Any Ontario bears yet?

W

Workin Man

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Near Coldwater, Ont
I just got back from my farm in WMU 42. I was up there for 4 days to do some repairs on the house. I did manage to get out a few times to try for bear.

I got there too late Friday to get out, so I just parked my butt on a small hill between two hayfields and glassed for a few hours. I saw tons of geese using one field as a roost, but no bears. Saturday I got out and walked a few of the field edges and a bit of the bush, looking for sign. I found a spot where one field meets a particularly dense patch of bush that had bear crap about every 30 or 40' (if you have ever wondered "Does a bear sh!t in the woods?", the answer is they seem to prefer the hay field;) ). Early Sunday afternoon I went back to this spot and dropped some bait, then set myself up in a nearby fenceline. After a few hours a sow with 2 small cubs came out and cleaned up the bait I had dropped. I went back to the same spot with more bait Monday morning, but no luck.

I took a load of garbage to the dump later on in the morning and ended up face to face with a fairly large male bear at less than 20'. The woman at the gate had warned me that there was a bear around, but I wasn't expecting to see him that close!

I'll be going back up in September some time to try again. I'm just wondering how everyone else is making out so far?
 
Didn't the bear season start on August 15th for most WMU's? Bear doesn't seem to be that big in Ontario compared to BC.
 
cereal83 said:
Didn't the bear season start on August 15th for most WMU's? Bear doesn't seem to be that big in Ontario compared to BC.
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it opens august 15th for the northern wmus..

us southerners are stuck with a sept. 1st start date
 
In Ont. fall bear hunting is dependant on the berry crop, if its like it was last year(poor) the bears are out and about and much easier to run into!!
 
Have you seen any evidence of a big one coming to your bait yet GTH? I'm not close enough to the farm to put out bait on a regular basis. I just play the wind and dump some bait in a spot where the wind will carry the scent into the bush, then try to find a spot to hide where the wind won't carry in my scent as well.
 
Workin Man said:
Have you seen any evidence of a big one coming to your bait yet GTH? I'm not close enough to the farm to put out bait on a regular basis. I just play the wind and dump some bait in a spot where the wind will carry the scent into the bush, then try to find a spot to hide where the wind won't carry in my scent as well.
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I'm hunting a friends acreage, and yes there is a big one there. I have seen him twice and my buddy see's him quite often. I say he's around 350lbs, buddy says 450lbs. Hopefully we will get to find out.


I guess I shouldnt say I'm baiting because I'm really not. My buddy lives there so I dont want a wack of bears hanging around his house. We have seen 4 different bears on the property without baiting so we are just dumping some apples here and there to get them used to passing uder the stands. It seems to be working.

I hope to get a bear with the bow, but if he doesnt co-operate I will have my rifle on a hanger in the tree with me.
 
I'm just going to try with the rifle this year. I hope to move up to the farm in a couple of years and then I will have the time to do some proper scouting to get a stand set up to try for one with the crossbow. Good luck, and post some pictures if you get him.
 
I was doing a job for a client with coyote problems and two minutes after turning the caller on a nice black bear ran right out! I was undergunned and out of season.... but the response to the call was very satisfying.
I hope to make some time for a bear hunt this fall.
 
I also hunt WMU42, Nepawassi Lake area. Bears are coming to all three of my bait sites. From what I've seen so far there is only one large bear, likely around 300lbs, with the rest being little guys in the 150 to 200 lbs range. My buddies and I will be hunting in mid-September. With any luck, we'll fill are tags early and spend the rest of the week bird hunting and Musky fishing :D .

Last years results finally back from the taxidermy-man, just hung on the wall...





Measures 5 1\2' nose to tail.
 
i leave in about 30 min for a week of bear hunting i'll let you know when i get back pics and posibly a some video
 
The berry crop is excellent up here this year, I have hardly seen any bears. On a lot trails I can see that anything with fruit (mostly pin cherries) is bent down and half picked......they dont' even know what to do with them, they just move on the next tree, the blueberries have been plentiful too.

I would consider bear hunting if we still had spring season.....I wont' go there.
 
It has been a good growing season. We are heading to the hunt camp in Cageon next weekend . It will be my first bear hunt.. hell my first hunt period!

LOL.. going on a bear hunt.. gonna get a big one.. I'm not scared... ;) :ar15:
 
well the abundance of wild berries,the rain, and the gazillion atv rally riders tearing the bush up for days put a slight damper on our first hunt but where gonna head out again closer to the end of the month to giver another go
oh

good luck Mommabear and watch out for hornets and wasps they can do a number on you*rubs numerous spots still feeling the pain*
 
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