Possibly the stupidest question of all time!!!?

[BiG Boar]

Okay guys, here is a real dumb question. After trying to find black bears on 4 different days and areas road hunting, I am ready to "get out there and go for a walk." So, the question is simple, lets say you are on a loggin road headed up a mountain. You are driving along. Where do you park, do you try to park in a discreet spot? Or somewhere that you see sign? What kind of sign? How fresh? How much sign? Then you just start walking? Up hill? Down hill? On a trail? Through a clear cut? Through dense forest? Face into the wind? How long do you walk for? What would make you turn around? Should I take a GPS with me? Eating a can of sardines as you go? It may seem obvious to you, but I need some serious answers....I got 4 days of bear hunting ahead of me.

[Paulyman]

What you need to do is a park at the base of the mountain,but thats not the most important thing,What you need to do is find rotting salmon carcass and roll around in it for about five minutes...make sure you are really smelly,then go sit in the middle of a big slash under some cover.

You should have no problem getting a bear that way :)

[Gateholio]

You want to look for GREEN this time of year. No point charging up a mountian when the bears are in the lower valleys and swamps, eating grass and skunk cabbage.

I'd park the truck and then walk on logging roads that have started to green up. Deactivated roads that you can still see down and to the sides are great.

Go slow, look for sign, and glass aaround every corner.

[bighornbob]

At thios time of year bears are pretty much hanging around the roads as the grass green up along the roads usually first. Walk only the areas that have sign. Drive around until you see a bunch of crap on the road. A pile every 500m is a good sign. If the ditches are grassed in this is where they are probably feeding. Walk all areas like this unless its only a hundred meters or so. Old roads that get very little driving traffic are good spots.

Clearcuts grass up too so look for cuts that have fresh grass and you can park and glass these. I try to park so I can glass a few cuts at one time, across the bvalley etc etc) if this is possible.

I would not worry about where you park your car as I have seen bears walk right by parked cars. Last year while hunting with SSS, we had spilt up to cover some areas looking for sign. When I got a radio call that he was stuck in a large rut in the road. I had just pulled him out and had my truck sideways blocking the road (very narrow and his behind me when we noticed a bear walking down the road that I just drove down 10 minties earlier. We then saw another bear come out and follow the first bear. We realized it was a boar following a sow. We quickly jumped out and tried to get to a knoll in the road before the bears would as they were moving toward us. The bear made it there first and we had no choice but to hide behind a stump 10ft from the road. The boar continued walking down the road while the sow was in the cut behind us. SSS kept wanting me to shoot as he thought the bear was big but I still was not sure. The bear proceded to walk right by us at about 15m. By this point it was apparent he was not that big but it would have made it easy for a bow shot if we had ours. The bear continued towards our trucks 100m away. I was beginning to get worried as we left the doors open on the trucks in our haste and I cant remember which one of us had a bag of pepperoni on the front seat.:eek: The bear walked within 5 feet of the back of the truck and then walked into the cut without a care in the world.

So unless the bear sees you get out of the truck I would not worry where you park it. Then again dont leave it close to an area where you expect to see bears.

BHB

[grumpy]

look for fresh green growth ,grass or fireweed, scat on the roads and glass all the green spots then walk till you find one

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Don't forget to stop near puddles and other muddy areas to see if there are tracks around. Will give you an idea of the size of the bears in the area. Look for a front track and measure the width of the pad. Take the measurement in inches and add one= feet of bear. Eg a 5" pad will give you a 6' bear(roughly).

Also, the bigger the poop, the bigger the bear. If it's the diameter of a pop can you know you're dealing with a big bear.


Look for sign first then go for a walk...otherwise you're most likely wasting your time.

SSS

[KodiakHntr]

If I see a bear dump the diameter of a pop can I am going home to get a bigger gun LOL


You mean one like this?

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc182/KodiakHntr2/DSC01725.jpg

[frenchbar]

what ever you do roll the windows up,buddy of mine left his windows down one time when we were fishing at a lake and a blackie got in and tore the shit out of his seat covers and seat lol.

[TIKA 300]

You mean one like this?

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc182/KodiakHntr2/DSC01725.jpg
Thats where it went !!!!!! Thats the one i left a week after i stopped drinking LOL

Kodiak did you find the BEAR that left that one ????? TK

[KodiakHntr]

Yeah, seen him about 6 times now over 2 years.

[Phil]

Where are planning on going for your hunt? There are likely a few guys here that could tell you some specifics about the area you plan to hunt.

[srupp]

I'm still going hunting 18th-21..:biggrin:.....open invite..

however green as Clarke mentioned.. water LOOK FOR QUIET out of the way areas just off the beaten path...small little alcoves seperating travelled portions from little quiet patches...walk slowly look for tracks, scat..stay out and dont come in till its over for shooting light the last 1 hour is THE BEST TIME FOR BLACKS...


Steven

[Barracuda]

size of loaf is a pretty good indicator but i have seen some acommpanied by tracks that would indicate that it was a smaller sanfrancisco bear. Look for food source and also note how the grasses have been eaten, some animals browse but bears seem tear at the grass not normally leaving a clean cut

[Steeleco]

Like was mentioned GO GREEN, but at the same time, start training yourself to see pieces of bear, ears, rumps etc. you may only see a little of the quarry and not the whole thing!!!

[betteroffishing]

wow keep it up with the stupid questions i ve learned more about bear hunting in this thread than i have in any others. no such thing.

[wlbc]

In the spirit of bear sign.....

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa189/wextcoaster_01/BearScat.jpg

[srupp]

only 48 hours and them MY bear hunt begins..FANTASTIC trip to the gun range tonite...yeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw

Steven

[waistdeep]

Dude,,, you approaching 1000 posts, have a great trip and give us a report to hit the 4th digit!

[Gateholio]

We have had some annoyingly dismal weather lately.

LAst night, the weather broke and I saw a grizz sow and a yearling cub and 3 good sized black bears within an hour, all in decent weather.

i would have shot the one 6'6" black bear that was orange with black legs, but he decided he didn't want to get slain that day....

:-D

Anyway, it lends some validity. Weather breaks, go hunting. Same with deer and moose, too.:mrgreen:

[jerad]

You mean one like this?

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc182/KodiakHntr2/DSC01725.jpg

your not planning on drinking that are you?

[hunter1947]

What I would do is drive around till I saw lots of bear scats on the logging road ,then park onto a side road then cover that area ,I would cover the hole lower half of the area. If it took me 4 hours then so be it. Eating sardines is alright ,I love sardines ,just make sure you take an orange and apple ,plus some good old water.http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon7.gif

[NaStY]

What I would do is drive around till I saw lots of bear scats on the logging road ,then park onto a side road then cover that area ,I would cover the hole lower half of the area. If it took me 4 hours then so be it. Eating sardines is alright ,I love sardines ,just make sure you take an orange and apple ,plus some good old water.http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon7.gif


Dont forget i big roll of tp. After eating all that your going to want to make a pile of your own.:biggrin:

[shotgunjohn]

Lots of good advice here. Ditto to what SRUPP said, be out hunting the last hour of light not sitting in camp.

[BiG Boar]

Okay, I got out for a hunt last night. I have to say I have got to be the most committed ******* this year on this site to taggin a bear. Drove 500km total yesterday up to Boston Bar for another looksee for bears. Tried all of the above things, except no apple and orange in pocket. Walked all of the trials off of the main fsrs. Walked into 3 clearcuts and glasses like 4 others off the main fsr. Walked next to watering holes. Location: ainsle fsr. Not a damn bit of fresh sign (saw some old stuff from last week), and no bears. Saw lots of grouse, stalked in on 2 deer, saw other deer, but the bears were hiding. It was really hot btw. Maybe I should have checked the snowline more to see if they were cooling off. But I didnt see any grass within a kilometer of the snowline. Definitley no crap on the road, saw a popcan though and checked to see if there was any near it. There wanst. I was hunting with a very impatient hunter who seemed very negative about the lack of fresh sign in the area. So, I am off to the island in a few hours. With two other HBCers. I really hope I will be able to judge a 4.5 footer from a 6 footer. Getting a tad frustrated. Dave Grrrrrrrrrr.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

With "normal" weather, the last couple of hours will be your best time to see them out. With "hot" weather the early am can be better as well as the last hour of the day. Imagine being covered in a heavy black blanket. I, for one, would avoid the sun.

Watch for rubs with this stinking heat!!:icon_frow

SSS

[popcan]

Also, the bigger the poop, the bigger the bear. If it's the diameter of a pop can you know you're dealing with a big bear.
SSS



Whoa..... that's big! :mrgreen:

[popcan]

Is that a little piece of coyote crap at the top?







http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc182/KodiakHntr2/DSC01725.jpg

[BANG!]

You mean one like this?

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc182/KodiakHntr2/DSC01725.jpg

call me fussy if you want - but I would have turned that can round first.

[oldtimer]

Follow Gatehouse's advice. Look for green !! look for green clover !! Look for green in the sunshine !! Mike

[eagleye]

Don't forget dandelions!! Bears LOVE dandelions in bloom. I have seen them just going nuts in a good dandelion patch. Regards, Eagleye.