Hey man, my approach on bears, which has led to several pass ups, has been to still-hunt through broad areas of oak Forest (white or red it does NOT matter. White is best if it's a mast year and you can find enough of them however).
Spend a week at least, still hunting 8 hours per day (bears actually feed at noon up here (not sure how the heat affects them down there though).
If it's dry, you can still still-hunt despite the noise. Just go slower and don't worry so much about the crunches unless it's dead a dead quiet day. But MIND THE WIND! Larger bears don't have many predators and are a nose-oriented animal and hence sometimes can he a bit unaware when gorging on a food supply and you can get away with a bit of noise and movement while stalking. But the nose is what you want to be careful of.
I have had really good luck with fruit trees/groves on pieces of abandoned homesteads that are hidden away in now regrown state forested areas up here.
A strategy I used last year up here in the mountains during the quietest days was to mark fruit groves on my topographic map, and then look on the map for surrounding funnels like saddles, benches, pinch points, etc leading towards the food source (or water source) (see Jim hamms book on deer hunting and read the funnel chapter to learn how to recognize funnels from topographic map). Take a novel and sit all day on the heaviest traveled funnels. A bear could come through at any time (you'll see a ton of deer too). If it's an abandoned fruit grove, and you find bear crap at a funnel, and it's full of apple stems then you are golden. He will come through there again. You just need to be there.
Also, water is scarce up high in the mountains because the peaks and ridges are above the water table. Usually there are seeps down on the mid-slopes and there will be streams in the valleys.
Streams are not good for sitting but excellent for still hunting because they mask noise and ease your travel and provide access to quite a bit of country along their length.
However, If you can find a seep on the mid slope of an oak ridge or ravine head (i.e. stream sources), then you will see every type of animal known to man visiting it. (It's how I squirrel hunt with my bow). You might have luck with any adjacent funnels to the seep as well. But the seep is the magnet because all animals at higher elevation will be making trips there as it is the nearest water source.
Also, bears go where the food is (they're basically just a stomach and nose with legs in a lot of ways)
When there's no fruit or nuts, they wander about turning over rocks and shredding logs for insects and grubs, etc. The only thing productive at this time is still-hunting. But when a good source ripens (like cherries in summer or oaks in fall) they flock to forests with those species and gorge for weeks until it's past (often having shifted seasonal home range by miles) When it's acorns, same. Apples, same. Spring greenup they flock to South facing field slopes for the tender grasses same.
Also, sign you find in summer will be irrelevant in fall because they will likely have migrated toward oak forests or fruit groves that were devoid of food during summer and vice versa. (But sign found in summer can indicate there is a bear population and you should be trying to figure out the nearest fall food source from there). When I scout I look less at bear sign and more for food sources that will be producing in fall (fruit orchards, abandoned fruit groves, oak Forest, isolated water sources, and all funnels within and surrounding them. This will require boots on the ground every weekend for several months prior to season. And also plenty of time at home with your nose pointed at maps.
Hope this helps.
Topic: DIY Black Bear Hunt South Carolina Mountains (Read 1992 times)
