Bear hunting south facing slope ?

[leadpillproductions]

You here everyone say south facing slopes are best , why is my question do they green up quicker or do bears tend to den up on south facing slope ? I always wondered . I tend to hunt green patches never really payed much attention to directions ? I must be doin something right ive killed a ton of bears lol

[180grainer]

They get the sun earlier and green up quicker. Killing a ton of bears isn't hard. When I lived in Vanderhoof I drove 32 k on the Holy Cross and counted 15 bears. If you wanted a big one that's a different kettle of fish. Of course that was before the beetle kill too....

[j270wsm]

South facing slopes tend to have less snow due to wind and sun exposure. South facing slopes will green up a lot faster than other slopes. As for your other questions.....I don't know

[warnniklz]

In my personal experience.... if you gotta pay attention to what direction the slope is, you're too early.

Now I'm more of a mid-may to mid-june kind of guy. The spots I hunt seriously, I've been hunting since before I can really Remember. So I have them pretty dialed in.

But when I'm in different parts of the province or cabin fever is at max capacity... I'll get out early and check out new spots. But the south sides do get more sunshine. Things green up quicker, and the snow falls in the avalanche chutes earlier wiping out most of the snow, which helps.

[leadpillproductions]

Oh ive killed some big bears even a gooder over 7
They get the sun earlier and green up quicker. Killing a ton of bears isn't hard. When I lived in Vanderhoof I drove 32 k on the Holy Cross and counted 15 bears. If you wanted a big one that's a different kettle of fish. Of course that was before the beetle kill too....

[Ltbullken]

They will green up quicker due to exposure to sun, and snow melt feeds plant growth. Grasses, clover, shoots, etc. All good bear food when they come out of the den.

[Sharpish]

The sun in the northern hemisphere follows an arc in the southern part of the sky. It doesn't go east to west directly overhead. In the winter, the arc is shallower and stays closer to the horizon. In the summer the arc is higher from the horizon. South facing slopes are angled directly into the Sun's rays and therefore southern slopes receive the least shade, and plants grow quicker and stronger.

[HarryToolips]

^^^^^this....

[srupp]

Hunt the slides first..angle of land..depth of snow..heat from spring sun..next is open cut blocks..bigger the better ..removed trees allow more sun to stumps as heat sinks .
Check out google earth check slides soith facing slops..not quite all it takes but great start.
Steven

[RiverOtter]

While I haven't found a tonne of bear dens, one thing I have noticed with the ones I have is they're usually predominantly northern aspect. Elevation was all over the map though, but that could be a boar/sow, grizz/black bear phenomenon.

[jtred]

I've only begun hunting bears in the last three years so I'm still learning myself but one thing I've found is that here in the Kootenays south facing slopes make a huge difference in bear activity. One area we backpack into for weekends is a south facing slope which will be snow free and green almost tee-shirt weather while the trails/roads across the valley which stay in shadow are only accessible by quad or even snowmobile with the roads blocked by snow. This was the case the last couple of years even in late May. If there is no green there is nothing to eat and the bears won't be there. Once you find where things are greening up you'll find sign of bears.

[Daybreak]

I have been reading a fair bit and the info I have come across describes bb's as having a variety of den sites: under fallen trees and root wads, rocky crevices, inside rotting trees.

Apparently grizzly prefer a particular slope angle, something like 20 to 40 degrees into which they will dig their den as far as 4 meters. An area with reasonable grass or ground cover growth is ideal as the roots give structure to the soil and negate den collapse. They den primarily on northern slopes as the snow deepens from exposure and wind and insures a good insulating blanket for the den. My source said they will often den in the same general area year after year however they will not use the same den twice.

As far as elevation, the bb's are not as fussy as the grizzly bears. The bb's will den pretty much in the area they happen to be at that time whereas grizzly bear will move to a particular elevation band depending on the geography and landscape in their range.



I will try to find a link to some good info I found.

[Daybreak]

This article is specific to the Parsnip River area and has lots of accurate info on grizzly denning habits for that particular area. If you enlarge it once opened it's easier to read.

http://www.bearbiology.com/fileadmin/tpl/Downloads/URSUS/Vol_16_1/Ciarniello_Boyce_et_al_Vol_16_1_.pdf

[boxhitch]

Apparently grizzly prefer a particular slope angle........I read that info too Day , just can't remember the book right off.
It had info on the G bear diet and when they like ants specifically
?

[elknut]

Clayton Mack if I remember right, gave an awful lot of info on Grizzly food ...habits ...etc ..The book was Grizzlies and White Guys...Dennis