Black bears & heat

[bucket]

Heading out for a late spring bear this year - life has been so busy until now haven't found time.. Done all my hunting in the fall before but have that itch


Just st saw the weather is going to be up to 35 in the interior tho, granted we will be up in elevation but curious how you guys find a hot weekend like this effect the Bears?

id imagine they move around earlier and later, and probably a bit less but why assume when you can ask!

[RiverOtter]

Give me a scorching hot day with a cool evening and I'm a happy bear hunter. Only thing I like better, is a barn burner day with a weather change on the horizon. The longer they're holed up avoiding the heat, the more eager they are to feed in the evening. I'd be hitting good areas around 5:30 till dark.

[604ksmith]

I agree that bears or animals in general get antsy in the high temps. They can't sit still forever.

Find an area that has a bit of sign, a combination of thick forest/open fields and wait. I think of it as being similar to fishing near a drop-off knowing fish often stay in the cool depths but will venture to the shallow shelf sooner or later. The bears will stay in the thick stuff near the openings during the day but will eventually come out to feed, stretch, or travel sooner or later.

[srupp]

My favorite black bear time is last 1 hr of legal hunting in afternoon.
Srupp

[sawmill]

My favorite black bear time is last 1 hr of legal hunting in afternoon.
Srupp

Mine too, shot most of my bears then. To the point where I almost never hunted them in the morning.

[caddisguy]

On hot days, I hunt the open feeding areas until around 9:30am even though I loose hope around 7:30am. Creeping around in the timber/shade especially near a creek is a good way to ride out the heat of the day. Bears seem to think so too, so you might bump one out of bed. Sitting down from time to time with the fawn call or rabbit in distress is exciting. After 5:30pm I'm back to creeping around the feeding areas. For the last hour (sometimes 2 or 3) of light I just sit in the spot I found the most promising sign and wait. This works reasonbly well in our area which isn't even really a good area beyond Fraser Valley standards. In our 3 spring bear seasons, we consistently see a bear (or bears) about 1 out of 2 of trips and have a good shooting chance about 1/3 trips, heat or no heat. Cooler/rainy days we do spend a bit more time in the open feeding areas but still haven't seen much mid day.

I have never seen a bear walk out in the open in 35 degree heat, but I've stumbled upon them in shadey spots sleeping between brush and rockfaces or just chilling near drainges in the timber. Bring a bug net!! :)

[bucket]

Thanks guys! And yeah the bugs are going to be bad so hopefully we'll come home with Balloo and make all the bites worth it!