Michigan 2022

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Buck11pt24
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Michigan 2022

Unread postby Buck11pt24 » Fri Sep 02, 2022 6:43 am

Anyone else hunting Michigan this year? This is my 4th season in a row baiting in the Newberry unit of Michigan. Our group of family and friends rotate when they get tags. We used to plan for all 1st season tags but this year we are mixing it up a bit. 10 years is too long to wait for a tag. In 2019 we filled 2 of 3 tags and only hunted 4 days that season. 100% shot opportunities. 2020 was 3 kills for 4 tags. Also only hunted 4 days and 100% shot opportunity. In 2021 my son was awarded a 3rd season tag on the transfer tag and we hunted 3 days and he killed his first bear at 9 years old. This year we have 4 tags. My wife with a first season Newberry tag and my dad, a buddy and myself all have 3rd season.

We started baiting on the 23rd and it shocked me that 4 out 5 baits that we ran were hit within 6 hours. I have cell cams on 3 of the baits and before we were home that day, we had bears on camera. Our technique is to bait once a week with as much bait as 3 guys can carry into the spot. At one spot we haul in even more due to the number of bears hitting the bait. 2 of the 3 cell cam baits have pictures of nice bears from 3pm - 6am. The other one had a nice boar on camera for a few days in daylight but has since only hit at night and a sow with 2 cubs has taken over during the day. She doesn't come in at night. Has anyone had any luck going in and running off a sow and cubs? Is it a dumb idea? My thinking was to walk in loudly when I know they are there and make alot of noise to spook them off with the hopes they leave for a few days and the boar hits during the day again. Are they the reason the boar is only at night?

Anyway, here are few pictures of the bears we have hitting. Nothing huge but I have 3x this many more bears on these 3 baits. I believe I have 11 bears on 1 bait alone. It just seems like a perfect year. Leaving Friday night for camp for the week with the wife. I'll update when we return.
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dyeguy1212
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Re: Michigan 2022

Unread postby dyeguy1212 » Fri Sep 02, 2022 9:19 am

I've got a 2nd season tag for Baraga. Have a family friend that spends his summers up there, so he's running bait for me every other day. He also has a tag, which allows us to run 6 bait sites.

2 years ago I drew 1st season. Passed a small bear day 2, and drew my bow way to early on a 350+ pounder day 3. Ate tag soup.
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Re: Michigan 2022

Unread postby ihookem » Mon Sep 05, 2022 11:39 pm

Good idea to go later . I start Wed. Sept 7 and it is forcast to be 80 degrees I wont go 1st season again and would rather see a few less bears and see a better hide . I wish Wisconsin would do 3 seasons. They could hand out a lot more tags and likely get bigger bears and boars instead of sows.
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Uncle Lou
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Re: Michigan 2022

Unread postby Uncle Lou » Tue Sep 06, 2022 5:14 am

Thanks for sharing and good luck. I have a friend that is running two baits in Red Oak after waiting 8 or 9 yrs. I think I have 8 points now and would love to do Newberry next year, but because I have a friend/guide on border of Baraga/Amasa, I might do Amasa. I really want to hunt bear in the Garden Peninsula where I have my place (Newberry unit), but I can't run bait once or twice a week.
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Buck11pt24
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Re: Michigan 2022

Unread postby Buck11pt24 » Fri Sep 09, 2022 11:37 pm

I’ll post more later but this is what took place 22 minutes after we sat down opening day.
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dyeguy1212
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Re: Michigan 2022

Unread postby dyeguy1212 » Sat Sep 10, 2022 11:54 pm

Awesome, congrats!

I've heard more stories of Season 1 opening day success in 2022 than ever before.

A camp down the road went 2 for 3, and they started baiting 4 or 5 days before the opener!

Second season isn't looking as good.. a lot of the bears we had consistent day time action from have went nocturnal or disappeared. Monday should be interesting.
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Uncle Lou
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Re: Michigan 2022

Unread postby Uncle Lou » Tue Sep 13, 2022 11:59 pm

Congrats that looks like a good bear.
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Re: Michigan 2022

Unread postby savageofcedars » Wed Sep 14, 2022 12:17 am

Very cool congrats
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Re: Michigan 2022

Unread postby 218er » Thu Sep 15, 2022 2:55 pm

Nice work!
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Re: Michigan 2022

Unread postby Buck11pt24 » Fri Sep 23, 2022 1:43 am

I'm a bit late on my update. We arrived in camp Friday night with the season opening up on Wednesday the following week. Our baits were completely smashed. It had been an entire week since we were up there last to fill the baits and it was 2 days too long and started to lose some bears. My 10-year-old son and I baited early Saturday morning and we went until Sunday night with no hits at my cell camera sites. I let the baits cool down and went back in on Monday to freshen them up again. All 5 were nearly gone. By Tuesday I would say that 75% of the bears were back and all 5 baits were patternable. The bait my wife was set on hunting had a ton of 150-pounders hitting at all times of the day. There were 11 bears at that bait I believe. Nothing more than 200 pounds at the biggest. My wife liked this bait b/c it was a 150-yard easy walk from the road and had a great cell signal. The bait I wanted her to sit at was a 400-yard nasty walk and had 0 cell signal but had 2 250-pound boars hitting every night. She would be forced to pass up a few 120-150 pounders to get a crack at them.

Ultimately season came and I avoided the argument of making her go to a bait that I knew she would divorce me on after we got home. I asked her how long she wanted to sit and she said no more than 6 hours. From having a cell cam at this bait I knew there were noon, 4pm, 5pm 6pm and 7pm bears. We passed on the noon bears and sat down at 2:08. My son was with us and the blind was a little crowded. We smacked a few mosquitos and made a few texts to buddies who helped me bait prior to the season. I told them they should hear from me at about 4:30.

My son had just made a comment on how they just appear at this bait and that we will never hear them coming. It wasn't 15 seconds later my wife started shaking and stuttered "Oh my Gosh, Oh my Gosh!" I looked up and there was a bear walking straight in. We haven't been in the blind for 20 minutes and I wasn't expecting a bear until 4pm. We had to watch the bear for a few minutes and I knew it was one of the average size bears that were frequent here. She made a great shot at exactly 2:30. 22-minute hunt and started to text my buddies who only minutes before got the text that we just sat down.

We waited 45 minutes b/c of no death moan and walked to the bait and saw a great blood trail. About 50 yards later my wife laid eyes on her first ever black bear. He was live weight at 145 pounds. She was super excited and is looking at getting a pedestal mount for her office. At check in, her bear was the 2nd bear at that registration station of the season. The biologist that took the tooth sample said that for the area we were the average bear they check-in is 120-170 pounds with only a few 300 pounds each year. That was a shock to me but also from my cameras and experience the past 4 years, makes sense.

The following day I hauled as much bait to all 5 sites as I could handle and we left for home.

Saturday the 17th I made my way back up to fill the bait stations. All were gone and had been for many days. It took 2 days but I have bears at 3 of the 5 sites. I pulled 2 of them b/c they stopped getting daylight bears and moved them to a different area and added a 6th. I rebaited yesterday and 5 of the 6 have daylight bears. Opener for us is this Sunday and it's looking like we should be pretty successful. The problem we have right now is that 2 of the youth, including my son, received transfer tags last week. So 5 tags in MI late season is going to be hard. I did get in tough with a hound hunter that I talked to last year and it sounds like he may have some openings in a few weeks in case we need him. I'll update again once I get back from next week's hunt. Good luck everyone.
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Uncle Lou
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Re: Michigan 2022

Unread postby Uncle Lou » Fri Sep 23, 2022 1:05 pm

Buck11pt24 wrote:I'm a bit late on my update. We arrived in camp Friday night with the season opening up on Wednesday the following week. Our baits were completely smashed. It had been an entire week since we were up there last to fill the baits and it was 2 days too long and started to lose some bears. My 10-year-old son and I baited early Saturday morning and we went until Sunday night with no hits at my cell camera sites. I let the baits cool down and went back in on Monday to freshen them up again. All 5 were nearly gone. By Tuesday I would say that 75% of the bears were back and all 5 baits were patternable. The bait my wife was set on hunting had a ton of 150-pounders hitting at all times of the day. There were 11 bears at that bait I believe. Nothing more than 200 pounds at the biggest. My wife liked this bait b/c it was a 150-yard easy walk from the road and had a great cell signal. The bait I wanted her to sit at was a 400-yard nasty walk and had 0 cell signal but had 2 250-pound boars hitting every night. She would be forced to pass up a few 120-150 pounders to get a crack at them.

Ultimately season came and I avoided the argument of making her go to a bait that I knew she would divorce me on after we got home. I asked her how long she wanted to sit and she said no more than 6 hours. From having a cell cam at this bait I knew there were noon, 4pm, 5pm 6pm and 7pm bears. We passed on the noon bears and sat down at 2:08. My son was with us and the blind was a little crowded. We smacked a few mosquitos and made a few texts to buddies who helped me bait prior to the season. I told them they should hear from me at about 4:30.

My son had just made a comment on how they just appear at this bait and that we will never hear them coming. It wasn't 15 seconds later my wife started shaking and stuttered "Oh my Gosh, Oh my Gosh!" I looked up and there was a bear walking straight in. We haven't been in the blind for 20 minutes and I wasn't expecting a bear until 4pm. We had to watch the bear for a few minutes and I knew it was one of the average size bears that were frequent here. She made a great shot at exactly 2:30. 22-minute hunt and started to text my buddies who only minutes before got the text that we just sat down.

We waited 45 minutes b/c of no death moan and walked to the bait and saw a great blood trail. About 50 yards later my wife laid eyes on her first ever black bear. He was live weight at 145 pounds. She was super excited and is looking at getting a pedestal mount for her office. At check in, her bear was the 2nd bear at that registration station of the season. The biologist that took the tooth sample said that for the area we were the average bear they check-in is 120-170 pounds with only a few 300 pounds each year. That was a shock to me but also from my cameras and experience the past 4 years, makes sense.

The following day I hauled as much bait to all 5 sites as I could handle and we left for home.

Saturday the 17th I made my way back up to fill the bait stations. All were gone and had been for many days. It took 2 days but I have bears at 3 of the 5 sites. I pulled 2 of them b/c they stopped getting daylight bears and moved them to a different area and added a 6th. I rebaited yesterday and 5 of the 6 have daylight bears. Opener for us is this Sunday and it's looking like we should be pretty successful. The problem we have right now is that 2 of the youth, including my son, received transfer tags last week. So 5 tags in MI late season is going to be hard. I did get in tough with a hound hunter that I talked to last year and it sounds like he may have some openings in a few weeks in case we need him. I'll update again once I get back from next week's hunt. Good luck everyone.


Thanks for the update, congrats again to your wife on her bear, and good luck.
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Buck11pt24
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Re: Michigan 2022

Unread postby Buck11pt24 » Sat Oct 08, 2022 6:16 am

I'm not real good at keeping up on my forum postings. New to this.

So 4am Saturday the 24th and my son and I are on our way to bear camp. We would be meeting up with my dad, 2 buddies and one of their 16-year-old sons. We had 5 tags among the 6 people in the camp. Check the 6 baits we have out and all but 1 are nearly gone. The 1 that wasn't hit was one I moved and tried a new area that I've never hunted but had cell coverage for the camera. This bait was never hit and I pulled it after it was out 10 days and hadn't had any activity. Out of the remaining 5 baits, 3 looked like for sure easy bears. The other 2 baits were being hit but mostly at night with a few daylight pictures here and there.

Opening day on the 25th, I sat my dad, buddy and a buddy's son at the 3 spots I figured were guaranteed. I sat with my son at a spot that had a lot of bears but very few daylight pictures. The weather sucked and was cold and rainy for the past few days. 6pm my dad texted that he had a bear down. My buddy at the other guaranteed spot also texted just at the end of legal hours with "Bear Down" as well. The 16 yr old was skunked and was a surprise to all of us. My son and I did not see anything that night. The 16 yr old and his dad had to leave camp that night and would return on Friday morning.

Day 2
Now that my Dad had his bear we decided my son would sit with him and hunt the bait that the 16 yr old was at the night before. My buddy decided he was going to sit with me in the blind. On our way to the spot where my son and I sat the night before, we pass by a bait that had a hit at 10am on Saturday and no hits sense. Prior to the cold snap it was a very hot bait with 2 bears hitting daily just before dark. But after the cold snap, they disappeared almost completely. As I'm driving by the bait I slam on the brakes and say "Change of plans, were hunting this one. It's due!" Still cold out and misty rain, we walked back at 3pm with few hopes of seeing anything. 6:20 rolls around and I keep watching my phone knowing that my dad would send us a text sooner or later, and my buddy says "BEAR!" I get ready and he walked about 3 yards in front of the blind from our left. I let him get to the bait and nailed him with the 12 gauge. How quickly things change. We had him drug out and back to camp before dark. My son didn't see a bear that night again.

Day 3
Now what do we do? The "hot" bait has gone cold and the 1 bear that hits it comes in 30 minutes after dark and says til 6:30 am. We check cameras and decide we will hop around a bit and hunt the spot where my dad shot his bear. This spot just happens to be the same spot my wife shot hers during 1st season. It's been hit just after dark a few days within minutes of legal shooting hours. It also just so happens that the other spot where my buddy shot his also had a daylight picture of a small bear but we elected to hunt my dad's anyways. We didn't see anything and the bear hit after dark again.

Day 4
Viewing cameras, no daylight pictures and we elect to hunt my buddies bait and see nothing.

Day 5
Same thing. Nothing and my son has to leave in the morning to head back home. Before leaving he said to make sure to get the 16 yr old a bear an that it's ok if he shoots a bear and he doesn't b/c he shot one last year. Makes me happy he isn't jealous at all.

Day 6
Weather breaks and gets really nice. My son leaves and the 16 yr old is back at camp. I send a text to a guy I met last year who had hounds to see if he was still hunting the area. Luckily he was there for the weekend and didn't have a kill tag and said he would let us know if he got on one. Our baits were finally coming alive again. Daylight pictures at 2 of 5 spots, just so happen we weren't at either.

Day 7
The 16 yr old has today and tomorrow to hunt and that's it for the season. We check baits and the night is looking amazing. As we are checking baits I get a text that the hounds are on a trail and if we would want to join them we were welcome. By the time we met them 30 minutes away, the hounds had it treed. We assessed the situation and decided the bear would be a good first bear for the 16 yr old. It took a bit to figure out how to get a good shot in the tree and down she came. Special thank you to the houndsman out there who helped us.

Tonight my son and I head back up. Before we came home last weekend I put out 8 buckets of bait at 2 of the cell cam locations. They were hit every day in the daylight....until it got cold again 2 days ago. On the positive side, the bears are very active still. We will be also running the mornings with the houndsman that helped us the weekend prior. He has a friend with a tag and might sit at one of my spots for a night hunt if we don't run off the baits. I don't know if we will kill a bear but we are definitely going to have a fun weekend. We will call her quits after this final trip to the UP.

Also if you wonder what we do with the bears, we like the meat. No these aren't big bears at all, but all are considered average for the area we hunt in Michigan. My hide is being given away and will be tanned and placed on the back of a couch. The 2020 bear I shot I gave away and is full body mounted in some guys cabin who doesn't hunt. We try to make sure that nothing goes to waste. We hunt the bears for the experience and meat. If a big one comes in, all the better. If not, the Michigan bears are the best bears I've ever eaten.
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Buck11pt24
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Re: Michigan 2022

Unread postby Buck11pt24 » Wed Oct 12, 2022 7:42 am

Well no luck for my son this past weekend. My baits were very active at night and cameras shows 3-4 days after I dropped the bait was the time to hunt. I see a trend of 3-4 days after a big bait run we have a lot of daylight pictures. Then when the good bait gets eaten then they all move to nighttime. My baits are in locations where hounds have no business running. Big swamps, no roads and a good chance at spending a few days trying to recover your dogs. We did run 1 bear with hounds but got messed up with how many coyotes were in the area. The guy who owned the hounds thought that the hounds started on the bear but eventually cut a track of a coyote. He could tell the difference and showed me how the dogs changed 1/2 way through the trail on his gps. We eventually called off the dogs and sat a bait Saturday night. I felt like there was a decent chance of a daylight bear where we sat but none showed. The next day we decided to pull all of our cameras and blinds and call it a year. Thanks for following along. I'm sure we will have more late-season tags next year. My son's already excited for another chance and is good not killing a bear. In fact we found out that the friend of the guy who owned the hounds had a tag also and had never killed a bear. My boy told him he could shoot the bear that we ran on our bait that day if we caught him.


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