up.
The following day I had one last chance at him, the weather cooperated and the wind was perfect but he never appeared. Though every inch of me wanted to harvest him, part of me was relieved I wouldn't have to carry a bear over those monster portages, and I was simply thankful for the epic experience the night before. My hunts may aim for trophies, but I am really in it for the adventure, and it was epic.
Despite the inherent challenging of hunting the BWCA, I think shooting a bear up there is quite feasible if you have the time to commit. I am fairly confident if I had 7-10 days I would have certainly brought home a bear, but possibly I only needed 1 more night, who knows?
Last edited by Octang on Thu Sep 07, 2017 11:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
- stash59
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- john1984
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Re: BWCA Bear Hunt
20 yards away...... that had to of been very cool or icing on the cake. Thanks for sharing your adventure
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Re: BWCA Bear Hunt
Thanks for sharing
- Dewey
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Re: BWCA Bear Hunt
Awesome
- BenVW
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Re: BWCA Bear Hunt
Sounds like a good time ! What zone is the BWCA?
- Octang
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Re: BWCA Bear Hunt
BenVW wrote:Sounds like a good time ! What zone is the BWCA?
It is zone 22.
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Re: BWCA Bear Hunt
If you don't mind what entry point did you use and/or what lake did you base camp at? I've been on fishing trips to the bwca 4 times and love it there. I can't get enough of it. Catching the smallies on top water lures in the wilderness is too much fun. I've been thinking of bear hunting up there next season and have done a bunch of research. I'm thinking of trying the sawbill lake area or around entry point 36 to 39 just because I'm familiar with the area. I was also wondering if you could leave fish remains as a bait. The regs state to put remains of fish far away from camp, or would it be part of the "Leave no trace" policy?
- Jackson Marsh
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Re: BWCA Bear Hunt
Sounds like an awesome trip!
- tgreeno
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Re: BWCA Bear Hunt
Definitely sounded like alot of fun!
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It's better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid, than to open it an remove all doubt
It's better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid, than to open it an remove all doubt
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Re: BWCA Bear Hunt
Sounds like a great adventure. If I ever get the chance, I do not think I would go the way of doing honey burns, I think I would do all scents. I think most bears area afraid of fire and smoke. Would love to try it some day. How hard was it to draw a permit?
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Re: BWCA Bear Hunt
Sounds like a lot of fun and I'm sure getting a bear that way is a real longshot. Just seeing one is surprising actually.
I can see the appeal, though, because of the BWCA being what it is. Thanks for sharing your story.
I can see the appeal, though, because of the BWCA being what it is. Thanks for sharing your story.
- Octang
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Re: BWCA Bear Hunt
dan wrote:Sounds like a great adventure. If I ever get the chance, I do not think I would go the way of doing honey burns, I think I would do all scents. I think most bears area afraid of fire and smoke. Would love to try it some day. How hard was it to draw a permit?
I really hope you give it a try sometime, it is quite an adventure. Draw odds are great, something like 98%.
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