Spring Bear is around the corner. My previous experience & looking for advice...

Jay

Jay

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Hey Guys;

My wife & I have only shot one bear each before. She harvested a boar, and I harvested a sow. They were both small bears, around 125 or 150 lbs, and they were good eating! So, we are thinking of going to visit friends in NB and harvest a couple spring bears, with an outfitter, for sausage!!!

Which brings me to my question...

I watched the bear in question for over 30 minutes at the bait. I watched it stand up several times to lick a honey jar positioned to allow you to have a good look at the belly, and, I made the decision to shoot the bear when I didn't see what looked like 'udders' on the belly.

To me, now AND at the time, I felt confident that the bear did not have cubs. BUT... The experience with the two DNR officers still makes me upset, because they were they were using A LOT of force trying to express milk from the female bear I had harvested. I wish I had a video of it, I assure you it would be eye opening!

Anyone else have a simular experience? What do you guys do when looking a bear over? Keep in mind here that we are not looking for trophy bears, not that we wouldn't take a big bear, just that our main goal is to harvest a bear for the table.

Cheers
Jay
 
Jay said:
Hey Guys;

My wife & I have only shot one bear each before. She harvested a boar, and I harvested a sow. They were both small bears, around 125 or 150 lbs, and they were good eating! So, we are thinking of going to visit friends in NB and harvest a couple spring bears, with an outfitter, for sausage!!!

Which brings me to my question...

I watched the bear in question for over 30 minutes at the bait. I watched it stand up several times to lick a honey jar positioned to allow you to have a good look at the belly, and, I made the decision to shoot the bear when I didn't see what looked like 'udders' on the belly.

To me, now AND at the time, I felt confident that the bear did not have cubs. BUT... The experience with the two DNR officers still makes me upset, because they were they were using A LOT of force trying to express milk from the female bear I had harvested. I wish I had a video of it, I assure you it would be eye opening!

Anyone else have a simular experience? What do you guys do when looking a bear over? Keep in mind here that we are not looking for trophy bears, not that we wouldn't take a big bear, just that our main goal is to harvest a bear for the table.

Cheers
Jay
Click to expand...

To Start this thread confuses me because your story tells a tail that you were hunting Spring bears ? a sow with milk ?

In Ontario we only have a fall hunt in which a sow is concidered dry in the fall. Most bear hunters will not shoot a sow with cubs anyway and at 98% of the time Cubs will come into a bait with the sow. They do not stay back away from their mother while moving. Most times the cubs will get to a bait before the sow.


Jay within 3 minutes you would know if the bear had cubs. Sounds like you had the same officer that I talked to one time out that way... Harrassment of hunters give them all a bad name...
 
I look for the blocky head and the junk if they stand up to get stuff on top of the barrel. I've never found it difficult to see the junk on them if you take enough time...

Also, anytime I've seen a sow with cubs come into the bait the cubs have always come in first and the sow has always hung back.

If you watched your bear for that long and didn't see any cubs then i'm pretty sure she had non. Hey, you did the best you could and had all the right intentions... thats all you need to worry about..
 
Adrian J Hare said:
To Start this thread confuses me because your story tells a tail that you were hunting Spring bears ? a sow with milk ?

In Ontario we only have a fall hunt in which a sow is concidered dry in the fall. Most bear hunters will not shoot a sow with cubs anyway and at 98% of the time Cubs will come into a bait with the sow. They do not stay back away from their mother while moving. Most times the cubs will get to a bait before the sow.


Jay within 3 minutes you would know if the bear had cubs. Sounds like you had the same officer that I talked to one time out that way... Harrassment of hunters give them all a bad name...
Click to expand...

The bear I harvested was shot in the spring in New Brunswick. Bears have their cubs in January so sows are still nursing them in the spring. I'm confused that your confused? What info did I exclude causing confusion?

And yes, the officers in question were cuddly, like a cactus...

Cheers
Jay
 
Jay said:
The bear I harvested was shot in the spring in New Brunswick. Bears have their cubs in January so sows are still nursing them in the spring.
Click to expand...

They'll nurse for quite a bit longer than that actually, up to summer of the following year as they only have cubs every two years. Generally, the cubs will be with the sow at all times, especially if they're young of that year.

Sounds like those Game Wardens were total asses, your best bet is to hunt in a different area of NB than their jurisdiction. I would tend to think that type of behaviour is an isolated case.

Adrian J Hare said:
In Ontario we only have a fall hunt in which a sow is concidered dry in the fall.
Click to expand...

Who considers them dry in the fall? That's BS. The only reason some jurisdictions did away with the spring hunt is that orphaned cubs have no chance of survival. FYI, they won't survive the winter if you shoot the sow in the fall either, they're equally doomed, hence the reason it's illegal to shoot a sow that has cubs any time of year most everywhere. You guys in ON are a bit backwards in that they closed the spring season and said it's OK to shoot sows with cubs in the fall. I could never quite understand that logic.
 
So Jay, you and Huntress are hunting OUT OF PROVINCE.

Might make a big note of that to our beloved premier (not).
That you're spending all those dollars elsewhere because of dumbass politicians.

As to the DNR using a lot of force. They'd have to assume that if you'd shot a bear with milk, you'd have tried to milk her dry.
Yeah, presumption of innocence, right.

About all you can do is position your stand, and your bait, to try and make the bear give you the best angle to view it's belly. If you don't get the view, pass.
 
John Y Cannuck said:
So Jay, you and Huntress are hunting OUT OF PROVINCE.

Might make a big note of that to our beloved premier (not).
That you're spending all those dollars elsewhere because of dumbass politicians.
........
About all you can do is position your stand, and your bait, to try and make the bear give you the best angle to view it's belly. If you don't get the view, pass.
Click to expand...

Two excellent pieces of advice!
In my youth I guided for bear in the spring and between waiting for a bit when the bear came to bait (young ones are never far away) and trying to get them to stand for some yummy bait (tallywhacker=dead:p) we never had any trouble. That was all in ON before the laws changed of course.

Best of luck!
 
I appreciate the candid discussion guys. And, as you guys can tell, even though I was, AND STILL AM confident the sow I shot had NO cubs, I am still bothered by the experience. It actually makes my heart heavy.

And yes JYC, we are planning on hunting out of province because Ontario doesn't allow a spring bear hunt! The logic behind cancelling the spring hunt is, well, illogical!!!

Cheers
Jay
 
Jay said:
The bear I harvested was shot in the spring in New Brunswick. Bears have their cubs in January so sows are still nursing them in the spring. I'm confused that your confused? What info did I exclude causing confusion?

And yes, the officers in question were cuddly, like a cactus...

Cheers
Jay
Click to expand...

It was just the way you typed it jay, and that is what I was thinking if the sow had utters and Milk. Makes sence to me now. My guess was that it is Illegal in NB to shoot a sow with cubs then and officers were going to try and get a charge...
 
U did the best you could do. Shot a legal bear and enjoyed the feed. What's there to feel bad about. Don't feel guilty that a few MNR dicks were #######s. Hope you shoot a tasty bear this spring
 
bearkilr said:
They'll nurse for quite a bit longer than that actually, up to summer of the following year as they only have cubs every two years. Generally, the cubs will be with the sow at all times, especially if they're young of that year.

Sounds like those Game Wardens were total asses, your best bet is to hunt in a different area of NB than their jurisdiction. I would tend to think that type of behaviour is an isolated case.



Who considers them dry in the fall? That's BS. The only reason some jurisdictions did away with the spring hunt is that orphaned cubs have no chance of survival. FYI, they won't survive the winter if you shoot the sow in the fall either, they're equally doomed, hence the reason it's illegal to shoot a sow that has cubs any time of year most everywhere. You guys in ON are a bit backwards in that they closed the spring season and said it's OK to shoot sows with cubs in the fall. I could never quite understand that logic.
Click to expand...


Listen , don't come down on me , I'm giving the regs in Ontario. Never once said I shoot them , I said they are CONSIDERED Dry Get off your cheap ass horse and read, instead of jumping on a comment....
 
Guys, everyones trying to give good advice, lets keep the thread on track. I appreciate the discussion as the experience REALLY bothered me then & continues to bother me now!

I have not shot a bear in something like 7 or 8 years, partially because I don't want a repeat of the same experience.

Cheers
Jay
 
Jay said:
Guys, everyones trying to give good advice, lets keep the thread on track. I appreciate the discussion as the experience REALLY bothered me then & continues to bother me now!

I have not shot a bear in something like 7 or 8 years, partially because I don't want a repeat of the same experience.

Cheers
Jay
Click to expand...

Let me tell you something... there is something called "due dilligence"..... I have seen many on this forum looking to hang a brother or find wrong with what they did... I see nothing wrong with your hunt Jay... clear your conscience and move on..... You took a legal bear in my opinion... and if by accident you didn't, it sure wasn't your fault......

Some wardens are a-holes... my wife here works in the same office and will tell you some are awesome and some are wild kingdom mall cops....

You harvested a cub free animal and you enjoyed the meat....
 
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