By: Richard P. Smith. Do you want to see more bucks or bears in Michigan during the future? Before you answer that question, some background information about both species of big game is important. Due to the use of a method in 2012 to estimate the UP bear population that is prone to errors, the DNR thought bear numbers were declining and reduced bear hunting licenses by 32% from 2012 through 2014 to allow the bear population to increase. The number of bear licenses issued to hunters in the Lower Peninsula (LP) were cut back … Read More
A Classic Michigan Bear Hunt (w/video)
Black bear hunting in da U.P…..eh. On September 15th, 2016 my dream of bagging a Michigan Black bear came true. My name is Nick Grillo and I am an avid Outdoorsman. I have always been around hunting but I started out deer hunting when I was 14. Deer Hunting has always been one of my main passions in life, that is until I sat 7 yards from a black bear, face to face at ground level. Man….now that was a rush. I still love deer hunting, but definitely gained a huge respect and passion for … Read More
My First Michigan Bear
“This was my first Michigan black bear hunt and it was everything I hoped it would be. East Lake Outfitters was exceptional! My hunting partner and I arrived at camp a day early to an excellent dinner after a long road trip. Prepared food was exceptional each morning & night.. The area is beautiful. There is a reason why the U.P. is called “God’s Country”. I could not believe how hard our guides worked for all of the guys at camp. I did shoot a nice Michigan black bear! The bear came in exactly how … Read More
The DNR Has Michigan’s Bear Count All Wrong?
By: Richard P. Smith. If 116 Michigan residents, many of whom were bear hunters, either saw or had trail camera photos of 1,000 black bears in the state during 2015, how many bears do you think were seen and photographed by the thousands of other hunters and nonhunters last year? If I had to make an educated guess, it would be more than 50,000. Some of those bear would have been seen and/or photographed by more than one person, of course, but certainly not all of them. So how many bears were there in Michigan … Read More
Black Bear Hunting in Northern Ontario
By: Tom Lounsbury The older I get, the more choosey I am about who I go on adventures with in the “wild country” because if the chips are ever down, you need to know they will be right in there covering your “six” or enduring matters with you in a skillful manner. That is why when fellow outdoor writer Jay VanHouten of Midland wanted to know if I would be interested in going on a northern Ontario black bear hunt with him, it was a no-brainer for me to come back with an automatic “yes”. … Read More
Leave The Tracking To The Pros.
By: Laura Scharich Dave and I were heading back to a favorite bear hunting camp for my third bear hunt. I was so excited. I got hooked on bear hunting in 2013 even though it took seventy five hours in the bush to get my first bear. I had managed to get some video of small bears and had a bear destroy my ground blind the first night so it was still an eventful, memorable, and long hunt. Dave chose to do some fishing up there instead of bear hunting and our friend, Jeff was … Read More
“That Can’t Be The Bear I Shot!..?”
“Ground Shrinkage” is a term that black bear hunters become all too familiar with because bears often look bigger than they really are, especially to hunters who have seen few, if any, bears in the wild. It’s common for bear hunters, even those with plenty of experience under their belts, to shoot bears that they think are big only to find out they are smaller than they thought when they recover the bruin they shot. Is there a way to avoid ground shrinkage when bear hunting? There are no guarantees, but one of the best … Read More
Increase In Bear Licenses Essential
By: Richard P. Smith. Even though there are now more black bears in parts of the UP than whitetail deer and that lopsided situation could worsen if bear license quotas are not increased significantly, the DNR does not plan on recommending any change in the number of bear licenses issued during 2016 because bear regulations are on a 2-year cycle. In other words, bear license quotas are supposed to remain the same as in 2015. The only way to change that mindset is for concerned bear and deer hunters who want to see the fledgling … Read More
A Fall Bear Hunt At Spring Lake (w/Video)
I checked and rechecked my backpack so many times, my wife thought the Velcro and zippers would be wore out. With bow and bait, Gary and I started the mile walk into the Mackinac Wilderness. Our destination was a strategically placed ladder stand, 25 yards from the bait sight. My first contact with ELO and Gary Morgan was from a laptop at the dinner table of a friend in AZ.in early 2014. I remembered Mike Avery speaking of ELO, and thought this was a place to start my quest for the first hunt in the … Read More
Bear Hunting Michigan’s Remote U.P. (incl. podcast) – part II
Staring out a window slit for several hours until dark may sound like a boring aspect to some folks, but I’ve never been bored waiting for a bear to show up, which can happen at any time and it is truly amazing how an animal so big can suddenly materialize without making a sound. Unlike deer with hooves, bears move about on soft foot pads, and their dense fur glides silently through the brush. I spend my time admiring the flora and any critters that may appear, and stay focused. I even named a pair … Read More