Howdy y?all I?m currently living in Texas and will be moving to Laramie this fall for college. It?s been a dream of mine to harvest a bear and I plan to give it a try this year. What do y?all think about unit 8 for black bear? From my understanding you can use bait as long as you have registered the site. If anyone would point me in the right direction or give me any tips that would be great. I?ve been chasing elk in Colorado for the last 4 years but have very limited knowledge on bear hunting.Any tips, pointers, or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Bear hunting Medicine bow Routt National Forest
- Thread starter TroublemakerOutdoors
- Start date
highplainsdrifter
Very Active Member
I hunt in Area 9 (see video below), but the process is the same. Here are the basics (if want more detail, send me a message):
>If you plan to hunt on federal land, you need a baiting permit.
>You can get two permits per person (each for a square mile section).
>Permits go on sale April 1st. You must apply in person at the Laramie G&F Office.
>You should check ahead of time to see what sections have not already been claimed.
>Of course it would be helpful to have done some scouting ahead of time so you know whether you want an available section.
>In my opinion, the best hunting is in the spring. Because snow can cause access problems in the spring, you might want to consider registering low elevation sites. You can get to those earlier.
>Getting to a site early is important because the season closes when the female mortality quota is reached. Sometimes that is well before the calendar closing date of June 15th.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSxuHtwR5bA
>If you plan to hunt on federal land, you need a baiting permit.
>You can get two permits per person (each for a square mile section).
>Permits go on sale April 1st. You must apply in person at the Laramie G&F Office.
>You should check ahead of time to see what sections have not already been claimed.
>Of course it would be helpful to have done some scouting ahead of time so you know whether you want an available section.
>In my opinion, the best hunting is in the spring. Because snow can cause access problems in the spring, you might want to consider registering low elevation sites. You can get to those earlier.
>Getting to a site early is important because the season closes when the female mortality quota is reached. Sometimes that is well before the calendar closing date of June 15th.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSxuHtwR5bA
Prerylyon
Veteran member
Beautiful video!
After a long day at the office; what a treat to find this little gem of video focusing on spring bear hunting in the high country of SE WY. Very well done, thanks for sharing! [emoji106]
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Appreciate your words! Means a lot to have a local willing to give an outsider some advice. Great video by the way, looks like y’all definitely know what your doing. Subscribed!
Be careful where you go, too. Half of MB/Routt goes into Colorado and there's a ton of bears here. But baiting is definitely 100% illegal here. Make sure you're not close to the border, and make sure you don't need to go THROUGH Colorado in/out of your area.
Hilltop
Veteran member
There is nothing illegal about travelling through Colorado or hunting very close to the border.
wy-tex
Veteran member
Just keep your firearms legal when travelling through Colorado, they have different laws on firearms in vehicles.
Make sure you get that NR license and check the bear quota hotline.
I would also listen to highplainsdrifter, he knows his bear stuff.
Hope you enjoy Laramie, we do.
How have the hogs shown themselves up in Fritch, any real problems yet?
Make sure you get that NR license and check the bear quota hotline.
I would also listen to highplainsdrifter, he knows his bear stuff.
Hope you enjoy Laramie, we do.
How have the hogs shown themselves up in Fritch, any real problems yet?
Thank you, I wasn’t aware of the different firearm laws between the states I’ll look into it. The pigs are kind of scattered throughout the Canadian right now. On the public land just outside of town, where I go coyote hunting most mornings I cross the river and walk all through there and have yet to see any sign of them. I know they are there somewhere because I’ve seen them right across the dam. Although there’s no hunting of feral pigs on lake Meredith NP land which is odd. Are you familiar with the Fritch Area?
wy-tex
Veteran member
Not familiar but we drive along 287 every year twice to visit family in Texas. My brother in law knows the folks with the Blue Ranch.
Just wondering if the hogs are making a push north , we see some along 287 between Dumas and Amarillo.
Just wondering if the hogs are making a push north , we see some along 287 between Dumas and Amarillo.
Sure. But if you have a big sack of bear bait and a feeder in the back of your truck when you do it and you get pulled over, you're going to have a long conversation on your hands. That's all I'm saying.
highplainsdrifter
Very Active Member
I travel through Colorado to get to my Wyoming bait sites all the time. If you have a Wyoming bear license with you, which you must have in order to set out baits, the conversation with the officer when you're stopped should be pretty quick.Sure. But if you have a big sack of bear bait and a feeder in the back of your truck when you do it and you get pulled over, you're going to have a long conversation on your hands. That's all I'm saying.
wy-tex
Veteran member
Exactly. No need to worry about travelling through Colorado unless you have a weapon in your vehicle, just follow their rules for firearm transport.
Lots of us hunt along the state border with no issues what so ever. Just know where you are.
hunttrap
Active Member
highplainsdrifter
Very Active Member
In Area 9 the spring season usually stays open until early June. Once or twice I've seen it stay open until the calendar closing date of June 15th.
hunttrap
Active Member
I go to northern Idaho and diy bait bears, Wyoming would be a heck of a lot closer for me in eastern Nebraska. Might have look into that. Heck at only an 8 hour drive I could drive out and set a bait a few weeks prior to hunting which I can't do in Idaho.
highplainsdrifter
Very Active Member
We usually check and replenish our baits weekly. If you wait much longer than that, and the bait barrel goes empty, the bears may leave and not come back. I think it's pretty important to not let the bait barrels go empty for long.
I realize that could be difficult when you have an 8 hour drive. Our drive is about 3 hours...so we're able to do it all in the same day. You would probably have to stay overnight one night each time you tend them.
hunttrap
Active Member
That's what I've noticed in Idaho. Small bears may hang around but the big boys leave. What you use for bait. I use popcorn with a surgar cherry syrup over it with baitem 907 products. I'm thinking I'm going to change to dog food for future years, bears might get a more full feeling. I've had to many bears snack on the popcorn and not keep hitting it. Of course i'm just have them set for 10 days or so for my hunt.
highplainsdrifter
Very Active Member
I use dog food coated with powder sugar. Dog food is one of the cheapest baits you can get. And I don't think the type of bait matters much. Bears will eat anything. What's more important are the scents you use around the bait...stuff you spray on the trees and ground. I have been using several Northwoods products.
Another trick I learned...the first year I cut a big hole in the bait barrel. Because bears could get their entire head in there, the bait disappeared in a hurry. So, I decided to put metal bars over the opening (see attached picture). That slowed them down a bit, and the baits lasted longer.
hunttrap
Active Member
Guy I talked to last year had a similar set up, had the barrel rigged so they could only get a few dog food nuggets out at a time. He had good success.