Bear Necessities for Public-Land Hunting Success

It was 100 degrees in the shade, and the best thing I could hope for on day three of a public-land bear hunt in Minnesota was a little wind to blow the mosquitoes away. On the second afternoon, I’d heard a bear woof far back in the timber. On a separate occasion, another bear had slapped the ground from inside the brush a few yards from where I sat.

This time, however, the black bear was suddenly just there, where it had not been a moment before, padding out of the forest. The bruin turned toward my stand, swinging its head, and I could quickly tell it was a male. This big boy was going to come up my tree unless I did something about it, so I stood and shot straight down through the top of his shoulders. The bear spun in a circle and sprinted for the tall timber.

I levered another cartridge into the chamber and shot again before it cleared 15 yards, then a third time. The bear crashed just out of sight. I waited a few minutes before sending a text message to my friend Ray Crow, who was a few miles away: “Shot him. Heard death moan. Marked where he went down.”

After four years of applying for a Minnesota bear tag, my public-land hunt had ended with success on the third day.

Killing a public-land black bear in the Midwest isn’t always easy, but it is incredibly rewarding. It usually requires a decent amount of planning, a well-chosen hunting location, an appetizing enticement and a little luck. With the help of some experts, I can hopefully provide some insight on three of the four.

RESEARCH AND SCOUT

With early-fall black bear hunting, it’s all about the food all the time. Bears’ diets vary from region to region, but important food sources include hard mast, like acorns and hazelnuts, and soft mast, like blueberries, crab apples and serviceberries. While bears might occasionally hit orchards and farms to binge on apples, pears or corn, hard mast delivers more dense calories to pack on for winter.

Alaina Roth is a Wisconsin wildlife biologist, a ruffed grouse specialist and a houndswoman who loves to talk bear hunting. Roth says that last year’s dry conditions in Wisconsin contributed to “an absolute boomer crop of acorns and hazelnuts,” which tended to lure bears away from bait sites. She adds that this also resulted in “a considerable decline in harvest.” In fact, the 2023 season saw the lowest hunter success rate since 2008, dropping to 23 percent and down from a 5-year average of 32 percent. While disappointing for hunters last year, all of this bodes well for this season. The most common species of oaks in the region are red oaks and white oaks. If they boomed last year, it’s unlikely the same thing will happen this season. Roth recommends baiting (where legal) well before the season opener and placing cameras on game trails. Look for tracks and scat to identify trails.

From topo maps, mapping apps and Google Earth, it is possible to focus on specific lush river bottoms and cedar swamps where bears retreat to during the day. Find streams, beaver dams, subtle ridges and timber edges that concentrate bear movement. However, understand that research is not complete without an understanding of the prevailing winds. In the Great Lakes states, wind typically comes from the north off the big water, though every region will have its own prevailing wind. Pay attention to wind direction in the daily forecasts to ensure you position a ground blind or tree stand in the right place.

SET A STAND

Brian Bachman and Ray Crow are the owners of Arrowhead Wilderness Outfitters (ahwoutfitters.com), and they guide hunters from all over the world hoping for their shot at a Minnesota bruin. Knowing where to set a stand, Bachman says, is based partly on experience and partly on feel. He tries visualizing where the biggest bear lives—on an island or a peninsula in a swamp or a beaver marsh—and its feeding rotation. Crow, meanwhile, says he looks for pinch points created by streams and roads or other landmarks.

“As long as you’re in a pinch point and you play the wind, you’re going to be A-OK,” he says. “A pinch point between water and a gully will force them to [get within smelling distance of your bait].”

If there are old orchards, or patches of berries nearby, bears will have routes in and out. A stand location could be adjacent to a known food source. If the bear must cross a forest road to get there, so much the better.

Bachman says he used to place stands deep in the timber but discovered that the stands close to roads would get hit by as many bears—and big bears—as the spots that were harder to access. He says bears aren’t uncomfortable at baits near roads as long as they’re out of sight. And that’s not much of an issue in the dark Northwoods. In Wisconsin, Roth is inclined to agree.

“Our topography is pretty flat, especially in northern Wisconsin,” she says. “Where I hunt, there are a lot of sandy roads and trails. Driving slowly looking for crossings is a good way to start figuring out where to place a stand.”

Roth says baiting is so popular in her area that “you are probably going to catch a bear going into someone else’s bait.”

It’s hard to hide human scent from the bears. Typically, Bachman will bring multiple people to re-bait an active site each day to condition bears to more than one human’s odor. Roth says she’s also heard of some hunters leaving a dirty sweatshirt in the stand to get bears used to human presence.

“You can’t hide your scent from a bear,” Roth says. “They know if you’re there. It’s just a matter of how hungry they are.”

SWEETEN THE DEAL

In Wisconsin, baiting with animal material like bacon grease or meat is not allowed. Sweets, bread, donuts and candy are often go-to baits in the upper Midwest.

In Minnesota, Bachman’s favorite ingredients are mixed nuts, cookie dough and gummy candies. He says the bears he hunts have a sweet tooth, usually for berries, but that if it’s something people will eat, bears often will too. For whatever reason, he hasn’t had much luck getting them to eat fish remains or dog food. In general, Bachman prefers using several different enticements. He finds that bears can get tired of eating just one thing but will often stick around longer if there is a variety of options.

Crow says that bears can be sporadic but he likes to remember that travel patterns revolve around food.

“They might be going to berry patches in the evening,” he says. “And they show up on the bait after dark. If they’re nocturnal, that means they are hitting a food source earlier in the day that we’re not at. But they rotate through the bait according to the food sources.”

If a bear is regularly hitting a bait, it will usually come back. It’s incredibly easy to talk yourself out of hunting a good stand if you haven’t experienced immediate results. However, having confidence in your research, scouting and chosen bait site, and patiently sticking it out, usually outproduces switching up stands.

You can also sweeten the deal with an attractant spray or powder. Use a head net and gloves to keep mosquitoes at bay, and always stay on stand until dark. As with my hunt, bears can appear anytime. I’m reminded of sage advice Bachman gave me my first time in his camp: “You may only get one chance at a big bear. Shoot it the first good look it gives you.”

BEAR BASTIONS

• Consider these areas when planning a fall bear hunt in the Midwest.

Bear season kicked off Sept. 1 in Minnesota, and some of the highest concentrations of bears are found way up in the Superior National Forest and into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Wisconsin’s season was next on Sept. 4. The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest is a powerhouse of bear production, contributing a large share of the state’s estimated 25,000 black bears. Bears are concentrated in the north and central part of the state, but they are expanding southward. Wisconsin also has a crop damage program through which the DNR connects hunters with farmers that have reported bear damage.

In Michigan, the Upper Peninsula opened the Wednesday before the second Saturday in September, which this year is the 11th. Some good bets for public access are the Ottawa, Hiawatha and Huron-Manistee national forests. Baraga and Ontonagon counties are good choices for a base camp.

In Kentucky, the southeast corner of the state holds the most bear hunting opportunities, with good public access in the Daniel Boone National Forest. Seasons are divided into separate components, with some hunts occurring in late October while others begin and end in December. Note the locations of bear reserves, which are closed to bear hunting, in McCreary, Bell, Harlan and Letcher counties. Also, be aware that baiting bears is not legal in Kentucky, though the use of predator calls and decoys is.

Missouri has a statewide season quota of 40 bears, and the season ends when the limit is reached. Note that bear hunters must apply for tags, and hunting is only allowed south of the Missouri River in three bear management zones. Bear hunting in Missouri is open to Show-Me State residents only.

NEXT-LEVEL ATTRACTANTS

• Draw black bears in close with these add-on enticements.

Setting out bait is a great way to get black bears accustomed to visiting a given area. However, sometimes an extra incentive—in various liquid, bead or spray forms—can go a long way toward bringing bears into a shooting window. Below are a couple of my personal favorites.

ODIN’S INNOVATIONS

Odin’s Innovations manufactures bead scents and 14 liquid lure scents. The liquid comes in a 4-ounce bottle ($14.99; odinsinnovations.com) with a directional squirt cap. Don’t overlook the citronella scent, which masks the smells of human sweat and carbon dioxide to which mosquitoes are drawn. The long-lasting and biodegradable beads ($16.99) come in various scent options, including apple, acorn, cherry pie and jelly donut.

NORTHWOODS BEAR PRODUCTS

Northwoods Gold Rush ($28.95/8 ounces; northwoodsbearproducts.net) has a powerful butterscotch aroma and can be mixed easily with fryer grease. Use 1 to 2 ounces for 5 gallons of grease. Northwoods Spray Scents ($21.95/32 ounces) are great attractants or cover scents to spray around the bait site. Spray out to 20 feet or use as a mist. Available scents include anise, bacon, beaver castor, blueberry, butterscotch, cinnamon, donut, gold mist, grape, honey, loganberry, raspberry, watermelon and wild cherry.

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• This article was featured in the September 2024 issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe.

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