In 32 days.........

[Dawei]

Our Black Bear season will open! I will be out in the blackberry bushes looking for Yogi!

[DWB]

Does that mean BooBoo is pretty well safe then?

Do you hunt over bait (in Yogi's case is that picnic baskets?) or can you use dogs?

[Dawei]

Does that mean BooBoo is pretty well safe then?

Do you hunt over bait (in Yogi's case is that picnic baskets?) or can you use dogs?

Neither. In the fall of 1996 the tree huggers got no bait & no hounds on the ballot. The lberal Democraps got it passed. Since then the Black Bear population is way, way, up. The harvest on the other hand is way, way, down. It's spot and stalk only.

[white fox]

Good Old Washington. They know how to crap out a good Bear hunt. Loved to use bait way back then. Nice honey burn is great too.

[mt_sourdough]

Here in Montana, all the predator populations are way up including bears. This weekend, I spent a a couple of days in a drainage that, though a realatively small drainage, there were at least five bears. 3 adults with one of those bears having 2 cubs. In the drainage, there were two large elk herds as well. At night, it sounded like the deep Congo with all the elk and bear noises, plus plenty of birds and other noises. Of course, I had my 444 for last resort if needed.
I think the whitetails appear to be the first to have there numbers drop to the explosion of the number of predators -wolves, mountain lions, black bears and even grizzes. The state now recognizes that there needs to be a greater effort to to bring the numbers back into line.

[Reicher]

Wow...no dogs, no bait. That makes it rough. VA allows hounds for bear and deer but doesn't allow bait for any game. I lived, for 8 years, in the highest bear harvest county in VA and never laid eyes on the first bear. I saw plenty of sign but never saw one. I couldn't image what no hounds would do to the bear populations. Looking on the bright side of the spot and stalk method, if you do bag one it really speaks highly of your knowledge of the area and your woodsmanship. Kind of a form of bragging rights. I wish you the best of luck going for ol' Yogi.

[stanhope24]

They tried to pass the same law in Maine about 10 years ago and it failed on the ballot. I was really suprised, Maine is full of hippies,and treehuggers. Enough of them like to hunt I guess. The southern part of the State usually knows whats best for us Downeasters but they couldnt get it to pass.