When Do You See Bears Most Often

[idahohikker]

This topic comes up fairly often and I’m slightly surprised by the amount of focus placed on evening hunts. I personally have found bears through all times of day but seen slightly more bear activity in the mornings where I normally hunt.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[idahohikker]

Evening is the strong early leader. Let’s get some more votes to increase the sample size. Thanks for everyone who’s chimed in.

 

[Ntuttle15]

Anytime I've ever seen bears has been evening, in the spring that is.. but very limited experience on my end

 

[as.ks.ak]

Of the bears I’ve taken I’ve shot 4 mid morning and 2 in the evening...I say they’re definitely more active in the evening, it just sucks racing the clock of the setting sun sometimes!


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[Ntuttle15]

Anytime I've ever seen bears has been evening, in the spring that is.. but very limited experience on my end

Except when I know where one has been hanging out. Then I could find them throughout the day. I've experienced that multiple times. But I feel like they liked to keep tucked away for the most part.

 

[black dawg]

We usually see younger boars early morning until about 8am.
Almost never see any bears from 8am until noon.
Highest bear activity has always been from 4pm on.

 

[idahohikker]

Do you think me falling asleep at 6:00 in my tipi tent with a stove has anything to do with me not seeing as many bears in the evening?

Jk I don’t have a tipi tent or fall asleep on the job. I’m excited to hit the evenings more though.

 

[tdot]

You need a 4th button. All day.

I see Bears from early morning to night time. I've never noticed a strong pattern for timing. But we live in Bear country and see them in our daily lives, so maybe that skews my thought process. Though I've also shot bears at all times of the day, and not close to home.

Edit. Just thought more about this and realized this relates to black bear. For Grizzly my encounters and sightings are efinitely evening heavy.

 

[Sourdough]

You need a 4th button. All day.

Anytime looking out the cabin window, or going to the outhouse. Or when they are trying to get into the cabin, or when they are sleeping next to the tent snoring loudly, or when they are following you for hours. When they are on top of you and stay there. Or when they run over the top of you and knock you down. They are everywhere. People who live with bears for fifty years, in a high density bear concentration area, see a lot of bears all day, if they are not hibernating.

I forgot about when there was seven Brown Bears bears in camp "ALL" night long. So pretty much 24 hours a day in many places.

The really huge "old" monster Alaska Coastal Brown Bears tend to be nocturnal, which is why people say they see bears either "Last" light or "First" light of day. Accidently step on one sleeping in a Alder Patch at twelve noon, and you will see a big bear.

When they are in the boat and you are whacking with the oar to get them to stop chewing on the fuel line. When you are trying to sleep, and they are playing with the tent "Taught" lines, like a harp.

 

[idahohikker]

Anytime looking out the cabin window, or going to the outhouse. Or when they are trying to get into the cabin, or when they are sleeping next to the tent snoring loudly, or when they are following you for hours. When they are on top of you and stay there. Or when they run over the top of you and knoch you down. They are everywhere. People who live with bears for fifty years, in a high density bear concentration area, see a lot of bears all day, if they are not hibernating.

Haha you live in a crazy place.

 

[Sourdough]

Haha you live in a crazy place.

That stuff was in many different parts of Alaska and over more then fifty years. That is only a small sample of thousands of bear encounters.

 

[roosiebull]

evenings are the most consistent for me by a fair margin (in spring) 5pm-dark is prime time, the rest is very random, with the 9am-noon being the most frequent sightings during the day.

very few first light bear in the spring, if I hunted all day minus 2hrs, I would sleep in, and start at 8am.

over the years I have got lots of trail cam pics just before daylight, like that 5am timeframe

 

[Fred@Exterra]

I definitely so more bears in N Idaho on the evening before garbage day... that used to be how I remembered to take the cans out to the street.

I kind of think that temperature is as important as time... I see the most bears when a light sweatshirt is the ideal outer layer.


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[idahohikker]

evenings are the most consistent for me by a fair margin (in spring) 5pm-dark is prime time, the rest is very random, with the 9am-noon being the most frequent sightings during the day.

very few first light bear in the spring, if I hunted all day minus 2hrs, I would sleep in, and start at 8am.

over the years I have got lots of trail cam pics just before daylight, like that 5am timeframe

9am-noon is the most consistent for you as far as sightings? This is close to my experience.

 

[Beendare]

evenings are the most consistent for me by a fair margin (in spring) 5pm-dark is prime time, the rest is very random, with the 9am-noon being the most frequent sightings during the day.

very few first light bear in the spring, if I hunted all day minus 2hrs, I would sleep in, and start at 8am.

That^ mirrors my experience to a T.....

_____

 

[idahohikker]

That^ mirrors my experience to a T.....

_____

Same with the 9am-noon part as well?

 

[rclouse79]

Of the bears I’ve taken I’ve shot 4 mid morning and 2 in the evening...I say they’re definitely more active in the evening, it just sucks racing the clock of the setting sun sometimes!


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Especially if you are solo. Just the thought of wandering around a steep hell hole in the dark by myself looking for a hopefully dead bear makes my sphincter pucker up.

 

[roosiebull]

9am-noon is the most consistent for you as far as sightings? This is close to my experience.

yes, second to evenings. it's just easier to really focus behind the glass from 3 or 4 on to me

 

[eod.tek]

I've only spotted 2 bears, one was at 5pm and one was at noon, so a bit of a mix there

 

[MHWASH]

I’ve been pursuing spring bear pretty heavily the last few years. I’d say 90% of those sightings are between 3 & 4 in the afternoon. My hunt style pretty much consists of sitting in one spot for 4-5 hours. The one exception was last year when I was walking back to my bicycle when I spotted a bear about an hour before dark.

When we hunted central ID last year, the temps were in the 80s, so we hunted day light to dark. The bears we saw were in the hottest part of the day 2:30 - 4:00.