SW Colorado Forage

[Poser]

Hit another big scrub oak area this morning at 7,000 feet. Whatever happened there, appeared to have happened 2 weeks ago. There was bear poop full of acorn husks everywhere, but it was definitely old.

Managed to get my bear fat rendered down and have been eating the cracklings ever since.

 

[Bluumoon]

Hit another big scrub oak area this morning at 7,000 feet. Whatever happened there, appeared to have happened 2 weeks ago. There was bear poop full of acorn husks everywhere, but it was definitely old.

Managed to get my bear fat rendered down and have been eating the cracklings ever since.

Very cool on the cracklings, not something I would have thought of. Camped at 9600 over the weekend, worked areas down to 9k or so. Saw one bear on the way into camp, but he was on private. Headed back out in a bit to try some lower elevations

 

[hunthikecamp]

Hit another big scrub oak area this morning at 7,000 feet. Whatever happened there, appeared to have happened 2 weeks ago. There was bear poop full of acorn husks everywhere, but it was definitely old.

Managed to get my bear fat rendered down and have been eating the cracklings ever since.

Managed to get mine rendered down last night as well. Hoping to up my yield next time but this go around was a learning process for me, I only had about 5lb of clean fat set aside and frozen for rendering down. Decided to cube it instead of grind it up and I ended up with ~1 quart. Looking forward to cooking with it!

 

[Bluumoon]

Better lucky than good. Oak brush 8500ft. No acorns in sight. I've covered a lot of new country this week, lots of places to hit in years to come.

I must have pissed Ryan off, can't upload any pictures

 

[Poser]

Better lucky than good. Oak brush 8500ft. No acorns in sight. I've covered a lot of new country this week, lots of places to hit in years to come.

I must have pissed Ryan off, can't upload any pictures

To be clear: You killed a bear in oak at 8500 with no acorns around?

 

[wildcat33]

Went out with a buddy this morning to an area that is usually reliable for bears in an ocean of scrub oak. No acorns at all this year in the entire area. We did walk right up on a sow with a cub, though. She had been eating nothing but Aspen berries according to her piles of poop.

What are “aspen berries”?

 

[Bluumoon]

To be clear: You killed a bear in oak at 8500 with no acorns around?

Correct. Not sure why I can’t post pictures.

A little bit of scat fell out while skinning, couldn’t discern what he was eating.

 

[Poser]

What are “aspen berries”?

I think they are called "catkins" -there is stage in young aspens where they produce some type of seeds/mast. They are not actually berries.

 

[Poser]

Correct. Not sure why I can’t post pictures.

A little bit of scat fell out while skinning, couldn’t discern what he was eating.

Nice!

 

[Bluumoon]

Nice!

Must be photo type issue, screen shot of picture seems to work. Just a little guy, maybe I’ll be more picky in future years

 

[Poser]

Must be photo type issue, screen shot of picture seems to work. Just a little guy, maybe I’ll be more picky in future years

How many total days of hunting this month?

 

[Bluumoon]

3 half days, 2 full days. I had most of this week to get after it, but was getting discouraged w total lack of fresh sign.

 

[Poser]

3 half days, 2 full days.

By the standard of Fall bear hunting, that's a pretty good ROI.

 

[Bluumoon]

By the standard of Fall bear hunting, that's a pretty good ROI.

Some great days exploring the area, not being a bow hunter I def appreciate having the month to chase game. Hopefully I can get time the first week next year and find acorns early.

 

[WCT3]

By the standard of Fall bear hunting, that's a pretty good ROI.

How many days do you typically hunt before you kill a bear? Or anyone else that regularly bear hunts?

 

[Poser]

How many days do you typically hunt before you kill a bear? Or anyone else that regularly bear hunts?

I think I'm getting better at it as I have put in a lot of time learning the higher yield bear locations and have started spending time scouting mast conditions leading up to the season (mast yields are variable from year to year). I killed one on opening day this year, but I didn't see a single bear hunting 12 days last season. I wasn't successful the year before that though I did see bears.

With that in mind, I'd estimate my most recent streak between killing a bear in the Fall was about 20 days of hunting. Going back to before that, it was 5-6 days hunting.

We'll see if I can get that down come next season, but I'd advise anyone to plan on at least 7 days of dedicated bear hunting if you want the odds in your favor.

 

[WCT3]

I think I'm getting better at it as I have put in a lot of time learning the higher yield bear locations and have started spending time scouting mast conditions leading up to the season (mast yields are variable from year to year). I killed one on opening day this year, but I didn't see a single bear hunting 12 days last season. I wasn't successful the year before that though I did see bears.

With that in mind, I'd estimate my most recent streak between killing a bear in the Fall was about 20 days of hunting. Going back to before that, it was 5-6 days hunting.

We'll see if I can get that down come next season, but I'd advise anyone to plan on at least 7 days of dedicated bear hunting if you want the odds in your favor.

Okay that seems pretty reasonable. Unfortunately I'm probably only going to get 5 days dedicated to bears this year, hunting only long weekends.

I've got some really good intel on where bears were this time of year in 2022 but it's a long hike in and I'm debating if I should go there or somewhere with a shorter hike in so I can be more mobile.

 

[Bluumoon]

Okay that seems pretty reasonable. Unfortunately I'm probably only going to get 5 days dedicated to bears this year, hunting only long weekends.

I've got some really good intel on where bears were this time of year in 2022 but it's a long hike in and I'm debating if I should go there or somewhere with a shorter hike in so I can be more mobile.

I bounced around looking for acorns or berry patches (never really found any). I had a couple spots that were a waste of time r/t limited glassing ability, but feel like I built a good library going forward. I’d be hesitant to commit to a spot unless I knew there was a solid food source.
My experience is next to nill and you can def waste valuable glassing time if your glassing points don’t work out.

 

[Poser]

Okay that seems pretty reasonable. Unfortunately I'm probably only going to get 5 days dedicated to bears this year, hunting only long weekends.

I've got some really good intel on where bears were this time of year in 2022 but it's a long hike in and I'm debating if I should go there or somewhere with a shorter hike in so I can be more mobile.

My experience is that when bears are in their Fall feeding patterns, hunting pressure is basically irrelevant. The ability to be mobile and adjust for elevation, masts production and timing of the edibility of the mast is going to be more important than being away from other hunters. I'd favor mobility over potentially overcommitting to an area that you can't scout ahead of time.

 

[WCT3]

My experience is that when bears are in their Fall feeding patterns, hunting pressure is basically irrelevant. The ability to be mobile and adjust for elevation, masts production and timing of the edibility of the mast is going to be more important than being away from other hunters. I'd favor mobility over potentially overcommitting to an area that you can't scout ahead of time.

Yeah that's what I figured. I wasn't worried about hunting pressure, I just saw 4 different bears in one week in that area a couple years ago.