Questions for all you successful bear hunters

[CritterGitter]

Hello to all you successful bear hunters and congratulations to you on what seems to me to be the toughest animal I've ever hunted. I have been sweating and getting mosquito bitten in August every chance I've had for the past 6 years or so trying to get a bear in the pears.

On some of my scouting trips I have seen a bear or two, but either I have seen nothing when I returned to hunt, the unit I had scouted was closed and I had to wander elsewhere or I have spent hours looking in the wrong locations. The closest I have ever been to killing a bear is once I glassed up a bear that came through a saddle and worked his way down the mountain to the very bottom while I ran like a maniac to close the gap only for it to get dark before I made it. The other time is this past weekend. I spend a few days seeing nothing in the prickly pear areas I was hunting so I moved to the steepest, nastiest canyon I could find. Sunday afternoon glassed up a nice bear across the canyon and watched him til it got dark. My problem was that the canyon had steep bluffs as far as I could see on both sides with absolutely no way down except to head up canyon 3 or 4 miles and then try to sidehill along and up and over the multiple cuts and ridges along the canyon. To make the story short, The plan was to get on my ledge at first light, glass up the bear, head back up canyon, then back down and hopefully shoot the bear. Well.... It took me 3 hours to find the bear and the closest I could get before he totally disappeared was 750 yards.

Then it was pack up and head back home to work.

 

I need help!!!!

These are a few of my questions-

 

What elevation should I be hunting? Where the pears just start? or a ways down lower where they seem to be much riper?

 

Is water a must have? What about a water hole? Does that suffice?

 

How do you guys scout? I feel like I'm looking for a needle in a haystack searching for tracks etc. I've heard it said 'follow the food, that's where the bears will be.' It seems that there's food everywhere? Should I just zigzag and hike up and down random canyons in search of a fresh pile of berries?

 

Finally, compared to where they are now, where do the bears go in October and through the fall months. Am a wasting my time looking for them lower down during that time? My hope is to somehow miraculously find one when the season re-opens in October.

 

thanks for any help,

 

Humble Pie

[kidso]

Hello to all you successful bear hunters and congratulations to you on what seems to me to be the toughest animal I've ever hunted. I have been sweating and getting mosquito bitten in August every chance I've had for the past 6 years or so trying to get a bear in the pears.

On some of my scouting trips I have seen a bear or two, but either I have seen nothing when I returned to hunt, the unit I had scouted was closed and I had to wander elsewhere or I have spent hours looking in the wrong locations. The closest I have ever been to killing a bear is once I glassed up a bear that came through a saddle and worked his way down the mountain to the very bottom while I ran like a maniac to close the gap only for it to get dark before I made it. The other time is this past weekend. I spend a few days seeing nothing in the prickly pear areas I was hunting so I moved to the steepest, nastiest canyon I could find. Sunday afternoon glassed up a nice bear across the canyon and watched him til it got dark. My problem was that the canyon had steep bluffs as far as I could see on both sides with absolutely no way down except to head up canyon 3 or 4 miles and then try to sidehill along and up and over the multiple cuts and ridges along the canyon. To make the story short, The plan was to get on my ledge at first light, glass up the bear, head back up canyon, then back down and hopefully shoot the bear. Well.... It took me 3 hours to find the bear and the closest I could get before he totally disappeared was 750 yards.

Then it was pack up and head back home to work.

 

I've been there and done that! Chased two bears in the Sierra Anchas on different years near canyon edges that plummeted nearly straight down and could never close the gap for a decent shot. Some guys spot the bears in very open country, while I tend to find them in the rugged canyons. The steeper and nastier the canyon, the more likely it is to have a bear (Not always true, but in my head it seems that way!). It frustrated me to the point that I hardly ever spot for bears in the pears anymore, but call them out of oak and manzanita thickets. Thus, for me, water is a must have if they are feeding on acorns and manzanita berries, and the closer the water, the better the bear action. I call for them typically between 5,000-6,000 feet in rugged, steep canyons that have water (a water hole, spring, or tank) and the aforementioned vegetation. To me, the thicker the better. It keeps less die hard hunters out of the area, or at least the road hunters who don't want to hike into a steep canyon.

 

I explore new canyonsa and check for tracks near water holes. I go into the oaks and manzanita thickets and looks for trails and clearings where bear scat is found and towards areas with boulders. If I find fresh sign, I am calling that canyon with a predator call for 45 minutes to an hour. I still find bears in the manzanita in October and in the acorns.

 

Good Luck!

 

 

 

 

 

[CritterGitter]

Thanks for the thoughts Kidso.

 

You mentioned that you call in a canyon for 45 minutes. At that point do you switch to a new canyon? My reason for asking is that the canyon I was calling in was miles and miles long and a long way across, well over a mile from top to top.

Also, what type of call do you think works best? A cottontail, jackrabbit, cub in distress, fawn bleat?

 

thanks.

[DesertBull]

If you can glass one in the morning and watch where it goes to lay up for the day, he'll likely come out somewhere near there in the evening. That would give you time to get close and wait. They seem to come out earlier than you would think. Sometimes as early as 3:00 pm. They will also hit a secluded water hole midday to swim and cool off, especially if it's in the bottom of a nasty canyon.

[tfthunter]

unit and food glass and glass if that dont work give me a call and i'll show u where they are and if i dont we'll have a good time looking

[Codywhi]

great info kidso!! i always like to read what you bear guys have to say keep up all the great info... im going to the bear calling seminar in phx tomoro and just orderd a fox pro to help me call longer....im starting to like this bear hunting stuff.... alot.... keep up all the info...

[kidso]

Thanks for the thoughts Kidso.

 

You mentioned that you call in a canyon for 45 minutes. At that point do you switch to a new canyon? My reason for asking is that the canyon I was calling in was miles and miles long and a long way across, well over a mile from top to top.

Also, what type of call do you think works best? A cottontail, jackrabbit, cub in distress, fawn bleat?

 

thanks.

 

After 45 minutes, if I have not seen or heard any response, I move on. I start calling at just about shooting light in case something comes in quick and will keep calling 45 minute stands until about 11:00 on a clear day. On a cloudy day, I will call longer, and may not stop at all. I then begin recalling around 3:30 and keep going until dusk. So on a hardcore hiking bear hunt, I may call 6-8 stands, depending upon how far I hike between them.

 

Like Reed said in his seminar..."stick to what works for you." I have called in bear with both the Tally-Ho and the T-Rex hand predator calls. I have tried several others, but they never produced bear or lion for me, personally. The Tally-Ho is open-reed so you can produce a wide range of vocables, which I do. The T-Rex is closed reed and I wail on that call like something being ripped into pieces!

 

I once had a chocolate bear coming into a stand in the morning, when it winded us and turned uphill and out of decent rifle range. We watched it move up into a high thick part in a canyon and bed down. We moved into position around 3:00 pm and waited for it to come back down for an evening watering or snack. It started coming down about half an hour before dusk. We were laid up on a bench across a narrow part of the canyon he had entered and had scoped out several nice shooting lanes around 200 yards. When the bear was at about 700 yards, the canyon opened up with rifle fire as someone else started shooting at the bear from several hundred yards behind us and above us. They missed four times and bear disappeared. The only reason I share this is that the bear did come down the same basic drainage it used to work its way up the canyon in the morning. They can be creatures of habit.