New to Bear Hunting and looking for advice

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ADKMtnTrapper
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New to Bear Hunting and looking for advice

Unread postby ADKMtnTrapper » Sun Aug 02, 2015 1:28 am

Good Morning!

So I hunt in bear country up in the upper Adirondacks but have never specifically targeted bears. This year i would like to give it a go. Our Season runs from Sept. 19th until Dec. 6th. I plan on focusing on them from Sept to mid Oct. then im switching over to deer. There are definately bears on our property and the terrain is similar to hill country. The property is owned by a paper company so there is always areas with new growth consisting of saplings and wild berries but most are gone by the season opener. Then depending on the mast crop we either have beech nuts or just ferns for food after it gets cold(From my exp. usually if there aren't any mast crops then they move out of the area. There are two creek flows with dark thick pine timber and two large swamps on the property.

From the sign i have scouted in the spring so far it seems that they stay above the swamps on the high ground. I am going up to scout a little this weekend, i can only assume from what i am reading on here that they will be in the swamps out of the heat.

Hunting pressure is relatively low but human pressure(ie. 4 wheeler, truck and human traffic) is med. to high so human scent will spook them. I plan on hunting from a tree stand and have an option of rifle for the early season and bow for late sept.

I live in NY so baiting is out of the question however i can use scents.

So for the questions....

1. Where should i focus my hunting efforts? Obviously if i can find good bear sign i will set up there but what if i find little sign?

2. What type of scents should i try? I have read how Dan says that different bears have different tastes but would a more powerful "long call" scent work better to give me a larger scent area or should i go with a sweeter smell, or both?

3. When hunting bear with scents how do you set up with the wind? I have read how you should set up so your scents blow into the area you expect a bear to be and to hunt high but should you set up on a cross wind to try and keep your scent column seperate from the bait?

Thanks for the input ahead of time guys! :dance:
~ ADK


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Re: New to Bear Hunting and looking for advice

Unread postby dan » Sun Aug 02, 2015 2:32 am

Hunting without bait is tough... I would try funnels between swamp areas and food.


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