A quiet place

Avoid active swamps, as all you will hear besides billions of mosquitoes will be frogs and bullfrogs.

This applies to both rapids and streams that make too much noise for you to hear anything, and I've noticed that bears don't feel safe when they can't hear.

Location of your ground blind or treestand

Once you think you have finally found the ideal location to place the bait, you need to make sure you can set up your treestand or ground blind first. If you opt for a ground blind, make sure you can control the comings and goings of the bears. Position yourself in a location where the likelihood of bears coming up behind you is lower, such as an agricultural field, a large clearing, a cliff, or a body of water.

A priority before making your final installation is to choose which wind you want to hunt in. I strongly suggest opting to hunt with West, Southwest, and/or Northwest winds, as they are predominant during this time of the year. Otherwise, you will probably hunt on rainy and cool days, which are not favorable for bear hunting.

Also, it's important to hunt downwind. With all these efforts, don't make the mistake of showing up at your hunting site when the wind is not in your favor. A bear will smell you from far away.

The sense of smell in bears is incredibly sharp and is considered one of their most important senses. It is estimated that a bear's sense of smell is 7 times better than that of a dog and about 100 times more powerful than that of a human. They can detect odors several kilometers away, depending on factors such as wind direction, humidity, and odor strength. This exceptional olfactory ability helps bears locate food, identify other bears, and avoid potential dangers.

Protect yourself from mosquitoes and the sun

We agree that bear hunting means mosquitoes and that we are dressed from head to toe to avoid bites. Fortunately, devices like Thermacell and Watkins mosquito repellent cream exist to make our hunting trips more tolerable.

Facing west clearly indicates that you will have the sunset in your face until the leaves come out. I return to the importance of conifers. Use their shade. Set up your ground blind or treestand, taking into account the path of the sunset. I always arrange to be as little exposed to the sun as possible and, if possible, not at all. This keeps me cool and prevents the sun from blinding me during its long, eternal spring setting. The bonus is that the cooler we are, the less mosquitoes bother us.

Before proceeding to bait the barrel, complete the installation of your ground blind or treestand. I hunt bears on the ground because I find it much easier to arrive and leave my blind without being detected by bears.

Your safety first

Remember that I have spent hundreds of hours in the presence of bears around me and that I know their behavior. I am always armed with cayenne pepper as a preventive tool. A mother bear with her cubs can be very aggressive in protecting her little ones.

Plan your approach

To do this, on the day of site preparation, I rake the last 300 feet before arriving at the blind. So once it's done, there's only beautiful black soil left, allowing me to arrive and leave without alerting the bears.

I would say that 80% of the time, whether upon my arrival or departure, there is a bear at the barrel. This is the beauty of hunting on the ground. Climbing up or down a treestand without being detected is not easy.