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Inaugural bear season sneaks up

 
By KELLY BOSTIAN Outdoors
Published: 6/30/2009  2:20 AM
Last Modified: 6/30/2009  5:04 AM
Read Kelly Bostian's blog at tulsaworld.com/outdoors


ON WEDNESDAY the first-ever Oklahoma black bear hunting licenses will be available for purchase.

Are you ready to drop a Franklin and give it a try? That's right, the cost of a license is just a hair over $100.

Some of the boys with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, who work with the bears, are wagering most who try will not succeed. "I don't think we'll kill 20," said Joe Hemphill, southeast regional supervisor. "In fact there may be a bet out there that we won't get 10."

The number 20 is significant because the season, which is in October and November to coincide with archery and muzzleloader deer seasons, will end when 20 bears have been killed or the closing date passes, whichever comes first. The state is starting out with a conservative season for its first try. The department has a phone number that hunters must call to check the status of the hunt each day before they hunt.

Speaking as a person who has been on a few successful bear hunts, though I've only taken one for myself, I might accept that wager against Mr. Hemphill. I might. What I don't know is what private landowners in the open counties are thinking about the bear hunt. Baiting of bears will be allowed on private land, it's not allowed in the public areas and the core of the bear population lives in dense forest in public areas and Weyerhauser timber land that is off limits.

For a lot of years I lived in Fairbanks, Alaska, a place surrounded by dense timber and lots of black bears. The limit was three annually for residents, no special tag required. To hunt with bait, however, hunters had to attend the state's bear hunting and baiting clinic and register their bait stations.

As many bears as there were, bait was still the key for black bear hunters. While it's possible to spot and stalk or set a tree stand over a commonly used route in Alaska's interior — especially near concentrated food sources like blueberry and cranberry patches — the chance of success, especially for a bow hunter, is low, very low.

Effective baiting not only allowed people I hunted with to find success but to set trail cameras and learn to recognize the right bears — the oldest males — and to watch bears long enough to know for sure that they weren't sows with cubs and to wait for a bear to get into the right position for the best possible killing shot.

In Oklahoma, I imagine spot-and-stalkers may have a chance near water holes frequented by bears. And they may find bears bulking up on mast or in the polk berry patches that Hemphill said they favor going into the winter months. Predator calling could work, I've heard of hunters calling up bears, but never witnessed it. Even hunters baiting bears will need to find some areas near a bear's regular routes. The bait will need to be in a place where the bear still feels safe in its approach.

Even then, bears are unpredictable. It may hit that bait in the middle of the day, but more likely it will come early morning or late evening. I shot my black bear at 2:30 a.m. — but in Fairbanks in June that was just pre-dawn.

And these bear hunters will need to be prepared for the harvest. I've experienced just how fast a bear hide can begin to slip with warm temperatures. Also, believe me, the meat of a black bear, fat from summer's black raspberries and mast and polk berries in the fall (or the corn at some deer feeder) is going to be carrying some delicious meat. Before you go, find someone willing to brine and smoke those hams. You won't be sorry.

Hunters will need to get that bear skinned quickly and get the meat cooled right away. If you want good results, start with a visit to your chosen taxidermist and get a quick lesson in skinning out the head, turning lips, ears and paws well enough that you can at least feel confident in dousing that hide with plenty of salt until you can get it to your taxidermist for final prep for tanning — that, or pray for cold weather and open roads.

By KELLY BOSTIAN Outdoors

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jmhuntin, (7/3/2009 11:28:03 PM)
Can anyone provide me a legitimate reason why bears are now being hunted in Oklahoma? I'm not crazy about hunting in general, but I can see some reasoned arguments about hunting deer, for example, for either food or population control. But bears in Oklahoma? I don't see the sense in hunting any predatory animal for sport that is not a food source, be it bears in Oklahoma or lions in Africa.
 

 
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