The 1 Thing You Learned- Bear Hunting

[Oregon Hunter]

Its hard in Northern Idaho. What looks to be clear cut is 5 feet tall and un glassable.

Is there a certain number of year window after a unit is cut that works well for finding bears? 2-6 years?

 

[Oregon Hunter]

If you find a really nice looking place where the water widens out and makes a nice areas to bath in. Haul butt to get in and setup on that spot before the sun comes up. And also before last lite. this is more like in Archery season when it's pretty damn hot and miserable.

Do you do this only for California bears, or other places too? We don't really hunt water here in the PNW, but maybe we should ?

 

[Oregon Hunter]

If you glass up a bear half a mile across a canyon, and he looks like he’s going on a mission somewhere, don’t bother going after him. You are not going to catch up. Gotta wait for the ones that are kinda milling around feeding.

Awwww smart suggestion.

 

[HODL]

If a bear is hanging out feeding, you probably have more time than you think to get in position to take a good shot. No need to rush on a lazy bear as long as the wind is right.

 

[Oregon Hunter]

I just created a new thread at this link about The 1 Thing You Learned- Varmint Hunting. Thought it might be relevant to you guys, so check it out

 

[OregonSteeler]

I just created a new thread at this link about The 1 Thing You Learned- Varmint Hunting. Thought it might be relevant to you guys, so check it out

So what you're saying is bears are varmints????


....I'm kidding.

 

[Sourdough]

So what you're saying is bears are varmints????

In some locations.........yes.

 

[Big Dunc]

For spring season, hunt all day, slow down, and glass hard. I had always been told to only hunt the evenings. My first year I killed a small bear 30 minutes after first light (I was so excited and she was so pretty I couldn't stand it!). That afternoon I glassed more just to learn the area and spotted three bears. The next morning, my buddy tells me to come see how great the view was with the sunrise. I walked over and said "the sunrise is cool, that huge bear is better!". The next year was the same. Saw bears at all times of day. And had a few other hunters walk by and ask if we had seen anything. They were upset since they hadn't seen anything yet. We were looking at three bears at that second. They were just skimming the openings and we were glassing everything.

 

[ramhunter]

Hey Roksliders! I’m back with another installment of the “1 Thing” theme, this time focused on the rapidly expanding popularity of Bear Hunting. I think most of us make a mistake over and over again. We go on a hunt, but don’t make the effort to think critically about 1 thing we learned and will do different next time.

Think about it, how often do magazines write about a hunt, but fail to single out an action item to change in the future? Just 1 thing, maybe something you learned about elk behavior, your rifle setup, clothing, or camping system. We can consume all the information we want, but if we don’t change anything, did it really do us any good? I’d like to continue the series of discussions to get us in the habit of reviewing our hunt, and share highlights about the 1 thing we learned on a particular topic. To start, 1 thing I learned is about Bear Hunting.

In the Pacific Northwest we have plenty of black bears, but I learned the hard way just how fleeting opportunities can be. After days of glassing old clearcuts, I finally saw a black mass amble out of the creek bottom. By the time I finally unscrewed my spotting scope mount from the window and got my rifle rest ready, it had made its way behind some trees and was gone forever. As a quadriplegic my hands don’t work great so this gear transition took longer than it would for an able-bodied person, but I think we’ve all missed out by not being quick enough before. Now I'm going to use the new Spartan Pro Clamp so switching between optics and my rifle takes just two seconds. In the future I’m going to make a much greater effort to be able to switch between glassing and a rifle ready shooting position as fast as possible!

So what is the 1 thing you have learned about Bear Hunting?

Depends on there you hunt bears…LOL

I grew up hunting bears in northern Idaho but live in Alaska and have hunted bears here for 30 years, so will give you my lessons learned from Alaska bear hunting, mostly spring hunts! These lessons are for hunting big smart old boars, which I call “fighting boars” the ones with battle scars all over their head and body, white claws, teeth broken off/worn down, the big boys who are smart and most likely the king of the valley!

• If you’re not glassing, you’re just camping.
• Wind & scent are paramount, scent leaves a history, don’t be walking around till you see the bear you want, check the wind direction constantly.
• If the wind direction is wrong, don’t make the stock, wait, bears will usually hang out in an area if not disturbed
• Glass and hunt till dark.
• Bears can see much better than most people think, Brown bear I believe can see as good as us.
• Of course, shot placement is vital, but also used enough gun and more important than headstamps, good, controlled expansion bullets.
• If you blow-out (gets your scent) a “big bear” you won’t see him again, trust me on that.
• Last, but not least is the toughest lessons of all, judging size! There are a gazillion articles out there on judging bear size, all I can said is after you kill a lot of bears you kinda figure size out, if you’re looking for a “monster”, you know it the minute you see him, if you must talk yourself into shooting. You’ll be disappointed when you walk up on him! Been there, done that!

Of course, all of this is just my option on hunting big bears, if you are just looking for a bear or meat that’s all good too!

Good Luck hunting bears this spring, we will be back down at Cold Bay in May

 

[sambo3006]

I learned that bears are built more like stocky humans than deer. There is a lot more chest cavity back from the shoulder than right on it. Compound that with the fact that it is sometimes hard to tell if they are perfectly broadside or quartering to a little. To me, any way, shoulder shots are a bad idea unless the bear is close. I'll aim a few inches behind the shoulder and take the double lung shot.
I haven't hunted them in really wooly stuff where a 50 yard dash could really reduce chances of recovery, so your mileage may vary.

 

[tefird21]

One thing I learned last year is that bear hides are heavy

have any of yall ever weighed the hides when you pack them out? Curious what an “average” hide might weigh.

 

[StuckoYota99]

It was heavy enough I did not want to pack it out on the same trip as the meat. Unfortunately it spoiled over night. Depends on the size of the bear...

Agreed with Sambo skinning a bear looks kinda like skinning a human. Allegedly

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

have any of yall ever weighed the hides when you pack them out? Curious what an “average” hide might weigh.

AZ black bear hide and skull pack out weights:
* 2020: 78 pounds
* 2021: 72 pounds

AZ black bear bone-in meat pack out weights:
* 2020: 118 pounds
* 2021: 120 pounds

 

[TheGDog]

Do you do this only for California bears, or other places too? We don't really hunt water here in the PNW, but maybe we should ?

You guys probably have much more Water availability in your Habitat, so less of a help.

Out here... water is scarce, so if/when you find a place, especially place where they can submerge deeper for bathing, much more likely to be of help for you. Throw up a cam pointing at it and see when they come by typically.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

You guys probably have much more Water availability in your Habitat, so less of a help.

Out here... water is scarce, so if/when you find a place, especially place where they can submerge deeper for bathing, much more likely to be of help for you. Throw up a cam pointing at it and see when they come by typically.

Based upon my experience...
If there's a lot of water around everywhere, then watching a specific water source is a low odds endeavor. It's when water is scarce that watching a specific water source can significantly improve your odds.

Went through this last year: no water and had two monster boars nailed down to two small areas (different parts of the state). As soon as the monsoon hit (near record year) those boars never showed back up as there was a ton of water everywhere.

 

[Oregon Hunter]

So what you're saying is bears are varmints????


....I'm kidding.

In Oregon I would call them a regal varmint hahaha. I did read a study from a few years ago that was conducted in northeast Oregon. It concluded the biggest corporate for elk calf mortality was bears, so that gives them a point in the varmint category for me

 

[Oregon Hunter]

For spring season, hunt all day, slow down, and glass hard. I had always been told to only hunt the evenings. My first year I killed a small bear 30 minutes after first light (I was so excited and she was so pretty I couldn't stand it!). That afternoon I glassed more just to learn the area and spotted three bears. The next morning, my buddy tells me to come see how great the view was with the sunrise. I walked over and said "the sunrise is cool, that huge bear is better!". The next year was the same. Saw bears at all times of day. And had a few other hunters walk by and ask if we had seen anything. They were upset since they hadn't seen anything yet. We were looking at three bears at that second. They were just skimming the openings and we were glassing everything.

Do you find more bears by glassing, walking to a new area and glassing some more? Or do you like sitting down and glassing one area until they come out?

 

[Oregon Hunter]

Depends on there you hunt bears…LOL

I grew up hunting bears in northern Idaho but live in Alaska and have hunted bears here for 30 years, so will give you my lessons learned from Alaska bear hunting, mostly spring hunts! These lessons are for hunting big smart old boars, which I call “fighting boars” the ones with battle scars all over their head and body, white claws, teeth broken off/worn down, the big boys who are smart and most likely the king of the valley!

• If you’re not glassing, you’re just camping.
• Wind & scent are paramount, scent leaves a history, don’t be walking around till you see the bear you want, check the wind direction constantly.
• If the wind direction is wrong, don’t make the stock, wait, bears will usually hang out in an area if not disturbed
• Glass and hunt till dark.
• Bears can see much better than most people think, Brown bear I believe can see as good as us.
• Of course, shot placement is vital, but also used enough gun and more important than headstamps, good, controlled expansion bullets.
• If you blow-out (gets your scent) a “big bear” you won’t see him again, trust me on that.
• Last, but not least is the toughest lessons of all, judging size! There are a gazillion articles out there on judging bear size, all I can said is after you kill a lot of bears you kinda figure size out, if you’re looking for a “monster”, you know it the minute you see him, if you must talk yourself into shooting. You’ll be disappointed when you walk up on him! Been there, done that!

Of course, all of this is just my option on hunting big bears, if you are just looking for a bear or meat that’s all good too!

Good Luck hunting bears this spring, we will be back down at Cold Bay in May

great advice about the wind! Sounds like we should be thinking about whether our wind can travel up an entire valley rather than just thinking about it when we make a stalk

 

[68Plexi]

“If you’re not glassing, you’re just camping.”

My routine looks more like glass, nap, glass, walk, glass, nap, glass, eat Mtn house, go to sleep.

Maybe that’s why I haven’t gotten my first CA bear yet.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[taybou]

Most of my bear hunting has been in working forests/tree farms, so take it for what it's worth. The one thing that would have ensured I used my time more efficiently was to focus on areas with little to no human traffic. Of the 4 bears I've killed in the last 5 years, all have been in isolated areas where i'd expect few folks to have ventured into. 3 of them were in cuts at least 2 miles from the nearest gate.

A buddy killed a giant boar we'd seen driving a mainline road a couple years ago in late May, but given other experiences, that certainly feels like the exception. He was likely cruising looking for sows, but otherwise every other bear i've seen has been in spots that certainly don't see vehicle traffic, and are unlikely to see much human traffic.