Spring or fall, bear hunting has it all, but the opportunities presented by a spring bear hunt can be amazing, with sightings of dozens of bears per week a common occurrence. Here are three great options for bear hunting this spring.

By Bernie Barringer

Until I got into bear hunting, I always thought spring was for fishing. Not anymore. I am totally in love with spring bear hunting and I can’t imagine a year without it. My first spring bear hunt was a bait hunt in Manitoba, and from there I have done several more bait hunts, plus a spot & stalk hunt in British Columbia and hound hunt in Idaho. You could say I am hooked on spring bear hunting.

When speaking of spring bear hunting, the number one thing that comes up seems to be the number of bears seen. While a fall baited bear hunt in Canada may produce sightings of bear every day, spring hunts seems to produce multiple sightings and much more interactions at the bait. That British Columbia hunt I mentioned earlier? I shot the 42nd bear I saw on the six-day hunt. In addition to the sheer number of active bears in the spring, the hunts usually feature pleasant weather and some combination of fishing along with the hunting. Let’s have a brief look at the three options.

Spot & Stalk

Most spot & stalk hunts take place in the western US and Canada. The open country is conducive to spotting bears from a distance and then putting the sneak on them. I am exclusively a bowhunter, which presents a significant challenge in comparison to a rifle hunter, but that’s a challenge I will gladly accept.

Your days will be spent driving and walking logging roads, glassing logging cut blocks and clearings. My BC hunt with Eureka Peak Outfitters was characterized by equal amounts of driving through stunning beautiful mountain country and hiking deactivated logging roads. It was a nice mix and very productive. When we needed a short break from glassing, my guide stopped off at a mountain stream or beaver pond where we caught rainbow trout on literally every single cast. I loved this hunt and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

These spring hunts are available in Alberta, BC and Yukon, and in the states: Idaho, Arizona, Montana, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico and Wyoming.

Hound Hunting

If you love dogs and are up to an athletic hunt packed with adrenaline and close encounters with bears, this hunt is one you definitely need to put on your life list. Nearly 20 US states offer hound hunting, but, with the exception of Maine, the majority of the spring hound hunts are found in the Western mountain states.

My spring hound hunt was with Reggear Outfitting in Idaho and I shot a nice bear in the first hour of the hunt. I could have passed that bear but it was just too perfect. Travis Reggear, like most reputable hound outfitters, runs nearly 100% success rate. This type of hunt is not for the sedentary because it often involves climbing steep hills, riding ATVs over rough terrain and crashing through brush to get to treed dogs before the bear decides to bail out of the tree. And that’s all before you shoot the bear. Once the bear hits the ground, you have to get it out, which can be just as tough or tougher depending on where the bear trees. This adrenaline-packed style of hunting is addictive so be forewarned about that! Watch this video to get a feel for what Idaho hound hunting is like when everything goes right!

Bear Baiting

Hunting Bears over bait is often frowned upon by those who have no experience with it. Put out a pile of donuts and get ready to shoot a bear, right? Nothing could be farther from the truth. Hunting bears over bait is a challenge. Getting a mature bear to come into a bait site when a hunter is present can be difficult and having that bear approach during daylight is often a difficult challenge. But if you choose and outfitter with bait sites in remote wilderness areas where the bears have little to no experience with humans, the challenge is not insurmountable.

Across Canada, Outfitters put out baits before the bears come out of hibernation, so when the bears are ready to eat, the food is ready for them. These bait sites often become hubs of activity for bears in the area. There is a lot of interaction which increases the chances of bears coming in during daylight. Couple that with the fact that it is daylight until 10:30 at night during the spring, and you have a recipe for seeing a lot of bears. In many cases, you will have a choice of which one you want to take.

I have hunted spring bears with several outfitters in Manitoba and Saskatchewan and am always amazed at the number of bears I see. The opportunity to witness interactions between bears and their behaviors is not only educational but exhilarating. I enjoy fall bear hunting too, but in the spring, the bait sites aren’t competing with the abundance of natural foods and I regularly see 2-3 times as many bears on a spring hunt as I do on a fall hunt.

Put a spring bear hunt on your list, but be aware that spring bear hunting is addictive. The adrenaline value is high and it will keep you coming back over and over.

We are months away from the fall hunting season and you still have some venison in the freezer. Here are two recipes for venison loin that will have your mouth watering for more, and help you clear out the freezer for the next round of fine eating.

By Bernie Barringer

One of the best things about hunting is, of course, all the great meat free from preservatives and any other chemicals that might be found in store-bought meat. Wild game meat is organic, it’s “green” and it’s really good! I put three deer in the freezer last fall, and I am lamenting the fact that it’s almost gone. I make a lot of roasts in the slow cooker and a lot of the venison was made into breakfast sausage and burger. I also make a lot of sausage out of bear meat. But one of the best delicacies of all is the loins of the deer. Some people call them backstraps, but whatever you want to call them, they are tender and juicy and delicious. If you fix them properly.
I primarily use the loins in two ways and I thought I would share with you how I do it and maybe it will help you enjoy your venison more by taking my advice. Add your comments to this post about how you like to fix your loins, I would love to hear them, I am always experimenting!
The first thing I do is pat the loins down with a good venison rub. I often use High Mountain Seasonings Western Venison Rub. It turned out great, although it might have a touch too much black pepper for some people. I like to let the loins set at room temperature for 10 minutes or so while the rub soaks in before putting them on the grill. Don’t be afraid to use the rub liberally. Make sure the loins are fully thawed before cooking or they may not come out even.
Once on the grill, I cook them slowly at about 300 degrees for around 20-25 minutes. I try to only turn them over once, and then back, but sometimes they need to be turned twice to get an even cooking. I use a meat thermometer to check the interior temperature. I rely more on the interior temperature than on the time on the grill. You do not want to overcook them, this is important. Venison has very little fat content and should not be overcooked. If you like it pretty rare to medium rare, you will want the interior temperature at 135-145 degrees.
Well done is 160 degrees, but even if you like most meat well done, you may want to go with a little pink in the middle with venison. It is very lean and if you get it to well done it can be dry. If you let the interior get temperature over 160 degrees, you run the risk of it losing that tenderness that makes it so great.
Slice the loins into one-inch thick steaks. The loins turn out juicy and soooo tender they practically melt in your mouth. This is some high living folks. Delicious and so good for you.
The other way I love to make the loins is frying them in breading. Some people call it “chicken fried steak.” You will call it “delicious!”
I make the breading by combing one cup each of flour, cornmeal and grated parmesan cheese. To that I add about two tablespoons of Lawry’s seasoned salt. Mix it up good and spread it out on a plate or large bowl. Then beat one egg into a half cup of milk and put into a bowl.
The loins fry best if you flatten them with a meat hammer or at least slice them fairly thin and tenderize them. This allows them to cook all the way through before the breading burns.
In a frying pan, preheat oil an inch deep to 375 degrees. Dredge the meat through the milk and egg mixture and let it drip mostly off. Then drop it flat on each side into the breading, pressing down to make sure you get a good coating. Slide the steaks into the oil and fry about three minutes on each side or until each side is golden brown. Be careful with the temperature of your oil. If it gets much over 400 degrees it will start to smoke and burn the breading. If it drops below 325 it will soak into the breading and add greasiness rather than turning it golden brown.
These two recipes are guaranteed to be added to your favorites list. It’s hard to beat good venison loin for a meal that pleases everyone in the house. If you use these suggestions, chances are you won’t have any venison in the freezer at this time next year!
Next week, I’ll give you two terrific recipes for venison roasts and burger.

Delicious Venison Recipes Part 2 Here are two recipes–one for burger and one for roasts–that will have your mouth watering for more, and help you clear out the freezer for the next round of fine eating.

By Bernie Barringer

Many people have venison in their freezers for long periods of time because they really do not know how to fix it properly. That doesn’t happen at our house because the venison goes fast. I have a handful of recipes that I use a lot. My family, and occasionally my friends rave over the venison.

So if last year’s deer is languishing in your freezer, or your family isn’t that fond of venison, I would like to offer a couple more ways to fix it that will change the way you view venison.

Last week we talked about great venison loin recipes. This week I would like to offer you my favorite way of fixing the rump roasts and burger.

Roast in the slow cooker

Because venison is so lean, it is very difficult to cook roasts without having it dry out. The best way that I have found to cook roasts is to cook it slowly in a crock pot with plenty of water. Cooking it in water assures that it doesn’t dry out too bad. Plus the juices make terrific gravy to pour over the roast and some mashed potatoes for a traditional hearty meal.

Start by placing the roast in the slow cooker and covering it at least ¾ of the way with water. The roast will cook down and settle as it cooks so the water will cover the entire roast. You will need to experiment with the brand and style of slow cooker you use. I have found that the taller crock pots work better for smaller roasts and the wider style work best for large roasts. I normally use a large roast for family meals, plus I love leftover cold venison roast sandwiches.

I use bouillon to flavor the water which also flavors the roast while it simmers in the water. Use a beef bouillon cube for each cup and a half of water. Three cubes for 4-5 cups of water is what I normally use. Just drop them in alongside the roast. Dice up some garlic and onion and add to the mix, then cover the top of the roast with any other seasonings you may like. I have found that a generous sprinkling of Lawry’s Seasoned Salt creates a nice flavor. Experiment with other seasonings to suit your own personal taste.

Cook the roast on low for about 6-8 hours. When it’s done it will fall apart when you remove it from the cooker. We often have this roast for Sunday dinner and I sometimes drop a frozen roast in the slow cooker the night before and put it on low. When I get up in the morning I switch it to the “warm” setting and it’s perfectly done when we get home from church.

After removing the roast, use the juices left in the slow cooker to make gravy. Thicken with flour or corn starch for some of the most amazing gravy you have ever tasted. I can almost taste the roast and mashed potatoes slathered with venison gravy right now. Since venison is low in fat, the gravy is much better for you but it still tastes terrific.

Cowboy stew

I was introduced to cowboy stew by a friend who I camped with a lot in high school. Martin Vaage was probably only 13 at the time when he showed up with all the ingredients at our campsite and we cooked cowboy stew over the campfire. It has become a favorite meal for many years. I use it a lot when camping and we eat it at home all the time. It’s remarkably simple and a perfect quick meal.

Start by browning a pound of venison burger. A little salt water in the pan helps it brown without burning. The water will boil away. Drain if needed. To the burger add one 15-ounce can of pork and beans, ¼ cup of ketchup and two tablespoons of Heinz 57 Steak Sauce. I like to add some onion to it also; usually a half a small onion diced. You can either sauté the onions in butter until they are limp in a separate pan, then add them to the stew, or just add some dried onion flakes (which is a lot easier if you make this dish while camping).

Put the heat on low and simmer the whole mixture together for five minutes or so, stirring often. If you are making this dish on a campfire which I often do, move the pan off to the edge of the fire and keep stirring so it doesn’t burn to the bottom of the pan. Once the flavors are all blended together, spoon onto a plate or bowl and dig in. Everyone loves this dish and a couple pieces of toast to eat with it, especially campfire toast, complete a hearty meal that everyone will rave about!

So go to your freezer and dig out that venison. With these ideas, you will enjoy some fine eating and your venison will not stay hidden in the corner of the freezer for months any more.

This short video describes and illustrates the importance of these six things in shed hunting

  1. The importance of high-carbohydrate foods
  2. Understanding thermal and solar bedding cover
  3. Look for obstructions and where deer jump over things
  4. Put some effort into looking for the matched sides
  5. Slow down and really analyze what’s around you
  6. Go early and often; get them before the other guy

 

Hunters are often faced with ethical dilemmas. While hunting in Texas, one hunter made a wrong turn when faced with temptation and it cost him more than he ever imagined.

South Texas is unique in deer hunting in that large ranches are managed for producing big whitetail bucks through carefully regulated harvests of mature deer, culling of deer and feeding of protein and minerals. Many ranches have their own set of laws and rules regarding deer hunting that go above and beyond the laws set by the state wildlife authorities.

Jim Stinson holds one of the 10,000-acre leases on the 130,000-acre Duval County Ranch, and he subleases it to 8-9 other dedicated big buck hunters who pay $10,000 each per year for the right to hunt on the lease. They also participate in the feeding and care of the deer, which includes predator control, culling inferior bucks and keeping the water flowing so the deer have plenty to eat and drink during the area’s notoriously hot seasons.

One of the hunters who enjoyed the fantastic hunting privileges on this lease was Jim’s friend Skip Weiner of Boise Idaho. Skip had been hunting there for nearly a decade. Bucks are allowed to reach the age of at least five or six before they are shot so they have a chance to reach their full potential. The hard work and restraint paid off well, as many dandy bucks were shot each year, and there was always the hope that one of them would blow up into a real giant.

That’s exactly what happened. A buck they knew to be only three years old had an outsized, jaw-dropping rack. In fact it was as big as anything they had ever shot on the ranch, and it had three more years to grow.

There was a lot of excitement as the buck turned four years old. This is the age when whitetail bucks normally take a big jump in antler size because their body mass has completed its growth and the deer can put its full energy into growing a rack. They were not disappointed. The buck was a true giant at four years old. The hunters spent considerable time analyzing video and photos of the buck; they determined that the deer would score over 200 inches at four, and was certainly not done growing yet. Clearly this was a deer with world class potential.

They named the buck “Superbuck” and it was on everyone’s mind all season long. The buck was quite predictable and visible, which is unusual for a giant like this, but then he was only four years old, still young and naïve. He was seen several times that fall in an area of the ranch where they had protein and corn feeders.

Normally the buck would be off limits until it was six years old, but a pact was made among the hunters that the buck would be allowed to live out its natural life and spread its genes into the gene pool for as long as it lived. This was a very difficult decision, but it was subject to change if they determined that the buck would be a world record at age six. They might decide to cash in the chips.

The ranch’s management policy requires that the trophy bucks are shot after the rut, so the hunters cannot kill the big bucks until the end of December through the end of season the middle of January. This strict policy is heavily enforced. All bucks shot must be checked in at the ranch headquarters where they are weighed, aged, scored and recorded. Taking a buck off the ranch without going through the check in is illegal.

Most of the hunting was done on the weekends. In January, most all the hunters are in camp on the lease, hunting hard to kill one trophy and one cull buck (Texas allows two buck tags per season). At the end of the weekend in question, everyone packed up to head home for a work of week with plans to come back again the next weekend.

Except Skip Weiner, who didn’t actually leave. He went hunting.

After a few weeks, it became clear that Superbuck was missing. Spring came and the bucks were growing their antlers but Superbuck was nowhere to be found. Could he have moved to another area of the ranch? Could he have been dragged down by coyotes?

Jim had his suspicions, and he shared them with wildlife authorities. Because Jim suspected that the buck was in Idaho, the Texas Parks and Wildlife was limited in what they could do. So Jim hired a private investigator.

The PI spent some time following up on leads, checking with taxidermists and observing behavior. He paid particular attention to Weiner who was at the top of the list of suspects if Superbuck had been illegally killed.

Weiner flew down to Texas, collected all his belongings from deer camp and drove them back to Boise, a move which Jim thought was odd since Skip had been such an avid hunter on the lease for so many years. He felt his suspicions were being confirmed.

Then the private investigator got a break. Skip’s house was listed for sale. Posing as a potential home buyer, the PI went to have a look around. Imagine the shocked look on his face when his gaze landed right above the fireplace, where Superbuck’s mount hung for all to see.

It was time to get the feds involved. There is a long list of violations involved above and beyond not tagging and checking in a deer, including a violation of the Lacey act which imposes strict penalties for taking an illegal game animal across state lines. Federal authorities have no sense of humor when it comes to this type of thing.

Armed with a search warrant, federal game wardens entered Skip Weiner’s house on Christmas Eve, and confiscated the buck. The mount is now back in the hands of Texas Parks and Wildlife law enforcement while the case works its way through the court system. All parties are innocent until proven guilty, of course. The mount is expected to be a part of the TP&W travelling poaching exhibit.

Holding Superbuck’s rack for the first time was bittersweet for Jim Stinson. Bitter because the life of a world class buck was cut short and he was not allowed to reach his full potential, but sweet because a wrong has been righted, in a way. Jim, like all of us, hates to see poachers get away with it. The silver lining on this cloud according to Jim, is that misdeeds have consequences, and with a sense of righteous indignation, he will do whatever he can to see that the consequences are administered.

These six long-held beliefs are based on lies or flawed science. Time to put them to rest.

By Bernie Barringer

Hunting is largely generational so many concepts get passed on down through families. Most of this is solid hunting information that helps newcomers be more successful, but there are some myths that are passed along as well.

Scientific studies can take a small sampling and extrapolate a conclusion that is only accurate in the study area, or is missing just one important part that taints the results of the entire study. Good science can also prove a myth wrong.

Not all of the six myths that follow fall into these two categories, but in most cases, the myths have a small nugget of truth that just got twisted or misinterpreted. Here are six myths that need to go away once and for all.

You must cut a deer’s throat as soon as possible after it is shot. I suppose this myth got started back in the day when blood was eliminated from the carcass of a hog or cow when it was butchered. The prevailing thought was that draining the blood would improve the quality of the meat. What naturally followed was that the best way to kill it was for it to bleed to death.

Arrow-killed deer and most bullet-killed deer die from blood loss. Any blood that isn’t lost as they die will drain when the animal is field dressed and hung. There is no need to slit the deer’s throat. It will just make your taxidermist angry.

How many times have you heard that bucks only travel into the wind? This bit of hunting lore gets repeated so often that it is taken as Gospel by many hunters. If my area of Minnesota has four straight days of northwest wind for example, all our bucks would be in North Dakota. Sounds silly of course, but think about how a buck must spend its days. He has to eat every day and his trails simply do not allow him to put his nose into the wind and go.

Kyle Robertson knew this Kentucky buck well, but it disappeared for six weeks before coming back to his property. He killed it a few days later. Mature bucks often travel long distances between areas they feel secure. Photo courtesy of Kyle Robertson

It’s true that bucks prefer to quarter into the wind when it’s convenient to do so, they feel comfortable when doing so. But I have seen bucks readily travel with a tailwind, even enter their bedding cover with the wind at their back. I believe they travel confidently when they can see what’s ahead of them and smell what’s behind them.

Rarely do spooked bucks turn and run into the wind. They usually go back the way they came from or take a direct route to security cover. Buck travel into the wind when the conditions allow, at all other times, they move with the best possible advantage that gives them confidence.

Deer are colorblind and only see in black, white and shades of gray. Most likely this prevailing myth comes from the realization that deer weren’t seeing hunters wearing blaze orange. When blaze orange laws became the norm a half-decade ago, hunters were surprised that the deer didn’t seem to pay any more attention to them than when they were wearing any other article of clothing.

Scientists have dissected the deer’s eye and analyzed the rods and cones to determine which colors deer can see. Turns out they see the blue end of the spectrum much better than humans do, but they can detect very little of the red end of the spectrum. They see blues and greens in brilliant display, in fact they can see ultraviolet colors that humans cannot see. Reds and oranges are subdued to the point that they may not be able to distinguish the colors from gray. So, if you head out into the woods in blue jeans and an orange coat, the deer will barely detect the orange, but the blue jeans will jump right out at them.

Several scientific studies have been published showing that bucks only check scrapes at night. These studies involved putting trail cameras on scrapes and recording the times the bucks visited and worked the ground at the scrape and the overhanging branch that is present at nearly all scrapes. These results of these studies recorded that 80% or more, and in some studies, more than 90% of the visits were under the cover of darkness. This has led a lot of hunters to believe that hunting over scrapes has no value.

Each of these studies have one common flaw. The cameras were only placed on the scrapes themselves. Bucks often check these scrapes in the daytime, they just do it from 20-40 yards downwind. They move downwind of the scrape and take a whiff, then only approach it if they detect something that really get’s their attention.

Most primary scrapes are made on the edge of a field or opening, under and overhanging branch. Bucks simply are not willing to expose themselves to the open area during daylight unless there is something truly compelling in that scrape. Whenever possible they will simply check them from the nearest downwind cover and then move on. Now you have some information that will help you hunt scrapes much more effectively.

My earliest bowhunting mentor was a neighbor named Jim, who took me bowhunting before I was old enough to drive. He loved to hunt mornings and he was adamant that we get in the stand at least an hour before first light, and 1 ½-2 hours was even better in his way of thinking. I remember him telling me that it gave time for our ground scent to dissipate and the activity of the other woods creatures to get back to normal.

While bucks may expose themselves to visit a scrape in an open area during the nighttime, bucks commonly scent check scrapes from downwind cover during daylight.

It made all kinds of sense to me at the time, and I figured the fact that we spooked a lot of deer on the way in was simply a necessary trade-off. In fact, I loosely followed that rule for 30 years. But a few years ago, I started really analyzing that tactic and changing my morning strategy.

The problems with going in early are several, but the two biggies are the fact that you must use light, which alerts every deer around where you are, and the issue with all the noise that you make going in before daylight. It’s simply a whole lot quieter to approach your stand when you can see without a light.

These days, I more often wait until it’s just light enough to see, then move quickly and quietly into the stand. If I see a deer, I can stop and give it the right of way, which has helped me avoid getting snorted at and flagged at more times than I can count. If I have a long walk, I will often make the walk to within 100 yards of the stand in the dark, then wait until there’s just enough light to see before making the final approach.

The issue of ground scent is mostly overcome by using care in how I choose my entry and exit routes, and the woods doesn’t take an hour or more to get back to normal. I often have squirrels and birds moving about in normal patterns within five minutes of settling quietly into my treestand. Sorry Jim.

Some GPS tracking studies have shown that some bucks are homebodies and spend most of their lives in a fairly small core area. Some bucks, they say, hardly ever leave an 80-acre “home range.” This is partly true, the science cannot be denied for the small number of deer that have been tracked, but there are three things that throw a monkey wrench into the equation.

First, bucks are individuals and have individual tendencies. Some are fighters, some shy away from a fight. Some are super cautious, some show risky behavior. Some are homebodies and some travel long distances. Similar to humans, they each have a “personality.”

Second, the studies may be true in some areas but there are such wide variances in terrain, food sources and habitat that bucks can afford to be homebodies only in the best habitat situations. If food, cover and water are nearby, a buck doesn’t have to travel a significant distance if he doesn’t feel like it. I have seen deer in Montana that come down off the hills and walk three miles to an irrigated alfalfa field to graze in the evening. In the morning, they may travel three miles in the opposite direction to bed in another area that day.

In Texas where the deer depend on corn feeders and waterers, bucks have been seen in a scouting camera photo at a feeder one day, and then at a feeder four miles away through the thick brush the following day.

Third, some bucks just leave. These movers may have 2-4 home ranges. I have interviewed dozens of hunters who have a pile of photos of a particular buck, then the buck just disappears for a month or more. In two cases, I did stories on large whitetails that were killed on a farm, only to discover that someone had photos of that buck on their farm seven miles away as the crow flies.

Myths are abundant in hunting, and some have a grain of truth but too much has been read into a small amount of information. One thing I love about whitetails is their unpredictability. Who knows which of the beliefs we hold about whitetail behavior right now might be disproven some day.

Please follow and like us: