Fall Bear Hunting

This year I had 7 fall bear hunters, and they were combo's with wolf.  This would be the final test on how wolf hunting goes, as well as fall bear.  

  The wolf hunting was a success, but I found out it takes a lot more money and time than I thought.  I started to bait in June, every couple of weeks at each bait.  In august I picked the pace up, and wolves definitely knew where the baits were.  The baits were being crushed and in the first 5 minutes of dropping the first hunters off, I got the call that one of them shot a wolf.  I called B.S., but sure enough a wolf was shot.   After that though, the wolves were nocturnal.  They would eat all the bait during the night, including whole bear carcasses.  I did however have a client draw 3 times on 2 wolves in one of the bear stands, and these wolves even ate his first bear that he shot!  The wolves are a problem up here, FOR SURE.

  As for bears, there was lots of action, but it seemed that our numbers are down.  We killed mostly sows with no cubs, and that seemed to be what was at majority of the baits, and in high numbers.  My concern of winterkill was verified, and thus I have dropped out tags back for the next few years.  I want to make sure that quality hunts are sustainable, even though it hurts the pocket book.  We are sold out for next year with 18 tags I have decided to sell.

  Color was super evident again this fall, with many chocolates shot and seen.  I am not sure why color is on the rise, but I am looking forward to what we see next spring.  

  The berry crop was decent this year, and all the bears had good fat reserves, so we should be good for next year.  

  I also have approached manitoba resources, and I have expanded our territory, so we are getting into some new areas that look AWESOME.  I am hoping that we get some real crankers next year!