Low % Play Right?

[ridgerunner88]

I have had this bear walk by my camera 2-3x over the summer. The only bear hunting I’ve done is in PA with a large group of hunters. This picture is from 6K which according to the DEC maps is a low bear area. Do I have any business considering trying to target hunt him or should I just deer hunt as planned and if he happens to walk by then take the shot?

 

 

 

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[Robhuntandfish]

been dying to get a pic of a bear at least once.  Most bears in Ny are taken as targets of oppurtunity while deer hunting.  They can range a long distance.  i have hunted for them in the Dacks and never seen one in higher population areas.  If you consistantly get cam pics closer to season maybe, but i would think youd be lucky to ever see it during season.  Very cool to see one on cam though.  Esp in 6K.  I would love to just know there is a chance one could step out. 

[ridgerunner88]

This was back in June. I also had another bear knock one of my cameras sideways in another area and I had to go out and fix it. Also my buddy sent me a video of mom and cubs so they are for sure here.








*Note: Not 100% sure these are bear but they were bigger than my turds lol

[Robhuntandfish]

I live right next to 6K and had a buddy of mine in 6K found bear crap on the roof of his shed.  He even called DEC to take a look and they told him there are more bears around than most people think. Jealous of those cam pics (the bear not the poop lol) 

Hope you run across one this season.  If beech nuts, acorns or apples nearby might have a chance.  

 

Edited July 28, 2022 by Robhuntandfish

[wolc123]

I have been hunting the border of wmu 6C and 6F for the last 20 years and have yet to positively see one while hunting.  I might have gotten a glimpse of one about 10 years ago.  My in-laws built their retirement home up there and my father in law really wants a bear rug for a wall decoration.  
 

Reported bear sightings in their area have increased sharply this year, so I’ll keep trying.  The little 8-point buck, that I killed up there a few years ago and got mounted for them, looks lonely all by itself up on that wall.  
 

I have plans for about 15 days of hunting up there this year, during crossbow, early ML, rifle, and late ML season.  Deer will be my primary objective, but bear will be a very close second.

 A nice thing about getting one up there, is that carcass recovery should be easy,  because most of the spots that I hunt are accessible with my father in laws atv or loader tractor.   I would not care to shoot one in a spot if that was not the case.  
 

I surely wouldn’t shoot one on the back side of the swamp where I dropped that buck, because the drag out almost killed me.  From what I hear, dragging out a bear is many times tougher.  

[Robhuntandfish]

I hunted parts of 6K for a few years in the Florence area.  Trout fished a lot of it too.   But never ran across a bear.   Just north of there more in Lewis co i have seen them on occasion, but never while i was hunting .   Was at a grad party this weekend and someone there was talking about seeing a bear up in North bay area.  So they are around, just never been a lot of them. 

[AuburnNYC]

I've seen many bears (as many or more than deer) in NJ near the NY border, but as soon as you get out of the "neighborhood" types of areas they don't seem patternable to me.  On the NY side of the border and further into NY I barely see them at all, maybe once or twice. I've heard the same thing as @wolc123 - that bears are absurd to drag out of the woods... so keep that in mind. 

One thing I'll tell you with bears is they can slip in/on/by you EXTREMELY quietly... in NJ I've been deer hunting and suddenly there's a bear peeking out at me from 10-15 yards away in a bush. Ironically it seems like the larger the animal the quieter they are.

Squirrel > Deer > Bear

[Five Seasons]

2 hours ago, Robhuntandfish said:

been dying to get a pic of a bear at least once.  Most bears in Ny are taken as targets of oppurtunity while deer hunting.  They can range a long distance.  i have hunted for them in the Dacks and never seen one in higher population areas.  If you consistantly get cam pics closer to season maybe, but i would think youd be lucky to ever see it during season.  Very cool to see one on cam though.  Esp in 6K.  I would love to just know there is a chance one could step out. 

I've had a few cameras up in the daks (near raquette) where we've seen bears and of course know they exist. I've had some up all year round on runs and near camps where they come in to dig through garbage and never even got one on camera. So when I hunt a few times a year it's like, hey I could be here all year 24/7 and still wouldn't have seen a bear lol.

[moog5050]

MY assumption is that bears are very hard to pattern unless you are baiting.  Hope you see it while deer hunting.

[LET EM GROW]

I would say chances are slim but anything is possible. Just bc he's not on cam doesn't mean he is not there more often either. If youd like to harvest him, id focus on the areas he is traveling during day and spend some time there. Have what's available as far as decent bear foods like berries and such and your chances will get higher.. 

The same bears travel through my place in 8p but not on a regular basis. Our woods are more of a travel corridor for these roamers but they eventually come back through. Have had a couple different cinnamons on cam several times in one year and back to back years.... and as mentioned above, unless baiting or having a natural bear buffet available.. its hard to pattern a bear..  

Edited July 28, 2022 by LET EM GROW

[Five Seasons]

3 hours ago, moog5050 said:

MY assumption is that bears are very hard to pattern unless you are baiting.  Hope you see it while deer hunting.

you're absolutely correct. I've tried honey pots (you can google them, basically you're burning honey so it's a lure not food). They're a legal gray area but it never brought me a bear in anyhow lol.

Edited July 28, 2022 by Belo

[moog5050]

1 hour ago, Belo said:

you're absolutely correct. I've tried honey pots (you can google them, basically you're burning honey so it's a lure not food). They're a legal gray area but it never brought me a bear in anyhow lol.

They used them when we hunted Quebec WITH BAIT.  Still nada.  Lol

[BizCT]

Any bear in NY is a trophy. I'd love to shoot one with the bow. But with no season in CT and limited bears in NY, odds are I'll have to go to Canada, Maine or out west for one

[G-Man]

6 hours ago, moog5050 said:

MY assumption is that bears are very hard to pattern unless you are baiting.  Hope you see it while deer hunting.

Unless they are in food  like a cornfield or apple orchard.  They are hard to pattern  mine come by about every 2 weeks.   Hipe they hit the corn right before bow...

[Five Seasons]

17 hours ago, BizCT said:

Any bear in NY is a trophy. I'd love to shoot one with the bow. But with no season in CT and limited bears in NY, odds are I'll have to go to Canada, Maine or out west for one

I'm undecided but given the 3 or so years I've tried to kill a bear in NY, I might book a canadian or maine trip some day to scratch the itch. 

If i'm honest though, my bear trips were more about an excuse to head north with the family and something to do. The idea of having a bear rug at the cabin that my great grandkids could look at someday though falls right into that romantic side of hunting we day dream about in the woods. 

I think like you said, most bear are killed by opportunistic deer hunters. Funny enough I've seen 2 deer in the daks during my bear hunts. 1 was a solid 8 for the area but these were early bear before deer were legal. 

[BizCT]

28 minutes ago, Belo said:

I'm undecided but given the 3 or so years I've tried to kill a bear in NY, I might book a canadian or maine trip some day to scratch the itch. 

If i'm honest though, my bear trips were more about an excuse to head north with the family and something to do. The idea of having a bear rug at the cabin that my great grandkids could look at someday though falls right into that romantic side of hunting we day dream about in the woods. 

I think like you said, most bear are killed by opportunistic deer hunters. Funny enough I've seen 2 deer in the daks during my bear hunts. 1 was a solid 8 for the area but these were early bear before deer were legal. 

a chance at a color phase bear is what lures me to idaho or western canada. also spot & stalk would be exhilarating with bow. But those hunts are double/triple the price since the guide has to be with you vs. dropping off at bait 

[crappyice]

Bring the nose plugs and full mosquito suit if going to Maine at the end of the summer. The mosquitoes are legendary and the beaver castor/stale donut bouquets ideally blowing in your face for 5 hours is less than pleasant.
It is also amazing how dark those woods get -our guide made us wait until he was at our tree before we could climb down. He had many clients think they knew the way back to the road to end up very lost in very big woods where cell phones are spotty at best


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[Farflung]

Bear in the OP's post looks fairly small, Maybe a year old?

If you are in 6K, you might to want to contact some of the local farmers raising corn. The bears pile into the corn around early bear season and right up until the  corn is harvested. Makes a mess for the farmers combining corn as a bear will often flatten down a half a acre of corn.

[The_Real_TCIII]

Post up How many hours youve spent in the NY woods and how many opportunities youve had at a bear. I'll say 2,800 hunting hours, one bear sighting.


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[Robhuntandfish]

Post up How many hours youve spent in the NY woods and how many opportunities youve had at a bear. I'll say 2,800 hunting hours, one bear sighting.


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Id also say 2,800 is a good number for miles walked too.

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[ridgerunner88]

I only have 4 cameras out, all on different properties. This makes it a bear on 3 of the 4! All of the bears have been small but this one is by far the smallest.




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[wolc123]

The small ones are better eating.  My buddy killed a big one up in Canada a few years ago and the outfitters recommended that he leave the carcass in the woods and just take the hide and skull, which made the record books.

200 lbs dressed weight is about the cutoff, above which they are not so hot on the table.   That is also somewhat dependent on their diet.  Also, there is very little edible meat on a bear, compared to a deer. Maybe 15% of their body weight.  They are mostly bone, fat, guts, and hide.   If they were a fish, they’d be a sheephead.  

 

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by wolc123

[DDT]

On 7/28/2022 at 8:19 AM, ridgerunner88 said:

 

I have had this bear walk by my camera 2-3x over the summer. The only bear hunting I’ve done is in PA with a large group of hunters. This picture is from 6K which according to the DEC maps is a low bear area. Do I have any business considering trying to target hunt him or should I just deer hunt as planned and if he happens to walk by then take the shot?

 

 

 

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I'm with farflung,  young bear. Look at the ears for a size/age gauge. As they grow the ears get farther apart and appear smaller due to the head growing.  I've taken a couple.  Greasy. Made a  bunch of pickled polish sausage out of one. That was tasty. Put some meat in a dutch oven along with chili fixings and left it on the woodstove all day at relatives adk camp once.  Came in at the end of the day and ladeled a couple inches of grease off the top. Wasn't that good. That's why the pickled sausage from the next one. 

[DDT]

On 7/28/2022 at 8:19 AM, ridgerunner88 said:

 

I have had this bear walk by my camera 2-3x over the summer. The only bear hunting I’ve done is in PA with a large group of hunters. This picture is from 6K which according to the DEC maps is a low bear area. Do I have any business considering trying to target hunt him or should I just deer hunt as planned and if he happens to walk by then take the shot?

 

 

 

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I'm with farflung,  young bear. Look at the ears for a size/age gauge. As they grow the ears get farther apart and appear smaller due to the head growing.  I've taken a couple.  Greasy. Made a  bunch of pickled polish sausage out of one. That was tasty. Put some meat in a dutch oven along with chili fixings and left it on the woodstove all day at relatives adk camp once.  Came in at the end of the day and ladeled a couple inches of grease off the top. Wasn't that good. That's why the pickled sausage from the next one. 

[bkspyder]

In NY scent lures are legal as is calling. You could try either or both. I know one fellow on another forum who has drawn bears in with scent lures near NJ border but yes it's low %.

Only bear I have seen was by chance and I bolted as soon as I snapped a twig and it saw me.

The Ultimate Guide to Black Bear Hunting by Douglas Boze has a chapter on calling which he likes a lot. He hunts in WA state.