taralon, bear baiting is more work than you probably think. You don't just throw out a half dozen day old donuts on your way to the stand and then take your pick of the bears.
As I understand it, bait has to be put out long before the season, and constantly refreshed. (Carrying the bait out to an area that has heavy bear traffic could be slightly exhilirating in itself.) If you put out a half dozen bait stations, you have given yourself an 84% chance the biggest bear will be somewhere else, and if the other hunters in the area each put out six stations, well, you get the point.
I camped for years in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and I don't know how I would even begin to still hunt them in that area. I am sure it is possible, but it would be MUCH harder (by a factor of ten, maybe?) than collecting a deer in the same way. I would say the chances of wounding a black bear in a snap shot would be great, as bears seem (from the ones in the wild I have saw) don't advertise a classic aiming point such as the front leg of a deer. Sometimes it is even hard to tell which end is which, especially in lowlight conditions. They look like black blobs, and of course, to we paranoid campers, all black blobs look like bears
As I understand it, bait has to be put out long before the season, and constantly refreshed. (Carrying the bait out to an area that has heavy bear traffic could be slightly exhilirating in itself.) If you put out a half dozen bait stations, you have given yourself an 84% chance the biggest bear will be somewhere else, and if the other hunters in the area each put out six stations, well, you get the point.
I camped for years in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and I don't know how I would even begin to still hunt them in that area. I am sure it is possible, but it would be MUCH harder (by a factor of ten, maybe?) than collecting a deer in the same way. I would say the chances of wounding a black bear in a snap shot would be great, as bears seem (from the ones in the wild I have saw) don't advertise a classic aiming point such as the front leg of a deer. Sometimes it is even hard to tell which end is which, especially in lowlight conditions. They look like black blobs, and of course, to we paranoid campers, all black blobs look like bears