The most popular bear hunting method in Minnesota (baiting), may not be the best way to fill a tag when the season opens Sept. 1, according to Richard P. Smith, author of a newly released book titled Black Bear Hunting that was published by Stackpole Books. Hunting natural food sources such as acorns, hazel nuts or dogwood berries and corn fields could be a better alternative. Bears tend to be less wary when feeding on natural food sources than baits, according to Smith, because they are seldom disturbed in those areas. Even when bears visit baits, they may not arrive until after dark. That’s less likely to be a problem when hunting natural foods. The new hard-cover, 384-page book contains plenty of advice for hunters who will be watching baits, too. Four of the book’s 31 chapters are devoted to this subject. There are plenty of tips about what to try if bears aren’t arriving at your bait until after legal shooting hours. All bear hunters, regardless of what method they use, will benefit from the chapter on field judging black bears. This is a subject that both novice and veteran hunters have difficulty with. Since bears don’t grow antlers like members of the deer family, it can be difficult to tell the difference between males and females. Judging the size of individual bears can also be difficult. The information included in this one chapter is worth the cost of the book. It provides a number of easy-to-use methods of sizing and sexing black bears that anyone can master. A subject that also confuses some hunters who are used to hunting deer, which is thoroughly covered in this book, is where to aim when hunting with bow and arrow or firearms. The text clearly explains what to do and the discussion is reinforced with photographs of bears in different positions, with aiming points clearly marked. The book is illustrated with 200 quality color photographs. What types of rifles (centerfire and muzzleloading), shotguns, handguns and bows and arrows to use for bear hunting is discussed, too.
