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9 tips for a successful bear hunt

9 tips för en lyckad björnjakt

9 tips for a successful bear hunt

 1. Stand Selection 

Try as far as possible not to get a permanent passport in, for example, a tower when hunting bears. For many years I have tried to promote mobile passports, or rather areas of responsibility in bear hunting. Bears do not always come in the same place as the moose and therefore it is better to be flexible. If the bear is allowed to choose, it often comes to shelter, ie after densely vegetated streams or young forest.

2. Communicate with your foster neighbors

In order for point 1 to work for a safe bear hunt, communication is required. As long as you can communicate with your pass neighbors, you can also move without exposing anyone to risks in connection with firing shots at bears. Get ready early with your pass neighbors where you will be staying, (for example from the power line and east along the road to the next junction). Then everyone knows where they have nothing to do.

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3. Aim to have about 15-30 m to the bear

Sometimes the bear is far ahead of the dogs, 10-15 minutes and then it is obviously difficult to care for. My advice then is to place yourself where a stream crosses the road you might be following. At the same time, try to keep track of as long a distance as possible, in this way you will at least see that it is the bear that is being hunted. When hunting bears, however, the bear and the dogs usually come quite close together and you can work out quite quickly where it will pass you. & nbsp; When bear hunting, I usually strive to have about 15-30 m to the bear when it passes my pass, if the distance is longer, it can be difficult to find a chance to shoot if the dog / dogs are close to the bear. The bear can in some cases sound quite loud when it comes and it can give a good indication of where it will pass, my first thought what the sound is like it is a horse at full speed on the trotting track. A loud panting sound that can be heard several hundred meters. & nbsp;

4. Largest possible hit area

I strive for bear hunting regardless of shooting angle "largest possible hit area" and it is the vital organs in the body (heart, lungs). My personal favorite when hunting bears is pure side shoots just behind the bow blade, or just behind where the front leg goes up into the body. It is worth remembering that in front of the front leg in the body, the bear has a lot of muscles and nothing vital, so try not to keep too far forward, the searches that have been on bear hunting with muscle hits far ahead have many times been long and difficult.

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When shooting obliquely from the front under bear hunting I keep in the neck fold where neck and shoulder meet. When shooting at a bear straight from the front, the bear's head hides the "sting hole" that you are so happy to shoot at moose, on some occasions I have been looking for bears that are shot in the back of the nose due to straight shots. These searches are seldom simple as the bear often goes far after the shot. On the other hand, shots that are fired at close range can be fired just behind the ears to the hump, which results in the bullet ending up in the hit area obliquely from above and at best shooting off the spine of the bear. & nbsp;
My best advice & nbsp; is that when you have shot at a bear that is trying to get up, you shoot again unless there is a dog behind, the bears that come up on their feet and moving forward can be a hard and dangerous nut to crack for the search crew.

5. The main features of bear hunting

Unfortunately, there are few shortcuts to a functioning bear dog without a long and solid work is usually behind a functioning bear dog. Pointed dogs or dusters for bear hunting do not matter for the result as long as the dog is chasing a bear. One usually pursues quietly and the other barks in the track, but with today's pointers you usually know where it is going regardless. Briefly regarding the development of functioning dogs under & nbsp; björnjakt & nbsp; is that you should be careful when the dog is young, feel free to wait until the dog is 1.5-2 years before the first real contact as the dog is rarely mature before that. & nbsp; I always prefer that the young dog's first bear contacts are with an experienced dog as a companion. The young dog should never for a moment get the feeling that & nbsp; björnjakt is something nasty or scary. Start track training the intended bear dog early, this is what later in life will solve the difficult road losses and gives you an opportunity to choose the right track when you are out on a bear hunt. Feel free to wait with the young dog's bear debut for the bear hunt. For many dogs, it is important in the beginning that they get to see a bear fall. I think I have seen a big difference in all the dogs I had after they participated in their first successful & nbsp; bear hunting. No matter how much I want to let go of my dog on an older bear track, I usually track on a leash first so that I see that the dog really keeps the bear track. Only then can the dog get loose after the track, and it has often been a success factor for it to be bear hunting and not, for example, moose hunting.

6. Dogs and tracks

If the track is not newer than 1 hour, I would not drop more than 1 & nbsp; dog & nbsp; in the track, even if the ambition is for 2 dogs to hunt the bear. There is a good chance that 2 dogs if they simultaneously track the bear, miss an angle the bear made or get out in a way and then stress each other and do not go back and take the track but just continue straight until they find something fun. Which rarely results in bear hunting.

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It's incredibly much harder & nbsp; to see where things went wrong with 2 & nbsp; dogs & nbsp; loose in the track than 1 dog. Is the track about 1-4 hours (or seems to smell good for & nbsp; hunden ) I usually first release 1 dog, when I see that it has reached 500 m-1 km and maintains good speed without problems, I release the next dog. In this way, & nbsp; hund & nbsp; No. 1 chance to keep track of the track until it becomes even newer, and the newer the track the greater the chance of bear hunting.

7. Adjust the type of dog to the size of the bear

I usually, if possible, adapt the type of dog to the size of the bear when hunting bears. The size of the bear track, how deep it has sunk into the ground towards me and how wide the gutter becomes in tall grass often say in total how big the bear is. & nbsp; Small bears 40-80 kg are often anxious and are often best suited to hunt with dusters because they run fast, and are reluctant to stop. 80-140 kg is a calmer bear and here it matters less if you have a fast or slow dog in the track during the bear hunt. These bears stay more often and are safer on the stand. 150 kg and up is usually most suitable for a good stallion dog, and if you know that the dog you have thinks stallions are difficult when hunting bears, you usually benefit from getting a dog there that thinks it is fun to stall a bear right away. / div>

8. If it goes wrong ..

Bear searches can be very difficult to sort out and become dangerous when you catch up. Some experiences around hunting and bear hunting. My image of a shot bear is that if it can and does manage, it will go a long way after the shot. I have seen bears that have walked more than 10 km on the bird's path after being shot, these have been hit in the muscles and if in some cases they have not got an infection in the wound, then maybe they have survived. The bears that have moved a few hundred meters are usually hit in the skeleton or semi-vital parts. All in all, however, the bear in my opinion has an instinct to take care of the pursuer first and then say goodbye to safety and at best heal together and survive. With that in mind, one should have great respect for injured bears. I usually start by tracking in line to get an idea of any damage to depending on what I see acting. It is worth noting that bears can bleed very little or nothing at all for several hundred meters after the shot, so the minimum is 500 m, and probably 2 km before you can tell if it has been hit or not. If I can find a hit and the dog keeps the track without the slightest problem, I will let the dog in the track. I prefer that I do not have to travel the bear out of bed with the dog on a leash. If I want, I release dog 2 when the bear is out of the wound. The pass shooters who are with follow the dog when it tracks and holessmiles about 2-3 km distance on all sides of the dog, ie some in front, some behind and some on each side. It is usually desirable if the dogs make the bear move and it is shot by one of the pass shooters. There is simply less risk of being attacked when the bear is in motion than of trying to shoot it on the head. If the bear is busy, I usually let another dog in to try to get the bear moving, if that does not work, I go to the stand as alternative 2. & nbsp; If it goes wrong, as it sometimes does, you always benefit from calling in someone with proven good bear dogs!

9. Inside the skull

If I'm inside the stand shell myself, I like to go in at about 20-30m and place myself a little high (often on a rock or stump), the idea with it is that if I get a position on the bear, I want the ball to be aimed at the ground and not along the ground, which in that case can hit a dog that is behind the bear. Only when I have complete control over where the bear is is I advance the last bit. Shotgun & nbsp; is usually at the head of a bear hunt about 5-20 m, so expect the distance to be short. If you are unsure if you want to shoot, remember that most bears can make sham attacks, but as long as you do not hurt the bear, it usually stops at a sham attack. If you shoot the bear in sham attack mode, the chances are high that it will change its mood to a real attack.

With these lines, I wish good luck in the bear forest!

/ Rasmus

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