Fall bear hunting

gottafish · 07-05-2003, 09:52 PM

Do any of you target bear on the opener or due you just wait until deer and elk open up. I use to shoot bear all the time back when we could bait and I loved hunting them, since the ban on bait I have given up on the beastys and wish I could due it again any one out there have any tips on how to attract them and be leagle???

LIMIT LANDER · 07-06-2003, 06:57 PM

Gottafish...i am sooooo glad you ask this question i was gona go up and scout areas out before i got busted up at work. so ill tell ya what i was gona do..first i was going to find out where some bee keepers have their hives at and then check the area out for bear sign. many bee keepers put there hives up in the high country this time of year for the wild flowers. and there is another thing you can do, make sure that you put your back to a tree or get a tree stand. find out first if there is bear in the area and use a predator call but beware! make sure your backed up against a tree you may find a hungry cat in the area. I read a article last summer about a guide up in manatoba Canada this is how he got a bear many times, also his friend who worked for the game department did a study for 2 years on the personalities on bear and found out that 1 in 30-45 bears are what you would call "killer" bears which means they will hunt you!.the guide said he and the bioligest studied and found out that when he would call bears in once in a while you would get one that would circle in behind you. while most would come stright in on the call. now these are all black bears. so i am sure the same kind of charecteristics follow down here. i do know guys that have called in cyotes have called in cougars, bears and bobcats hopes this helps some.

2LEYS · 07-06-2003, 07:45 PM

The regulations say that you can "wear" any scent you want, and it isn't sonsidered bait. So wear a pork chop around you neck on a string and call it scent.

pdxkevin · 07-07-2003, 11:42 PM

You can still call them I believe. I am not good yet so I have never tried calling.

RogueFishr · 07-09-2003, 08:05 PM

gottafish,
Another option for hunting black bears, is the ol' spot & stalk. Do a little pre-season scouting for water sources that haven't dried up yet. Bears will find water most every day when it is hot. If you can find a spring in the mountains, away from the roads, make note of it. Bears will find it too. We found a small pond about a mile from the nearest road, up a canyon around here. You can walk up on bears in it almost every evening in the summer. When the season opens, head out closed roads and skid roads and look down into clear cuts. Approach the edges of the clearings slow and quietly, and preferably from down wind. Bears will be feeding on the edges and even into the clearings. Evenings seem to be the best time I have found. When deer season starts, and more people are in the woods, the bears seem to not come out as early.

Good luck,
RF