Rules you don't know about!! (bear)

As an outfitter, the spring bear hunt is useless to me, and the new baiting regs would/will kill my business. Consistency is my key to repeat and word of mouth customers which is the core of my business. under these regulations i could no longer bait in a fashion where customers continue to have a near guarantee of taking a good bear. will this make it more challenging yes, will i lose customers over it, yes. So, i don't gain anything in spring, and lose in the fall... that's the math for my camp.
my camp can't be accessed until may much of the time. and i have to haul arse at that point to get camp opened and boats running for pickerel opener. no time for anything else. usually i need two weeks prep, alone.
the list of incremental issues faced by outfitters that most people don't think about is enormous. simple things like mandatory passports for border crossing even hurt the business. so will this.

There's at least 2 distinct types of outfitters, those who do a bear hunt only and those who cater to hunters and anglers throughout the summer.
For the full time hunting/fishing lodge a spring hunt really stresses the time and resources for that camp as this is also prime time for those booked for fishing trips. For them, the easier money is in the anglers. Baiting for bears is time intensive and costly and much of that hunt runs concurrent with the fishing season. So you could understand why many outfitters really don't care if the spring hunt comes back.
For those outfitters running only a bear hunt the inclusion of the spring hunt gives them leeway to increase bookings. That works well if they wish to increase their earnings but it comes at the cost of having very little time off in the summer and the possibility of over-hunting their BMAs.

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Originally Posted by chris lavoie

If they are all ready filling their spots with a fall hunt, pbonura, wont they over hunt their BMA's???

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They have a big BMA and lots of bears and will add more baits. Already asked...

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Originally Posted by pbonura

They have a big BMA and lots of bears and will add more baits. Already asked...

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I have 9 large BMA's pbonura. Also with an overflowing population of bears. If the outfitter your talking about has not been taking many hunters in the past, I can see him taking more hunters. But to take more bears than what he has traditionally taken in the past can deplete his bear population within his BMA.

I have a plan if they bring back the spring hunt. I will conduct both a spring and Fall hunt. I will also take not a single hunter more than what I have taken each year in the past. I will take my numbers of my previous Fall hunts and divide the numbers between the 2 seasons.

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Originally Posted by sawbill

There's at least 2 distinct types of outfitters, those who do a bear hunt only and those who cater to hunters and anglers throughout the summer.
For the full time hunting/fishing lodge a spring hunt really stresses the time and resources for that camp as this is also prime time for those booked for fishing trips. For them, the easier money is in the anglers. Baiting for bears is time intensive and costly and much of that hunt runs concurrent with the fishing season. So you could understand why many outfitters really don't care if the spring hunt comes back.
For those outfitters running only a bear hunt the inclusion of the spring hunt gives them leeway to increase bookings. That works well if they wish to increase their earnings but it comes at the cost of having very little time off in the summer and the possibility of over-hunting their BMAs.

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Makes a lot of sense...a lot of us southerners that don't deal with northern outfitters likely don't understand how things work - particularly where there are water access only cabins - and spring ice melt affects schedules.

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Originally Posted by chris lavoie

I have 9 large BMA's pbonura. Also with an overflowing population of bears. If the outfitter your talking about has not been taking many hunters in the past, I can see him taking more hunters. But to take more bears than what he has traditionally taken in the past can deplete his bear population within his BMA.

I have a plan if they bring back the spring hunt. I will conduct both a spring and Fall hunt. I will also take not a single hunter more than what I have taken each year in the past. I will take my numbers of my previous Fall hunts and divide the numbers between the 2 seasons.

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If you have an overflowing population of bears why would you not take more hunters? The moose in your area would surely appreciate it, would they not? You seem to always be on the government for restricting bear harvest yet you are not taking advantage of the opportunity to increase bear harvest?

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Originally Posted by blasted_saber

If you have an overflowing population of bears why would you not take more hunters? The moose in your area would surely appreciate it, would they not? You seem to always be on the government for restricting bear harvest yet you are not taking advantage of the opportunity to increase bear harvest?

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If there is an overabundance of bears then why is there not 2 tags per hunter in all WMU's? The MNR wants to reduce bear numbers. The MNR wants a spring season. The MNR wants to sell more tags.

Why in god's name haven't they issued 2 tags per hunter? They would increase the harvest, obviously sell more tags and still deal with the same number of guys in the woods. An outfitter offering a 2 bear hunt would be more desirable to any hunter. (I know this would work for me). Many other provinces already have spring and fall season and a 2 bear limit!
There seemed to be NO SHORTAGE of bears way back when it was one bear per tag (unlimited as long as you bought a tag) and this was at a time when most deer and moose tags were combo moose/bear deer/bear.

Someone at that time decided to separate the bear tag in the hopes of making more fricken $.

Seems pretty simple to me but I'm not the MNR with their "bag of hammers" mentality.

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Originally Posted by blasted_saber

If you have an overflowing population of bears why would you not take more hunters? The moose in your area would surely appreciate it, would they not? You seem to always be on the government for restricting bear harvest yet you are not taking advantage of the opportunity to increase bear harvest?

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I am against the government for denying us residents the ability to hunt bears in the spring. Spring is when the moose calves are vulnerable.

As for numbers of bears within our leased BMA, future might tell me to increase numbers of bears harvested.

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Originally Posted by chris lavoie

I am against the government for denying us residents the ability to hunt bears in the spring. Spring is when the moose calves are vulnerable.

As for numbers of bears within our leased BMA, future might tell me to increase numbers of bears harvested.

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With the spring hunt being re-instated,outfitters with their own BMA's may find more resident hunters coming into the area and hunting without outfitters. That,in and of itself,could upset the population balance depending on their success. It could get very interesting,indeed.

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Originally Posted by trimmer21

With the spring hunt being re-instated,outfitters with their own BMA's may find more resident hunters coming into the area and hunting without outfitters. That,in and of itself,could upset the population balance depending on their success. It could get very interesting,indeed.

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Trimmer ... any die hard residents are already hunting bears in the fall. If some of them shifted to the spring the harvest numbers might be split between the 2 seasons but the overall harvest will be the same. IMO it's easier to harvest a bear in the spring (I hunted both seasons in the past so at least I have a little more experience to back up a quote like this) BUT all things being equal it's a much nicer hunt in the fall. Leaves are turning, zero bugs, fish biting, heavier bears, no fear of shooting an illegal sow (no such thing in the fall), no rubbed hides. did I mention no bugs!
most cottagers are gone home and with them a good number of tree huggers.