First time bear hunting

This is the first year I’ve got drawn for bear after 4 years of applying. We’ve had one bear on our property for sure since I’ve started applying, he’s gotten to be a nice size bear over the years. We’ve had him on camera in the afternoon as well as 2 am, I know baiting will draw other bear in from around,and I’m just wondering should I be concerned about walking up on a bear on my way to the stand at like 5 am? I kinda pass right by my bait site.

Freshen your baits in the middle of the day. The bear will come in right after you leave. Hopefully that will keep them coming in during the day. I would suggest hunting the evening only for the first few days.

I always freshened the baits at 11AM and then got in the stand. All too often its been found that surprising a bear on a bait while its still dark makes them very, very cautious and they tend towards being nocturnal then. For bear that were still at a bait when I needed to leave after dark I carried a small bell. I’d get the bell out and give it just a soft “tinkle” when the bear wasn’t directly facing me. That would alert a bear. A second soft tinkle would move the bear off the bait a hundred feet or so allowing me to quietly come off the stand and slip out in the opposite direction the bear went.

Bears have amazing hearing but seem to have a hard time focusing on small sounds coming from up. This doesn’t mean they won’t respond to sound coming from above.

I’ll add here that if any bear is on the bait or is approaching that has cubs, you’ll want to be darned CERTAIN that said bear with cubs has left the area BEFORE you come out of a stand. Remember, bears climb.

remember bears climb

I have never shot one,but helped bait quite a bit, they all say shoot the first one with a gun, second one with the bow, doubles your experience.

Some day I hope to get the chance to hunt bear. Enjoy the hunt!