Opening day bear - more pics

[adam.WI]

From the 2 animals on the bag and that website's product page it appears to be one of the bags of salt.  I guess I'd give them the benefit of the doubt and say it might be for salting the hide.  They do appear unopened. 

I would like to know who packs in a 110lbs of salt for a hide, but I do agree with innocent until proven guilty

[Ray]

I'll weigh in on some of this.

First and foremost I do not personally condone any illegal baiting activities in the forum. Known illegal pictures and stories of illegal activities will be deleted. You may be reported to the authorities.

As to the picture and story on the bear... I am not a police officer and I was not there when the bear was harvested. I cannot comment on what is inside the photo one way or another and why it was there. I do believe that people are innocent until proven guilty. This might be a lesson for both sides - the bear hunter, the story teller and the critics in the end. Time will tell. Let's hope that nothing ocurred which was illegal. I will personally assume innocence at this moment in time. The law is upheld by the game wardens in this state and the court systems. Not by me.

I do have an inherent responsibility to remove anything which is illegal and which I believe is damaging to the sport. I am fully aware of that.

[georgia redneck]

Hard to figure why someone would bait a bear and then be that much of a dumb A@#  to take a picture of the bait............but then again we have all seen the dumb criminal show's on TV....I hope  it was just for the hide but at the very least someone has some explaining to do.

[87Ford]

"SHAME ON YOU........"
   Yes, shame on you for breaking the law IF you are guilty.


"IM NOT VERY IMPRESSED AT ALL TRY TO KILL A BEAR WITH OUT BAIT"
   There was a time when baiting bears was legal in this state and many people,  including myself, legally participated and enjoyed the sport.  I'm still a little bitter that this state passed an initiative in 1996 to ban bear baiting.  I don't think anyone who legally participated in bear baiting prior to 1996 was trying to impress anyone.  They simply enjoyed that form of bear hunting.

[Ice Cap]

I'm very curious as to why so many people are assuming that the individual in the picture was involved in baiting for bear.

This was a bear camp as stated in the text of the story.
Possibly more than just one hunter?
That means possibly more than just one bear could be harvested.
Possibly more than just one hide that needs to be salted?

 

[backwoods_boy]

i agree....its just hard to believe that a *censored* would put a pic of himself with bait bags behind him.
I say salt for the hide.
 

[boneaddict]

I wonder who would use salt with other minerals in it to salt a hide.  

[Mike450r]

presuming it is for salting the hide isn't even a consideration for me.  If you saw the same bags at a person's house would you think it was going to be used for salting an icy sidewalk?  The bags specifically contain nutritional supplements.   I am not saying it was being used as bait just saying it was not likely to be used for anything other than ingestion by some mammal.  Feed is too expensive these days in my opinion.

[Kain]

I think most of us were trying to figure out what the bags were.  I think that shows that we really dont want to believe that they were baiting.  Opening day was very hot and they had a few guys in their camp.  It is very possible they brought the salt for the hide or hides if they were successful.  I think the fact that they were not concerned about the bags in the picture might also show no illegal intent.    I think we all hope they were not breaking the law.

[Kain]

I just looked through American Stockman's products and not all of their salt have minerals added.  I could see going to the feed store and grabbing a couple bags of salt for hides.   

[Machias]

Maybe they had horses in camp?  Maybe they used the bags to transport something else to camp....maybe a heck of alot of different reasons for those bags to be in camp.  Maybe we all shouldn't rush to judgement so quickly?  Also Baiting, although illegal in this state, is a HONORABLE way to harvest a bear, so ease up on the "IM NOT VERY IMPRESSED AT ALL TRY TO KILL A BEAR WITH OUT BAIT SHAME ON YOU"  Sheesh

[winston2789]

i agree, give the guy a chance to explain why they were there, before accusing him of anything.....but who knows how long that will take?

[westsideoutdoorsman]

I read the post when it first came up and didn't even notice the bags til it was pointed out.  I'd definitley like more details, outdoorsman work on the honor code, it's our ethics that set us apart from those who break the law.  If we are going to claim the highground, which is ours and we should, we have to help to hold those accountable for their actions.

More details please elkburger!

[ELKBURGER]

First off, I apologize for posting a picture with content that can be so easily be misconstrued. I too did'nt notice the bags in the pic's. I certainly do not want to destroy the reputation of this site, in fact I refer the site to many folks as a great resource and I'll continue to do so, despite some of its boisterous members. The bags were mineral salt intended for salting a trail cam spot in scouting elk. This is completly legal. Many folks do it but it takes a while to dissolve into the ground. Salt blocks or licks are also commonly used. Since there was no illegal activity going on, we had nothing to hide. If there are still some doubts on the subject, please contact the WDFG region 5 office @ (360)696-6211. Thank you to those members who gave this issue 'benefit of the doubt'.

[tlbradford]

Thanks Elkburger for clearing that up.  It is appreciated by all of us.