Two Park County black bear hunters are at odds over what allegedly happened this week at one of the hunters' bear bait sites at the northern end of the Bighorn Mountains.
Donny Paul told Cowboy State Daily that a party of four hunters used his bait site to find and shoot a bear.
While that’s not illegal in Wyoming, Paul said it’s definitely “unethical and immoral,” and he’s mad about it.
Paul said he confronted the other hunters at the site, and tried to be polite about the situation at the time.
Richard Tatom, who was among the party of four, told Cowboy State Daily that one of his friends shot a bear with a bow that day, and that there was a confrontation with Paul over it.
However, he thinks Paul misread the situation, because the bear was actually shot across the basin from Paul’s bait barrel.
The bear was “hundreds of yards away from his bait,” when they first spotted it, he said.
Using Another’s Bait
Wyoming has spring and fall black bear hunting seasons, with the spring hunting season now underway. Grizzly bears remain federally protected and may not be hunted during either black bear season.
Some states allow hunters to pursue bears with hounds, which Wyoming prohibits.
That leaves two preferred methods of bear hunting: spot-and-stalk and baiting.
Spot-and-stalk and stalk hunting involves scouring the countryside, usually with binoculars, to find a bear, and then picking a route to sneak to within rifle or bow range.
Bear bait hunters haul bait barrels into registered sites, usually well before the hunting season begins. They frequently set up trail cameras to capture images of bears coming into the site, to judge the bears’ sex and size.
They’ll then sit in blinds near the bait, and hope that their preferred bear comes back.
According to Wyoming statutes, it’s legal to use another hunter’s bear bait site on public land, even without the hunter’s permission.
Many bear hunters consider it to be unethical.
A Bear Hunt For Dad
Paul said he got hooked on bear hunting after he was mentored in the sport by legendary Park County outdoorsman and taxidermist Steven Werbelow.
About 10 years ago, he found what appeared to be an abandoned bear bait site while helping a friend with a spot-and-stalk bear hunt.
He tried for several years to draw the registration for that site from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and finally succeeded this year.
The timing was perfect, Paul said. His father is suffering from serious mobility and health problems, and Paul had hoped to take him on a bear hunt before it was too late.
The site is ideal for somebody with mobility problems, he said. There’s an overlook about 220 yards away from the bait site that’s reachable without having to hike in.
He figured he and his dad could sit there, and if a big enough bear showed up, his dad could get a shot.
He set up game cameras around the bait site. According to game regulations, game cameras may not be checked remotely through a cell phone or computer.
Hunters must go to the bait site and pull photos directly from the camera.
Paul works as a taxidermist, and said he would travel out to the bait site from Cody after work during the afternoons and evenings to check the cameras.
He liked what he was seeing. The site was getting plentiful bear activity, including two large males.
‘I’ve Got Blood’
Paul said as he approached the site in his UTV on Tuesday, he noticed two UTVs already parked there.
That wasn’t unexpected, since the site is on public land, he said, adding that he got out of his rig and approached the area politely.
When he got to the edge of the basin, Paul said he saw one other hunter just below him and three others farther below.
At one point, he heard one of the hunters down below yell, “I’ve got blood,” indicating that the men were tracking a bear that had been shot.
Paul said he approached the nearest hunter, whom he recalled as “David,” and started asking questions.
The man’s answers seemed vague, Paul said. The man indicated that he had only just arrived from Texas, and the person leading the hunt was named “Bubba.”
Paul said he tried to keep the exchange polite and asked more questions of the other hunters, but he recalled that they seemed aloof and evasive, as if they knew they had done something wrong.
Paul said he asked them to please not touch his bait and was told by one of the others, “I don’t really give a shit about your bait, this is public land, we’ll do what we want.”
He said that made “my blood start to boil,” so he decided to leave before tempers flared.
He added that other hunters have told him about their bait sites being used by uninvited hunters in the area.
Misunderstanding
Tatom said Paul’s hard feelings resulted from a misunderstanding.
He said he’s originally from Texas and the men with him were old friends from his home state. One of them was hunting bears with a bow.
Tatom said they were aware of Paul’s bait site in the area, but had no intention of using it. He said he has his own bait barrels in the general area.
He added that as they were moving into the basin earlier that day, they spotted a large male black bear paralleling them on the slope above.
So, he called it in and his friend with the bow made what seemed like a solid shot.
He said they were tracking the bear’s blood trail when they started to hear a UTV horn honking and the engine revving on the rim above them.
He said a man he thinks is Paul showed up on the rim and began shouting questions at them.
He said the man nearest to the rim, who Paul spoke directly to, is named Lee, not David.
Paul might have been confused by Lee referring to Tatom as “Bubba” because that’s what his friends called him growing up.
Tatom said he tried to be patient and answer what questions of Paul’s that he could understand, but meanwhile, “we’re actively pursuing an injured bear while we're trying to arrow him again.”
Tatom said the exchange ended with what seemed like a “mutual understanding” between hunters, and Paul left.
He said the distraction and Paul’s yelling had disrupted the hunt, and they weren’t able to find the bear and returned to their camp nearby.
Tatom added that he returned to the site that evening and tracked the bear for about a mile before it got dark, but still couldn’t find it.
While speaking on the telephone with Cowboy State Daily on Thursday, he said he was headed back into the Bighorns to make another attempt at finding the bear.
Paul later posted his account of events on social media, saying it was a cautionary tale for other bear hunters.
Tatom said some of the information that Paul posted is inaccurate.
Bear Hunting Getting More Popular
Park County resident Dalton Epperson is a friend of Paul’s and told Cowboy State Daily that Paul has helped him on bear hunts.
He said that bear hunting is getting increasingly popular, particularly during the spring season, and he suspects that disputes over bear bait sites might become more common.
That’s why he’s unsure whether he’ll try bait hunting for bears.
“I think I’ll just stick to spot-and-stalk,” Epperson said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
