Spring Bear hunting Minden-Dorset area

Hello
A friend of mine has invited me to go bear hunting with him in the Minden-Dorset area.He bought a trailer there last year.

He is new there,and i do not know anything about that area -at least now i KNOW where those 2 places actually are............:ashamed:

If you guys can give me some help with experiences there ,as far as bear is concerned:

is there a lot of public land available there(so to avoid stepping onto other hunters turf....)
How is the bear population in that area?
Is it a flat land-or being close to Halliburton Highlands it may be rolling land?

Any pointers maybe how to hunt the area-what the bears look like in the spring-when is the reasonable time frame to expect any action could help.
Can i think about spot and stalk or baiting only..........?
Appreciate your help
gbk

Hi gbk,
That area is typical Muskoka with lots of hills, granite out croppings, mixed forest and swamps.
Lots of bears and best way is to bait them, as it it not at all that easy in Ontario to spot and stalk bears like it is in BC unless you happen to surprise one which is rare.

Minden area has an excellent bear population. Had a cottage just north of Minden for years when I was younger and the bears were plentiful.

lots of bears there.
Here's a Minden story for ya. About 5 yrs ago my younger brother and his family were visiting friends at a cottage outside Minden. My brother decides to take his daughter out for an ice cream cone. Down the hwy they go. They get a cone and on the return trip there's a dead bear laying in the middle of the road. Another car now stops and they look at the bear. My brother and this other guy drag the bear by the front paws from the center of the road to the shoulder. This is when my cell rings with him telling me about his road-kill find. It's only 10 minutes dead. He wants to keep it for the meat. He says he will flag down the next car for a hand to load it up into his truck.
10 minutes later my phone rings again. I figured he wanted instructions for getting off some meat. He says while waiting for another car he looks over and the bear raises it's head, then up onto it's elbows. Looks around dozily then stands up and shakes like a wet dog. He looks everyone over then walks off into the bush. What a hoot. Imagine it he woulda got that bear loaded and it woke up. Woulda been riding around at 80kmh like a farm dog. right through downtown Minden no less.

So make sure your bear is dead before you load him up. They're sneaky buggers some time. :silly:

Thanx guys for the help and advice-and SK33T3R i am still laughing about the possibility you mentioned above...........

I'm not a bear hunter so take this with a grain of salt but that area you mention is pretty busy with cottagers and for that reason there are quite a few garbage dumps around. Seen many bears while dumping garbage in that area so unless you want to shoot a "dump" bear I would try to steer clear from hunting close to the dumps.

We learned last year that if there's a dump within miles of your bait you will have a hard time drawing them in consistently.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ride.lift.shoot

We learned last year that if there's a dump within miles of your bait you will have a hard time drawing them in consistently.

---

I thought that all the dumps were chain linked or electric fenced off to keep the bears out of the dump (maybe I am wrong?)

LOTS of bears in dump off limberlost road,,,,,,near huntsville

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by fratri

I thought that all the dumps were chain linked or electric fenced off to keep the bears out of the dump (maybe I am wrong?)

---

Not 100% sure, this was in the Loring/Restoule area.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by COYHUNTER

LOTS of bears in dump off limberlost road,,,,,,near huntsville

---

Most of the dumps have changed ... a lot have gone to big portable dumpsters for ALL household garbage! The ones I've seen as of late are totally bear-proof! some have hydraulic pistons that push the household garage into the sealed container. Then the container is locked overnight. Last time I seen dump bears was about 3 years ago north of Bala. This dump was using a huge container for household stuff but it was open on top. seen 2 small bears in the container having a great time during the day. At night the container is closed. Pretty bold bears. The drive for food has no boundaries sometimes.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by fratri

I thought that all the dumps were chain linked or electric fenced off to keep the bears out of the dump (maybe I am wrong?)

---

Hahahaha.....

I asked the old guy running the local dump up where we moose hunt last fall how often he sees bears. He said well I shot 13 this year lol

This dump has electric fence and chain link behind it

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

Short of setting a lawn chair on a dumpster, what else have you got for tips? No real time to bait the area, plenty of new logging going on in the area, some old logging tracks criss crossing the place.

There's no reward and no sense of satisfaction shooting a dump bear.
WTF?
Stay clear of the dumps, save your reputation and ours too, as hunters.
There's no need to take the easy way on this.
Put in the work and reap the rewards. Meat is secondary to the mental reward!

The best thing to come along in years are towns that are making their dumps "bear proof".

Apologies sk33t3r, with the fact that shooting a bear near a dump is against the rules, I assumed the ludicrousness ( unless I just made up that word), of putting a lawn chair on a dumpster would shine through like the sun. It is not fear of the work, there is just no way I can get there for two consecutive weeks to set up and maintain a good bait station. You are probably right, asking for alternative tips and tricks on a forum is way too easy, I will just continue to scout when I can, and hopefully spot and stalk a bear, until I get enough free time that I can set up a proper bait station.

We hunt that area for Spring and Fall bear. Numbers are pretty good in the area, and theres lots of crown around.

Predator call. Google/ youtube calling bears. Spot and stalk can work but if you can't run a bait for at least a month I would work a call every km or so and see what shows up.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by thunderbelly

Apologies sk33t3r, with the fact that shooting a bear near a dump is against the rules, I assumed the ludicrousness ( unless I just made up that word), of putting a lawn chair on a dumpster would shine through like the sun. It is not fear of the work, there is just no way I can get there for two consecutive weeks to set up and maintain a good bait station. You are probably right, asking for alternative tips and tricks on a forum is way too easy, I will just continue to scout when I can, and hopefully spot and stalk a bear, until I get enough free time that I can set up a proper bait station.

---

OOPs I wasn't targeting you in any way. My apologies maybe to you.
I was just tossing out that statement for ALL hunters that have ever had the idea of cuddling up close to a dump.
I hear you about time being at a premium. We've all been there at one time or another with family/job commitments.
maybe you should just go on a guided hunt until your life commitments are behind you rather then in front of you.
It's really not that expensive when you factor in all the expenses of doing it yourself.
Have fun either way and keep us posted.
I'm only hunting the fall hunt so I gotta live through you guys right now.

I have kicked around the idea of a guided hunt, it is even more tempting, since my kid has shown an interest ( it just doubles the cost!).
The bear calling idea might be worth a look, at worst, I will be well rehearsed for calling in raccoons. Thanks gang!