Need advice from the veterans (Black bear)

MadDog

MadDog

Bang Flop <br>Super Moderator
Moderating Team
Rating - 100%
209   0   0
Location
St. Joe's Island, Ont
So tonight I hook the trailer on the four wheeler and throw a sack of corn into the trailer. Grab my trail cam and my 22 (got some porcupines skirting some of my Beeches) and head into the bush. Now to begin with, last week the feed company gave me the wrong stuff. I asked for corn and Sunday when I set up the feeder I open the sack and find some kinda mash swine pellets. So it being Sunday and the feed store closed I dump it all in wondering if the deer would take to it. Now a week later I go in to check the feeder and change it from pig pellets back to corn. I pull up to the feeder and see that my brand new feeder spinner is laying on the ground and broken right off the barrel. I shut the bike off and get off and do a walk about to see whats going on. It was then that I noticed about a dozen piles of bear crap in about a 30 foot circle around the feeder. Probably about an inch and a half around and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. I made the decision not to fill his belly anymore and threw everything back into the trailer of the quad again and fired the bike up. I drove about 20 feet and then saw a good size porcupine sitting onto of a fallen down tree about 50 feet away from me and the tree stand. Oh wait, that ain't a porcupine it's a bears head and he's staring at me. I'm not a real lover of bears when all I've got is a jack knife and a 22. I yelled at him and he just perks his ears up and keeps staring. So I load the 22 and fire a shot off into a stump and he just sits up and keeps looking. Now I'm getting nervous cause this big guy ain't even afraid of the gun so I let one ride over top of his onion and he still just sits there. One final round into the tree and he just saunters off as if it was nothing. Now here's the question: what kind of bear am I dealing with? He doesn't seem afraid of me at all. I'm planning on going after him this coming weekend. It's the opening of deer bow season on the island but I'm goin after bear with a 375 Win. Is this gonna be an easy hunt due to his boldness (stupidity) or was this just a chance meeting and he might not even be there this weekend? I put the trail cam up, hope he doesn't destroy it like my feeder!!!!
 
He was watching over his food source. From your post, it doesn't sound as if he approached you after he noticed you so he probably wasn't predatory nor hyper defensive/aggressive regarding his food source.

He will hang around that feeder as long as there is food or until someone does something to him that he doesn't like.

If you do decide to take him, if the bush is thick I'd go with iron sights only and I'd try to bring a good hunting partner since it sounds like the range might be close.
 
Not thick at all, I can see 300 yds to my left and 100 to my right. It's all maple, the whole lot (100 acres) and it's like a park. The only reason I couldn't see him today is cause he was behind a large fallen down tree. The 99 in 375 Win is topped with a 3-9X Redfield lo-pro but like you say, if I gotta take a quick one maybe I should switch to the 99R in 358. It's not wearing a scope yet, just irons.
 
Yup, h found a bunch of food and was keeping an eye on it. He's not a grizzly on a moose carcass, so it's probably not going to try and kill you. I'd buy a bear tag and go shoot him!:)
 
Should have lots of pics if he doesn't try to eat my trail cam this week. 38-55 is a wimp compared to the 375 Win, same casing only the 375 has a bit more oomph. Now 'm wishin I'd had bought the 250 grs shells that 44bore offered me but the 200 gr should do the job to.

I was just thinking. I wore my black and white checkered hoodie in and my Polaris 500 is black as well. It's a wonder he didn't try to beat the piss outta me, I must have looked like another bear from a distance. Amazing that he just laid there the whole time I drove past him on the trail in, that trailer was justa bouncing and banging. Hopefully if all goes right I've have some nice pics of him laying with a 99 on him next weekend, if not we'll need a new moderator for the hunting section.
 
Was wondering about that but was always told you wanna make a big exit wound on a bear so you can track him if you have to. Always thought that bears winter fat supply closes up a small hole quick. I know I sure don't wanna be walking around in the bush in the dark looking for a wounded bear and it was my fault for not using enough gun.
 
I'd also contemplate rebaiting with some of those swine pellets. I know blackies like oats but I've never heard of them hitting corn. Post pics if you get him. Good Luck.
 
Bears love corn and will travel a long distance to feed on corn if its available...

I am a bear hunter its my first love and yes they can be taken with a 7mm/08. I have taken bears with a .243 but I would hesitate to suggest to anybody they are easier than deer. They have heavy bone and strong robust musculature and can soak up allot of damage if not hit hard and right. Small bears go down fast. Truly big bears can be tough allot tougher than a deer IMO...

Take your 375 it will work great...
 
A really big black bear can be a pretty tough customer, but anything in the .308 class of cartridges and up are fine. I've seen some black bears that were much more tenacious than your average deer!:)

I hate tracking them in brush so most of the time I like a big hole in them.
 
What I meant was "with a proper hit". Bears tend to just "fold" when smacked in the boiler room, and unlike a deer, even a margianally hit BB won't run 5 concessions.

Like I said, I've taken the last dozen with a pistol cartidge, (240 JSP .44 mag) never had ONE run more than 25 yards :)

I just don't think you need to break out the ubermagnums, even for a 400 class bear.... a grizzly is a different story (they just don't seem to know that they are supposed to die when shot :) ), but blackies are like shooting pigs.
 
I know this will bore most of you guys to tears but I found the 30/06 with 180's to be my best bear medicine to date.

That being said I was getting bored so I bought a .375 Ruger to play around with.....
 
Sounds like you have a bear that has lost all fear of humans. That should make him easy to shoot too.
I hope you kept the feeder full, as chances are, he'll hit it again. They are habitual animals.
Get some more of the sweet pig feed, it's probably what drew him in.
 
Ya, I'm gonna pick up some more of that stuff.

P.O.A. ya, I'm not used to seeing them like that, I'm on a small island and the chances of running into a bear on it is slim to none. I'm used to seeing them all the time when I'm hunting up at the moose camp on the mainland but they take off like a scared rabbit if they see you, this one surprised me.

Now, he was still at the feeder when I got to it. He ripped the brand new spinner I had on the bottom (solar charger and all) right off the drum. I didn't know the bear was there so I started to shake the drum around to see if there was anything left in it. I knocked out about a bucket worth of pellets onto the ground and left a bit more in it. I took the rest of my feed back to camp with me cause he broke the feeder. If he finishes off that drum (what little was left) is he gone then? I can't get out there to stock up the feeder till Friday.

Will it take him long to find it again or will he be there again on Saturday if he gets wind of it?
 
MadDog said:
I took the rest of my feed back to camp with me cause he broke the feeder. If he finishes off that drum (what little was left) is he gone then? I can't get out there to stock up the feeder till Friday.

Will it take him long to find it again or will he be there again on Saturday if he gets wind of it?
Click to expand...

Hard to say this time of year. In the spring you'd have a decent chance of baiting him back in, but in the fall bears are really chowin down in order to fatten up for the big sleep. They tend to move more and search out food sources especially if berry crops were poor. It wouldn't hurt to bait up with corn and apples though, if the bear doesn't come back at least you've got your deer bait.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom