Post by rwh on Sept 22, 2006 12:20:08 GMT -5
The feed situation in the NW corner of the U.P. is poor. Don't believe you could find an acorn in all of Ontonagon County. There are at least 4 commercial bear baiting operations on federal and CFR land in the immediate area. Because they make a business out of it...they are more effective than sport hunters who travel here and hunt without shelling out $750 to $1,500 a week to sit on a bait that's been maintain since August 10th when legal baiting started...as is the case with commercial baits saturating the area's public land. Indications are...due to the lack of natural feed the money baits were very effective and a lot of bear were taken. It is illegal to bait-for-pay on private CFR land, but the DNR's current position is to let it go on unless the land owner makes a formal complaint. It's also interesting to note...you do not need to buy a bear license to bait bear in Michigan, and you can "guide" individuals without ever buying a license. Yet, anyone coming along on a hound hunt is required to buy a participation license. Back in 2003 a commercial bear baiter with a history of threatening anyone hunting near one of his money baits on public land...actually threatened a conservation officer wearing plain clothes when he appeared to be hunting near one of the commercial baits. It was on U.S. Forest Service land. The DNR actually caught the whole thing on video and arrested the individual. He lost his hunting privledges for 3 years (I'm told), but he was able to continue operating his commercial bear baits without interruption...no law against it! This info came to me directly from a C.O. involved in the arrest. I am not against guiding...I just want t o see it regulated within reason.