# Baraga Co. Bear Hunt



## integritybob

I am curious as to if any of you can point me in the right direction. I am looking for someone that could help me out in Baraga unit this fall. I will draw a tag this year as I have accumilated more than enough points to hunt. I just need someone to maintain a spot for me. No outfitters, I am a resident of Michigan and find it a little silly to go to a outfitter in a state I live in. Please PM me. 

Thank you


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## uptracker

If you don't want to go with an outfitter, what are you looking for exactly?

I wouldn't discredit using a guide by any means. Baiting is tough work and is a task that needs attention at all times. I did it a few years back and believe me when I say it'll be cheaper for me to use a guide this fall....plus it'll save me a whole lot of time....wasted time.

Bear hunting is not easy by any means.....you home State or not.

You'll probably have a hard time finding someone to "help" without using a guide or coughing up some good cash for a reputable guy that isn't just gonna take your money and do a half ass job.


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## Rustyaxecamp

integritybob said:


> No outfitters, I am a resident of Michigan and find it a little silly to go to a outfitter in a state I live in.


So is waiting 5 years for a tag and not seeing a bear the whole hunt because you wanted to scrimp on a couple hundred dollars. Like already posted, baiting is hard, unpleasant work. So is finding a good bear spot.

Most UP bear "outfitters" provide a place to sleep (maybe food) and an active bait. It isn't a hold your hand affair like you see on tv.

Find a good guide/outfitter, pay the $$ and enjoy your MI bear hunt.


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## sourdough44

I agree with Rusty.


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## integritybob

Oh no I am more than willing to pay just not what a outfitter is gonna cost me. I wouldn't mind handing over a grand. Just not more than that. I have already help a family member to success just work doesn't allow me to bait or scout like it used to. The only time I will have for this is vacation time to hunt. I never would expect a free bee for something like this.


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## geosrun

Get a hold of the guys from Rapid River Knife company in the UP a great group of guys that will work with you!


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## Wizard3686

I will get ya the number to a guy who works in this area (covington) I have to see him first to get it from him and it is gonna be a while because he is the plow driver and we just got over 2 feet of snow lmao


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## sourdough44

In recent years I thought the average cost to put a guy over a good bait was about $800-$1000. Of course things can vary with time of the hunt & specifics of the outfitter. I'd do a little research & try to get some odds in your favor.


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## uptracker

You can get a lot for a grand..... this isn't Saskatchewan.


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## Groundsize

Wizard3686 said:


> I will get ya the number to a guy who works in this area (covington) I have to see him first to get it from him and it is gonna be a while because he is the plow driver and we just got over 2 feet of snow lmao


His name is J.R. and he runs U.P. Bear guides. My friends and I used him for a bear hunt that was totally sweet! He has been on michigan outdoors a number of times. Yes he works for the county up there and has many active bait sites. I shot my bear out of the same stand a few years after michigan outdoors shot a bear out of that same stand. I believe I paid $1,000 and will be doing it again here soon. YOu can find him by googleing upbearguides.com. hope this helps.

Paul


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## Wizard3686

Groundsize said:


> His name is J.R. and he runs U.P. Bear guides. My friends and I used him for a bear hunt that was totally sweet! He has been on michigan outdoors a number of times. Yes he works for the county up there and has many active bait sites. I shot my bear out of the same stand a few years after michigan outdoors shot a bear out of that same stand. I believe I paid $1,000 and will be doing it again here soon. YOu can find him by googleing upbearguides.com. hope this helps.
> 
> Paul


I knew his name but wanted to get his number from him. i asked him about his website he stills checks it and gets any info request from it. I know he is gonna build a new one here soon. 


He is a great guy and will make sure you get on bears he has been doing this for many years and is good at what he does. 

Even tho i live here i think for my first bear hunt imma get a guide


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## kingfisher 11

Groundsize said:


> His name is J.R. and he runs U.P. Bear guides. My friends and I used him for a bear hunt that was totally sweet! He has been on michigan outdoors a number of times. Yes he works for the county up there and has many active bait sites. I shot my bear out of the same stand a few years after michigan outdoors shot a bear out of that same stand. I believe I paid $1,000 and will be doing it again here soon. YOu can find him by googleing upbearguides.com. hope this helps.
> 
> Paul



He was $1200 last year, this is for baiting and transportation to the stand. You will be responsible for your food and payment of lodging. I have hunted with him the last two years. JR works hard and knows what he is doing. He is expensive for Michigan but you get what you pay for I guess.


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## uptracker

Ouch....I'm only paying $850 this year....food and lodging included for 5 days, transpo to and from stand, care of bear etc.

This is also with a well know, very respected, guide service.


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## kingfisher 11

uptracker said:


> Ouch....I'm only paying $850 this year....food and lodging included for 5 days, transpo to and from stand, care of bear etc.
> 
> This is also with a well know, very respected, guide service.



I really like JR but his price has got to high for us. We decided to go to Canada if do another expensive hunt. I agree, your price is more in line. The only thing I do like about JR, you can hunt until you get a bear.


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## Yoopertrapper

JR is a great guy, and I believe if you tag out early he takes his clients coyote hunting aswell,he is very good at that and has harvested a bear by calling also!!


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## perch321

It is price's like that which are making a bad name for all baiter's,when you start charging $1,200-$2,000 that is sad


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## KalamazooKid

Hank at Blue Road Bucks was charging $800 (I think?) last year and that included food / lodging and a helluva hunting experience.


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## kingfisher 11

Yoopertrapper said:


> JR is a great guy, and I believe if you tag out early he takes his clients coyote hunting aswell,he is very good at that and has harvested a bear by calling also!!


Yep, I was also there the night he took the bear while calling. I took the photos with my camera of the bear. Anyone want to see them I can put them in my gallery? I went out the next day and he tried calling for me. We had no luck. I have shot big bears both years I hunted with him. unfortunatley I had bad luck on my end. JR is a class act and runs a great outfit. You just have to decide if its worth it for you? I think you can find others who charge less that will do one heck of a job. I just happen to like JR personally so it makes it a little harder for me to change outiftters. The first year it was only $900.


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## sourdough44

I know it's stating the obvious but there is a difference between a red hot 10 Sept stand & an early Oct stand that gets the 1 A.M. visit. One may be worth $1200 & the other not $500. There is even the early Sep stand that isn't all that great. I'll bet the $300 stand exists if someone wants it. I think most will help you get the bear out of the woods too.


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## Bearboy

Last year in Baraga, there were not to many bears left by October. Baits that have historically been hit dailey were not even hit weekly. I can't see any improvement in 2009. Remember a late hit is a hound hunter's dream.......They were just not there!


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## Wizard3686

Bearboy said:


> Last year in Baraga, there were not to many bears left by October. Baits that have historically been hit dailey were not even hit weekly. I can't see any improvement in 2009. Remember a late hit is a hound hunter's dream.......They were just not there!


 
Last year we had a great berry crop also. That is why a lot of baits wasn't being hit till later on in the year,But if you found the berry's you found the bears we seen more bears last year then we have in a couple years now.


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## Bearboy

I been doing this a long time...........Fort Wilkens had zero problem bear in 2008......average a few years back was about 25 per year. Hound hunters dragging roads....no tracks.........rigging no strikes.......We killed twice the bear in the Western UP in the past few years than the original biologists said that we could not sustain, invoking the lottery system. The amount of tags issued over the past seven years has doubled to kill the same amount of bear. This is the reason that the MDNR reduced the kill tags by 21% in the WUP. The average bait site used to be established around the 27th of August, now its August 10th. Meat scraps were the traditional bait as the current amount of sweets(far more attractive to bear) were not available. Most bear hunters noticed a drastic reduction in 2008 in WUP. A single bear makes a ton of sign, its often misread as multiple bear. Don't get me wrong, there is still a huntable population, it has been reduced by a significant amount. I feel the population is down at least 50% in the Baraga BMU........The current road system in the WUP provide access to every possible place, I was born here.....its not to wild anymore....


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## Wizard3686

Bearboy said:


> I been doing this a long time...........Fort Wilkens had zero problem bear in 2008......average a few years back was about 25 per year. Hound hunters dragging roads....no tracks.........rigging no strikes.......We killed twice the bear in the Western UP in the past few years than the original biologists said that we could not sustain, invoking the lottery system. The amount of tags issued over the past seven years has doubled to kill the same amount of bear. This is the reason that the MDNR reduced the kill tags by 21% in the WUP. The average bait site used to be established around the 27th of August, now its August 10th. Meat scraps were the traditional bait as the current amount of sweets(far more attractive to bear) were not available. Most bear hunters noticed a drastic reduction in 2008 in WUP. A single bear makes a ton of sign, its often misread as multiple bear. Don't get me wrong, there is still a huntable population, it has been reduced by a significant amount. I feel the population is down at least 50% in the Baraga BMU........The current road system in the WUP provide access to every possible place, I was born here.....its not to wild anymore....


 

Thats funny because i have grown up here almost my whole life and i have talked to hunters every day of the season for the last 3 years. That is both hound and bait hunters. Everyone of them last year told me they are seeing more and more bears. They are running more tracks then they did the year before or the year before that. 90% of the hound hunters i talked to also told me that they were passing up a lot of smaller ones. Everyone of them also told me that they weren't starting there dogs on baits but rather the berries or just the two tracks it self. I can also tell you in the last couple of years we have had more bear problems on our land then we have in the past. 


I also know that in the last 3 years we have seen more bears then we have in many years pass.


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## Rooster Cogburn

Wizard, what kind of berries are they?


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## Wizard3686

We had alot of raspberries and thimble berries last year.


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## Rooster Cogburn

Wizard, thanks for the information on the berries. But, I'm a little confused how dog hunters would have been finding bear activity in raspberry and thimble berry patches during the hunting season. They are gone by then.


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## Bearboy

I guess you know a heck of a lot more than me even though I am more than twice your age. I have never seen a bear eat(or any sign of) a Thimble berry. Of course when I attended a few bear management meetings I never heard the same claim from any bear hunter(that there were more bear in the WUP) . I suppose that the Western UP Biologists don't know either. I made some raspberry jam this year(I was picking in August). I thought I knew where to pick but I guess I need to spend more time in the woods looking for the late ripening varieties. Perhaps I should direct you to the President of UP bearhoundsmen Association, In forty years he, Joe Hudson, said he never seen so few bear. Seems funny that of the big bear killed in Michigan last year, None from the Baraga BMU. I figured it out, they are hiding in the winter berry patches!:lol:


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## Wizard3686

yea you know i guess cause i am young i dont know nothing aye. That's cool funny tho i talked to many many UP bear houndsmen. You know considering that my work is the only place around for them to get gas and food in covington. I guess that the guys who was in the woods all day long running bears dont know nothing neither because they were all younger then you to.. 


Lmao hey is this the same Biologist that said that your chance of seeing a wolf was 1 in a million? Mr Aho him self?


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## Wizard3686

Oh and i know there was berries up to the second week of Sept on some bushes still. A good amount of them at that. How do i know this well i took and went out in the woods to take a drive after my mom had passed away and found them and i found a ton of bear sign around them.


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## nmutroy

From my own experience and talking to people that hunted the western part of Baraga Unit never had a problem finding bear the past couple years. In fact last year was the most sign i had found in a particular location in the past 3 years. Im going to have to go and say the bear havnt dissapeared yet.


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## Bearboy

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:


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## kingfisher 11

JR's bear sightings were way down in 2008 compared to the year before. Not sure if it was bear numbers or other circumstances. I do know the hound hunters were really heavy this last year in the Covington area. They ran hard on our baits.


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## Bearboy

Hounds strike bear scent out of the truck(rigging). I doubt if the hound guys knew your baits were there.


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## hubbarj

Bearboy, you know how these guys are about hounds. If the baits stop getting hit it must be the hound hunters. They see a couple coyote track around a bait and they assume they are dog track an we get blamed again and they don't even stop to think that they are coyote tracks.


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## TSS Caddis

Groundsize said:


> His name is J.R. and he runs U.P. Bear guides. My friends and I used him for a bear hunt that was totally sweet! He has been on michigan outdoors a number of times. Yes he works for the county up there and has many active bait sites. I shot my bear out of the same stand a few years after michigan outdoors shot a bear out of that same stand. I believe I paid $1,000 and will be doing it again here soon. YOu can find him by googleing *upbearguides.com*. hope this helps.
> 
> Paul


Went looking for his web site and can't find?


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## kingfisher 11

I just tried to bring up his site so I could pass it along. It is gone, not sure why. I have his contact numbers if anyone needs them?

Just to be clear....I am not anti-hound if some of you think that. My point is the areas we hunted got pounded last year by hound hunters. Not so in 2007.

I **** hunted for years with hounds, walkers were my choice. I considered doing a hound hunt but I wanted my first bear to be in a quiet setting one on one without a bunch of hounds.


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## TSS Caddis

kingfisher 11 said:


> I have his contact numbers if anyone needs them?


If you could PM them to me. Thx.

Bought my 6th point this year, so maybe in the near future I'll have a need.


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## chevymike1

uptracker said:


> Ouch....I'm only paying $850 this year....food and lodging included for 5 days, transpo to and from stand, care of bear etc.
> 
> This is also with a well know, very respected, guide service.


so who is the guide and what area


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## Luv2hunteup

chevymike1
Did you realize that this thread is 4 years old?


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