Going bear hunting tomorrow

[BabaBooey]

Hope you miss.

only if you are standing next to the bear.....:awe:

 

[HannibalX]

12 Gauge 000 buckshot. It will be about a 15-30 yard shot if I see it.

You're braver than I.

 

[olds]

Bear meat is too greasy for my tastes.
I have no issues with bear hunters except for the "hunters" that track them with dogs with radio collars then shoot the bear out of a tree.
In that case, I always roots for the bear to eat the hunters.

 

[HannibalX]

Bear meat is too greasy for my tastes.
I have no issues with bear hunters except for the "hunters" that track them with dogs with radio collars then shoot the bear out of a tree.
In that case, I always roots for the bear to eat the hunters.

I have come across very few actual hunters. Most people like to sit in a nice comfy spot with food and drink for eight to ten hours, wait for something to walk in front of them and call it hunting. That isn't hunting.

 

[DrPizza]

Bear meat is too greasy for my tastes.
I have no issues with bear hunters except for the "hunters" that track them with dogs with radio collars then shoot the bear out of a tree.
In that case, I always roots for the bear to eat the hunters.

Agreed. That's not fair chase. Dogs are illegal for hunting bears in NY. I'll be out tomorrow morning doing the same thing. I see bears along the PA/NY border every year. Maybe this will be the year a really big one walks along side me while I'm in the mood to shoot a really big bear.

Biggest I've seen was roughly 450 pounds, less than 5 yards from me. Closest has been 3 feet, running by with her cub. THAT was really cool. No eye contact made - she was fleeing a couple guys on dirt bikes & just happened to go up the trail I had been walking down. Fortunately I was leaning against a tree on the edge of the trail; she apparently never even noticed me.

Best shot opportunity was a medium sized bear, under my tree stand about 25 feet away during archery season, quartering away from me. She had a cub with her so of course I didn't shoot. The other two very close encounters, I was hunting small game. #6 shot would just piss off a bear. Oh, and I'll be using 3" shells (magnum load), slugs, 12 gauge. I'm confident to about 100 yards. I know I could reach out to 200 yards, but I don't practice enough at that range to take such a shot - I don't shoot unless I'm 100% sure it's a kill shot. And, I've turned down several opportunities to shoot smaller sized bears that were alone. Ultimate goal: 400lb + bear, archery, from the ground.

 

[moshquerade]

bear meat is great jerked (course ground salt + course ground pepper + brownulated sugar rub) (no innuendos intended) and then grilled

 

[DrPizza]

I have come across very few actual hunters. Most people like to sit in a nice comfy spot with food and drink for eight to ten hours, wait for something to walk in front of them and call it hunting. That isn't hunting.

Semi-agreed. But many of those hunters have spent dozens of hours scouting for the place where they sit. I have several spots that I found by tracking deer in the snow at the beginning of the season - learning their escape routes, etc. When idiot hunters are out there walking around (the people I infer you think are "actual" hunters), they push the deer right to me.

When rather than sitting around for hours waiting, a large group of people decides to put on drives - dozens of guys spread out a half mile wide, whooping and hollaring as they noisly walk through the woods, chasing every living thing toward a group of people waiting with more guns to be gunned down en masse, I don't call that hunting either. Well, it's hunting; it's just not fair pursuit.

 

[Vonkhan]

rooting for the bear

 

[HannibalX]

Semi-agreed. But many of those hunters have spent dozens of hours scouting for the place where they sit. I have several spots that I found by tracking deer in the snow at the beginning of the season - learning their escape routes, etc. When idiot hunters are out there walking around (the people I infer you think are "actual" hunters), they push the deer right to me.

When rather than sitting around for hours waiting, a large group of people decides to put on drives - dozens of guys spread out a half mile wide, whooping and hollaring as they noisly walk through the woods, chasing every living thing toward a group of people waiting with more guns to be gunned down en masse, I don't call that hunting either. Well, it's hunting; it's just not fair pursuit.

I'll give you an example of what I don't consider hunting. I used to live in Middle Tennessee on the Cumberland Plateau. Every fall and winter we would get people driving from Nashville, east into the mountains to "hunt". They come to our parks, drive their pickup trunks INTO the mountains as far as the roads take them, get out, walk 30 feet and find a place to sit for the next eight-ten hours. You can be sure that very few, if anyone within a couple square miles of these "hunters" will get anything because of all the noise they are making. They dump their trash without regard to anyone, make new trails through the forests when there are perfectly fine existing trails and every so often one of them will get a deer – and then all 20 of them stand behind it in the group photo of them “hunting”. All of these nuts are dressed from head to toe in Walmart camo, don't know how to handle a rifle safely, and would literally DIE in the mountains if they had to stay there for a week without Walmart or McDonald's. These are not hunters - but, these people make up the majority of people who call themselves "hunters".

Then, there are hunting clubs, where you pay a membership fee to gain entrance where the animal population is strictly controlled, bred and fed. You get driven to your own "deer stand" where you again get to don your Walmart camo and sit for eight to ten hours - except everyone gets a deer here because the landscape is fenced off into "killing zones" the size of a football field or so - a deer comes into the zone, it doesn't come out – there’s no way out! This is also not hunting. Hunt clubs have all kinds of animals to shoot, like various birds – all with clipped wings of course.

I don’t hunt, as I’ve said. I have no moral objection to it and have hunted in the past, but today, I don’t. Mostly because I don’t find it interesting or rewarding for the effort I put into it. I love being outside in the mountains, I hike, I camp, I fish, etc. For me hunting, real hunting, takes more time than I’m willing to spend and rather than become one of the pseudo hunters I talked about above, I simply choose not to.

 

[FoBoT]

 

[spidey07]

Super mod gets super thread win!

 

[krylon]

Shake that bear!

 

[Crono]

Don't forget to take this guy with you:

 

[fisheerman]

I'll give you an example of what I don't consider hunting. I used to live in Middle Tennessee on the Cumberland Plateau. Every fall and winter we would get people driving from Nashville, east into the mountains to "hunt". They come to our parks, drive their pickup trunks INTO the mountains as far as the roads take them, get out, walk 30 feet and find a place to sit for the next eight-ten hours. You can be sure that very few, if anyone within a couple square miles of these "hunters" will get anything because of all the noise they are making. They dump their trash without regard to anyone, make new trails through the forests when there are perfectly fine existing trails and every so often one of them will get a deer – and then all 20 of them stand behind it in the group photo of them “hunting”. All of these nuts are dressed from head to toe in Walmart camo, don't know how to handle a rifle safely, and would literally DIE in the mountains if they had to stay there for a week without Walmart or McDonald's. These are not hunters - but, these people make up the majority of people who call themselves "hunters".

Then, there are hunting clubs, where you pay a membership fee to gain entrance where the animal population is strictly controlled, bred and fed. You get driven to your own "deer stand" where you again get to don your Walmart camo and sit for eight to ten hours - except everyone gets a deer here because the landscape is fenced off into "killing zones" the size of a football field or so - a deer comes into the zone, it doesn't come out – there’s no way out! This is also not hunting. Hunt clubs have all kinds of animals to shoot, like various birds – all with clipped wings of course.

I don’t hunt, as I’ve said. I have no moral objection to it and have hunted in the past, but today, I don’t. Mostly because I don’t find it interesting or rewarding for the effort I put into it. I love being outside in the mountains, I hike, I camp, I fish, etc. For me hunting, real hunting, takes more time than I’m willing to spend and rather than become one of the pseudo hunters I talked about above, I simply choose not to.

I agree on most of your points but just like anything you have to take the good with the bad as long as it is legal within the law. Although I am not personnally against dog hunting (deer or bear) I choose not to do that as I enjoy the time scouting, hiking etc in order to get myself into a position to get a "shoot of a lifetime". I literally try to hunt in some form everyday during deer and bear season. Maybe one or two days most a week go by that I don't spend in the woods. Before the season I do a lot of prep work for the hunt or talking with other locals (hunters/farmers) to determine how the season is going to be, stand placement etc.

The bears I am hunting I have literally been 15 ft from in the past 2 weeks. Had a nice shot opening day at a huge sow but she had a tag along. The cub (not really a cub) was a shootable by law (over 75 pounds) but I choose not to. I respect what I hunt and don't take anything that I am able to do for granted. I think I hate hunter wannabes worse than anyone. But I understand the desire I just think a lot of people have a more social agenda when it comes to hunting then actually being out in nature and figuring out animals real habits.

just my thoughts.

 

[Alienwho]

This reminds me of a buddy I had from Wyoming. This guy was an avid bow hunter. He was the navy seal/outdoorsman type. The first thing he would do in the morning and last thing he would do at night was 3 sets of 200 pushups.

One day while he was hunting with his dad and brother, they encountered a huge bear. I don't remember what kind of bear off the top of my head, brown or grizzly I think.

The bear was aggressive and they all took off running in different directions. It was a very heavily wooded area with thick brush and I guess they all lost the bear. A few minutes later they were walking back to their designated meeting spot and as my buddy walked up he saw his brother standing still a few dozen yards ahead facing him. He looked to the side and saw the bear was just standing their staring at his brother on his hind legs.

The bear started to roar and slash its hands in the air, fixated on the brother. My buddy grabbed his axe and ran full speed at the bear and took a giant swing and drilled it square in the back of the neck. No decapitation, but the axe made it about 1/3 of the way through and dropped the bear where it stood.

Here's the kicker, his dad had a video camera and walked in on the action and got the whole thing on video. I didn't believe him until he showed me the video for himself. This happened in 2002 and I saw the video tape of it at his house years ago, so sorry I can't point any of you to it. I don't even think they have the internet in Wyoming yet.

 

[fisheerman]

Update:

Got up a 4 in the am and was in the stand by 4:30. About 6 just at first shooting light a bear came down the field but it had another bear in tow. It was a full grown cub (about 150 lbs) that was still with her. Biggest bear I have seen still attached.

Didn't see the big boar that had been coming into the same field. Going try again this week. Saw a couple of nice deer though but I am waiting for blackpowder to come in on the 12th to get one of those.

-fish

 

[TecHNooB]

All our bears are sleeping

lol

 

[Vonkhan]

WHY would you wanna shoot a bear unless it was posing a threat to you?

 

[sourceninja]

I used to hunt as a kid, but now I"m too impressed with the beauty of nature. Maybe if I was starving I'd change my mind.

 

[fisheerman]

WHY would you wanna shoot a bear unless it was posing a threat to you?

Take your pick.

cause i can

overpopulation

cause its legal

I enjoy it

I bought a license that said I can

It is still a free country

I like the taste of bear meat

 

[tk149]

My coworker killed a bear. He gave everybody in the department some bear meat. It tasted good. He said that you only get to kill one bear every 5 years or so.

Good luck!

 

[caddlad]

WHY would you wanna shoot a bear unless it was posing a threat to you?

1) To remind myself that dinner doesn't materialize in the meat counter conveniently wrapped in space age polymers.

2) It's healthy to look your dinner in the eye. To not do so advances the pussification and general slothfulness of this over emo'ed society.