Bear Hunting Newbie Recommendations?

Bear meat is a way different deal than deer meat. Always have a processor lined up before you go hunting. They will skin it and freeze the hide for the taxidermist.

Congrats on the tag.

I have whacked a few by different means, always a fun adventure.

About all I will add is in my experience once the nuts drop the bears slack off on sweets. I always get well stocked up on nut based trail mix early. Once the bears stop hitting the sweets it’s often hard to find nuts as suppliers are out of stock.

Enjoy the hunt.

WS

TH wrote:

Bear meat is a way different deal than deer meat. Always have a processor lined up before you go hunting. They will skin it and freeze the hide for the taxidermist.

How so? Other than it’s better…

If you can cut up and cape a deer you can do the same with a bear.

Gut it and get it out of the woods asap. Load it in the truck and prop the belly open with a stick. If you have a relatively long drive (say pushing an hour or more) get some ice in the cavity from the closest gas station if there’s one nearby.

Then hang it, skin it and cut it up like you would a deer. If you can cut up a deer, you can cut up a bear, a pig, or a rabbit. All the muscles and bones are in similar places.

Caping or rugging a hide for a mount is similar to a deer. It’s not difficult and anyone can do it.

Another thing worth mentioning is getting a bear out of the woods will be much more challenging than getting a deer out of the woods. I was fortunate and had 4 guys available to help me. My bear was big. We drove 4 wheeler with tilt trailer right next to where I field dressed it. We had to pull it about 6 feet forward onto the trailer. We had it on its back with a guy pulling on each leg. We were unable to do this. We would all pull and it would move an inch. Tied a strap around its chest and used a come along to winch it in trailer. Used my dads skid loader to load it from trailer into pickup. Be prepared for this.

Deer you can gut and hang overnight when rifle hunting. During bear season, it’s warm. Bear have a lot more fat and don’t cool down as easily. I’m warning, don’t gut it and hang it overnight and expect it to be good in the morning. I always cut my own deer. I pay to get my bear into a refrigerator right away. That’s how I see it differently.

I was alone with a large bear. I rolled it with my skid loader and gutted it. I couldn’t drag it an inch, so I just scooped under it with the bucket. Got a little dirt but was able to set it on a trailer. Be prepared to get your car is out!

In WI, it’s illegal to use any fats, oils, meats, fish guts, carcasses, etc. So a friend goes out and fries up a couple pounds of bacon, right on site, using a Coleman stove. Of course his hands get messy in the process so he might end up wiping them off on surrounding trees and stuff, but the act of cooking the bacon in the woods permeates the whole area with bacon scent.

Buddy once described picking up a bear is like handling a garbage bag full of warm jello. There’s just nothing to grab on to. You can pick one up around the chest and 1/2 the bear is still going to be laying on the ground. Otter sled works the best getting them out of woods.

TH wrote:

I was alone with a large bear. I rolled it with my skid loader and gutted it. I couldn’t drag it an inch, so I just scooped under it with the bucket. Got a little dirt but was able to set it on a trailer. Be prepared to get your car is out!

bone it out in the field and pack it out. Throw game bags in chest freezer. Easy. In fact i think its easier than dragging and hanging. Get it all done in one shot and sleep in the next day.

Helped an old guy (friend of a boss) 5 or 6 years ago who shot a bear. He was sitting on a bucket 20 feet from the bait pile. Bear came in, he shot it, then called us for backup since we were relatively close.

We were staying at the bosses lake cabin about 45 mins away and I wasn’t planning on doing anything in the woods as we had been on the lake all weekend. So a couple hours after the shot, it’s now completely dark out. I believe it was 11pm when we got on the track. Ill-prepared and ready to track a bear, I took the lead as I was the best tracker out of the group of 4 guys. The boss also brought his teenage daughter and her friend – more on this later.

I had a half-a$$ flashlight and a pistol as I followed the blood through the swamp… in crocs. From behind, I hear someone answer the phone. I then hear something in front of me, and it’s the bear. It was slumped over some tree limbs looking back at me. I notified the group that the bear was still alive. Then it started growling and got up.

This happened very quickly, the bear got up, faced us, and charged us. I fired 3 or 4 shots quickly along with another one of the guys who was with who also had a sidearm. The situation ended quickly, but I hear yelling from behind me… Turns out, the phone call that was received was from the daughters friends mother checking in. She was on a video call walking and talking to her mom when growling, followed by yelling and gunshots took place. This poor girls mother was freaking out. “You’re never going back to their cabin” It was comical.

Definitely got the blood pumping, but am glad that I was there for it. Moral of the story is just make a good shot…

We drug the bear out of the swamp using the hunters belt and some rope around the rear legs. It sure is fun to make fun of such a poor shot at 20ft with a rifle.

Have a friend to help get the bear out of the woods, or game bags and a good pack to quarter it out and haul out. I actually started doing this with all my deer as it keeps most of the mess in the field and I can easily hang the game bags and move them easily. Also no need to gut the deer if you do the gutless method!