Bear hunters-Am I wrong?

News Shooter

News Shooter

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I'm watching this canned bear hunt on Outdoor Channel. They basically fill up a drum with twinkies and when the bear has his head buried in the drum they blow him away from a protected tree stand.

I have no problem hunting bears or any other game, but this just seems a little lame to me. It doesn't strike me as hunting. It seems to me that if you are going after something that magnificent you ought to at least get on his level.

I'm not criticizing, just wondering if I'm out to lunch on this.
 
Cross-X said:
Make it a fair fight. Arm the bears, then bait away...
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The obligatory "Right to Arm Bears" image:

Right_to_Arm_Bears_by_jack_fremont.jpg
 
so much for the concept of Sportsmanship.

Unless it is a hunt to remove problem bears who have wandered into civilization and can not be relocated or rehabilitated then I say it is BS hunting.
 
Sounds more like bear shooting than bear hunting.

I never quite got the sport out of the private hunting preserves out west that let you sit in a tree stand and pick the deer/antelop/whatever you want out of the herd and fire away.
 
Bear hunting presents difficult problems.

The carrying capacity of the land for bear is much smaller than with an animal like deer. Meaning that even when the land is overpopulated there are not a lot of animals out there and they are difficult to find. In addition they are not easy to pattern naturally. Consequently there are two methods used to harvest enough animals to control the populations. Baiting and hunting with dogs. Are they the most sporting? Probably not but they are the most effective for the purpose hunting serves as determined by just about all state wildlife agencies.
 
arlow said:
Bear hunting presents difficult problems.

The carrying capacity of the land for bear is much smaller than with an animal like deer. Meaning that even when the land is overpopulated there are not a lot of animals out there and they are difficult to find. In addition they are not easy to pattern naturally. Consequently there are two methods used to harvest enough animals to control the populations. Baiting and hunting with dogs. Are they the most sporting? Probably not but they are the most effective for the purpose hunting serves as determined by just about all state wildlife agencies.
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OK, I'll buy that. But what about in the case of the Quebec hunts where population control isn't an issue?
 
arlow said:
Bear hunting presents difficult problems.

The carrying capacity of the land for bear is much smaller than with an animal like deer. Meaning that even when the land is overpopulated there are not a lot of animals out there and they are difficult to find. In addition they are not easy to pattern naturally. Consequently there are two methods used to harvest enough animals to control the populations. Baiting and hunting with dogs. Are they the most sporting? Probably not but they are the most effective for the purpose hunting serves as determined by just about all state wildlife agencies.
Click to expand...

+1 this is very true. If thats what people want to do and it is permitted by laws made by the people, then I have no issues with it. Would I do it, you bet your ass I would, but I would use my bow and not a gun.
 
News Shooter said:
OK, I'll buy that. But what about in the case of the Quebec hunts where population control isn't an issue?
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Population control is always somewhat of an issue. But besides that in the thick northern forests the only effective means of harvest are either enticeing them to you or chasing them down with dogs and cornering them. In someplaces like british columbia and Alaska the terrain is open enough that spot and stalk tactics are used effectively. Here in the north east is is simply too thickly forested to be able to do that.
 
Yeah, it is kind of silly. I guess you can buy some ducks and blast them with a shotgun in the garage and call it duck hunting too.

The easy way to get a bear is to call up your corn farmer friend, set up a tree stand next to where he says he has a "problem" bear, and blast away when he shows up.

In states where you can use dogs, AND you are in incredibly good running shape, you can get one that way.

Failing those options, it is a real challenge to find one! Bears like to hunt at night! But you can not hunt at night. So, you try to get into the woods before sunrise, or just after sunset, hunt that 45 minutes, and try to find one running up or down the ridge line to their food source. You might be able to call one in with a predator call, if you do not mind possibly becoming the menu.

In a good mast year, you might find one lounging in a beach tree.

In MA, you are not supposed to use ANY scent to draw one in. No burnt honey or bacon!

It is a real challenge. But a lot of fun too.
 
I have been bear hunting in maine for a few years now, without dogs or bait. I havent even seen one! I just refuse to to get a bear like that.
 
The canned "As Seen On TV" hunts aren't hunts at all in my book - it's just killing. Having been raised by my grandfather in the woods, I learned to hunt - to study, track, pursue and harvest an animal. Filling a drum with donuts and bacon grease, then sitting in an elevated tool shed and shooting a bear through the window is hardly hunting....
 
News Shooter said:
I'm watching this canned bear hunt on Outdoor Channel. They basically fill up a drum with twinkies and when the bear has his head buried in the drum they blow him away from a protected tree stand.

I have no problem hunting bears or any other game, but this just seems a little lame to me. It doesn't strike me as hunting. It seems to me that if you are going after something that magnificent you ought to at least get on his level.

I'm not criticizing, just wondering if I'm out to lunch on this.
Click to expand...


Totally with you on that. To me, it's lame. Same as hunting deer over food plots. A need for culling may be one thing, but culling isn't hunting.

Let me just toss this in here too, merely as a point of reference:
http://www.hsus.org/wildlife_abuse/campaigns/bears/
 
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I would rather never see a bear in my the entire life then shoot as it eats Twinkies out of a barrel, sorry just not my thing.
 
MMF said:
I have been bear hunting in maine for a few years now, without dogs or bait. I havent even seen one! I just refuse to to get a bear like that.
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I have seen 3 in western MA, but for various reasons could not get a clean/legal shot off. All 3 were either just around sunrise or just after sunset. You can hunt all day long in the middle of the day--I call it hiking/exercise instead of hunting though. The bears mostly sleep then!

Saw one in NH when not hunting, and that was in the middle of the day. He was rooting around in a steam bed.
 
What would be even better would be to have someone in the barrel with a revolver under all the twinkies, and pop out when the bear comes and starts snacking. Now that would be a fair fight! Up close and personal!
 
pupchow said:
Let me just toss this in here too, merely as a point of reference:
http://www.hsus.org/wildlife_abuse/campaigns/bears/
Click to expand...


HSUS is the largest anti hunting organization on this planet. They want to not only eliminate all hunting but also all pet ownership and animal use as foodstock. Looking to them for an unbiased opinion on any hunting method is like asking Courtney Love if Drugs are bad. [thinking]
 
Squished said:
What would be even better would be to have someone in the barrel with a revolver under all the twinkies, and pop out when the bear comes and starts snacking. Now that would be a fair fight! Up close and personal!
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Yah maybe i could stick a twinkie on the end of a .44 mag and just wait for one
 
MMF said:
Yah maybe i could stick a twinkie on the end of a .44 mag and just wait for one
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You'd be arrested in MA for "Attempting to silence a firearm with a twinkie." Check the MA laws, I'm sure it mentions somewhere twinkies can't be used as silencers.
 
Squished said:
You'd be arrested in MA for "Attempting to silence a firearm with a twinkie." Check the MA laws, I'm sure it mentions somewhere twinkies can't be used as silencers.
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IANAL but I think you would be good if you hollowed out the white frosting.
 
arlow said:
HSUS is the largest anti hunting organization on this planet. They want to not only eliminate all hunting but also all pet ownership and animal use as foodstock. Looking to them for an unbiased opinion on any hunting method is like asking Courtney Love if Drugs are bad. [thinking]
Click to expand...

Oh, I'm not saying I'm agreeing with any of their stances. Just exposing some of what's out there -- I had just found them out.

"If you know yourself but not your enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat." - Sun Tzu
 

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