2017 bear line up

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dan
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2017 bear line up

Unread postby dan » Tue Sep 12, 2017 12:21 pm

Picks and brief story only. All comments will be deleted. If you shot a bear in 2017 post pic here (if your having issues posting the pic ask me or one of the mods in a pm.


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Re: 2017 bear line up

Unread postby Freelance Bowhunter » Tue Sep 12, 2017 11:08 pm

Okay I'll start.

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Re: 2017 bear line up

Unread postby BassBoysLLP » Wed Sep 13, 2017 2:24 am

One of my most heartfelt hunts. Destination Frog Holler. My oldest son and I came across this spot earlier this year. It had potential. It was on the highland but it held water (and frogs) almost year round. Plus it was surrounded by oak laden ridges. I started this bait site in July. It wasn't a strong producer early but once the acorns started dropping it became red hot. I spent the early part of the season chasing a couple P&Y bears elsewhere, but those sites were on the decline. They peaked with the berries and declined with them. I intentionally allowed this site to stack through the first few days of the season. It didn't have a mega bear, but it held a sure thing.

On Sunday, I baited this site about 10:30 am. Came home, caught up on some yard work, and played with the kids. Headed back to the site around 2 PM only to discover the site had already been hit. It was going to be a good night.

I set up almost directly west of the bait site, slightly north. Wind was out of the SSE. Best bears were wallowing in the hole NW of the bait. Open pocket to my north created a vacuum that pulled my scent slightly easterly. This setup gave the bears confidence to approach before daylight, much like hunting slightly off winds with most big game. However, the wind wasn't steady so I had my doubts the wind would fall and scent would pool last light.

At 3:30 PM ish, I heard a stick snap and saw a good bear coming in from the north. He stopped in some thick cover and just watched. I'm sure he could smell my skin rafts from a couple hours earlier so I did my best to stay still despite a swarm of mosquitoes. After he got comfortable enough, he got a little closer and smelled the site up close. This put the bear at 5 yards, face to face, stare down, heart pumping so hard I think he can hear it. Wind got a little touch and go and I could sense he wasn't comfortable. I thought he was going to bolt. He backed off to about 15 yards on a big high stump, sat down, and observed for about 10 minutes. Finally he relaxed a bit and came a little closer. At 9 yards, I slipped an arrow into him and he ran off into the thick, stopping momentarily after the initial shock of the hit.

Moments later, I heard the death moan so knew it was should be done deal. An hour or so passed I started tracking. And I tracked and tracked and tracked. No blood. I was baffled as it was solid double lung / heart shot.

I then started grid searching in a 400 yard perimeter. I couldn't understand why I couldn't find this bear. He had to be there. No luck. So I walked back to beginning for the fourth time and sat on stump 65 yards north from the last time I saw him thinking about who I should call during the Packer game. I was just trying to replay it all in my head. Where did I screw up? It was then I got the smell of a wet hide. I followed my nose and found him 40 yards from last spot. Moments later I was speechless. Seemingly in shock. A cathartic moment no doubt. It was done. Black bear from the ground with the recurve. Mission accomplished.

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Re: 2017 bear line up

Unread postby swampyak » Wed Sep 20, 2017 3:09 pm

With the dry weather we were having I was having trouble getting any time off from work due to the high fire danger. I looked like I would have only one day off to hunt so that took some of my selective nis out of the hunt. The evening before my day of we got a small amount of rain in the afternoon so I had an opportunity for a short hunt in the evening. The bait I picked had a few different nice bears hit it but nothing very consistent. Well it was a nice evening with no bears sighted. This wasn't overly surprising.

I hoped to get to a different bait early the next morning, but it was the kids first day back to school and they have a tradition of taking pics just before they leave that morning. I decided that I should stay home long enough in the morning to take their pics then head off to the stand. I probable got into the stand around 8am. The wind was barely right for the site. Unfortunately as the morning progressed the wind shifted to strait at the bait. I have a very hard time hunting any stand with the wrong wind, but I knew this would be my only chance to hunt this bait this year. I decided to stick it out until 10:30, enjoy the scenery and forget about the wind (no I didn't have scent lock) There was plenty of activity from the squirrels and the blue jays. The squirrels would stash bait in the trees then the jays would steal it and relocate it.

I then headed home to work on some projects. I loaded my bear sled and ramps incase I was successful. I also wanted to bring a come a long but mine was missing in action.

About 1:30 I headed out to my last bait site for the evening hunt. Unfortunately this bait is on a wma so I couldn't use a camera. I had noticed that a bear had a light trail merging about 100yds from the bait unto my trail. If I had more days to hunt this is were I would have set up. Since I wanted to increase my odds of seeing any bear and not eating tag soup I setup 20yds from the bait.
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Here is a pics from the stand. There is a beaver pond about yrds from the bait. At 5:30 I saw a nice bear coming out of the woods. It hesitated for a second then started to stand up. I decide that it had been a while since I had shot a standing bear so I shot it in the sternum with my muzzleloader, heard it run a short distance then all was quite. I then snuck out of my stand and went and got my pickup that was parked about 1 mile away. When I got back I went and checked on the bear and was happy to see that it had only ran about 20 yds. I then took down my stand and carried it out to the truck, brought the sled back in and proceeded to slooowly drag the bear back out. When I got the bear part way up the ramp I greatly regretted not having my come a long. After many tries more bron than brain won out and it was loaded. I stopped on the way home to close the bait site that I had hunted that morning. I had enough daylight to take pics, skin and quarter the bear. :D By 3am I had all the meat broke down, packaged and put away.
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Re: 2017 bear line up

Unread postby 49bzonebhunter » Thu Sep 21, 2017 10:52 pm

Hunt story - This was the 3rd bait I swapped cards in camera and re-baited on Wednesday morning the opening day for Zone B baitsitters. I left the bait at 8:15 and went back to our trailer to have breakfast and look at all of the pictures. I made the decision to hunt this bait by my uncle after I had over 900 pictures since Saturday and had bears visiting every day during the daylight. My other options were on our property where a sow and cub just moved in (I had them on camera the week before at my uncle's which is about 2 miles away) or on my public land bait where someone started driving their truck down the snowmobile trail in the last week after I was the only one walking back there for months.

I got back out in the stand at 10:00 and the mosquitoes were terrible so I had to use my Thermocell to keep them at bay. Around 10:35 or so, I heard a noise and I got the feeling that a bear was coming so I kept scanning around everywhere trying to figure out where it was going to pop out. It stepped out very close to the bait about 5 minutes later or so. I immediately starting sizing it up and decided it was a shooter after I saw the size of his head and figured it was a boar. I then watched it open up the cover on the bait while waiting for it to turn broadside. As soon as it did, I shot and it took off at a dead run into the thicker woods and within seconds I heard a crash. I waited about 15 minutes and then packed up everything onto my 4 wheeler and headed back to get my uncle to help me get it out. After a short tracking job through some very thick woods, we found it laying at the base of a tree.

Due to the warmth on Wednesday and not wanting the meat to spoil, we were unable to bring it somewhere to get weighed so all we have is an educated guess of 175-200 lbs. It took 3 of us all we had to lift it into the back of my truck so the estimate should be fairly close. While skinning it we also measured it at roughly 57" long from tip of nose to base of tail.

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Re: 2017 bear line up

Unread postby bigbucks1234 » Sun Sep 24, 2017 5:21 pm

[img]20170902_100656.jpg[/img] These are first 3 bear of opener weekend. Pictured on the far left is my youngest son with his first bear at the age of 14. My 74 yr old dad with his 2nd ever bear in the middle and myself on far right with my 2nd ever bear.
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Re: 2017 bear line up

Unread postby bigbucks1234 » Sun Sep 24, 2017 5:31 pm

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Re: 2017 bear line up

Unread postby bigbucks1234 » Sun Sep 24, 2017 6:37 pm

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Re: 2017 bear line up

Unread postby bigbucks1234 » Sun Sep 24, 2017 6:54 pm

This last pic is of my oldest son with his first bear with a bow. It was an awesome bear season for us all to say the least. From gathering bait from months in advance to the baiting itself and capping it off with the hunt. Can't wait to do it again. Just want to say thanks to all the beast members that offer up all this priceless information. It is crazy what is available on this forum. Thanks again Dan and everyone involved!!!!!!
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Re: 2017 bear line up

Unread postby bigbucks1234 » Sun Sep 24, 2017 7:56 pm

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Re: 2017 bear line up

Unread postby strutnrut716 » Tue Sep 26, 2017 3:50 am

Zone B. Started baiting July 6th. Actual hunt was 7 days (Sept 13 to 19). My uncle was on video duty next to me in stand.

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This is the view from the stand. Facing south, just beyond the bait is a marsh. Bear trails were worn down coming from all directions. From the marsh 3 trails came in, all about a sidewalk width wide. Our human entrance/exit is down the middle from under the stand to the bait. This was an incredible stand. For the first 4 days rarely did we go by 2 hours without having a bear come in. And yep, almost all came in totally silent ! I hunted with my uncle who was on camera. Action included bears fighting over the bait, cubs climbing trees , sows running off other bears and sows coming under our ladder. For the first 6 days between this stand and the other 4 we had, all of the large boars had vanished and we had nothing but smaller bears on cam. I actually passed 4 different bears in the 175 to 225 lb range at this site..still waiting for the big boys to show up. I say smaller meaning for my goal of taking one over 300 lbs. We continued to size up bears for the first 6 days because we saw PLENTY !

On day 7 my uncle decided to take a break and was not with me. He actually went gambling with his close friends (predetermined ahead of time). It was the "gamble" he took. My neighbor (who helped "guide" us) had told me the day before that I probably should take one of the 200 lbers I kept passing up. He has seen it many times of boars no longer showing up, off on natural food, etc and hunters either going home empty handed or shooting a small bear in the end. So once my uncle would come back the afternoon of Day 7 I was going to take a 200 lber. They were so regular at this bait. I baited on the morning of Day 7, pulled the cam and lo and behold... In walked a large shooter in the 350-400 lb range at 1245pm yesterday when we weren't there.
I quickly made it out to the stand by 1115am, by myself. I knew my uncle would be mad if I had a shooter coming in and I DIDNT get out there, even without him. Soon the regular bears started showing up. Every 15-30 minutes. As 1230pm arrived I started getting nervous. I actually kept concentrating on my breathing to calm myself. At 1235pm one of the smaller regular bears kept looking back up the middle trail...the same direction I expected the big boy to come from. This small bear did what he always had done, looking out for the bigger bear to chase him off ! The small bear exited at about 1240pm.

1245pm came and passed but I was still on high alert. Then at 1248pm... I hear a bear breathing and also hear the leaves rustle behind me. Coming down the trail exactly as I expected and only 3 minutes late, here a bear comes. I was in such a different world at this point. I remember saying "oh my god its him!" as the bear walked to the bait. Circled the bait once and stood broadside at 20 yards. The top of its back cleared the bait stump so I knew it wasn't little. My gun was already up, I touched the shot off and the bear jumped up, ran west about 40 yards and jumped into the marsh ! I immediately hear a crash, then a brief death moan and then lung blood gurgling. Then silence ! I sat back onto my seat and just shook. I couldn't believe what just happened.

I was happy to call my team of my neighbor, another friend and my uncle who was now back. All arrived to help drag out. I waited for them to arrive before going out into the marsh. As they arrived we go out and I get to the bear first. I was devastated ! This was NOT the big boy that had come in yesterday. I tell this story so that ALL CAN LEARN FROM WHAT I DID !. I was so focused and had it in my mind that because it was the same time and direction it had to be the same big bear as yesterday. I failed to stop, slow down and size up the bear before I shot. If my uncle had been there he may have helped me size up. I was very humbled. This was one of the many 150 lb sized bears we saw so many of over the past week. Half of what I thought ! (It weighed in at 140 lbs)

This was truly a memorable hunt with non stop action. Will never forget this hunt. And.... I wont be waiting 12 years to go anymore. I think zone c is my next adventure !! Thanks to all the big bear guys on this site for all your help. This really has been a learning experience and I've only just begun.

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Re: 2017 bear line up

Unread postby Cervicidal » Fri Sep 29, 2017 2:05 am

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This is the bear I took in the UP near Iron River. We headed up on Thursday aftenoon, scouted through Monday, put baits out Tuesday, and hunted through Saturday.
Not a big bear, but DIY with my bow.
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Re: 2017 bear line up

Unread postby xlee » Fri Sep 29, 2017 4:58 am

I've been following Dan and the Hunting Beast on Youtube for quite some time now. Little did I venture onto the site to read forums but when I did recently, I realized I have been missing out on some good Bear Hunting tips. I spent the last few days going thru all the bear hunting threads and read every single post. Lots of helpful and useful tips. I needed some of those tips, but I stuck it out with pure persistence and was able to put one down this passed Saturday. Here's how my season started:

Last year, after building a few preference points I drew a tag for WI zone c. I got together with a few friends who got tags as well and we teamed up and ran baits on a bunch of public grounds. Like anyone who hunts bears on public land would know, you start out early, get bears on cameras all summer long and come August - 2 weeks out from season opener, more hunters show up, bait sites show up and bears stop hitting the baits. Last year, we had one bait in an area that didn't get much pressure, and only a few nice hunters out there with us and my friend was able to kill one a day after opener, and a week later, on my third sit I killed one off that same bait with my bow. A nice 240lb boar.

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Knowing that, last fall I applied for a zone c tag again, thinking I won't get a tag, but when you apply and don't get one it gives you a point! However, I drew a tag again. I thought something was a bit off with the DNR, but I was happy and determined to do it again. But I did it alone this year and it was tough. I had 4 sites and I started baiting beginning of June. For sure that bait from the previous year was the first bait I set up. Driving over 300 miles every weekend running baits, I had bears all summer long, especially in that bait from the previous year. Had two pairs of sow and cubs, a couple bruins and a few small bears. However, that one bait that I had so much hope and confidence in...went dead about 2 weeks before opener. There were so many new hunters who started baiting in that area and with fresh berries, acorns and human pressure, the bears stopped hitting the bait. I was confused and clueless on what to do. But one of my other baits in a different area had a nice bear coming into the bait in daylight. From 10am - Noon and 5pm-6pm. With only a week left before opener I was planning on sitting on that bait. But when I pulled the SD card on that camera, it captured the bear on camera at 10am...and then it took off, minutes later, dog runners ran dogs thru that bait, literally chasing the bear off. That killed that bait.

The season started and I sat at what was my confidence bait, I saw nothing the first 5 days, 5 full day sits...nothing. Heard and saw a ton of hunters, only hearing a few shots way off in the distance. Over the next two weeks, I ran my baits and hunted mostly the confidence bait and another bait. Those were the only two that had random bears hitting it once or twice a week...at night. After week two, the army of hunters disappeared but the baits were still slow. My other two baits didn't get hit at all within those weeks, but I kept checking and freshening them.

Fast forward to Sept 17th, I ran baits as usual, freshen up the unhit baits with scent, replaced old soggy ones, then hunted my confidence bait with little confidence. Towards the end of the next week, Sept 22nd...a good friend of mine ran baits for me while I was at work. He texted me that, that specific bait (where the dog runners ran the bear off) was completely empty! The next day, Sept 23rd, it was 90 degrees. I had a hunch that I should hunt, why not? I believe when it's hot bears hunker down all day and they get pretty darn hungry and first thing they'll do is go hit the buffet when temps cool down. So my plan was, get up there early, pull the cards and most likely hunt my "confidence" bait.
I didn't get there early...I got there around 2:30pm and pulled the card off that "dog runner" bait. Checked the pictures and there were bears that hit it mid week at night (thus my friend saying it was empty). But I noticed the day before when my friend baited, bears starting showing up at 6:40pm. I also noticed that the bait was completely EMPTY! So I ran back to the truck, grabbed more bait, re-baited it and took off to check the cameras on my other baits. To be honest, this bait is pretty isolated on a small piece of overlooked public ground. I saw only one other human track running baits there but never bumped into him/her.

After checking the other cameras I was disappointed, a sow and cubs hitting my main bait late at night (but it was slowly picking up after all that pressure). I decided to drive back and set up on that "dog runner" bait. By the time I set up it was 5:20pm. With it being so hot (I've been hunting with the bow all season) I decided to take the gun since last thing I wanted was a wounded animal with a bad arrow placement and having the meat go bad over night. 10 minutes later, had a deer snorting me out because I stank with all that running around and hot temps. Long story short, come 6:40pm, I heard super duper light leaves crumbling with constant pauses. I knew that was a bear...after almost 10 minutes, that bear came out of the brush passed the camera. After calming myself down I was able to pull off my shot and the bear dropped within 10 yds. Not the biggest but I am happy and humbled to death!

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Trail Cam pic right before the shot:
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Sorry for the long post, but I just had to tell my story. Good luck to everyone who is still out hunting trying to fill their tag! Be safe!
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Re: 2017 bear line up

Unread postby DEERHUNTER57 » Mon Oct 02, 2017 12:32 pm

Good job sticking it out, the problems you had mirror mine I am having may I ask which county?
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Re: 2017 bear line up

Unread postby Bear Magnum » Wed Oct 11, 2017 1:20 pm

275lb Upper Michigan Boar, October 8th. Never Give Up!

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