Bear Hunting in the Morning??

[fishingfool]

I am relatively new to bear hunting, having only hunted them one other time before. From most of things I have read and heard prior to this year, bear hunting over bait was only done in the evenings. Then I ran into a MN bear hunter who claimed he hunted bears in the morning commonly. Then I was fishing Manitoba this June (during their spring bear season) and he had bear hunters in camp who hunted every morning. He said about half the bears shot in camp are killed in the morning.

I was under the impression that hunting bears in the morning did more harm than good. Is that true?

When we bear hunt were are staying far away from home and camping so I guess if its an good option I would prefer to hunt in the morning (instead of twittling our thumbs all day) as well as the evening.

I am looking for any opinions from folks that have experiences either way. Pros vs cons of morning hunting. for those that do hunt in the morning, do you get in before light? wait till light and then sneak in? How long into the morning do you hunt?

Any other considerations?

Thanks in advance for any comments!

[jay83196]

I have never hunted in am but I do have bear hit my stations shortly after sunrise on my cameras and early afternoon often. I'm just not a morning person.

[charliepete]

I've seen and shot bears in the morning. I've also bumped a few trying to get to the stand in the morning. I try to hunt nights first, but will hunt the morning if the trail cam tells me to.

[pulleye16]

The only time my party (not me) had every hunted mornings, were on years that we were not seeing them and were desperate. Those were some tough times an no one saw one...but we were not seeing them at night either. My brother got one in the early afternoon once, around noon-1'ish, but all others have been taken at night. Maybe I'm skiddish walking into my bait site with a bow at dark but I'll probably never do it...walking away from it at dark is creepy enough, espically stepping on a grouse in thick cover.LOL. Would love to hear some "technical" data on this as well cause MOST hunters do this (evening hunts) so there must be some logic behind it. I'm guessing though, IMO, that animals tend to move into feeding areas (bait sites) at evening hours where a hunter has already estblished his or herself. Morning hunts may be harder to get in without knowing what time thelr feeding (without cams) and spook the animal. One thing for sure is, that if bears feed in the morning as much as they do at night, count me in! I'd love to track a bear in the daylight then under my coleman latern at night ANY DAY!

[Boar]

If I was on a camping bear trip far away from home, an with all the time in effort to do so, I would make the best of it, if you are sitting at camp twiddling your thumbs, you might as well be twiddling your thumbs in stand, if your stand is comfortable enough, an well broken up an hiddin, bring some lunch an a book, go in first light an do an all dayer, with a pee bottle too. It aint easy, i've done it. nothing showed butI did'nt have a camera to tell me other wise. Maybe do a morning till 11 take break get some lunch an head out again mid afternoon. If my camera tells me their hitting in teh morning I'd prepare to hunt the morning. Boar

[fishingfool]

Yeah I have done a lot of all day bow hunts during the rut. Its usually about 11 1/2 hours of daylight if I recall at that time (this would be a little longer:). The first day or two isnt bad, but after that it gets a little rough. the only reason I would have to leave is to bait other sites that are hit but not being hunted that day (backups). If you hunted in the morning would you go in prior to first light or wait till first light and try to sneak in?

If I were to happen to scare a bear going in the morning would that affect future evening hunts (i.e. turn him nocturnal)

thanks all the comments

[uptracker]

Sat down at 8:30 last year and had a bear on the bait by 9am. Saw two more by 1 pm. It's the best time IMO...especially if you bait in the AM at a certain time everyday.

In the past, I've shot all by one bear before 12 pm.

[cherokee]

Given I have two active baits, so far, my plan is to hunt Wednesday evening. If I do not tag out, I'll hunt stand #2 in the am Thursday. I will only hunt main bait in the evenings though. I'm hunting 5 days only and I better be on stand.

Trail cam shows a couple of morning hits around 10.

Would it be better to come in during the dark morning or wait for it to get light, drive in the wheeler, bait and leave with wheeler. Sneak back in and hunt?