The lure of the bear

An Outdoorsman’s Journal

Hello friends, This week’s column is dedicated to Michelle Chiaro. Michelle was my bear hunting, winter camping, bow hunting, all forms of fishing, gardening and “date night” partner. Michelle was 50 and on June 15 she passed away unexpectedly from sepsis.

April through Aug. 3

This was going to be the biggest outdoor adventures year of my life. I received Montana tags to hunt deer and elk and have plans to do that hunt alone in late October. I also received a tag to hunt black bear in Zone C, where I have ran baits since 2010. This would be my first year where, instead of taking a new bear hunter, I would be the only tag holder and therefore will be hunting the most active bait that I have when the season opens on Sept. 7.

Michelle and I were a complete team when it came to running baits, either together or separate, depending on our schedules. Let me tell you, Michelle loved running bear baits. I started the task in mid-April. In reality, Michelle and I started last February when we could walk on the frozen marshes of the Meadow Valley Forest in northern Juneau County. The Meadow Valley Forest is public land in Juneau, Wood and Jackson counties.

Last fall I was on a duck hunt and camping trip when I had a unique experience. I had hiked from camp about a mile, shot a limit of woodies and kept hearing mallards and geese behind me. I went exploring, found duck/ goose paradise and became very lost in knee- to chestdeep water. More importantly, I found lots of bear scat and trails. That is why we went exploring in February.

The standard procedure for our operation generally was to be at least a half-mile hike from the gravel roads by foot and we use a hollow stump with a cover for the top and bottom which is just a 3-inch thick piece of a large log. To keep everything out of that stump but black bears, I put logs that are anywhere from 5 to 8 feet in length tepee style over the top.

At first I ran three baits with total truck miles being 52 and foot miles about three. On Memorial Day weekend Michelle and I camped, and on the last morning, I ran the baits and she broke camp and cooked lunch. At that point we had been running the baits about 40 days and one of the baits had never been hit. The new one was sporadic, but I had some very cool wolf and bobcat photos and bears were hitting it about once a week.

Bait and what is it? So far this year, I am getting all of my bait from BBD “Big Bear Down” out of Abbotsford and I am using cookies and granola that I purchase in 55-gallon drums.

June and early July is a crazy time for black bear and baiters. The bears are in estrus and the sows hang around a good bait and the boars hang around a hot sow. I have one bait that is exceptional, and my gang has harvested several from it. This year I probably had four different boars working it and at least two very hot sows. The pairs would literally make a bedroom in trail camera range and my pics included lovers sleeping, eating and loving.

On June 15, just like that, my woman was taken from me with zero warning and I have to tell you I have about 20 bad episodes each and every day. On the bright side, when Michelle first passed, every moment of every day was a horror story for me. What am I getting at? Running the baits and staying ultra-busy, never placing blame or having anger are what is keeping me from requiring a straitjacket.

Every day that I have been home, except one since June 15, I stay outside way past dark and I work, putz and think.

Today was about day 105 on the baits. I have three out. All were hit. Zone C on the southern end has a problem and that is that the bears are almost always nocturnal once the season starts.

We shall see. I am betting that when the time comes, Michelle will be in that tree with me!

Sunset

Bear baiting is an intensive sport that can pay off greatly.