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Nov 17, 2018 · Ambush hunting over artificial bait stations is the most common black bear hunting strategy in virtually every state and Canadian province where the practice is allowed. From an outsider’s perspective it seems simple enough, dump some bait in the woods, then shoot the bears as they come rolling in.
- Be Prepared For The Work Involved
- Study Your Field Judging
- Watch The Bear’s Behavior
- Be Safe
- Pack The Right Heat
- Gear Up Properly For Bear
- Now, Forget All That Field-Judging Stuff
If you’re going on a guided hunt, this will be handled for you, of course. I used W&L Guide Service in High Level, Alberta. Outfitter Wally Mack and his four guides run 38 bait stations spread out over 100 square miles of public land, and they tend each bait at least every other day over the five-week season. “We’ll go through 1,000 bushels of grai...
Bears are one of the most difficult animals to field-judge accurately. Take note of a bear’s legs — if they look long, and you see a lot of daylight under his belly, it’s not a huge bear. Look at his ears — if they come out the top of his head (say, closer together than 11 o’clock and 1 o’clock on a clock face), and they look large compared to the ...
The way a bear behaves is an important key to field-judging. Hunting pressure and region affect behavior, of course, but you should pay attention to how a bear approaches a bait site. Is he cautious, walking like a deer, pausing every few steps to look around? Or does he strut in like he owns the place? If he seems like he’s not afraid of anything,...
Baiting bears puts you in close quarters with large, toothy predators. There are a couple of safety tips to keep in mind. First, when you arrive at your tree, look up. If there’s a cub in your tree or any nearby trees, strongly consider getting out of Dodge. A sow with this year’s cubs (they’ll be the size of house cats or not much larger) is a dan...
You don’t need a .375 H&H to kill a black bear on a bait site, and since your shots are almost certainly going to be close (50 yards and under), you don’t need lots of speed and sub-MOA groups at long range, either. You do need massive energy transfer and a projectile that penetrates well through thick hair and layers of fat in order to reach vital...
As for clothing, safety harnesses and the like, the gear you use for any other type of hunting is appropriate for bear hunting. Bears will almost certainly know you are there, so don’t spend too much time trying to hide your human scent. As on any spring hunt, if the weather is even slightly warm, pack a Thermacell. The last thing you want to be do...
Well, not all of it. It’s all good and useful information, but the bottom line is that any legal bear you’re happy with is a good bear. The average black bear shot in North America is around 5 1/2 feet nose to tail, depending on who you ask. But bears in different areas have different potential, and a “small bear” in one state might be considered a...
- Michael R. Shea
- Find Mature Timber. You have to locate three ingredients to get into big bears, Werner says. First, old-growth timber for denning, then food and water.
- Scout it for Sign. Look for big branches broken off trees, claw marks in bark, and rubbed-out bark stubbled with bear hair. Ideally, you’ll also find fresh tracks on the ground measuring 6 inches wide or better.
- Check for Scat. “It comes out green but oxidizes very quickly, turning black almost immediately,” Werner says. “The greener it is inside, the fresher.”
- Focus on Blueberries and Rose Hips. Bears go into a feeding frenzy in early October. Climb a nearby ridge and monitor the food source with binocs or a spotting scope.
Apr 20, 2021 · Tips and Tactics: How to Hunt Black Bears. By Andrew McKean. Updated on Apr 20, 2021 4:13 AM EDT. 6 minute read. This is an excerpt from Hunting Editor Andrew McKean’s book, How to Hunt Everything, which is available here. Keep an eye out for more species and how to hunt them.
- Watch conditions, not the calendar, for the start of the “season.” Yes, the spring bear hunting season technically opens on April 1, but that doesn’t mean the bears are necessarily out and about.
- Save the midday hours for lunch and napping. Whether you’re scouting prior to the season or hunting during the season, bears will be the most active during the first and last hour of daylight.
- Start your season with some early or pre-season scouting. Start scouting just as the snow starts melting and and grass begins to grow in clearcuts and meadows.
- Start walking later in the season. As the season progresses, bears will disperse from grassy meadows as more food sources become available. Some hunters switch from glassing open meadows to walking isolated forest roads with good grass growth on the edges.
In this article, we discuss essential bear hunting tips for spring vs. fall, explore how black bear hunting differs across geographies, share helpful onX Hunt features, and provide state-by-state snapshots of basic black bear rules and regulations.
To help you prepare, we asked our in-house bear experts for some of their best tips. Learn from KUIU’s Brendan Burns and Justin Shaffer—as well as Allen Bolen. Read on to learn their proven tactics for spot-and-stalk hunting spring black, brown, and grizzly bears.
