Lower Mainland Black Bear

[FlyingHigh]

Hey guys,
I'm planning to do some spring black bear hunting this year. I'm already driving various logging roads to get the feel of the area and scout out some possible spots. However, I'm really basing my knowledge off of "what would I do as a bear?" and some reading I've done, since I've never hunted bear.

I'm checking out the Chilliwack River Valley, along the Chilliwack Army Forest Service Road, and the Jones Lake area. What do I need to look for? Am I in good areas? Anything else I need to know?

My gear for the season will consist of:

- A hunting buddy
- 7mm Rem. Mag.
- 12 gauge with slugs
- The standard knives
- Standard day hunt gear
- Ropes to haul the bear down to the truck

Am I missing anything?

Thanks in advance.

[HighCountry]

Flinghigh..I think you are good to go good luck.

[kishman]

PM sent....

[Dirty]

What's the point of taking a 12 gauge with slugs if you are already taking a 7mm rifle? Ditch the shotgun. The only other thing you need is a bear.

[Barracuda]

just use well costructed bullets in the 7mm for those up close and personal shots ( bullet blowup up close can happen with high velocity rounds )and you shouldnt need a 12 bore with you as thats alot of crap for one person to be lugging around.(unless of course buddy will be in charge of the 12 bore) . secondly are you only planning on shooting bears that are above you "Ropes to haul the bear down to the truck" because they tend to go Down into the thickest crap you can find so i would suggest bring a buddy with a strong body but a simple mind:tongue:
all kidding aside sounds like you are good to go all you need is the bear to complete the transaction,
good luck

[Mr. Dean]

You're gonna also need a good grinder... I could help ya out on that.


Good luck, but also don't forget to be patient - Make CERTAIN it's not a momma.

[Will]

Most of what you may want to know can be found here.........:smile:
http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=10788

[ruger#1]

if you are sleeping in a tent, take lots of empty beer cans and hang them around your tent, they make a good bear alarm , is the shotgun going to be sleeping with you.

[bsa30-06]

if you need help using those ropes ask Elkhound...... he's an expert at bear retrieval after they go over cliffs.
Oh and i second Mr.Deans suggestion be patient, and look for babies they can be hard to see sometimes.

[Barracuda]

one other thing to remember is that you cant out run a bear so make sure you buddy is slower then you:lol:

[hunter11]

How's that area for bear? Anybody hunt there before?

[Elkhound]

if you need help using those ropes ask Elkhound...... he's an expert at bear retrieval after they go over cliffs.
Oh and i second Mr.Deans suggestion be patient, and look for babies they can be hard to see sometimes.

Good thing it's a family site or some name calling would be inserted here:wink:

Wait till spring Lloyd. I will let you shoot one on the cliffs.:mrgreen:

[FlyingHigh]

thanks for the info guys. the 12 guage would be carried by my buddy as i refuse to let him touch my 7mm. lol. and he's built like me, so strength isn't an issue. good points on really looking for cubs. i'd hate to dump a momma bear.

i plan to do mostly day hunts with the odd weekender tossed in. is there a better time of day to hunt bear? like early morning, evening?

[ruger#1]

Cuda has good info. And if he does run faster, i would pull his pants down so he falls down and you get away.

[Will]

is there a better time of day to hunt bear? like early morning, evening?
Each to thier own but I see far more Bears in the last hour of daylight then any other time of day.........now of course in the spring when they are gorging on the fresh grow you'll see em out and about all day long, but yes more so near dawn and dusk as with most critters. 8-)

[bsa30-06]

Good thing it's a family site or some name calling would be inserted here:wink:

Wait till spring Lloyd. I will let you shoot one on the cliffs.:mrgreen:

Dave as long as your hunting with me i'm not worried about cliffs, with your expert cliff repelling skills we shouldnt have any trouble retrieving it.I'll even do you a favour no prickle bushes to untangle it from.:p

[Freshtracks]

What's the point of taking a 12 gauge with slugs if you are already taking a 7mm rifle? Ditch the shotgun. The only other thing you need is a bear.

Crawl into an alder thicket looking for the bear that ran in there after being hit.:eek: I'll take the shottie with slugs.;-)

[4pointer]

The only thing you're missing is lots of extra gas. You dont have to do lots of hiking. Just drive, drive and drive. Mid May and they're all over the roads. For bears, hunt all day but best is, with everything else, late evenings and early mornings. Every where is good in BC for bears. Dump the 12 gauge. We had an injured bear cornered in some brush and then it charged us. The "Defender" was the last any of us wanted to be holding. These guys are only scaring you. Its not as scary as everyone says it to be. Good luck and have fun.

[hunter1947]

I think everyone has said it all ,but i didnt see a back pack mentioned or meat bags ,sharpening stone ???.

[MichelD]

Exactly Hunter 1947.

I have lost count of the number of bears I have quartered, put in meat bags and backpacked to the truck, from 30 to 300 yards away from the road.

So many snags, stumps, brush, trees and logs in the way that though it sounds good -- working alone (which I've done lots) the rope option could be a rat''s nest to deal with. That said, I always have lots of rope along too, just in case.

[Dirty]

one other thing to remember is that you cant out run a bear so make sure you buddy is slower then you:lol:

Have you ever seen FlyingHigh? Definitely not built for speed :wink:


Crawl into an alder thicket looking for the bear that ran in there after being hit.:eek: I'll take the shottie with slugs.;-)

Where is he supposed to carry his shotgun in his kangaroo pouch? I for one wouldn't want to carry around two guns all day. He has clarified that his friend will be carrying the shotgun. If he was roadhunting he could keep both in the truck. Is that what you were getting at FreshTracks?

FlyingHigh make sure your friend has a hunting license and appropriate tags too. Some of the CO's may get sticky about two guys carrying guns bear hunting.

[Will]

These guys are only scaring you. Its not as scary as everyone says it to be.
Yes it's Far Far Scarier then they claim.........Bears have big Fangs and razor sharp claws....they are built like mini tanks and can soak up lead faster then a Chinese Toy factory !

Be Very Scared :eek:

[Wild one]

I bow hunt bears don't fear them respect them.If you play by some basic rules thing should be fine.

1)don't go looking for a wounded (fatal or not) bear in the dark wait till morning (I have met and heard of hunters who learned this one the hard way)

2)If you think he is dead give it a little more time don't just run up to it(I throw rocks from a distance just to be safe)

3)watch the bears body language somtimes it is better to let a pissed bear walk then get your a$$ chewed(this is more for bow hunting)

4)most important share your beer a drunk bear is a happy bear:biggrin:

Iam no expert so others may want to add to my list

[wolverine]

thanks for the info guys. the 12 guage would be carried by my buddy as i refuse to let him touch my 7mm. lol. and he's built like me, so strength isn't an issue. good points on really looking for cubs. i'd hate to dump a momma bear.

i plan to do mostly day hunts with the odd weekender tossed in. is there a better time of day to hunt bear? like early morning, evening?


Remember that lots of times you can't see cubs cuz they're up a tree or in tall scrub or whatever. If you spot a sow, make sure she's dry. In other words check out the teats to make sure she's not lactating and don't shoot until you have. Better to let one walk than to land up "flock shooting" a family.

[bruin]

I was just curious how you check the teats on a sow, is it as simple as asking her to roll over for you?

[Dirty]

I was just curious how you check the teats on a sow, is it as simple as asking her to roll over for you?

You have to buy her dinner first.

[bruin]

I thought.......never mind, this is a family site!

[FlyingHigh]

Have you ever seen FlyingHigh? Definitely not built for speed

ahaha. no kidding. i'm built like a fire hydrant, just as hard and almost as tall. i'll be sure to trip my buddy before we take off running. ;)

My buddy will have a hunting licence and tags for sure when he comes hunting with me.

Thanks for all the input guys. It's helped alot. A ton of great info here, a mix of info and humour. lol. Good times. The PM's I've received are great as well. If anyone has anything more to add, bring it on! :D Thanks again.

[Will]

If anyone has anything more to add, bring it on! :D Thanks again.
I'll add this...well worth a read whether you've seen it or not:wink:
http://www.theidahosportsman.com/bear%20anatomy.pdf

[ruger#1]

If you want to get a blck bear in the first of sept, i can show you places in hat creek that have lots, one evening with the spotting scope i counted 9, this is open feild and they are hard to stalk, 4 years ago three of us went up and in half a week we had three bears.

[bruin]

I'll add this...well worth a read whether you've seen it or not:wink:
http://www.theidahosportsman.com/bear%20anatomy.pdf

Good link, thanks Will

[270 short mag.]

U need luknes

[Mr. Dean]

what's a luknes and how is it used?

[George Ackley]

I know I am not from your area but I love to bear hunt.
Early in the spring the bears that are just out of the dens will be looking for ruffage, I find that they just love dandy lions,find them you will find bear,, but any good place were there is good grass the bear can be found. once they get there stomach right and get there plug out they will start on sold foods, but till then I try and locate them in early morning on sunny side of hill leading that lead to open pastures . my thoughts are they will lay up close to there food source till the sun heats them up. I like were 2 terrains come together like hard wood that bleed into back field. I try glassing open pastures. Also in doing my pre scouting I will pay mined to the wind direction at locations I feel will be productive for bear, this way I know what way I would make my approach when hunting time comes. like I said, I don't hunt your area ,but I am shore that there is some kind of hunting pressure so early mornings and late afternoons would be the time I would be looking. in afternoons I look for much the same thing I look for in mornings. but i also feel you can't harvest a bear from the cabin so hunt all day if possible. I just find early mornings and late afternoons to be my productive time. I also would be looking hard at a bear before the shot, many times the grass is high and in the excitement of the hunt you may not se the little cubs at first. as long as the bear is feeding you have time, don't rush, enjoy the hunt and make a good shot.
for me shooting stick's are a must and good optics.
when I spot my bear i am going to make a stalk on the first thing i try and see is just how relaxed it is before I move on it, I have found moving in on a bear that just entered a food sources can be tricky , it ant just you he is afraid of , there may be a bigger bear thats working the area, so he will be on alert and that's a hard time to move on a bear. Any little noise will send him fleeing for cover.. let him relax and start to feed when he look like he has settled in make your move. you can get pretty close to a bear stalking so I like to get at lest into my comfortable shooting distance, witch is were I know I can make a good kill shot.
One last thing i do is if have any feeling the shot is iffy I back out give the bear time, he doesn't know you shot him he feels pain and hears the noise but he don't know just what happened and unless you push him he will just run off and lay down... I don't feel much will mess with him being a bear and all that, so give him time.

Sorry if i am just rambling along but its a cold day here in PA and not much to do,,

Best of luck this coming spring pal and stay safe.

George

SORRY FOR THE SPELLING ALSO

[FlyingHigh]

^^^ wow. lots of info there. thanks. :D

as for the shooting sitx and optics, my rifle is equiped with a 6-9" swivel bi-pod and a buhsnell elite 3200 3-9x40mm scope. i'll be carrying bushnell H2O binos in 10x42mm.

[pupper]

Good Post George Ackley, here is another article on bear hunting (http://www.huntingtipsandtricks.com/a/Black_Bear_Hunting_Tips_And_Tricks)
here is an article on scouting for a bear hunt (http://www.huntingtipsandtricks.com/a/Scouting_For_Bear_Hunting)