Last week of may in region 5. There are so many you can more or less pick which one you want. I usually fish all morning and start hunting in the afternoon. Usually see at least a couple every day. I'm not picky about bears though. An average 5 ft bear is plenty enough to make me happy.
I carry a cooler full of frozen two-litre water bottles. I usually get smallish bears so the two front legs shoulder included go into one cotton meat sack, the chest/neck section into another and the lower back/hindquarters go into another. They get laid onto a tarp in the pickup bed, and the frozen water bottles distributed among the chunks to cool them down, then I boot it for home. On a couple occasions I have shot bears at dusk so by the time it's all ready to go, it's been anywhere from 10:00 to12:00 at night so I've parked somewhere flat and had a few hours sleep in the cab. Once I got one at dusk on the Sunshine Coast too late to catch the last ferry back so slept in the back with the bear pieces.
Sitting here in what my wife likes to call ...THE BEAR DEN...with a 6'8'' chocolate full mount and a 7'2''Black...There are 2 places in BC I hunt bears, 4-6/7 because I live here and region 6(meziadin lake area) Black colour bears. You can't go wrong if your between stewart and bell two on the may long weekend, take a small freezer with a power plant for meat and hide care. The Creston area holds a good number of both colour phase and black bears, follow the snow as it greens up in the spring on any of the FSR's in the area or in the CVWA on the flats along the river or around duck lake. It's warm here in the spring so again plan for meat and hide care, I have a walkin cooler for myself and my guests that makes that easy here. One benefit to hunting 4-6/7 for spring bear is that turkeys can also be hunted.
Region 6 lots of colour phase up here
I was only able to get out for a few day hunting bear in the spring of 2018. I haven't hunted bear before so I have lots to learn. We hit a spot that had tons of bear crap but didnt get any sightings. From what I've read on here some good tips are:
- huny the First and last few hours of the day
-Follow the snow pack up (if possible) as it thaws and hunt just below it
- Get into a good flashing area or,
- Cover lots of ground
Any other tips for a new bear hunter? I'll be hunting around the kelowna area
Ok last light is always best in my opinion but I have poor luck early morning. If the area you are hunting sees little human traffic all day is worth while. I actually hunt 10am to last light and actually shoot a lot of bears mid day
I follow the green up not the snow pack. Green grass poking about 6 inch through a brown mat of dead grass from last year combined with buds just opening a little bit not full blown leaves are my ideal conditions. That said I will take an really green open leaves and long grass over brown. You will always hear south facing and this is a good starting point but it’s really about areas that get lots of sun light reaching the ground in openings that grow food. Water is important bears key in on water.
Finding an area full of bear crap you should be able to find the bear the are habitual. That said bears do leave areas for new locations in search of better feed, if harassed too much, or rut. Old bear crap is black really fresh crap is green so if you are not noticing new crap and never see green crap you are probably hunting where a bear was not where he is
Food, water, with thick good size timber odds are you will find a bear. I also prefer small feeding areas like old landings/pullouts on washed out or deactivated roads over clear cuts. Natural meadows on lakes and river/creek deltas are good.
Go kill bear in May June leave April be
Thanks for that wild one. I was seeing lots of crap, but it was very dark green, near black. Lots of seeds in it. I'll use those tips when I head out in April!