# Bear hunting meeting



## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

I was ask to attend a bear hunting meeting at the DWR on Thursday and since I know nothing at all about bear hunting I learned quite a bit. Things I learned:

1. There are more bear hunters in Utah than I knew.
2. There are three ways to hunt bears...over bait, chase with hounds, spot and stock.
3. Most "over bait" guys are archers and don't much care for the "hound guys".
4. 81 "nuisance" bears where killed by the DWR people last year. The DWR guys are tired of shooting nuisance bears and want more bears removed by hunters.
5. Utah's bear population is growing at a rate of around 6% a year.
6. The DWR believes that the hound guys are chase the La Sal Mt. bears so much that the bears are starting to come down into town(Moab and La Sal) to take refuge.
7. The DWR is proposing a few more hunts for next year...mostly spot and stock hunts and they are exploring ideas on how to keep the hound guys and the archers from interfering with each other's hunts.
8. Bear hunting looks like it might be a lot of fun...I guess I'd have to be a spot and stock guy 'cause I don't own hounds (probably to old to get out there and follow them around anyway) and I don't own a bow.


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## fishreaper (Jan 2, 2014)

It would be awesome to get a fall or spring bear tag. I know a couple of guys who hunted black bears elsewhere kind of like deer. Allegedly, they are very habitual creatures. Glass from a vantage point in the morning and in the after noon, set up a tree standing on the same trail.
Or just put the sneak on them.


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## mikevanwilder (Nov 11, 2008)

I hope they can find more opportunities to hunt bears. Some of the more fun hunting I have done. I would like them to make it easier for baiting, right now the hoops to jump through keep a lot of people from doing it.


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

mikevanwilder said:


> I hope they can find more opportunities to hunt bears. Some of the more fun hunting I have done. I would like them to make it easier for baiting, right now the hoops to jump through keep a lot of people from doing it.


There was some discussion alone these lines, i.e. making Utah and forest service rules coincide, looking closer at distances from various obstacles like roads and campgrounds, better definitions, etc.
It is not to late to get into the discussion, you could contact 
Leslie Mcfarlane <[email protected]> and I bet she'll take time to discuss your ideas.


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## Mr Muleskinner (Feb 14, 2012)

Only thing stopping me from hunting is getting a tag. Thanks for the post BP


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

Mr Muleskinner said:


> Only thing stopping me from hunting is getting a tag. Thanks for the post BP


Ummmm,

Utah does have some Over the counter HO units that are pretty good..

All you guys need to do is buy a permit and go hunt!!!!!!!!!

Two HO units still open RIGHT NOW! Ninemile and Beaver..

You can hunt with an OTC permit til 11/20.....................


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## Mr Muleskinner (Feb 14, 2012)

Actually Nine Mile is closed. Beaver still has available tags. No dogs or baiting.


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## richardjb (Apr 1, 2008)

I pulled a fall Daggett/Three Corners tag this year. Very fun hunt with dogs. Used Elite Outfitters out of Vernal. The houndsmen were awesome. Ended up taking a smaller boar on last day. Now I have to wait to start getting points again. May try Idaho in the meantime.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Bear hunting sucks


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## archerben (Sep 14, 2007)

> 3. Most "over bait" guys are archers and don't much care for the "hound guys".


In Utah, it currently is legal to bait only if you have an archery tag, thus the reason that hunting over bait is only done by archers.

Also, how did you get the impression that baiters don't care for houndsman? In the past I have worked with the houndsman association, I have sided with them on issues, even to the point that a DWR biologist at one time told me that I wasn't representing my constituents (of course, I disagreed). I was in the same meeting on Thursday and I honestly don't know how you got that impression.


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

archerben said:


> In Utah, it currently is legal to bait only if you have an archery tag, thus the reason that hunting over bait is only done by archers.
> 
> Also, how did you get the impression that baiters don't care for houndsman? In the past I have worked with the houndsman association, I have sided with them on issues, even to the point that a DWR biologist at one time told me that I wasn't representing my constituents (of course, I disagreed). I was in the same meeting on Thursday and I honestly don't know how you got that impression.


Perhaps "don't much care for" does not quite fit and it sure wasn't meant to be on a personal level. It was my first and only contact with bear hunters in any form but it just seemed to me that from what I heard, when hunting over bait, one thing you don't want is a pack of hounds running through your area. I am sure both groups cooperate and respect each other as hunters and outdoors men. As mostly a turkey hunter, I think both groups(methods) are pretty cool. Last spring, while sitting on a set up, a houndsmen turned his hounds loose about 1/2 mile from me, I enjoyed listening to them as they ran up through the woods.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

I can see how archery hunters can get upset because baiting is a ton of work. Believe it or not but there are areas the hounds man know will have bait every year. They may not exactly know the location of your bait but they don't need to know the locations either and they will run their dogs in there every time they go out. It's easy work for them. The bears know it's easy food and they return even hungrier but it sure makes it hard getting a bear in those areas and as an archer it sucks to start another bait. 

I can see both sides of the issue and figure it's all public land. Hunters need to stick together because it's easy to get bear hunting taken away in utah. Anti hunters love division amongst hunters because it makes it easier to push their agenda.


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