Bear Season 2015

[Markus]

We did a round of cam checks before Tim chose a site to hunt yesterday afternoon. Things are slow, but we have action at each site. At the GP site, we had a new bear show up that put a beating on the empty barrel he found. lol I reloaded it that morning, so the thinking was to hunt there and maybe he'd return, or better yet, the big boy would make an appearence. Here's a pic of the new bear....he's a good bear too.



So Tim climbed into the stand around 4pm. We've seen a lot of action at the 6pm time, so he was hoping that would continue. Nothing arrived earlier in the evening and legal shooting time ended at 8:30pm. I left the camp at 8:20 to start making my to him. I stopped about 1km short of where he was in our food plot and waited for a text from him. And the text came at 8:27..."Did ya hear that? I got one." I was shocked I didnt hear the shot!

At 8:27 he had a bear appear behind the barrel...broadside just in front of the treeline. With low light, he wasnt exactly sure which bear it was, but took a good bead on its boiler room and piled it up right there with his new 30-06 Tika. I arrived shortly after and we tossed it on the bike to head to the cooler.



Once we had it skun, cleaned and hung in the meat cooler, we made our way back the camp with a few cold beers and a fresh heart and liver to fry up. We had a fantastic evening and a big congrats to Tim for tagging his bear. Now the long wait for Sept 14th and it'll be my turn to climb into a stand!

[Doug]

Looks like a nice bear, Markus!

I have never eaten bear heart and liver, never had the chance. How does it compare to deer, or moose?

Doug

[Markus]

Doug, I find very difference in any heart meat. They all taste similar to me. Liver is different though. Bear liver is very "flat", but it is very receptive to any seasoning. Because of its mild flavor, ita a big favorite with my kids.

[Doug]

Thanks Markus. Any time I have been around a fresh-killed bear (never shot one myself......) the bear had been dead for a while for the shooter to go find help to find it and/or drag it out of the woods. So any organ meat was left with the gut pile.

For the bear liver, do you slice it thin, season it, shake it in flour and pan-fry fast at high heat until "just" done? (That's how I do moose and bear liver)

Doug

[Markus]

Yup, the gall is removed from the liver and sold....and the liver is sliced into 1/4IN wide slices and pan fried in a bit of olive oil. We fry our onions in a separate pan so the juice form the onions dont "boil" the liver. Then when the liver is done to our likeness, we mix the onions in/over the liver and let it all heat up together....then just salt and pepper and off to the plate.

Like with pork, Trichinosis is a real issue with bears, so we never under cook our liver. We make sure it gets up to temp and is more on the well done side.

[banjo]

Nice bear.
I think in Ontario it's illegal to possess a bear gallbladder... funny how each province has drastically different rules.
Ever try for bear with a bow?

[Markus]

I think there's only 2 provinces in Canada that it's legal to possess and sell galls. I'm glad we're one of them. I have a korean buyer that grabs all ours...and the paws too.

I bow hunt deer, but havent bears yet. For no other reason then the fact that i share my stands with my hunting partner and he's a rigle hunter, so we keep them pushed back. I may do it some year, but when it comes to bear, I just like to get my bear and move on to deer hunting.

[RVOTom]

Nice set up Markus, you run your baits the same way I do mine. It works very well.

And not to steal any thunder, but RJ if you are looking to get your bride a bear, you only need to drive 20 minutes west and climb a stand.
I happen to have some fat bears that have eaten tim hortons for a few years now.

[Markus]

Thats a serious bruiser there! Good luck to you this season!

[lapointeric]

Thats a serious bruiser there! Good luck to you this season!

That looks like it could be 'nightmare'.

E

[Markus]

The bear action was slower this week for whatever reason...warm temps, natural food, thunder storms....no idea, but it's not as steady as its been years past.

B3 Site - This new remote site started off great, but there just seems to be 1 bear tending it nightly. We've had the odd new bear show up here, but they never stay or return. I was hoping to have 2-6 bears hitting this barrel by now.


B2 Site - This site hasnt had a big bear at it for 2 or 3 weeks. Just random visits from 2 or 3 smaller guys.


GP Site - This is the site Tim took his bear from and the action is still decent. There's a couple smaller bears and the big boy is still coming. I think i'll hunt this stand form opener, or maybe ask my uncle to sit it.


With plans up in the air as to whether it'll be a bear hunt or a deer hunt...I thought i better get busy flinging arrows each night and knock the rust out. It took a bit of shooting, but my 24 yard grouping is good enough to go.



I"m looking forward to cam checks later this week and deciding on where and what to hunt! Cant wait!

[Markus]

5 days until opener....i'm getting pretty excited.

2 of the 3 sites have a good shooter thats coming in a good evening times. Funny thing is...i might not even get into a bear stand for opener. My uncle is dying of cancer, so i'm giving him one stand for opener for sure. the other active stand may have a guest in it as well....my best friend's wife lost a bear 2 years ago and didnt get a chance at a bear last year because she was over run with sows and cubs. We use their place to cut up all our meat, so i've asked her to take a seat opening day.

I was hoping Birdee would make a trip east to join me, but with the action not being what I'd call fast and furious, I didnt want the trip to be a bust.

We stopped into one site today to add some jello packs for scent and things were looking good on the cam from the night before.



I had also finished up Tim's bear skull, so we stopped by the camp for lunch and added to the bear skull shelf with the rest of them.



We're pumped for next week...if i'm not bear hunting opening day, i'll be in a bow stand looking for a buck. Tim is coming to deer hunt as well so betwen the 4 of us, we hoping to be frying up some fresh liver at some point. lol

[Markus]

Tonight was my 2nd night in the bear stand. I checked the cam before climbing into the stand and i saw that a good bear came in after dark about 7 minutes after I left. I dosed the barrel with some fresh scent and made way to my nest for the afternoon sit.



5:24 I looked up and saw a bear slide down over the bank behind the barrel and it never broke stride...made 3 steps right over my maple syrup offering and came right around to the front and turned broadside. My .303 was already up and the safety off...as he stopped, I squeezed a round off.
it was a good hit...the bear just balled up on its feet and i could already blood spilling out the side. He slowly just fell forward into a summersault and ended up on is back with his feet twitching in the air. I remember thinking..."hmph, first time it ever had one pile up"...and then he rolled over back to his feet and bolted up the bank.



I couldnt believe how far he'd gone. I had an easy blood trail to follow...pools of it with peices of lung everywhere. Just over 100 yards or so, i found him balled up in heavy cover. Quick text to my buddy and he was on his way with 4 kids to help with the retrieve. Huge thanks to them all...they made a solo guy's job 100X easier! Fun evening at the Hell Bear!

[lape0019]

Nice!

[Doug]

Very nice bear, Markus! Congratulations!

Doug