Best bear outfitters/state

[kcruz]

I am looking into booking a black bear hunt for a group of 5-6 people. Any advice on which state has the best hunting and good outfitters? I have done a google search and made plenty of calls, but that leaves you with what seems to be equally good options in every state so I am trying to narrow it down. Budget wise we would want to stay under $10k per person.

 

[wilydawg]

I'm not sure about bear hunts (or outfitters in the States for bear), but if you are willing to go to Canada there are fantastic opportunities there for bear. The most popular are baited hunts which usually carry extremely high success rates. Generally, the only hunters that don't score go home empty because they passed multiple chances at good bears, but were holding out for a giant, or a particular color phase. I've been on both sides of this, but always have a great time.

As a bonus, many areas offer spectacular fishing as a side activity. You fish in the morning, and head for the bear stand in the afternoon.

These hunts are what I consider a real bargain as outfitted hunts go. You can find these type hunts starting at around $3-3.5K and up to maybe $5Kish. Of course you will have travel expenses, but all in you will still fall well short of your budget...

And all the BS Covid restrictions getting in and out of Canada have been dropped.

Good luck in your search!

 

[kcruz]

I'm not sure about bear hunts (or outfitters in the States for bear), but if you are willing to go to Canada there are fantastic opportunities there for bear. The most popular are baited hunts which usually carry extremely high success rates. Generally, the only hunters that don't score go home empty because they passed multiple chances at good bears, but were holding out for a giant, or a particular color phase. I've been on both sides of this, but always have a great time.

As a bonus, many areas offer spectacular fishing as a side activity. You fish in the morning, and head for the bear stand in the afternoon.

These hunts are what I consider a real bargain as outfitted hunts go. You can find these type hunts starting at around $3-3.5K and up to maybe $5Kish. Of course you will have travel expenses, but all in you will still fall well short of your budget...

And all the BS Covid restrictions getting in and out of Canada have been dropped.

Good luck in your search!

We have definitely considered Canada and saw a few places that looked great. One of the guys that will be going went up there for an elk hunt a few years ago and had a really bad experience with TSA and crossing the Canada border even though he had everything situated properly. He said he would rather avoid Canada unless its going to be a hunt of a lifetime so we were trying to stick to the US this year for his sake.

 

[Nick Muche]

You’ll have a far better hunt in Canada. I’d use Mikes Outfitting if I wanted a very good black bear hunt.

 

[kcruz]

You’ll have a far better hunt in Canada. I’d use Mikes Outfitting if I wanted a very good black bear hunt.

Sounds like we may need to consider Canada again. Are black bears typically only hunted over bait in Canada?

 

[Nick Muche]

There are some good spot and stalk, as well as hound options in BC but I’d guess your best chances for opportunity will be on a hunt over bait.

 

[LoggerDan]

If I was from the lower 48 and never had killed a bear and really wanted to make it happen, I’d go to either POW on a do it yourself hunt, or I’d go to the kenai peninsula and charter a transporter boat out of Homer and hunt Kachemak Bay. Both are pretty easy to get to and give you a really good chance. I’ve logged and hunted POW for a long time and it’s as good as folks say.

 

[Nick Muche]

POW is a draw for DIY NR’s and it’s unlikely they’d all draw the same year, though I guess if they went guided that wouldn’t be an issue. POW would be a great hunt though.

 

[kcruz]

None of us have ever hunted bear or Alaska so hiring a guide is the route we would go. As much as we would all enjoy a DIY hunt I just don't think it would be feasible since we don't have the time or money to fly out to AK enough to scout and really get an understanding of the place by next year. We will add POW to the list to look into. Thanks for everyone's feedback so far.

 

[chinook907]

They are outside of your price range but you should at least talk to Glacier Guides Inc. in Southeast Alaska. They operate out of 80' yachts, chef cooked meals, and kill lots of giant black bears. Every aspect of their operation is dialed-in. Spot n stalk.

 

[Big Ern]

Check out Little Lost Outfitters (Corey Dailey) in Idaho. Hunt over bait or with hounds. Corey is a stand up guys and knows his stuff.

 

[Coveyleader]

With a budget like that, you could hunt some great areas in Canada. I wouldn’t t even think of the lower 48. Rob Nyes area sound great, really remote hunts but Indoubt you will find much for openings.


Prince of wales is draw only unless you use a guide but I can tell you if the hide matters to you, I’ll be the broken record and say that is the last place I’d go for a bear with a good hide. Even the good hides there normally suck. It’s a great place lots to do, but I’d just assume leave the hide on the beach.

 

[Ridge Ghost]

Check out Misty River Outfitters in northern Alberta. Remote, fly-in hunt with a lodge, amazing pike fishing, and nice bears taken over bait. The outfitter is a great guy as well. I believe the hunts go for around $5K per person, so it should be well under your budget.

 

[kcruz]

With a budget like that, you could hunt some great areas in Canada. I wouldn’t t even think of the lower 48. Rob Nyes area sound great, really remote hunts but Indoubt you will find much for openings.


Prince of wales is draw only unless you use a guide but I can tell you if the hide matters to you, I’ll be the broken record and say that is the last place I’d go for a bear with a good hide. Even the good hides there normally suck. It’s a great place lots to do, but I’d just assume leave the hide on the beach.

Just curious, what makes the hides not good? We aren't looking for giants or color phase necessarily, but we would like to be able and bring home a hide even though that's not the focus of our hunt.

 

[Coveyleader]

Just curious, what makes the hides not good? We aren't looking for giants or color phase necessarily, but we would like to be able and bring home a hide even though that's not the focus of our hunt.

The majority are all rubbed up and from what I’ve seen it doesn’t matter if you go early or late.


Terms I’ve heard are “snow burn”. Mites etc. You will find the top of the paws on most will be worn right down to the skin. Many will have a orange streak down there forehead (I think that’s pretty cool) but they’re just badly rubbed. I don’t really know why as the bears I’ve seen down on Vancouver island are much better off. I swear if you know anything about POW bears, you can identify them just by how bad they look. Orange legs, orange heads, whole ass end orange.


Now you can surely pass them, but think about it…… let’s say you’re looking for that 20 inch bear, if it’s standing there a large percentage will be rubbed bad. So, do you shoot? Same bear in other locations like Canada etc will most likely not be rubbed so the law of averages is just better if you’re looking for a good hide.



POW is a great place don’t get me wrong, but it’s a shell of what it used to be due to over hunting and the. Umber of bears seen on the beach is nowhere near what it used to be and that’s coming from a guy who will be there in May.

 

[Nails]

Personally, I'd look at B.C. Having driven the Cassiar highway numerous times, their black bear population is awesome and has beautiful color phase bears.

 

[Coveyleader]

See feature article on this site SE bears all rubbed up.

Example of typical SE bear

 

[LoggerDan]

I must have gotten lucky…..that’s not at all my experience with hides. But then again, POW is huge, and being from flyin logging camps, maybe I’ve just been in areas you haven’t. Kind of like there’s a difference in the timber from the north end from the south… as far as being over hunted, again, I guess my experience is completely opposite.

 

[Smtn10pt]

I have no experience with outfitted bear hunts but with that budget in mind I would consider one of the boat based hunts in Alaska. Crusie the coast line while dining on shrimp and crabs and lookling for bear. Always sounded cool to me.

 

[kcruz]

Mikes and Misty river both look like great places to go. I’m sure we couldn’t go wrong with either after I spoke with them earlier today. If we can get everyone on board to agree that Canada is the way to go I think we will go with one of those two.

I haven’t spoken to glacier guides yet since it is out of our budget by a good amount, but it looks awesome. I need to work harder and save up some money to try it out one day!

Are you still allowed to transport game meat back to the US from Canada or is there some weird regulations against that now? From what I can tell it’s only birds that really cause any issue.


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