Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game How exactly does one bear hunt ?

Hunting big bears in the east involves sitting on their route to the dump. I am pretty sure they are dumb as hell too.

We don't have big bears up here but they eat fish all day for a few months out of the year. They absolutely love fish food, but it makes for a stinky bear that you can't eat. I will take a high mountain bear over a fish bear . They lose their appeal when they have a 20ft tapeworm trailing behind them.....

That bear in the garbage can pic has amazing fur!

Your conclusion that big eastern bears are dumb is incorrect.

Some good info posted.

Spot and stalk is my favorite method if it is a place where bears can be seen at any distance. You can hear them turning over rocks and tearing open rotten logs for bugs, though it is a much quieter sound than you might expect, mostly picking the log apart with claw tips.

Besides the other methods mentioned such as bait and hounds, you could add calling. I've called several bears in WA State, Saskatchewan and B.C. They are reputed to be difficult and inconsistent to call, which IMO means we haven't figured out how to call bears as well as we have some other species. In thick country, calling would be a major way I would hunt them. I've mostly used intermittent calling with about 10-20 seconds of prey distress sound spaced with a minute or more of silence but some good bear callers say to call continuously. Take your pick. I like to listen once in awhile when calling anything. Jack rabbit distress sounds awfully much like bear cub distress and fawn distress.

Stands over bait, stalk downwind of a gut pile, drive standing corn, but hunting with dogs is the most exciting and productive for me.

Uncle Joe had the tag on this fall's hunt.

My son and I have done well with spot and stalk here in Washington. Predator call gets real interesting too...

I don't bear hunt very often, but I'm definitely a spot and stalk guy myself... If I can't "hunt" it, I don't need to kill it...

I live in pretty good Black Bear country in Northern Michigan. Here they are hunted two ways...

Over bait...this is a lot of work but makes for some very nice evenings in the blind. The baiting is the work...constant 30 days minimum of dragging 55gallon drums of bait, checking cameras etc. Blinds up here can get pretty lavish. For example, many have a wood burning stove, recliner, bed, etc.

With dogs...I don't hunt this way buts its popular none the less. The issue around me is that most of the hunters running dogs don't respect private property. Im fortunate to live on acreage and have guys run dogs across my posted property all the time. My neighbor to the south had a tracking dog attack and kill his aging daschound while his wife walked it on his own property. He shot and killed the offending dog only to have the hunter show up and point a rifle at he and his wife. When the cops showed the hunters defense was his dogs can't read signs...lol

I would caution you with this however...many people think Black Bear is unfit to eat. That is simply not true..its fantastic if the meat is properly cared for. Once the animal is on the ground, it needs to be gutted and on ice within an hour or so or it develops a very strong taste. Also the liver is the finest liver I've ever eaten...nothing compares imho.

In Colorado it is more difficult. You can't hunt bear in the spring, only in the fall. You can't shoot a sow with cubs. You can't use baits of any kind. So basically, you hunt deer or elk and hope you run into a bear.

This or if in a dry area sit a water hole. Some years there is good cactus fruit or a acorn crop.

I've seen bears fishing and eating berries. I guess I have not seen one hunt. Bet Phil has.

I'm 71 and shot my 1st one on Oct 2nd. THIS WAY. Im the old fart with the Marlin.

You could go to the dump.



Or just sit up in a tree for a while.



Until a bear happens along.