Eastern spot/stalk bear hunt?

[md126]

Anyone hunt bears in the eastern big woods, like the Adirondacks, spot and stalk style? If so what’s your primary (or even secondary) strategy? Thanks! Mike

 

[BAKPAKR]

The title to your thread refers to spring bear hunting. I am not sure any of the eastern states even offer that. I used to spring bear hunt every year when I lived in Idaho. There, the trick for the best numbers of bears spotted seemed to be getting out just as the the grass was starting to grow in open areas. Any earlier and the bears didn’t seem to be out and any later, they would stay in the timber and feed.

I now live in West Virginia. We only have a fall season. We have a growing and expanding bear population. I have taken six bears here. I tracked the first one in snow in late December. The next two were by still hunting (kind of a misnomer with all of the leaves on the ground in West Virginia in the fall) with my bow in an area with a variety of food sources - acorns, hickory nuts, wild cherries, autumn olives, etc. The last three were taken while I was sitting watching an area the bears frequent because of acorns. The most bears I have spotted in West Virginia were in a year with an extremely heavy cherry mast.

To find an area to hunt, I just cover a lot of ground and look for concentrations of bear sign. This is often done pre or post season. If I find a spot with a lot of sign pre or post season, I try to figure out what it is they are eating from the sign so I know if it would be a food source that is available during hunting season.

Good luck.

 

[md126]

Yes sorry, corrected the title. Thanks for the info on bears. Definitely a challenge

 

[weekender7]

It can be done but the odds are not near as good as in areas in the west where you have 100X the visibility. Find the sign (scat). Look at it close and you should be able to tell what they eat. Bears don't always completely digest their food. Now find the food source. Keep your nose into the wind. Most bears are gonna run if they wind you.

 

[md126]

Thanks for the replies, Anyone else?

 

[Glendon Mullins]

Living in Virginia, and I also hunt West Virginia, i can only echo BAKPAKR posted. It can be done, as far as visibilty goes some areas are better than others, in a mature hardwoods forest, u might be able to shoot ridge to ridge if it's not to thick. If you catch one out feeding on acorns and such. Find old logging roads, and slip along them as quietly as you can, or a ridge top where leaves have been blown somewhat off, if u must still hunt. If not seting up a stand similar to whitetail hunting over a food source works too.

 

[Rich M]

ME might have spring bear, I'm not sure.

The woods are pretty much too thick to spot & stalk - it isn't like out west.

 

[AlleghenyPaddler]

In Pennsylvania the vast majority of bears are taken during drives, and even in the deeper bits of the big woods most bears are being moved. Likely, the best strategy for a single hunter on public land is to identify likely escape routes from favorable habitat (sanctuary/thick/food) that will invariably be pushed, or catch the bears headed into these areas, and be lucky. Areas with the highest visibility probably aren't where you want to be posted.

 

[Tmann1990]

Northern Georgia here. You gotta be willing to hike but there's good hunting. We only have a fall season. Basically just find ridgelines or saddles with white oaks and laurel nearby. They use the laurel thickets to bed and move into the oak flats to feed. I've never seen a single bear before 2pm so I normally just find a stream to fish close to camp until noonish. Visibility is usually pretty limited until mid-December due to the leaves so still hunting is your best bet.

 

[lyle_destroys]

In Pennsylvania the vast majority of bears are taken during drives, and even in the deeper bits of the big woods most bears are being moved. Likely, the best strategy for a single hunter on public land is to identify likely escape routes from favorable habitat (sanctuary/thick/food) that will invariably be pushed, or catch the bears headed into these areas, and be lucky. Areas with the highest visibility probably aren't where you want to be posted.

Last one we killed was trying to scoot out along a creek in THICK mountain laurel. Driving is the only way hunt, partially because of the short season.

 

[Tmann1990]

Last one we killed was trying to scoot out along a creek in THICK mountain laurel. Driving is the only way hunt, partially because of the short season.

Do y'all drive them like deer where you end up with running shots, or do they tree up? What do typical rifle/caliber choices look like?

 

[lyle_destroys]

Do y'all drive them like deer where you end up with running shots, or do they tree up? What do typical rifle/caliber choices look like?

I meant to say that we drive them but plenty of guys post up in feeding areas.
Ya its mostly running shots, not real far either. Less than 100 yards often. Last one was killed at about 15 feet with a Savage 99 in .300 savage. He got 3 shots so fast it sounded like he was shooting a semi. Most guys use bolts guns though. Typical 30-06s, 308s, 7mags, 270s are probably most common around here.

 

[md126]

Thanks again for the replies. I really appreciate it

Do bears use edges and terrain features similar to whitetails as far as their movements and bedding etc??

 

[adamkolesar]

As to the ideal close range/brush caliber, you can't beat the old reliable .45-70!
A 350 grain round nose punches a big hole and drops them in their tracks.

 

[Nick Evans]

Another north Georgia guy here. We stillhunt primarily. Like others have said, oaks, laurel and water near a bench or saddle is what you're looking for. We tend to do better than the stand hunters on good mast years and then it flips on poor mast years. Late season we have had luck high up on rugged, south facing slopes.

 

[Dragonfish]

As to the ideal close range/brush caliber, you can't beat the old reliable .45-70!
A 350 grain round nose punches a big hole and drops them in their tracks.

Last two I shot were with my marlin 45 70neither one went twenty yards.

 

[adkhunter]

I find that the majority of the bears we see are on drives in the Adirondacks. It is quite difficult to spot & stalk the big woods from my experience due to limited sight distances. All the deer and bear we have killed in our camp have been 50-75 yd shots.

Most we have taken in our camp were just walking through the woods, including the one I shot. I would call it still hunting more than spot and stalk.

Eastern bears don't seem to have any rhyme or reason to their travel routes. They spend time where there is food and then move on from what I have found. Cherries and mast, mostly beech nuts where I hunt but some acorns are good places to still hunt them.

I have tried to track bears after they have come through on a drive, you need to be a serious trail runner to do that! Not to mention they go through the thickest, nastiest stuff imaginable!

 

[Ashy Larry]

Time to revive this one. Planning a 2 day overnight hunt in Western NC for bear when it opens. Anyone else?

 

[BAKPAKR]

I was going to go last week in West Virginia but I decided it was just too hot for me to enjoy the hunt.

 

[ledflight]

East coast woods it seems the advice is hunt the food sources - old orchards, mast crops, for example.
In NY we can't bait but we can scent lure. I haven't done much yet, but have seen bear during the heavy acorn drop time. Gonna try scent lures this fall esp if the mast is old. Honey burns are also popular.