Bowsite.com

Bear Hunting Strategies

What are some good bear hunting strategies that you guys used and that worked. Any tips for archery bear would be amazing.

For me I have had decent luck spot and stalk, and I have had quite a few come thru wallows while sitting for elk.

With probably over 30 bear tags unpunched in Colorado, my suggestion would be to try Canada...

Heck, I have stalked and shot bears in NM and AZ, been darn close in Alaska and shot them over bait in Saskatchewan, but can’t find one in CO!

Water sources, unmoved gut piles, berry patches seem to be the most frequented locations for bear. For rifle hunting or bowhunting if you can stalk well, watch the wind and move slowly but work a lot of area with acorns, berries, or some other food source. Shots can be tough in the dense brush so have a way to shoot standing. Observe the animal for a while before you shoot to be sure it's a sow with no cubs, or a boar.

One hunter on this site called one in, he might chime in with how he did it.

Find an area with a lot of oak brush and just still hunt through it. You will probably see some bears in that stuff and get some close encounters. Good luck!

Thanks! Any thing else?

Great advice already given. My only adds are if you are strictly targeting bears and not just carrying a bear tag while elk hunting then talk to every camp you see and give them your cell # to contact you if they get an elk or deer down and can mark the gut pile. That's your best chance. If not scout drainages that have acorns if you are hunting an area with oak brush. With the drought we've had acorns will be scarce. If you find a draw that has mature acorns you will find bears. In drought years some drainages will have no acorns, while a few have good acorn crops. This narrows the playing field a little bit.

I've called them in with a lost calf call. Called one across a quarter mile of sagebrush once, and shot him. Predator calls also work. The guys who call them in a lot (Wayne Carlton) say you need to call steadily and not give up because the bears take their time getting there and lose interest if the calling stops.

Then again, like the CPW WCO in Steamboat remarked when we checked one in once, "Looks like your bear hunting improved after you killed an elk, eh?!"

Try covering yourself head to toe in peanut butter and strawberry jelly before heading out for your hunt.

Waterholes are money. Find a waterhole and put up a tree stand. Most of the bears we see come in to the water at the hottest time of the day. My last bear came in to the water hour before dark.

The area we are hunting in is only oak brush. And its super thick.

You can call bear to you. I have never been able to close the deal, but have called several close. The few times I have tried this, I was in thick stuff and I knew that there was a bear. The call sound I use is a loss calf. One time I almost had the bear step on me. It is amazing how quite they can be when they want to. I was setup in oak brush, on one side of a really small opening. I was watching the trail that I thought he was going to come in on when I heard a sound little behind and left of where I was. The bear had circled around and now was 20 feet away in the thick stuff coming for the calf. When we made eye contact he turned and crashed out of there. I had go and change my drawers.

I think that I am most likely going to use a waterhole because I have a deer tag, elk tag, and bear tag. I am going the 25th so calling elk should not work but all those animals need to drink. I'm thinking about sitting by a waterhole.

Sounds like a plan! Good luck!

Thanks!!!

Register here to reply to this topic