Bear debate with buddies

[bc_buckshot]

Between 3 of us we were having a cocktail and talking about bears and the debate came up about time of day best to hunt. Us 3 have taken many bears in our days and each one remembers the spot, time weather ect. Now guys help me be right with this.
Topic was when during the day is best when you will see bears and taken.I said the best time is first in the morning before lunch time because there still sleepy from waking up and they want breakfast.Plus when you shoot one you have all day to wait it out and track, feild dress, skin ect.The other 2 bozos said best time in the late afternoon evening because they think it's cooler than they are mostly out and finding a place to snooze.
This whole time we were making stupid jokes and kidding aside, what do you think is best time out of your bear time you see or taken bears so I can prove to bevis and butthead that they are wrong. I said to them at the end of the day I will be out all day not just morning or evening and will get a bear before they leave there house

[lip_ripper00]

I have killed most of my bears in the late afternoon :?:

[Gateholio]

Bears get more active in the late afternoons, but I've shot them at all times of day. Definitely nicer to deal with a dead bear in daylight rather than via headlamp, though.

[junkyard_g]

thinking back to the bears i've gotten, most of them were mid morning. don't have a theory to why this is but when i go on a day hunt i'm in the bush from dark til dark so i've never put much stock into times of day. plus i shoot a 338 with 250gr bullets when bear hunting so tracking has never been and issue ;-)

[mikeboehm]

I've shot 3 out of 4 bears in the late afternoon. I see more bears between 12-dark

[mcrae]

In spring 95% have been in the late afternoon.

In the fall its 50/50 between late afternoon and late morning. I have seen very few bears at first light. And this is for black bears my experince with Grizz is more in am both fall and spring.

[matt420]

iv shot mine in 2009 late afternoon around 4:00 - 4:30, and in 2011 passed up 5 different bears all early to late afternoon

[rcar]

Count me in with the "bozo's". I have only taken 3 bears but all 3 were in the afternoon. I have passed on many bears and still most of the bigger ones were later in the day......guess I should get up before noon......

[Marlin375]

Late afternoon.

No reason to get up early bear hunting........sleep in, have a nice breakfast/brunch, do a little prospecting and maybe some creek fishing and focus on the bear later in the day. Spring bear hunting anyways. I don't target them in the fall.
The days are so long in June that I think bears party untill 3-4 in the morning and don't get up till things warm up and the dandilions are out around noon.

[elkdom]

anytime from about 3am until near midnight :mrgreen:

[TheProvider]

best time to shoot one is when you see one ya like... I've shot them thru out the day

[BromBones]

All day long is my favorite time to hunt bears. When you really get to know an area, you'll find hotspots that you'll see bears active in for different times of the day.

Evening is nice on hot spring days, usually find the bears are pretty busy then.

Most of the older boars we've killed, blacks and grizz, were very early in the a.m after they were finishing off their nightly prowl.

[BlacktailStalker]

Bear hunting is an afternoon thing for me, anytime after 1, they sure like that spring sun while feeding it seems.
Running bears with hounds is an early morning thing as you can strike their feeding paths and trail them for quite a while before running and finally treeing, all before the heat of the day kicks in which can really be hard on the hounds.

[steel_ram]

First light has never been good. They usually come out when the sun warms the slopes and then doze mid day becoming active again in the evening.

[bc_buckshot]

Well I guess I lost my $50 then. Call me lucky cuz most my bear were taken between 9 to noon. But one I did take late afternoon. One I even got mid April in the snow.Good ole Duffy lake bear

[srupp]

Grizzlies in the am..first hour...

Black bears last hour

biggest black bears last 15 minutes of legal shooting light

Pretty consistant for 3 decades plus..

steven

[buck nash]

It would obviously be best to get one in the morning so you can work in the daylight, but I have seen way more in the afternoon than morning.

[The Dude]

No reason to get up early bear hunting........sleep in, have a nice breakfast/brunch, do a little prospecting and maybe some creek fishing and focus on the bear later in the day. Spring bear hunting anyways. I don't target them in the fall.
The days are so long in June that I think bears party untill 3-4 in the morning and don't get up till things warm up and the dandilions are out around noon.

I like your style, Marlin :D

[RiverOtter]

Usually sightings start picking up around 1PM, but on the most part rat bears. For whatever reason 6:30'ish PM until dark has been my best time for mature bears....

I've seen blacks in the early am as well, but on the most part I don't bother heading out till early afternoon, find good sign(BIG chit/tracks), then hit that area during the best times.

[pronghorn]

I've never got up early to shot a black bear as late afternoon to evening is always worked out great for me.

[Barracuda]

i seen more seen more lone Grizz in the evening then morning . And all the tracking data ive seen seems to support more activity in general in evening for spring summer rather then morning . for black bears evening seems the most fuitfull

[Blainer]

Another for late afternoon

[cdnshooter13]

Guess I'm a bozo! I don't even leave my house till after lunch bears are waaayy more active in the afternoon where I hunt.

[warnniklz]

I usually leave around 10-noon and seen them all afternoon into the evening.

[Westslope]

Late afternoon till dark...another bozo

[upcomer]

Speaking of bears.. Do you need to buy a tag 2 days prior to legally hunting/shooting a bear? I thought i remembered reading something along those lines but i cant find it in the regs. Can anyone clarify? Thanks

[Blainer]

Speaking of bears.. Do you need to buy a tag 2 days prior to legally hunting/shooting a bear? I thought i remembered reading something along those lines but i cant find it in the regs. Can anyone clarify? Thanksnot bear,cat's,sheep,certain species

[RiverOtter]

Definately NOT black bear, I'm not sure on grizz though...

[Sitkaspruce]

When I guided, we would not leave the cabin until 1 or 2. Saw way more bears in the afternoon, especially the big boys are they started to travel their trap line looking for love.....but....

In April/early May, we would get some big bears in the morning by fishing and following the beach and glassing the estuaries as they green up the fastest and the big boys will push out the smaller bears.


Hunt all day as being out there is what is really all about, and don't forget to make it part of your early season scouting.

Cheers

SS

[chilcotin hillbilly]

30% shot before 10 am, 20% from 10am to 5pm, 50% after 5 pm. Oldest boars, last bit of daylight, especially in a heavy traffic area.
Judging by alot of bear photos on this site not many guys hunt the last 1/2 hour of light.

[1980skywalker]

Another bozo here... bears are like people, if the weather is good they are out and active. I am grumpy as hell first thing in the morning and I am sure a bear is too, catch him when the sun has risen and he is out taking advantage of it. I hate to say it but I think your buddies should have posted this thread, I am sure they are having a good laugh right about now...

[hunter1947]

I have found that around 3pm is the best time to find bears out and about..

[coquitlam]

When I hunt bears I always ask my self what would a teenager do , They are just like teenagers ,they sleep in , when they finally wake up they want food and they don`t want to go outside if it`s too hot and just lay around on the couch. I have yet to try baiting with a couch but I bet it would work

[oldkoot]

Buy one of the John Alden Knight solunar table booklets. Watch the Major and Minor feeding times listed. You will be amazed at how consistent it is with bears.

[sledforever]

Going to have to add another to late afternoon. Only got one but it was within the last hour off shooting light. Mostly seen them in the afternoon as well. Not many in the am

[The Silent Stalker]

The bears I have taken have been late in the afternoon, I wake up in the dark, go fishing till noon, have lunch and shoot a few practice arrows and get ready to be stalking by 2-3 in the pm.

[The Hermit]

As a bowhunter I don't like to shoot at game any later than an hour before dark... need time for them to bleed out and thereby reduce risk of bumping them into a much longer tracking session. Around 3pm seems to be golden zone for Van Island bears.

[sawmill]

28 blacks and 2 grizz of my own,double the number for guys hunting with me up at Hazelton in the Bulkley/Skeena drainage.
I never bothered to go out before 4 in the afternoon.

[warnniklz]

Speaking of bears.. Do you need to buy a tag 2 days prior to legally hunting/shooting a bear? I thought i remembered reading something along those lines but i cant find it in the regs. Can anyone clarify? Thanks

says right on the tag... grizzly bear... not black bears

[bruin]

I've found just before lunch, usually around 10:00 am there's a brief feeding period until the day heats up. THere's a definite lull between noon and about 3:00. By 4:00 they're getting up and sightings increase from then until about 15 minutes before true dark. This is always dependant on weather (if its raining, you can find them pretty well all day and predark is best) and time of year. If you're hunting during the rut it can be all day. Just before dark is always best, that's my opinion.

[rattling_junkie]

I think you are wrong about morning. The bears aren't groggy because they just woke up, they are groggy because they have been up all night. Bears are very active at night. As for your question all day during the rut otherwise hunt when you can!

[bruin]

I think you are wrong about morning. The bears aren't groggy because they just woke up, they are groggy because they have been up all night. Bears are very active at night. As for your question all day during the rut otherwise hunt when you can!

What makes you say that? I've spent alot of time driving back from hunting areas in the dark and very very rarely see any bruins.