BLACK BEAR HUNTING WITHOUT BAIT | BEAR BEHAVIOR WINS HUNTS | 🎙️ EP. 143

Backbone Unlimited Podcast · Mar 14, 2026 · 10m

In this episode of the Backbone Unlimited podcast, Matt Hartsky breaks down how to hunt black bears without bait and why many hunters struggle when they try to apply bait-site thinking to spot-and-stalk country. In many Western states baiting is either illegal or simply not part of the hunting tradition. Yet bears are successfully taken every spring without barrels, scent piles, or artificial attractants. That reality highlights an important truth: bait does not make bears killable. Understanding bear behavior does. Matt explains why no-bait bear hunting is not necessarily harder—it simply…