WEBVTT - Spring Bear Hunting For Dummies 0:00:00.640 --> 0:00:04.640 You're listening to the Sportsman's Nation podcast network powered by 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:08.520 Interstate Batteries from your truck to your trail camera. Interstate 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:12.440 Batteries as you covered, visit your local Interstate Batteries store 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:17.880 today or online at Interstate Batteries dot com. Interstate Batteries 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:27.240 Outrageously Dependable. My name is Clay Nukeoman. I'm the host 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:31.280 of the Bear Hunting Magazine podcast. I'll also be your 0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:34.880 host into the world of hunting the icon of North 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:40.159 American wilderness to bear. We'll talk about tactics, gear conservation. 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:43.000 Who will also bring you into some of the wildest 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:54.120 country on the planet Chasing Battery. Thanks for listening to 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:58.800 the Bear Hunting Magazine Podcast. The next three episodes of 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:02.480 the podcast, we're gonna dive in to the nitty gritty 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:07.360 technical side of bear hunting with three different topics. As 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:10.080 you'll find out as you listen to the Barony Magazine podcast, 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:13.560 anything is on the table for topics. We might interview 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:16.240 old mountain hunters. We might talk about deer hunting, we 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:18.440 might talk about bear hunting. We might talk about a 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:22.440 particular destination. There's all kinds of things that we might 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.880 talk about, but I never want to forget the core 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:30.399 premise of this podcast, which is to learn to discuss, 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:33.759 to talk about bear hunting. It is late in March 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:36.160 right now, and lots of guys are getting ready for 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:39.959 spring bear hunting. This next episode is going to be 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:43.520 all about spring bear hunting. I had two people here 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:46.200 in the office with me, and we basically discussed the 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:50.880 ins and outs, the timing, the biology of what bears 0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:56.360 are doing. We discussed different destinations, just basically the general 0:01:56.400 --> 0:02:00.280 synopsis of spring black bear hunting in North Amera America. 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:03.640 You're gonna enjoy this podcast, and I guarantee you you're 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:07.640 probably gonna hear something that you haven't known before. So 0:02:07.680 --> 0:02:11.040 we're gonna be talking about spring bear hunting, shot placement, 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:16.600 and judging bears on the next three podcasts. I haven't 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:18.440 asked you guys to do too many favors, but I 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:21.040 would like to ask you to do this favor. If 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:23.240 you're listening to this podcast and enjoy it, go and 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:26.480 give us a review on iTunes. That helps us in 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:30.120 all kind of ways. Pretty generic podcast request here, but 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:32.600 we really do appreciate you listening and hope you're gaining 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:41.919 value from what you're hearing. Welcome brethren to the Bear 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:46.320 Hunting Magazine podcast. We have found ourselves again at the 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:52.240 global headquarters Bear Hunting Magazine here in Northwest Arkansas. I 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:57.560 have with me today again my good friend Ryan grab 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:01.560 Colby moorehead. I'll get some introductions to these guys here 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:03.040 in a minute, but first I want to talk to 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:06.480 you about what we're gonna talk about. It is to 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:10.440 the day I believe is March, and it is go 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:15.320 time for planning spring black bear hunting. So this podcast 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:20.200 is going to basically give a general overview of spring 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:22.960 bear hunting in the United States and in Canada, what 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:26.520 the bears are doing this time of year, what the 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:29.440 situation is with getting tags. We're gonna kind of do 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:33.000 this general overview of spring bear hunting, so someone who 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:35.840 is not familiar at all with spring bear hunting could 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:38.600 listen to this podcast and come away with some sense 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:42.760 of what spring bear hunting is. So that's that's kind 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:45.080 of what we're gonna do. We're gonna talk about some 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:47.640 biology stuff of what bears are doing during the time 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:51.000 period when you hunt spring bears states and provinces, and 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:56.160 understanding the Canadian outfitting situation basically. So, but I want 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:59.840 to make some quick introductions here. I've got Ryan Grab 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:03.360 if you listen to. Ryan's been on the podcast a 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:05.520 couple of times. But Ryan is a good friend of 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:08.640 mine from here in Arkansas who in the last podcast, 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:11.520 I introduced him as a man who was killing bears 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:14.640 while my mama was still wiping my nose. I'm gonna 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:18.800 stand by that introduction. Um, Ryan's hunted with me all 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:22.480 over Canada, and he's also what I knew him for 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:26.800 years ago, was killing big bears in Arkansas. And I 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:30.279 still stand by this. Other introduction is that when it 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:34.080 comes to actual bio mass of bears killed in Arkansas, 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:38.040 I have yet to meet anybody that's killed more number 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:42.080 of big bears than this guy. Oh shucks, Clay, you're 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:46.719 making me blush. It's true, though, Ryan, It's true. Well 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:49.159 it's uh. It's an honor to get to hang out 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:56.440 at the Global headquarters with you. Yeah, man, Yeah yeah, 0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:59.279 to my right, I was just joking about that. To 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:02.919 my right. Colby Morehead. I introduced Kolbe in the last podcast, 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:06.720 but Kobe works for Bear Hunting magazine. Kobe is kind 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:08.719 of like Uh. I like to introduce him as a 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:11.000 tech nerd. I don't know if he likes that or not, 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:14.880 but to me, that's a compliment. Yeah. Uh, Kobe is 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:17.360 the tech nerd of Bear Hunting Magazine. He does all 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:19.559 kinds of stuff for us here. He's just been working 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:23.119 here for about a month now, and so, but Kobe 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:26.480 is a bear hunter, and uh Kobe has done some 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:29.920 some fact research for us about spring bears that he's 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:33.679 gonna be adding in. But we'll just jump right into 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:35.600 it and this will be one of the series of 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:38.599 podcasts some of our podcasts on the Bear Hunting Magazine 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:44.000 podcast are. I mean, we might have topics about turkey 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:48.320 hunting or deer hunting, or interviewing old mountain men. I mean, 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:51.560 like pretty much anything is fair game. But we also 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:55.320 want to supply you guys with some nitty gritty, technical, 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:58.240 nuts and bolts stuff about bear hunting. And so that's 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:03.799 what this is. Um, let me just start by saying, Ryan, 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:07.200 you you really started spring bear hunting about the same 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:11.120 time I did. I'm from the South from Arkansas. There 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:13.920 are no spring bear seasons in the southern United States, 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:18.359 and we were bear hunters hunt in Arkansas and about 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:25.240 six years ago, two thousand, Yeah, about six years ago 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:28.159 you went with me? No, No, I had been to 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:33.479 Canada before I actually went to Canada and ten or 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:37.560 nine now it was Alberta. I went to Alberta with 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:41.599 my dad and maybe two thousand ten or two thousand nine, 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:47.039 I can't remember snuck away um. But basically, bear hunting 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:48.960 in the spring was a new thing for me. And 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:52.240 when you know, six years ago when we kind of 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:56.120 started hunting Canada and to me, what's so cool. Let 0:06:56.120 --> 0:06:58.040 me just start off by saying, what it's so cool 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:01.000 about spring bear hunting is what other big game animal 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:04.000 can you hunt in the spring? No? No, no, none. 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:06.599 I mean there are some sheep hunts and goat hunts, 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:10.240 some animals that don't have antlers that shed that you 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:13.040 can hunt, But I mean for all practical purposes, there 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:15.080 is no other big game. I mean, not many people 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:20.640 are sheep hunting in July and June. Chase hoggs. Yeah, 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:25.320 you can chase hogs, um, but you know, all the 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:28.080 antler game are totally out of bounds in the spring. Now, 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:31.160 we can spring turkey hunt, obviously we do that, but 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:34.120 what other big game animal can you take your bow 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:37.040 and go and hunt in the spring And the answer 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:41.240 is very, very few. The other thing about spring bear 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:46.760 hunting people, this this is like really significant news to 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:50.400 someone who wouldn't know this, is that black bear numbers 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:54.400 are thriving all across the North American continent. Black bears 0:07:54.440 --> 0:08:00.320 have the most wide geographic distribution, second only to the 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:04.800 mountain lion of distribution across North America. I've said that 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:07.040 before and people have questioned me. I actually wrote it 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:09.480 one time and an editor edited it out because he 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:13.960 didn't believe it. But pre European settlement in North America, 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:19.920 the mountain lion, the puma, the cougar, Ryan ranged from 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:23.440 the eastern United States to the western United States without 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:25.960 a gap. I mean, there are mountain lions and Kansas. 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:28.640 There are mountain lions here and there. There are mountain 0:08:28.640 --> 0:08:31.440 lions all the way up into Canada. There are mountain 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:35.080 lions all the way down into South America. What like, 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:38.280 think about like an elk or a sheep, or a 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:41.240 white tailed deer or a moose. I want to have 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:46.520 to take some of these books home that you're reading. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:51.720 So mount lion has the largest geographic natural distribution of 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:54.440 any big game animal in North America, as I understand 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:58.160 it from the books that I read. Number two to 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:01.120 that critter is the black bear. I mean, you think 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:04.760 about it, black bear would have ranged from the East coast. 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:07.280 I mean there are black bears looking at the Atlantic Ocean, 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:10.640 you know, in North Carolina and all the I mean 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:14.559 in Maine all the way to black bears in California 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:18.160 looking at the Pacific Ocean. Now there would be have 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:22.560 been natural holes in their distribution through the Great Plains 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:26.120 in different places. I mean, like a bear is pretty 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:30.120 much not gonna live in the Grand Prairie. But there's 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:33.520 also black bears that range deep into the boreal forest 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:35.720 of the North, all the way down in New Mexico. 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:40.200 So I qualify my statement that bears are everywhere. And 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:43.160 so that's another thing about spring bear hunting is that 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:47.559 you can spring bear hunt. Um well, we'll get into 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:50.440 where you can do it, but basically, bears are everywhere. 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:55.520 Why do we spring bear hunt? Because bears don't have 0:09:55.640 --> 0:10:01.439 antlers that fall off and regrow. Number two, spring bears 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:06.640 have exceptional hide that have exceptional hide quality. A bear 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:10.520 has been dinning for three to six months, even in 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:14.840 some places there they they've produced all this energy and 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:17.760 food that they've been in the whole year has made 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:20.880 their hide great quality, so that when they're in the 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:25.000 den they're preserving heat resources. So when they come out, 0:10:25.080 --> 0:10:28.200 they've got these great hides. Also, it's just kind of 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:31.200 a side benefit. Is not why we hunt spring bears, 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:34.400 but I've heard people say that their claws are in 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:36.680 better shape. Like if you kill a fall bear, I 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:40.040 mean he's been running around, he's been digging, he's been 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:43.000 doing stuff. Um, a bear comes out of the spring, 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:45.560 right out of the den, he's gonna have sharp, big, 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:53.960 long claws. They've just been growing. Um also bears. Uh, 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:56.080 just there's an opportunity to hunt bears in the spring. 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:58.960 They're coming out of the dens. They're hungry, they're active 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:03.320 and traditional that's when they've been hunted, especially in the North, 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:10.120 not so much in the South. Um. So we let's 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:13.839 just start right off the bat by talking about when 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:19.200 do you spring bear hunt? And uh, typically we're gonna 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:23.400 be spring bear hunting in May in June. Like when 0:11:23.440 --> 0:11:25.760 I first started, Ryan, if you ten years ago, if 0:11:25.760 --> 0:11:27.160 you just said when do you go on a spring 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:28.760 bear hunt, would you have been able to answer that 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:32.720 question as a Southerner probably not. I would have figured April. 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:37.760 May you know, yeah, because by June in Arkansas, I 0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:41.319 mean it were in deep summer. I mean, so you're 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:44.640 not thinking about going and chasing something with your bow. Well, 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:48.280 as a general rule, most most places where you spring 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:50.120 bear hunt, you're hunting in May and June. Now that 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:53.560 being said, there's lots of Western states, not lots, but 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:57.960 the the western states that have spring bear seasons that 0:11:58.000 --> 0:12:02.120 are in the United States sometimes start on April, so 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:06.560 you can hunt bears even into April. But in general, 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:11.520 you would say May in June. Um, let's go ahead 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:17.680 and talk about the features of the timing of spring 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:21.600 bear hunts, because a lot of people wouldn't understand when 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:24.079 they go. Maybe they would call a Canadian bear outfitter, 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:25.800 and outfitter would say, well, why don't you come the 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:29.920 first week of May? Well, there benefits to hunting early. 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:32.760 Or you might call an outfitter and he say, why 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:36.720 don't you come the second week of June and their benefits, 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:39.960 pros and cons to each thing. And most people don't 0:12:40.040 --> 0:12:43.079 understand this at all. They just view the spring like 0:12:43.280 --> 0:12:46.040 just a big, massive time that it's all the same. 0:12:46.240 --> 0:12:48.200 It would be like white tail hunting Ryan, if you 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:53.800 were to say, hey, do you wanna hunt in mid September, 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:57.600 you know, if there was a early opener in some state, 0:12:58.040 --> 0:13:02.520 or would you rather hunt on nob or like explaining that, 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:07.640 like basically the bare world is the same pros and cons. 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:10.880 You can catch a big buck on feeding pattern and 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:15.240 probably kill him in mid September, but you're not gonna 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:20.240 have any rud activity to speak of. But in mid 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:22.880 November you might kill a buck that you've never seen 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:27.080 before and it's at least bring bear hunts. So, I 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:32.520 mean south the ice is out right, things have greened up. 0:13:32.559 --> 0:13:36.160 You may drive ten hours north of there and things 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:40.040 are still frozen and the bears are on the move. Yeah, 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:45.680 So there's variations even between variations, even between places, even 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:48.080 in Canada, and that's a good that's a good thing 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:50.640 for people to think about, especially if you're talking about 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:53.040 Canadian bear hunting, which we're gonna talk about the outfitter 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:56.360 situation some in Canada. But like southern Canada is way 0:13:56.440 --> 0:13:59.600 different than Northern Canada. I mean even in like the 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:03.240 province of Manitoba. You cross over into Manitoba and the 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:06.160 you know, the southern third of it is gonna be 0:14:06.640 --> 0:14:10.240 pretty different than the way up north. And uh, I 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:12.360 mean just like here, like the difference between where we 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:17.280 are in northwest Arkansas into northern Iowa. I mean, big 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:20.840 difference in temperature, big difference in the winters. But we 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:23.120 kind of have this idea that Canada is just this 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:28.440 you know, this place, that it's like all the same thing. Um, 0:14:28.560 --> 0:14:31.920 So let's go ahead and jump right into early season hunting. 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:34.200 I like to compare the months of May and jun 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:39.320 to the months of October and November when it comes 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:41.240 to white tails again, going back to this thing that 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:45.000 most people are familiar with white tail hunting, and so 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:49.240 the characteristics of hunting early October for white tails would 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:54.800 be finding animals on feeding pattern. The characteristics of hunting 0:14:54.840 --> 0:15:01.120 them in November would typically be hunting rudding animals. So early, 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:07.160 let's just say almost eight probably the outfitters that we 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:09.560 deal with at Bear Hunting Magazine start taking clients the 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:13.880 first week of May. Some of our northern clients, which 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:16.880 with this would be the exception, like in northern Saskatchewan, 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:19.600 some of these really far north places don't stake and 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:23.360 don't don't start taking clients until mid May to even 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:27.320 late May. Outfitter that we have hunted with in the 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:29.760 past doesn't even start taking hunter until the first week 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:35.400 of June. But they're way up north, Okay, typically first 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:39.040 week of May. And here's the deal. First week of May, 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:43.720 there's gonna be very little rut activity happening. Bears are 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:46.800 going to be less active because they've probably just come 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:51.800 out of the den. But the bores are typically the 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.480 first bears out of the den. The only well a 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:57.280 sou is gonna be rear and young, and we'll stay 0:15:57.320 --> 0:16:00.120 in the den a little bit longer. Oftentimes a lot 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:03.000 of times the first animals out are boars, and they 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:07.160 are they have one thing on their mind. Food. And 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:10.680 so if you're hunting over bait or if you're spotting 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:14.960 stalk hunting out west, if you find a bear, you 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:18.520 can probably kill him in early May, and that goes 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:21.880 from bait to spotting stalk. Looking on the side of 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:24.320 a mountain in Montana and you see a bear out 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:27.760 in a little green field, he's probably not going anywhere. 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:32.560 He's probably gonna be there tomorrow. He's he's found him 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:34.800 a food source and he's gonna stay there. The same 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:36.640 way you go to an outfit of the first week 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:39.080 of May and you get a truck camera picture of 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:43.040 a big boar, he's probably gonna be there. So the 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:45.720 pro of hunting the early season is bears are on 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:48.920 feeding patterns and man, I've seen it. I've seen it 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:51.680 where you get pictures of bears and they're just consistent. 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:57.720 And now that is contrasted ryan with bears that are 0:16:58.440 --> 0:17:01.040 that you're hunting later in the year. The further you 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:04.280 get into the spring, the more rut activity that you're 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:06.960 gonna have. The more of these bear, these big boards 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:09.600 are gonna have fed built up their body reserves that 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:14.600 have been depleted during denning, and then they're gonna be 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:20.600 starting to rut. I've seen the bear rut really kick 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:23.639 off the last ten days of May, and again I 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:27.000 go back to that analogy of October and November for 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:29.280 the white tail world is like May and June for 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:32.640 the bear world. Late October, you're gonna start seeing rut activity. 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:36.240 You're gonna start seeing buck's cruising making sign They're gonna 0:17:36.560 --> 0:17:39.320 veer off of their natural feeding patterns to start leaning 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:42.920 towards those same thing with bear. So you might have 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:47.199 a bear on a trail camera at a bait site 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:51.240 or on a hillside in late May, and he may 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:53.520 be he may be there the next day, but he 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:56.760 may not be because he may be, Hey, I'm gonna 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:59.000 roll over this next hill, go see if I can 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:05.520 find a sow that's receptive. Um. That that is a 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:09.119 big That is a big thing. So further you get 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:12.760 into June, the more rut activity. But from a hunting perspective, 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:16.080 as you would have seen an experience in different times, 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:19.040 you might be sitting on a bait site and a 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:23.919 brand new bear that's never been there roamers, just like 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:27.800 hunting the white tail rut, he might show up and 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:30.639 you might you might take a big board that no 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:34.679 one has ever seen before at that place. Um. And 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:40.160 so it's this, it's this, uh, this difference between these 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:44.080 two things where you're gonna have bear that uh are 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:47.280 really patternable, or you're taking a chance on a bear 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:50.480 that might be there for a short period of time 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:53.359 with a sow now during the rut. Also, it's not 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:55.800 like you're just looking for this lone roamer. What you 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:58.679 might find is a bear coming to a bait and 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:00.879 he just hangs around for two or three days and 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:05.800 it's gone. I've seen that pattern happened before. Uh any 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:10.359 comments on that. Uh you know, Uh, it can work 0:19:10.440 --> 0:19:12.600 both ways. But like you say, you know, once the 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:15.440 rut kicks in and bears are still you know, they'll 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:18.040 still feed. They're still feeding. Uh, you know, there's no 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:22.080 kind of mass that time of year. There's no soft mass, 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:26.000 no berries, So they've got sales on their mind, but 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:30.640 they're also hungry. But it is nice to say mid 0:19:30.720 --> 0:19:34.040 June have a sour two hanging around the bait, because 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:38.400 you never know what's gonna show up with a classic 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:42.520 spring June rutt hunt. Ryan to me, from my experience, 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:44.320 has been when I killed that color face bear that 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:47.320 touched the end of my arrow. Remember that hot soal 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:51.640 was in there. This one boar was Breedinger, and then 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:53.919 this color face bear showed up, which we believed it 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:56.800 was the first time he ever showed up. I mean 0:19:56.840 --> 0:19:59.920 it was like Kobe had never seen him on camera. 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:04.960 Colby Morrison outfitter, and uh, that was a classic red hunt. 0:20:05.240 --> 0:20:06.919 Let me jump into the nuts and bolts of the 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:11.040 bear rut and all my research, I have never seen 0:20:11.200 --> 0:20:14.879 this as clearly laid out is what I'm about to say, 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:17.399 And I wrote an article for Verity Magazine a couple 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:20.240 of years ago, and I kind of did it in 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:23.760 response to the lack of information that I had about 0:20:23.840 --> 0:20:29.040 the bear rut. But basically, the bear rut is a 0:20:29.080 --> 0:20:32.679 long window as opposed to a white tail rut, and 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:36.440 there's a biological reason for that. Bears have a process 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:40.879 called delayed implantation, which means a sal bear can be 0:20:40.960 --> 0:20:47.720 bred and the egg isn't actually attached to the uterine 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:52.320 wall to start gestation and tell that female has gone 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:54.560 all the way through the fall and her body decides 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:57.560 that she's capable of rear and young, so gestation doesn't 0:20:57.600 --> 0:21:01.400 actually start until early November, or bears have a sixty 0:21:01.480 --> 0:21:04.560 day gestation period and cubs are born in the den 0:21:04.600 --> 0:21:08.840 in January most of the time. A white tail rut, 0:21:08.920 --> 0:21:13.760 ungulate rut, anything like that. Breeding date has everything to 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:16.880 do with gestation time and optimal time for that fond 0:21:17.000 --> 0:21:20.000 to be born in the spring. So that's why that 0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:23.280 there has to be this really tight window of when 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:28.160 an animal is bred. Because of delayed implantation, the bear 0:21:28.280 --> 0:21:32.040 rut can be much more spread out. The bear rut 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:37.879 isn't as concentrated as a white tail rut, and it 0:21:38.280 --> 0:21:42.040 pretty much is a A salth bear could be bred 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:46.240 in August, she could be bred in September. It all 0:21:46.280 --> 0:21:50.440 depends upon when she connects with that boar. And it's 0:21:50.480 --> 0:21:53.640 an awesome it's amazing to me, it's just amazing. It's 0:21:53.640 --> 0:21:56.959 a biological strategy for an animal with low densities, like 0:21:57.000 --> 0:21:59.040 a white high white tailed density. I go back this 0:21:59.119 --> 0:22:02.240 all the time. High white tell density, it's like thirty 0:22:02.280 --> 0:22:04.639 to sixty per square mile. I mean, there's plenty of 0:22:04.640 --> 0:22:07.560 opportunity for breeding. A high bear density might just be 0:22:07.640 --> 0:22:10.240 one bear per square mile, even in a good place. 0:22:10.520 --> 0:22:18.160 And so this long breeding window is designed to compensate 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:20.399 for low densities because a sal bear might come in 0:22:20.480 --> 0:22:23.679 the heat and never and just not bump into another board, 0:22:24.160 --> 0:22:26.359 and so she has this big window. But in the 0:22:26.400 --> 0:22:30.600 research that that I did and pulled from different sources, 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:36.439 was that kind of the peak, if there was a 0:22:36.480 --> 0:22:39.439 peak of bear breeding, it would be in mid June. 0:22:40.200 --> 0:22:42.720 And that was on this in this one bear population 0:22:42.760 --> 0:22:48.280 actually in the Northwest, And so like the peak of 0:22:48.520 --> 0:22:53.080 bear breeding for this particular study was June. There were 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:56.800 bears that were bred in July. There were also bears 0:22:56.800 --> 0:22:59.439 that like, the earliest breeding I think they saw was 0:22:59.480 --> 0:23:02.560 in mid May, but the peak of it was mid 0:23:02.640 --> 0:23:08.040 June eleven. And so to me, I've I've used that 0:23:08.200 --> 0:23:12.840 as a again to build this analogy of October and November. 0:23:13.000 --> 0:23:17.040 I mean probably around here, November the eleventh would be 0:23:17.119 --> 0:23:20.960 probably pretty during close to peak breeding time. Yeah, I 0:23:21.040 --> 0:23:28.880 mean third week, well, probably second week of November, right, 0:23:31.080 --> 0:23:34.159 So I think that's important for people to understand the 0:23:34.160 --> 0:23:36.800 bear rut. Toby, any thoughts, any questions about that? Have 0:23:36.880 --> 0:23:41.919 you ever heard that the bear rut explained like that? Oh? 0:23:42.000 --> 0:23:45.080 I mean yeah, but just in personal conversations with you 0:23:45.280 --> 0:23:48.080 rather than any other pretty much, if there's a gap 0:23:48.080 --> 0:23:50.760 in conversation with anybody in any place, I start talking 0:23:50.800 --> 0:23:54.760 about the bear rut. Yeah, and then over until it's 0:23:54.800 --> 0:23:58.280 really awkward sometimes I just can't keep it out, and 0:23:58.280 --> 0:24:02.399 then over until like you know, how the egg gets 0:24:02.520 --> 0:24:05.680 implanted and sometimes it's delayed. That's the second thing I talked. 0:24:05.720 --> 0:24:07.280 I talked about the bear rut, and then I talked 0:24:07.280 --> 0:24:12.520 about delayed implantation. Yeah, I'm joking, guys. Yeah, I don't 0:24:12.560 --> 0:24:18.840 always talk about that. You're right now, I think it's 0:24:18.880 --> 0:24:20.919 I think it's part of what makes bear is fascinating, 0:24:21.720 --> 0:24:24.680 but it really, it really does affect the way that 0:24:24.800 --> 0:24:28.399 we hunt them. So okay, going back to the purpose 0:24:28.440 --> 0:24:30.560 of this podcast, spring bear hunting. So spring bear hunting 0:24:30.600 --> 0:24:33.159 takes place in May and June. June is gonna be 0:24:33.160 --> 0:24:37.000 your more breeding activity, which might bring in a Rovin 0:24:37.640 --> 0:24:40.680 a Rovin board that you've never seen. May is gonna 0:24:40.720 --> 0:24:42.639 be more of your feeding stuff. And to me, this 0:24:42.720 --> 0:24:46.480 applies in spotting stock and in bait hunting. When hunting 0:24:46.560 --> 0:24:50.960 British Columbia. Like my buddy Devin Jewel Bear Pacific Bear Outfitters, 0:24:51.160 --> 0:24:53.720