Bear in Michigan!

MadDog

MadDog

Bang Flop <br>Super Moderator
Moderating Team
Rating - 100%
209   0   0
Location
St. Joe's Island, Ont
Dang, this was by far the coolest thing I've ever done in my life. Took the kids down to the lower peninsula of Michigan this weekend with the wife and our friends (of course the women went shopping). My buddy Don has a friend that lives there and he took us out this morning to run his dogs because it was the last day you could run them for training purposes before turkey opened. Woke up at 5:30 this morning and met Jeff in the parking lot, he had the dogs all loaded and their radio collars on and off we went. Met up with his buddy Frank who also had his 4 dogs with him as well. We let the one dog "Moe" out and he did a few circles around us and all of a sudden started balling and through the bush he went, Jeff then let out two more "River" and "Crew". We waited awhile and Jeff could tell by the pitch that they got on a bear and then they got out of range so we took off in the truck to try to cut them off. About 30 minutes of running around and listening for them we hear Jeffs son Zack yell on the radio that they had a bear treed. Then he says "he's coming back down" and the dogs were off again. The best part is that Jeffs son Zack is 11 years old and is right up there with the dogs and the bear. The bear came out of the first tree, fell on two dogs and rolled around on the ground with them for about 4 or 5 rolls and then took off again and then treed again about 100 yds away. Jeff dumped the box and all the dogs were off. When we finally got in there about 20 minutes later Zack was standing under the tree by the dogs and I looked up to see a 200 pound sow looking back down at me. Jeff said to get the dogs on the leads in case the bear came back down, so here I was trying to take a picture and holding onto 3 Walker hounds at the same time, believe me, this doesn't work. That bear came down and landed not 4 feet from me and high tailed it the other way thank God. Best time I've ever had with my clothes on, and to top it off were bringing Jeff and the dogs up for the weekend to the moose camp in August for bear season!

Here's the not so great pic when the bear came down (no you can't see him).

HPIM0291.JPG


This is when we got back to the trucks.

HPIM0292.JPG


This is "Moe", he got opened up on the nose when he was rolling around with the bear.

HPIM0293.JPG


And this is Zack with his dog "Crew", I watched this dog haul his dad about 10 feet on his heels when we first let him out.

HPIM0295.JPG


All in all I can't wait to run behind these suckers in another 4 months in bear season up here in Canada. ;)
 
I been doing this for about 30 years now. I generally spend about 7 to 9 weeks each summer in Wisconsin during thier training season. I used to guide all kinds of hound hunters here in NWO--not anymore--I do it in Wisconsin. Tell me Joe--How you gonna get around that BMA thing with your buddies from Michigan here in Ont? I'm not saying it can't be done but it is a big hassel. How much is the pursuit liscense in Michigan--it's only $100 in Wisc.
 
K now you got me wonderin, whats the BMA thing?

These guys won't even be carrying a gun so they won't need a bear license, just figured they can run dogs for us, I guess I'd better look into the legalities before Sept and find the loop holes.

And the wierd part is that I've got a C.O. getting me the maps of the area for the hunt for me.:confused:
 
Last edited:
Gun or not Joe the MNR still considers it hunting and they have to have a form 32 along with a non-resident bear liscense. You have to get that through a tourist operator who has a BMA (Bear Management Area) and then you have to kepp those hounds from running off that area.
I've got good dogs but they won't just stop running a bear and the damn bears can't read. That is why I moved all 132 of my clients to Wisconsin--much more user friendly gov't there.
 
Alright I'm learning as we go, I've got a buddy in the same area as me that guides bear hunts and would have no problem giving us a form 32 cause were miles away from his baits.

Secondly, if these dogs go as far as the next area's beside me (W.M.U. 36 and 38) we can pretty much right them off cause they'd be over 40 km's plus to get to them when we let them go.

This guy is more intersted in working his dogs than actually getting game, he cares only about running them and letting his 6 year olds showing his 2 year olds whats what. I told him there were lynx in the area and it really got his juices going, he knew we couldn't shoot them but loved the fact that his dogs might get in a cat, he takes them every year to Montana on Cougar hunts.

My main interest (after watching these dogs work) is to let him get some more training in (thrill of the hunt) and if I got one in the process it would be a bonus.

My C.O. buddy here in town is gonna look into things for me and let me know what it's gonna put us into for cost before we get into it.
 
Looks like you are gettin it together Joe--Like I said it can be done it is just such a pain to cover all the bases with the MNR and then if they decide to change the rules on ya it won't go good for your clients. It's just not worth the hassel for with the MNR for me in this area. I have had some good hunts down at River Valley east of Sudbury and in Quebec around Kipawa. Good Luck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom