2021 California Bear

[amassi]

Does anyone have experience hunting bears in the rain? Do they move at all or is it not even worth going hunting? Looks like it is going to be raining in Northern CA for the next week so I would like to hear how everyone thinks that will impact the hunting.

Only concern is food right now
They'll be out all day regardless of wx

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[ZMT588]

Does anyone have experience hunting bears in the rain? Do they move at all or is it not even worth going hunting? Looks like it is going to be raining in Northern CA for the next week so I would like to hear how everyone thinks that will impact the hunting.

I've only hunted bears in california d3-5 a couple times. No luck. I moved to Montana and hunt spring bear here. I've always had great success watching hillsides as rain moves in and always catch movement as the storm get heavy. So essentially I'll hunt foggy days with rain anticipated and wait for the storm to roll in. Seems to work for me 7/10 times of at least putting eyes on bears. Mind you that's in spring and not fall so I don't know how much value that information has for you.

 

[Matthaias]

Bumped a couple by covering ground yesterday up around 7-8000 feet. Unfortunately no opportunities. No feed that I could identify and no poop to key in on what they might be eating.

 

[MattB]

Does anyone have experience hunting bears in the rain? Do they move at all or is it not even worth going hunting? Looks like it is going to be raining in Northern CA for the next week so I would like to hear how everyone thinks that will impact the hunting.

Bears will often bed down during heavy rain and wait it out, sometimes for a good period of time.

 

[nickstone]

I’ve seen a few on my property, but this one is by far the biggest. I busted up this scat and can’t figure out what he was eating. I’ve seen tons of other scat full of apples, manzanita berries, acorns, and grapes. I’m guessing it’s the same big boy who took down the neighboring vineyard fence too.

 

[Deer&Ducks527]

After hiking 2 miles up 1500 ft in elevation and going through a lot of thorny brush, I spotted a big bear at 900 yards. He came out of the timber at 650 and sat on a rock, so I tried to get to 500 to shoot. I saw him stand up and start to turn when I was getting closer. When I got to a spot where I could shoot I couldn’t see him anymore. I waited for a while but I never saw him. He must have heard or seen me and ran off. Thats probably how he got big; staying in tough to reach places and avoiding hunters!

 

[Hunt_Jefferson]

Finally saw a bear in the wild, but it was a sow with two cubs at 1500 yards. Beautiful cinnamon coloring. Might get another chance before the season ends if I’m lucky.

handheld iPhone through the binoculars:

 

[Buffalo]

I got this boar still hunting the oaks yesterday.

 

[FishTacos]

I got this boar still hunting the oaks yesterday.

Congrats! Great color on that bear


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[JohnnyB]

Beautiful coloring, congrats!

 

[linnebur6]

Congrats!

 

[stinkyneighbor]

I was just wishing to myself that Ca would open bear season in May or june. I’d love to do deer scouting and kill a bear at the same time. When you pack in a long way for your deer hunts you pass a lot of bears. Once you kill one, your deer hunt is over.

I passed on two bears this year for that reason

 

[Cahunter805]

I passed on two bears this year for that reason

After a good discussion this year with a CA DFG biologist I won’t be passing any bears in CA anymore. The amount of fawns they kill was astounding. My local area is covered with bears so I’ll try to do my part in thinning them now.

 

[stinkyneighbor]

After a good discussion this year with a CA DFG biologist I won’t be passing any bears in CA anymore. The amount of fawns they kill was astounding. My local area is covered with bears so I’ll try to do my part in thinning them now.

I really need to do the same, maybe now that I got my deer I can go and help out with the bear issues. They really are everywhere out here. I want to try making bear sausage too, my cousin told me it's good.

 

[sreal217]

you guys have any experience hunting bear in sequioa national forest?i had my tag but with the fires going on i didnt even try.never have i hunted one nor any of my family members.going in new to this kind of hunt

 

[FishTacos]

After a good discussion this year with a CA DFG biologist I won’t be passing any bears in CA anymore. The amount of fawns they kill was astounding. My local area is covered with bears so I’ll try to do my part in thinning them now.

Did they print any reports? This would be good info to read through.

 

[Yoteassasin]

Bear makes great sausage , linguisa , andouille, Italian . All of them are great , bear hams , ossobucco , even post roast all good too
I make bear birria taco that is pretty killer

 

[HuntFishFight]

I may need to open a new thread, but wanted to stat here, as this one seems pretty general:

Hunted for deer in a lower elevation area (1600-2000 feet) earlier this year, and found a lot of bear sign (and a bear). Like many have mentioned here, the deer/bear season conflict kept me from chasing the bears. Now, with a couple weeks left in bear season, I'm going to go after one...

Is it too late in the year? I was told they don't hibernate in a lot of environments out here, and this lower elevation habitat seems like it might be an applicable area for that scenario. I imagine we're just outside of that hyper-active (hyperphagia) phase, but is it too late altogether? Am I totally wasting my time? Or should I just expect a tougher time locating them at this point?

Thought there might be some good feedback from this group. Thanks.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Does anyone have experience hunting bears in the rain? Do they move at all or is it not even worth going hunting? Looks like it is going to be raining in Northern CA for the next week so I would like to hear how everyone thinks that will impact the hunting.

They are out in the rain and the snow all the time.

 

[Moserkr]

I may need to open a new thread, but wanted to stat here, as this one seems pretty general:

Hunted for deer in a lower elevation area (1600-2000 feet) earlier this year, and found a lot of bear sign (and a bear). Like many have mentioned here, the deer/bear season conflict kept me from chasing the bears. Now, with a couple weeks left in bear season, I'm going to go after one...

Is it too late in the year? I was told they don't hibernate in a lot of environments out here, and this lower elevation habitat seems like it might be an applicable area for that scenario. I imagine we're just outside of that hyper-active (hyperphagia) phase, but is it too late altogether? Am I totally wasting my time? Or should I just expect a tougher time locating them at this point?

Thought there might be some good feedback from this group. Thanks.

Bears are still out n about. The high country bears usually come down and winter around 3-5000’. That elevation is full or 2 big food sources - acorns, and manzanita berries. I look on south facing hillsides with those food sources and have no problem finding bear. I encourage you to go hunt them as they are way over populated. If the snow gets bad enough I can see them hibernating for a short time. With the snow on the ground, its a fun time to go cut tracks.