4 Black Bears in 36 Hours: The Chase After Appalachian Black Bears

In early December of 2020, the HuntWise crew and Bowga Hunting, a group of avid bowhunters, packed up the cars and began our drive to Southern West Virginia in search of mountains, rugged terrain, and black bears. Southern West Virginia is the stomping ground of our good friends Josh and Kirk, from The Untamed, a hunting group that specializes in hound hunting, along with whitetail and turkey hunting.

Bear hunting is a sophisticated endeavor. It goes beyond buying a specialty breed of hound and cruising the woods in an attempt to tree bears. Besides the basic gear essentials required to participate in the hunt, such as a pack of trained hounds, a dog box, GPS collars for all the dogs, and radios, there is a process the Houndsmen follow to get the bears in the tree.

Every weekend in West Virginia, The Untamed’s bear hunting group meets well before first light at a local gas station to discuss where they will be hunting while fueling up and grabbing snacks for the day. Once organized, they drive to a different location to let the dogs relieve themselves. Josh and Kirk call it a “Crap Out”. Then, the Houndsmen load half of their dogs back into the dog box, in the back of their truck, and put the other half on top of the dog box. The dogs on top of the box have their leads connected to tie off points on a raised rail. The Houndsmen will then slowly drive mountain roads and cruise access points of hunt areas in an attempt for the hounds to catch the scent of a black bear trail. This strategy is called “rigging”. 

Hounds riding on-top of the dog box “rigging”.

Josh and Kirk have acquired quite the collection of hunting areas in Southern West Virginia and can navigate different hunt areas and access points within the HuntWise app. HuntWise allows them to share hunt areas with other Houndsmen, mark bear sign, and determine road access and cutoff points.

Josh, from The Untamed, using HuntWise to navigating mountain roads and access points to his hunt areas.

All of the hounds have specific skills. Some are good at cold nose tracking, which is when a hound can pick up older scent trails. Others have hot noses, which is when the hound has to be almost on a new track. Certain hounds are incredibly fast once they are on a bear, but are not good at keeping bears treed. Some throw other hounds off the correct trail by barking and drawing attention to their false trail. Each of these traits come into mind when a handler is rigging around. For example, if a single hot nose dog is barking like crazy, they are most likely incorrect and aren’t catching the scent of a black bear. However, if cold nose dogs start barking, it may be worthwhile to let him or her off and try to work the trail. When multiple dogs are let off, dogs that are not cold nosed may detract from the effectiveness of working on the right trail. Instead, dogs that do not possess a cold nose should be added to the track later after the trail has been worked successfully.

If rigging proves unsuccessful, the next strategy is to “break brush.” Breaking brush is when a few members begin walking hillsides with hounds in an attempt to jump a bear, get it on its feet, and start a hot trail.

After harvesting our second bear - Kirk readies to dogs to go after another bear that was jumped up.

While on the hunt with The Untamed, we found that both  "rigging" and "break brush" strategies are equally useful and successful.

Once a bear is jumped, or the dogs find a track, the Houndsmen will begin strategizing via radio to deploy more dogs and intercept the bear. All of the dogs are tracked by the hound hunter’s handheld GPS systems which are connected to the hound collars. Each hunter can see where their dogs are and everyone else’s dogs and their current status, such as barks per minute and if they have a bear treed. This felt similar to like a police chase and adding more police units to cut off the runaway vehicle.

As a passenger along for the ride, it was an eye-opening experience.

Kirk, tracking the hounds on the ridge with his GPS, stays within view distance while navigating the trail.

Forty-five miles per hour in a Toyota Tacoma, on abandoned coal roads and mountain two tracks, watching the hound’s sidehill in pursuit of a bear certainly got my heart pumping and the excitement flowing. The hounds will stay on the bear until it has exhausted all options and deems the best solution is to elevate itself into a tree. Once treed, the Houndsmen will catch up with the hounds and notice the bear in the tree or the collars notify the hunter’s GPS with a “treed” notification. The hunters will then assess the bear closely in the tree and decide whether they wish to harvest it. Factors they will weigh are approximate weight and gender. The age of bears is difficult to gauge from just a look, even with a trained eye.

When the decision is made to harvest, the hunters will step back from the tree’s base and tie the dogs back to keep them safe from the bear’s fall. The hunters will then shoot the bear with a rifle, making for a quick and ethical harvest. The bear does not suffer and is passed on long before.

Jared Gortsema, from Bowga Hunting, putting his sight on the treed black bear.

At the conclusion of the trip, we were able to harvest four bears. Nathan, Jared, James, and one of the local bear hunters were able to hunt and kill a Southern West Virginian bear.

From rendering down the fat for baking and cooking to providing excellent meals with properly cooked meat, a bear harvest never goes to waste. When freezers are full for the local bear hunters, the excess bear meat is donated to organizations like Hunters Helping the Hungry and missions. Kirk and Josh estimate their hunting has contributed to feeding a lot of people in need.

Overall, we were incredibly excited about the successful hunts. The terrain was much more difficult for some traditional flat earthers from Michigan, but we got by. It was great to engage in such a cool pastime with the bear hunters and their families. It was incredible to see how dedicated everyone was and how dialed they worked as a team. 

All members of the bear hunters families come out and take part in the excitement every weekend.

We look forward to returning to the West Virginia mountains for a black bear hunt again. From the chase to the harvest, this hunt was one of the most exciting we have had the opportunity to partake in.

The Untamed and the members of their bear group, Bowga Hunting and the HuntWise Crew, taking a moment to remember the day.

The Chase, which was in collaboration with The Untamed, Vortex Optics, Bowga Hunting, and Huntwise, see the link below to watch the film. 

The film highlights the divisions between hunters and how it may result in all hunting's eventual downfall.