I will be taking both Rifle and Crossbow on my Maine bear hunt.

I believe bears that have been hunted over bait before are more wary than say a bear that has never been baited ever. Experts agree. Sure, I’d like to harvest a big bear with my crossbow but maybe a bigger bear with my favorite rifle. In years gone by I hunted with recurve bow, without success. 

I will take both rifle and crossbow on the hunt this September. 

Accordingly, these baited bears are smart. They come into view at your bait site in the last hour of light or in the dark.

Larger bears, like trophy whitetails, did not get large by being stupid. Outsmarting big bruins to get them to show themselves in daylight is the name of the game. No human smells near bait, no strange noises are the name of the game.

In some cases, just clicking the safety off can make previously hunted bears jump or drawing your arrow as it slides rearward will make them jump. Having a stand near a gurgling brook provides cover sounds for a bowhunter at say 15 or 20 yards from bait.

1. I believe rifle hunters often have an edge where stands are 50 to 75 yards from bait.
2. That said, wary big bears may show in daylight with the hunter at 75 yards because the bear did its homework just out of sight of the bait listening and smelling and circling.
3. The angle of the bear is not quite as critical with rifle as it is with bow, thus more shot opportunities are favored with a rifle such as my Browning Speed 7mm Remington Magnum. 

Add up the 1,2, 3 above and I lean toward a rifle setup. We shall see as setups are revealed in September. 

Good Hunting!

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Lapua 6.5mm round nose bullets  back in Midway stock. These bullets hammer big bucks!

See my summer article below. Use them in handloading the 6.5 Creedmoor.

Reloading: 6.5mm Lapua Mega 155 bullet now in stock at Midway

Many years ago, before I hunted moose, I was bird hunting with my youngest son Jason,not far from Lake Francis in Pittsburg, New Hampshire. It was early October. We entered the woods off a dirt road. Jason carried a 22 rifle and I had a pump shotgun with birdshot. The sun was shining and the north wood smells of fir trees and falling colored leaves gave us a great feeling to be alive and hunting in the Northwoods. 

Ahead of us, we saw some movement, a cow moose and calf appear. “How cool”, I whispered to Jason, who was 11 years old at the time.

I had learned some moose calls with my mouth by pinching my nose, a cupping my hands around my mouth. So, I thought perhaps the cow would hang around.

I pinched my nose and let out an “arr” sound. The cow and calf didn’t like my sounds and melted into the trees ahead. 

Suddenly, the boggy ground underneath us began to shake. “Did you feel that? I asked Jason. “Ya dad, what is happening.”

In the next moment, we heard tree limbs breaking from where the cow and calf came from.

A very large bull moose appeared. He was headed straight for us with his head tipping side to side displaying his a huge palmated antlers as he continued his approach.  I pulled Jason to a dense group of large fir trees and stood very still. The bull had not spotted us yet but still approaching. I kept large trees in front of us as a barrier.

I realized that we were in trouble.

I chose to move closer to the large group of trees as the bull was advancing.

He spotted us!

Head tipping, he began to step around the trees to get to us.

Jason, tugged on my jacket whispering. “I want to go to the truck now, Dad!”  “Shhh, I said as we began to move around the large group of trees as the bull circled. The guns we had with us would be useless, I thought in case of a charge. 

Keeping those larger trees in front of us and between the bull was our best defense.

Undaunted, the bull changed direction and circled in the opposite direction to get at us. Jason whispered, “I can see the white of his eyes.”

The bull widened his distance and circled ever widening till he decided to turn and walk away.  Whew!

The bull crossed the dirt road, near my truck, when two fishermen campers near the lake appeared with camera in hand.

They followed the bull.

I shouted, “be careful, he is dangerous.” They snapped a photo of the bull and came over to us where we shared our encounter.  I asked if they would be so kind to send us a copy of the photo. Here is the bull below.

Safe in our truck, it was clear, after some thought, that my moose call drew in the bull.  He thought I was competition for mating the cow.

The lesson here is calling in moose can be dangerous unless you are hunting them, and even then, they are still dangerous.