Opening Day In America - East

Something had changed. After 40 minutes of still-hunting through silent timber, the woods erupted in chatter.

- Michael R. Shea

THE HARD- EARNED BEAR

Something had changed. After 40 minutes of still-hunting through silent timber, the woods erupted in chatter. As I neared a creek side oak flat, chipmunks barked alarms. Blue jays and crows screeched. A heavy branch snapped ahead, and I could see the top of an old oak swaying. But there wasn’t a breath of wind. As I took a knee, a bear swung around the trunk and walked along a stout limb, 30 feet up, perfectly broadside, and less than 40 yards away.

All across the Northeast, there are camps of diehard bear hunters for whom the September opener is as anticipated and sacred as any whitetail season. Watching baits in Maine or running hounds in Vermont or New Hampshire are high odds options, but nearly half of the states in the Northeast force you to hunt bears the hardest way. Some Northeastern hunters say it’s impossible to target and kill black bears by still-hunting the big woods, but that’s just not true. Not nearly. Every September, all across New England, New York, and Pennsylvania, hunters in wool coats walk into the wilderness—and come out with bears.

My first year in our New York camp, five hunters spotted 12 bears in three days. A first-time bear hunter arrowed a young boar on an oak flat just three hours into the season. Luck? Maybe. But a few days later, another buddy shot a good one after finding an obvious bear trail along a swamp. Each year our success only improves.

There’s a learning curve, but if you can still-hunt whitetails, you can do the same for bears.