By Bernie Barringer

"All across the U.S. and even parts of Canada, there is a phenomenon that takes place every year. Bear baiters are excited as the fall season approaches and the bears are hitting the baits in August—big bears, little bears, multiple bears. Then right about the first of September (the opening week of the seasons across much of North America), the activity at the bait sites plummets."
The Author dives into 5 things that cause your bait site to lose traction early season.

"Hunt big, hunt color” is the motto of Todd Wohlgemuth of Baldy Mountain Outfitters. His outfit backs up those words. His outfit takes big and color phased bears including multiple booners a year staying in line with the legacy of the prior outfitter over his territory, Tom Ainsworth."
The Author joins great hunter, and outfitter Tom Ainsworth in the Canadian wilds in search of a bruiser.

By Bernie Barringer

The closure of Canada to outsiders was disappointing to me on many levels. For several years I have done at least one spring bear hunt in Canada, and I travel to Ontario for fishing, camping, and generally spending time in the bush multiple times a year. In 2020, I exchanged my Canadian bear hunt for a Wyoming hunt, which was loads of fun and culminated with a nice chocolate bear. During the winter of 2021, it became clear that Canada wasn’t going to open the borders any time soon, so I began to scheme and plan about another spring bear hunting adventure—or two—in the US. I ended up settling on two hunts for May and June, one in Idaho and one in Maine. I’ll explain the unique spring Maine bear hunt in a later piece, but for now I want to relate the experiences I had in the mountains of Idaho, which would become a hunt fraught with difficulties and drama that you just can’t make up. -Bernie Barringer-

Tommy Dale Lane | @tommydlane

The author gets too close to comfort to two Arkansas black bears.