"Hunter shoots Grizzly Bear in North Idaho"

[Ugly Sauce]

I don't hunt them anymore, but if I did it would be because I'd kind of like to have one really nice bear rug. As far as the meat goes, I've eaten bear meat ONCE. Like frog legs, I won't eat it again.

Yes, bear meat can vary from bear to bear. I have it all made into pepperoni sticks, can't go wrong with that. Delicious. Great trail food, don't have to cook it, just chow down. I learned the hard way that if you do get a bear for the hide, man you got to get that hide right off and start processing it right away, or the hair will slip.

I probably won't shoot another for a long time, and then I'll go back to looking for the perfect "specimen". This last one was just a medium sow, that was starting to raid camps. Probably a problem bear from some campground somewhere else. I shot it because it was raiding a camp with a little girl. The people were having trouble scaring it away, and when they did it would come back an hour later. !!!

 

[troy fairweather]

I'd like to shoot one some day, we have a lot of big bear but the terrain I hung we don't see many, maybe if baiting was allowed it would be easier getting one.

 

[HHollow]

Griz will soon be legal to hunt in Montana. Problem bears outside the park will get knocked off by hunters instead of government employees.

Wolf hunting in Montana is working very well. Any sign of em near cattle and they are no more.

 

[WisBorn]

I don't hunt them anymore, but if I did it would be because I'd kind of like to have one really nice bear rug. As far as the meat goes, I've eaten bear meat ONCE. Like frog legs, I won't eat it again.

You mean frog legs don't taste like chicken
I guess I will stick with chicken

Bear meat tasted rancid to me the one time I tried it. So it is hard for me to try it again....

 

[Ugly Sauce]

I'd like to shoot one some day, we have a lot of big bear but the terrain I hung we don't see many, maybe if baiting was allowed it would be easier getting one.

Not sure if easier is better...I'd not want to use bait or dogs, but that's just me. Took me years to get my Cougar, because I wanted it to be me and the cougar, and the trees and nothing else. Something about shooting one out of a tree, while dogs bark and whine and howl underneath it, does not appeal to me.

 

[troy fairweather]

Not sure if easier is better...I'd not want to use bait or dogs, but that's just me. Took me years to get my Cougar, because I wanted it to be me and the cougar, and the trees and nothing else. Something about shooting one out of a tree, while dogs bark and whine and howl underneath it, does not appeal to me.

Here if there no bait/ food your never seeing one hunting,it's amazing how many we have but never see them in the woods hunting season.

 

[.308 Norma]

You mean frog legs don't taste like chicken

Ha! Ha! Ha! You must have read my previous post about how my wife (of 52 years next week) talked me into ordering frog legs for dinner in a fancy restaurant on our first date. "They're sort of like chicken." she said.
She was right! They were "sort of like" tough, stringy, fish-flavored rooster chicken that had been in freezer far too long!
Five weeks later, I married her anyway. She's just never suggested I try frog legs again. She doesn't even bug me about not eating enough fish - because I once told her, "I can get all of the ______ Omega-3 I need in the form of tasteless, odorless, easy to swallow capsules!"

 

[buck460XVR]

Maybe it was one of those attacks everyone is preparing for…

...here in Wisconsin, the number one excuse for shooting a bear illegally is self defense. In almost every case, after the investigation, it is found that is not the case. Funny thing is, most of those folks get upset when they are told they can't keep the bear. Some folks just feel a need to kill things.

 

[dobedo]

What is the purpose of hunting bears? Is it purely population control? Or do they have meat that people eat?

I shot my first bear in the NY Adirondacks when I was 17. They are darn good eating, and those who shoot for just sport are butt holes. I grew up in a partial subsistence lifestyle and if you shot it you ate it. When I was 8, I shot some birds my stepfather found out and made me clean them and eat them.

 

[Peakbagger46]

I’ve not hunted bear (by choice, Lord knows we have more than enough around here) but I did eat some when money was tight. It was actually pretty good, I just made sure to trim all the fat off before cooking.

I’ve personally witnessed a bear eating on a dead guy. Not blaming the critter at all but it kind of soured me off the meat. That and I don’t shoot predators (but take no issue with those who do).

 

[dobedo]

I’ve not hunted bear (by choice, Lord knows we have more than enough around here) but I did eat some when money was tight. It was actually pretty good, I just made sure to trim all the fat off before cooking.

I’ve personally witnessed a bear eating on a dead guy. Not blaming the critter at all but it kind of soured me off the meat. That and I don’t shoot predators (but take no issue with those who do).

Crabs eat dead people too. when I was in the USCG we use to pick up Floaters (dead Bodies) and they were covered with crabs.

 

[JFrank]

I’ve not hunted bear (by choice, Lord knows we have more than enough around here) but I did eat some when money was tight. It was actually pretty good, I just made sure to trim all the fat off before cooking.

I’ve personally witnessed a bear eating on a dead guy. Not blaming the critter at all but it kind of soured me off the meat. That and I don’t shoot predators (but take no issue with those who do).

They are not real picky about freshness of their meal. Lol

 

[troy fairweather]

I'm more worried about the bear eating from the local daycare dumpster often, they love diapers.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

I'm more worried about the bear eating from the local daycare dumpster often, they love diapers.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Here if there no bait/ food your never seeing one hunting,it's amazing how many we have but never see them in the woods hunting season.

That is true, but I try anyway. Hunting them the hard way, I've passed on more than a couple so it's not impossible. I've just always held out for a big bear, with a really nice hide. There's been small and medium sized bears I could have shot. The one I did shoot was putting people/children in danger, and that's why I shot one that wasn't up to my "standards". ! (it certainly was up to my eating standards) I passed on two that had cubs, and one of those was a really big bear with a long hair hide that looked like it had been brushed at the dog-groomers.

I think if one scouts enough, studies bear habitat and where they like to feed, and really spends time in the deep and dark forest one's chances can be good without bait or dogs. One can often find where a bear "hangs out" by the amount of bear-crap concentrated in a small area. One can sometimes find a bear's "living room" or "backyard", and spend one's time there. Lots of time.

Specifically hunting bear, rather than hoping to see one during deer season is also a better tactic, I think. And time. Moving through an area where you think there's some bear, slow as a lazy old slug, or STP in winter, from dawn to dusk. No going back to the truck at ten o'clock for a beer, or sitting around the camp fire until later in the afternoon. !!!!

I started trying to call one in. Perhaps that's as bad as dogs or bait! Not to me, but one could make that argument. However, I bagged the camp-robber before I really did much calling. Did call a nice cougar in and got him, that was exciting. But bears will come in to a call. One could try that before resulting to dogs or bait.

 

[H&Hhunter]

I shot my first bear in the NY Adirondacks when I was 17. They are darn good eating, and those who shoot for just sport are butt holes. I grew up in a partial subsistence lifestyle and if you shot it you ate it. When I was 8, I shot some birds my stepfather found out and made me clean them and eat them.

Is it legal to shoot a bear in your state and leave the carcass?

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Is it legal to shoot a bear in your state and leave the carcass?

Wow, I doubt that it is in NY, but I'd be curious to know. In Washington State, they'd rip one a new one if they caught one doing that!

 

[H&Hhunter]

Wow, I doubt that it is in NY, but I'd be curious to know. In Washington State, they'd rip one a new one if they caught one doing that!

Based on dobedo’s post there are “butt holes” who are shooting bears for “sport”. I would think if that’s the truth they are more than “butt holes” they’d be criminals.

 

[.308 Norma]

Griz will soon be legal to hunt in Montana.

I wouldn't count on it - not until grizzlies are delisted as a "threatened species" under the Endangered Species Act. In 2017, Grizzlies were delisted, and both Idaho and Wyoming were planning on making grizzly bear hunting legal in some areas. Then in 2018, a federal judge had grizzlies relisted as "threatened" according to the Endangered Species Act. And the fighting and shouting continues........

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Weird stuff going on, on the Federal level with game management. They are the ones that pushed the wolf re-introduction through, along with some suspicious help from other suspicious people/organizations. All in spite of the fighting and shouting!!!!

 

[Electricmo]

Maybe the grizz was attacking the guy.

 

[Larry in wyoming]

Think about it. If you are in charge of grizzly population recovery or management, the absolute WORST thing that could happen is you report that the population has recovered. Your funding and donations would dry up and you'd be out of a job. They under report the numbers and keep the argument alive to keep the money rolling in.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Think about it. If you are in charge of grizzly population recovery or management, the absolute WORST thing that could happen is you report that the population has recovered. Your funding and donations would dry up and you'd be out of a job. They under report the numbers and keep the argument alive to keep the money rolling in.

Never thunk of it that way, that is probably true. It would explain that tactic with the wolves. I always just thought the under-reporting was to not alarm people. However, as they say, "follow the money". Yes, makes sense.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Maybe the grizz was attacking the guy.

No, the hunter admitted that he mistook it for a black bear. And, he was legally hunting for black bear.

 

[WisBorn]

The politics of game management will always be a struggle.
The wolf population in Wisconsin can be a major problem with the competing groups. I would imagine the same thing in the western states and Alaska with the brown/grizzly bears. Healthy populations are based on what the resources can support.
As hunters we need to be the conservationist. It doesn't matter if we are talking deer, bear, wolves, or geese.