Black Bear Hunting In Southern ON 78MWU (No season, and THERE REALLY NEEDS TO BE ONE)

alexanderdj77

alexanderdj77

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East Hawkesbury ON
I am an active hunter in the 78A area. I enjoy the rich hunting of turkey and deer my area has to offer. I have noticed through trail cameras and personal encounters a very large black bear population. We are the few areas in ONT that does not have a open bear season. Our bear numbers are through the roof. I remember when I was just curious to see if this honey burn idea really works. Knowing that there were black bears in the area I had burnt some honey and that particular day was shocked to see how many deer came out that night. Dear season had not yet opened so I decided to try it during deer season, and the following day, saw 7 black bear on the trail cam (which I still have saved) come out in the area where I burnt my honey the night before.

We have so many black bears that it is ridiculous. I had contacted the Aurora district MNR and asked if they would consider allowing the bears season to extend into the 78A area. They had told me that based on there knowledge. There were no or very little bears in that area and a hunting season would wipe them out.

What steps do I take to demonstrate that we have an overage on black bears in the 78A area. The more posts I read the more I feel that when they really do come to there senses that there is a large black bear population it may be out of control.
And the funny part of it is, because there is a very rich farmers diet and no hunting season the bears are an astounding size. I have caught some on my trail cam that looked to be the size of grizzlies the bores that I have caught on cam would easily weight in 500-700lbs.
IN CLOSING WHAT CAN I DO TO HAVE THE MNR REEVALUATE THE BEAR POPULATION AND PERMITT A BEAR SEASON EVEN IF ITS WITH THE BOW, OR EVEN IF A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF TAGS BE ISSUED IN THIS AREA

THANKS
 
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I think awareness will help........have as many people you know call the MNR to report their sightings.... I have family in the area and none of us are aware of this large bear number you speak of.....so awareness should help make your case
 
I hunt in the Uxbridge area and they are plentiful there. Actually the golf course in Uxbridge has bears I have been told. Ten mins North of there is a smorgasbord of bears, I usually see 7 bears to every one deer on cam. I will maybe do a petition. I personally know a farmer that does not welcome bears and due to his large cattle herd had actually brought his tractor to a known bear den and let the diesel exhaust do its work with a large hose.

The calls is a good idea, I run a small business in that area, and do not really want to mix business with pleasure.
 
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In Ontario you can kill a black bear if it is damaging your property, no permit or tag required.... not sure about the legality about doing it in the den though..... regardless, If the bear(s) are causing problems for your farmer friend, he can kill it or he can give you permission to act as a "wildlife agent" on his behalf and kill it for him.... After the kill you must report it to the MNR helping the awareness case... :)
 
I would suspect that MNR uses nuisance bear reports along with the hunter reports to try and get a handle on bear populations. If those two things arent showing much of a population, then I dont think you'll see a season.
 
One of the farmers had called it in. An mnr guy came out granted a pass to hunt the bears, for an entire month they had dropped off from the face of the earth. The second time he showed up based on a few torn tarps and some crops flatted he didn't warrant hunting pass. That's when the farmer executed some harsh farmer justice himself.
I hunt on another property probably about 10 kms from there and those ppl are not farmers they just have a very large house on 100acres and they have 12 different bears that I have seen on cam.

One thing about there the 78a bears they are not really nuisance bears instead they are very respectful and really keep to themselves in the bush, unlike the Northern bears that are rather bolder and nuisances. For the 3 years I have been hunting there only had 3 personal encounters while in my tree stand and ground blind, but hundreds and hundreds of trail cam sightings.

I know from my point of view, they have over turned myground blind numerous times and have taken my rattle antlers into the bush several times. Also not sure if they eat deer but during the early fall you do not come across a lot of deer sightings because the deer yield the right of way to the bears. You also know when a bear is in the close vicinity because it is super quiet. No birds chirping, no squirrels playing , just dead quite. That happens a lot
 
You know I will be the first to admit the bears here are very secretive. Stop by the shop and I will show you cam footage of dozens of different bears here. The deer have been a lot more visible then last year. Last year no one including farmers that work there fields saw any till about late fall and the sightings were very very scarce
 
I'm in 78A a lot, definite bear signs there (reasonably fresh claw marks on trees). never actually seen one, but I was talking to a farmer the other day who said he saw one last spring.
 
KevinM. and I used to hunt up around Apsley area for deer. Plenty of black bears that away! Have the game camera pics to show it too. Couple o bigguns came in to my deer stand in the week before deer season opened (didn't affect the deer coming in, although no bucks while I was in the stand) and I know where the old cottage was on stoney lake there were plenty of black bears there too.
 
200 yds away still in 78A what a normal bear is supposed to look like after coming out of hibernation. I have my cameras running just trying to see if there are any turkey hotspots out there.
If you look closely May 2 6:43-6:44PM you should be able to see two bears. Also the time and date are all correct but the year is off by 7ears..lol..my bad

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Obfuscator said:
I'm in 78A a lot, definite bear signs there (reasonably fresh claw marks on trees). never actually seen one, but I was talking to a farmer the other day who said he saw one last spring.
Click to expand...

ran into a big one this weekend (bout the same size as the ones in the pics on this thread). probably got within 50-60 meters of it...this about 10km north of uxbridge itself
 
Actually that is exactly where these pics were taken approx. 10kms north of Uxbridge. There is no bear shortage here. I have seen 12 different bears in last years camera pics, granted that one was a sow with 3 cubs and another was a sow with 2 cubs
 
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