Spring Black Bears and Snowstorms

7RemMag

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 10, 2024
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268
Location
Wyoming
After a mild winter and busy work schedules, myself and a friend(both WY residents) are hoping to slip down to Southern WY for an extended weekend bear hunt this upcoming weekend. However, it looks as if a winter storm system could impact a portion of the West the next few days. It doesn’t look like anything major, but it has led us to at least question our plans a little bit.

I’ve not really hunted bears in spring much, aside from a couple unsuccessful hunts a couple years ago(Did see a track but it was a few days old and still fairly deep snow.) Most of my bear hunting has been done in the Northeast in Fall, where winter weather seemed to moderately impact bear movements.

Supposedly most of the storm will be done with by Friday afternoon( storm total of 2-4”). Snow appears to be nonexistent in the area in question according to satellite maps the last week or two. The following day is supposed to be much warmer. To the point of this post, what are your experiences and insights as to these late spring storms and their impact on bear movement? Should we abort mission and plan for another weekend in a few weeks?
 
Boy, it's hard to know just how much snow we may get and roads may be the issue not the depth in the mountains.
Friday travel could be iffy to say the least.
Check the WYDOT cameras along 230 and see what the snow pack looks like for sure if it's the area you're looking at. Some other cams in the Southern mountains too.

Safe travels if you decide to come on down.
Hoping we have bear activity on our bait this weekend.
 
Why not go this weekend and again in a couple weeks?

Least that’s my plan.
We would love to do that if time allows, and we very well may. This will be the first of multiple trips with a little luck. This is absolutely a “go when the getting’s good” sort of situation. We anticipate that we’ll get another chance a little later, but we know that we’ll both be tied up for a couple weeks after this.
Boy, it's hard to know just how much snow we may get and roads may be the issue not the depth in the mountains.
Friday travel could be iffy to say the least.

Safe travels if you decide to come on down.
Hoping we have bear activity on our bait this weekend.
As of right now our plan is to leave from up North mid-late morning to try and get there by early afternoon. The thought is that will give us a lot of opportunity to change plans if we need to. I have chains for my pickup and we usually take two pickups as a precaution. We’ll be watching the weather like a hawk. Accessibility is definitely a concern, but I guess I’m a bit on the optimistic side about that. Time will tell.
 
British Columbia spring black bears in the dry interior (WY like) don't like to get wet. I don't find many out in the rain....but as soon as the storm quits they pop out to eat if the grass is there. I don't bother to hunt them in or right after snow storms that make travel difficult, but if you have limited time and really want to get out there, give it ago. But I wouldn't have high hopes this early in the season.

Back when grizzly tags were still available here I would find they were much more weather resistant than blacks....weather didn't seem to faze them.
 
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