i'm done maybe take a year off and are we baiters part of the problem

[blackbear]

I have been hunting unit 7 for blackies for 20 years over bait. It seems at first when we started baiting we dealt with a grizzly sporatically. Lat year I had so many blacks and grizzlies it was crazy . We have killed 2 small blacks this season however I have been overwhelmed with grizzlies. I had 60 pictures on my trail cam for the past week 59 grizzly pics and one black bear.

Of these that are hitting 2 are sows with cubs one this years set the other last years plus 2 single sows and 3 separate boars and a couple sow and boar.

So from what i see 13 grizzlies it is just too risky to keep hunting it for now. I don't want someone hurt .

This started me thinking that maybe as baiters we are helping the grizzly problem expand in a couple different ways.

First off we are supplying an easy food source so that the young get the protein and everything they need before the fish hit and increasing their changes of survival.

We are killing the blacks that also go after food they eat. ( next year we can kill 3 but no browns how does this make any sense?)

Some baiters shoot at the browns to scare them and also yell at them but they never are hurt by it so they lose fear right before they hit the river. Gunshots don't scare them neither do our voices.

They come back to our sites each year and train more bears.

So i just wonder if we in effect growing what we don't want.


I love baiting but am considering skipping a year so there is no food and perhaps that won't help but maybe?

I am all for baiting and love it I think the management of the unit 7 grizzlies is done poorly and someone is going to get hurt that may be just an innocent.

I really believe there are too many bears in the Cooper landing area and that ADFG is trying to make the Russian and Kenai have more bear viewing opportunities.

I think we have a brown bear problem down there just wondering if as baiters are we also part of the problem ?

I am not suggesting any bans on baiting or closures these are just my thoughts anyone been having similiar thoughts?

[dreez]

I hunted unit 7 last year (right before Hope road off of the Seward) and i was also over run by brownies. I have hundreds of pictures and only one blackie came in and i think it was by mistake his hair was standing straight up and he got out quickly. I took hair samples and pictures to ADFG and they confirmed that i had 15 different bears on my site including 2 sows with cubs. I asked them if they were considering changing the limit for brownies taken in 7 they said NO. I agree with you there is a huge problem down there and it needs to be looked at more in depth.

[AGL4now]

First off we are supplying an easy food source so that the young get the protein and everything they need before the fish hit and increasing their changes of survival.

We are killing the blacks that also go after food they eat. ( next year we can kill 3 but no browns how does this make any sense?)

Some baiter's shoot at the browns to scare them and also yell at them but they never are hurt by it so they lose fear right before they hit the river. Gunshots don't scare them neither do our voices.

They come back to our sites each year and train more bears.

So i just wonder if we in effect growing what we don't want.

Remember also that black bears are good between meal snacks for the brown bears. I wish "The Alaska Bear Baiter's Association" (ABBA) would submit some proposals to Board of Game.

[AGL4now]

ABBA should submit a proposal to allow the taking of Brown Bears over bait with the following condition: Only the month of MAY, One Brown Bear every six years over bait in units #7 and #15. Only if the bait station is with-in 30 miles of a inhabited dwelling, but not closer than 1 mile. Let this work for 5 years and then reassess as too termination of the program or expanding the area beyond 30 miles.

[dreez]

Agreed!!!!

[33outdoorsman]

Submit all the brown bear proposals you want there will be no significant season until fish and game comes up with some kind of a count. Black bear baiting is getting tougher and tougher on the KP not because of lack of black bears but because the brown bears chase them off the baits. Funny thing is Fish and Game has no idea how many black bears there are on the KP yet it just went to 3 a year. Kind of funny that because its a brown bear everything changes.

[Matt]

Take a brown bear...

[pike_palace]

Shoot. Shovel. Shut up.

[AKDoug]

Now there's some good hunter ethics

I didn't bait this year. A combination of more people baiting in areas I have in the past, along with bait being wiped out by brown bears has led me to not enjoy baiting nearly as much as I used to. I'm trying to refine my predator calling techniques to lure bears. The beauty of that in my area is that I can take brown bears or black bears legally with that method.

[blackbear]

Taking a brown bear would be out of the question it's not legal and think if what that would do for baiters if someone were caught doing it. I am looking for things that would be solutions. I do like the idea of predator hunting the blacks I think it could be done and become interesting. It still doesn't answer the question is baiting the blacks actually increasing the grizzlies

[AKF]

Sleeping in my stand tonight. I have tons of browns. Only blacks I have seen on cam are hauling Ass out of here. I had lots of blacks last year. Bummer.