I have been passively bear hunting the last 4-5 years while I have other tags in my pocket. Only a handful of times have I targeted bears and only for a day or two at a time. I just cannot spare the time off work this time of year and prefer to focus on elk. I would really like to kill one this first half of September before I shift focus to elk, and honestly if I killed a bear the need for an elk would be reduced quite a bit.
Over the years, I have had several near chances with bears, including one a few years ago that I missed the shot. In hindsight I was happy I missed as I saw he was a pretty small bear once I had my senses and he was in the open and I assessed a clean miss. Another time I was stalking in on a large one with a bow, only to step on a twig in my socks at 80 yards. I have had a sow an cub walk 20 yards in front of me etc.
This past weekend I had a wild hunt. Saw at least 3 different bears, a huge one charge a smaller one. But no shot opportunity I was comfortable with. I am holding myself to a bit higher standard on shots, especially after seeding that bear charge the smaller one. Hunting by myself in this steep brushy crap I have to have a perfect shot, which for me is about 200 yards for a bear. I don't want that thing running to the top of the mountain and also don't want it holing up in the brush.
So what do I need to do to make this happen next weekend? I suspect I just need to park my behind at the spot where I would have had a shot had I been sitting there when the bears appeared. I made what is likely a cardinal sin of bear hunting by leaving the hill I had seen bears but I wanted to check out some other spots and only had a night to stay. Likely same story this weekend, I will probably be able to get in Saturday morning and leave Sunday afternoon. Sitting water won't work because there is a big creek in the bottom of the canyon so water is plentiful.
My conclusion overall is that bears are one of the hardest animals to hunt successfully. While not overly difficult to find this time of year, a shot opportunity can be extremely difficult. They never stop moving and disappear as fast as they appear. Most of the time it seems like I only have time to get a range before they are gone again.
My elk tag is also good for this area and there are some elk in there so potentially my elk hunt plans change and I spend a week in this bear area focusing on both species, but I often end up with nothing when I try to spread myself between multiple species...
Over the years, I have had several near chances with bears, including one a few years ago that I missed the shot. In hindsight I was happy I missed as I saw he was a pretty small bear once I had my senses and he was in the open and I assessed a clean miss. Another time I was stalking in on a large one with a bow, only to step on a twig in my socks at 80 yards. I have had a sow an cub walk 20 yards in front of me etc.
This past weekend I had a wild hunt. Saw at least 3 different bears, a huge one charge a smaller one. But no shot opportunity I was comfortable with. I am holding myself to a bit higher standard on shots, especially after seeding that bear charge the smaller one. Hunting by myself in this steep brushy crap I have to have a perfect shot, which for me is about 200 yards for a bear. I don't want that thing running to the top of the mountain and also don't want it holing up in the brush.
So what do I need to do to make this happen next weekend? I suspect I just need to park my behind at the spot where I would have had a shot had I been sitting there when the bears appeared. I made what is likely a cardinal sin of bear hunting by leaving the hill I had seen bears but I wanted to check out some other spots and only had a night to stay. Likely same story this weekend, I will probably be able to get in Saturday morning and leave Sunday afternoon. Sitting water won't work because there is a big creek in the bottom of the canyon so water is plentiful.
My conclusion overall is that bears are one of the hardest animals to hunt successfully. While not overly difficult to find this time of year, a shot opportunity can be extremely difficult. They never stop moving and disappear as fast as they appear. Most of the time it seems like I only have time to get a range before they are gone again.
My elk tag is also good for this area and there are some elk in there so potentially my elk hunt plans change and I spend a week in this bear area focusing on both species, but I often end up with nothing when I try to spread myself between multiple species...
