Bear Stories

Photobucket This is my brother Brad. He is one of six Ansel brothers that enjoys the outdoors, and likes to hunt. He’s pictured here with a bow tagged bruin taken around my brother Randy’s Marquette camp. All of us have taken Michigan black bear, and some of our sons have also been successful. Five of the bear we have taken out of the Baldwin camp have been large enough to make the “book!” At one time I held the #17 bow killed bear and my brother Darryl held the #2 re-curve downed bruin. My big bear was aged at 13-1/2 years and had a 19-6/16 inch skull. Brother Darryl’s bear was only 5 years old, but had a bushel basket for a head. His skull went 20-11/16, and was taken with an old Bear Kodiak Magnum and a cedar arrow.

Darryl has been the most proficient of the brothers with bear success in the double digits. Two of us have also hunted out of state, and brother Brett’s son, Grant, took a beautiful cinnamon phase in Saskatewan one year. I have hunted Quebec and Ontario for these black ghost without filling a tag! All of us could have harvested many more bears than what we have, but we hunt strictly with bow and arrows. When you have to get your quarry within 25 yards there isn’t much room for error. Since 1973 we, and some of our close friends, have taken over 40 Michigan black bears. Our success was much greater in the years that you could buy an over-the-counter license. Since the lottery system has been in place, it has been very hard for us to draw more than 1-2 permits in a season.

In the 35 years that we have hunted the hills and swamps around Marquette Michigan we have not really notices a decline in bear numbers. What we have noticed is that the bear seem to be more educated. Basically they have caught onto the game, and have made it much harder to hang one on the game pole. Once a bear has been shot at (over a bait pile) during daylight hours, chances are it will feed strictly after dark. I have had bear wait me out, just out of sight. Once darkness sets in, and I leave, they enjoy a worry free feast.

We have had numerous encounters over the years with different bears. Some are kind of scary and others down right funny. Trust me we have left far more bears “walk” than what we have tagged. From our vantage point the bear population is growing, and becoming much more elusive. It may be time for us to rethink Bear Hunting 101!