black bear w/o baiting?

[44charlie]

want to try to get a bear w/o baiting -is it possible?
how do i scout for bear/pattern them

any books out there?

thanks

[Ben Nicholson]

Depends on where you are hunting.  If you are hunting MI or anywhere in the midwest. I'd say your chances are less than .0005% without bait.  Good luck to you no matter how you hunt them.

[Dave Lay]

Actually its doable, here in Arkansas,we dont have a spring season only a fall season. I set the same goal, to shorten a fairly long story,I scouted hard, found where at least one bear was feeding on acorns pretty heavy found where I thought he was hanging out, and killed him as he came in to acorns,a 420lb boar, I have 2 or 3 friends have done the same thing.
Scouting, around here, we cover some ground,  here in the Ozarks, we look for rocks that have been rolled over its pretty easy to age them, try and find fresh rolled ones, its amazing how big a rock a adult bear can roll over looking for grubs and etc. look for droppings, here in October, before the acorns drop, they will climb the trees to get to the acorns, that leaves scars,and sometimes broken limbs try and find a feed source and set up on it if it appears to be a hot area. Watch your wind as you would whitetail hunting. Here in Arkansas the game and fish allow baiting on private land only, But I wanted to kill one without bait. It took a few years but was a very special deal when it finally came together. good luck its doable!

[44charlie]

i might consider baiting to find a bear but i can't see setting over it. why do you think my chances would be so low?
think if i found a creek with salmon i could stalk along it?

[Ben Nicholson]

I'm a very optimistic person, but here in the upper midwest (I've only bear hunted MN) there is no good way to spot and stalk them.  The woods are just too thick.  In MN the success rate has generally below 20% with the vast majority of hunters using bait.

Please don't get me wrong I think it would be cool to get one without bait, but having hunted them with bait (DYI no guide) I know how hard it is and how much work is involved for a fairly low success rate I can't imagine not baiting.  I guess if I was to try without bait I'd find an area with lots of lakes and try to spot one from a boat or canoe then plan a stalk from there.   Again good luck to you!

[kojac]

if your hunting Montana, it's the only legal method.

Spot and stock, spring is a little more predictable than fall.

good luck!!

[woodchucker]

Here in N.Y. baiting is illegal.

However, some guys have had very good luck calling them in using a "fawn in distress" preditor call. Hopefully Mr. Bill Curliss will chime in.....He called in and shot a beautiful Catskill Mountain Black Bear last fall!!!!!

[Terry Green]

Tuff hunting, but very rewarding just sighting the critters.

He's what little I know.....

Hunt white oaks....big ones. Try and find some on a Mt. top, knoll, ridge or long slopping lead. Personally, I haven't had as much luck hunting IN the bottoms. I think they must work their way down, and get in the bottoms after dark. I have had luck with major leads that end up in the bottoms.

The bears will most likely be climbing the white oaks the 1st two weeks of the season, then gathering underneath the rest of the season.

Try your best to find white oaks with claw marks and white oak groves with lots of scat and other bear sign. If more than one bear is using the area, then your odds of a sighting are increased dramatically.

Travel funnels between two oak groves is also a great place to set up if you can't decide which tree they are bound to hit. Look for trails twice as wide as deer trails, and a bear trail will have a 'packed down' texture vs the crunched up of a deer trail.

Pre scouting a week or days before the season opens is much more productive than 2 weeks before.

The best tip I can give you is to hunt a single tree with lots of scat near it....BUT!!!, you must find at least one fresh pile....how fresh? With flies on it!!!...if a pile aint got flies on it, I keep a walking.

Sparse acorn crop?...gotta wear out some boot leather to find the few trees that are producing. Can be tuff to find, but once you do, the bears will be there.

Normal acorn crop?....sign will be easier to find since the bears are moving a lot from tree to tree, and scattered about a bit more.

If we have a drought?...and all the acorns fall just before the season?....then I don't commit to any trees or groves, I walk and walk and walk, cause the bears will not have to move for food, you will have to find them. Walk travel routes like mentioned before, but try to walk those with known running water near by, since water will be scarce during a drought as well.

Afternoons are better than mornings, but that don't keep me from hunting mornings. I've seen them as late as 10 am.

While walking in, pay attention to 'loud squirrels' in the trees...they may be a bear. If so, stalk the tree from down wind, and wait for the bear to climb down. Now, pay attention to the tree, you may need to get cross wind. If the tree is straight with no obstructions, there's no telling where he'll climb down. But, if the tree is leaning, or on the side of a steep ridge, or has some obstruction to one side, the bear will take the easy route down at the base.....clear from obstruction, up hill side, or least steep side if the tree is leaning. So, set up accordingly the best you can with the wind still in your favor.

The early season seems to congregate bears in higher elevations, and they work there way down in elevation, since the acorns will mature earlier up hi. Now bear in mind, that some times there is a late freeze in the spring, so those higher elevations will be void of sign due to the buds getting nipped. If that is the case, then move down the mountain a 1/3 of the way, and scout your way down. However, I have seen bears low the 1st part of the season, so the higher elevation is a guideline, not written in stone.

Two weeks before the season will be the tailing end of the last 'patten' before the acorn feed, and might be tempting, but don't fall for it. If you scout early, you will possibly find sign in berry patches, around wild cherry trees, and in dead pine groves the pine beetles devoured because of the grubs in the rotting pines. Unless you are in the highest elevations in GA, this should be what you will find. If you are in the highest elevations, then you should find them already on the acorns unless of course there was a late freeze in that area.

Another thing to look for is saddle ridges between two tops....or connecting leads. The right ones will have a trail suddenly appear as the knoll narrows through the saddle, and then it will disappear just as quick as it nears the next knoll or lead.

Seems the bears pilfer around these ridge tops, and use the 'spines' to travel to the next 'pilfering' area.

These trails can be 100 yards long, or 1000, but the trails will be packed down, not 'crunched' up like deer trails, and wide....and, most likely, it will meander by every mature white oak along the way.

One more thing.....

If you do decide to hunt in the Morning....and you have a REALLY hot spot....don't go 'into' it while its still dark. Lay back a little distance till dawn, and ease in there.....that way you wont blow em out...and you will have the added thrill of an early morning stalk.

[SteveMcD]

I have hunted black bears over the years without baiting in N.Y. and Pennsylvania. And it is very doable. Pretty much what Terry and others have said. In the North Country Beech Tree ridges are good bets too. Bears spend a lot of time searching for ants, beetles, grubs and the like.. areas occupied by bears will have lots of overturned and torn apart logs and stumps too.  Bears are known to mark their core area on a single tree that looks more like a scratching post.

[SteveMcD]

Oh, yes.. one more thing. Using a dying rabbit call or fawn bleat works well too.

[longbowman]

As stated above, it's doable and extremely rewarding.  I managed to kill a huge bear in Montana after a stalk that my wife got to watch me do and it is still a thrill I'll never forget.  The ey sight is in your favor but noise and scent is the bears all the way.  I've had deer see me move and I still continued my stalk and killed them.  I've had deer hear me and did the same.  On bear, I've made a sound and they just left right now.  Have fun!

[TheArc]

You can't bait in CA. I have called in bears and spot and stalked successfully several times. Calling with a fawn bleat works best for me. It is no less doable than hunting deer without timed feeders, etc.

[last arrow]

It is do-able in Michigan's UP also.  When attending Tech, me and some buddies where able to find trails actively used by bears and would have occasional sitings.  While I never connected, one of my Friends did.  In the brushy settings of the UP, you need to make a quick decision and it is close shooting when you do get the chance.

Good luck

[Dave2old]

44 -- I admire you for wanting to do it right. My 2 sents: unbaited bear is the only bear that counts. Lots of good advice above, Terry G. and calling, and I won't add any since I'm a westerner, except to say that the deepest value of all hunting is developing woodsmanship, and the more we study and learn about our game, and about our own motivations for hunting, and the more time we spend in the woods doing it, rather than here quibbling about it, the better woodsmen, hunters. and humans we become. Kills don't mean squat if we learn nothing of where we come from and who we really are from them. It is how we hunt. You are on the right track and more power to you. Nothing ever is gained by saying "it can't be done other than the way I've done it." Dave

[Terry Green]

I'd like to add.....that that info was cut and pasted from a post I made on the Cohutta Wilderness thread,.....and pertains to N GA.  But, those tactics could work elsewhere in the eastern Mts I suppose.

I also think this is worth reading again.....

"I won't add any since I'm a westerner, except to say that the deepest value of all hunting is developing woodsmanship, and the more we study and learn about our game, and about our own motivations for hunting, and the more time we spend in the woods doing it, rather than here quibbling about it, the better woodsmen, hunters. and humans we become. Kills don't mean squat if we learn nothing of where we come from and who we really are from them. It is how we hunt. You are on the right track and more power to you. Nothing ever is gained by saying "it can't be done other than the way I've done it." Dave"

Well spoken Sir Dave!  

[ishiwannabe]

Good stuff all the way around. I know in my neck of the woods, apples and wild grapes seem to be a huge food source.....as do the neighbors's burn barrels....pet food, etc. I have yet to connect with a bear. Thanks for the good reading everyone.

[Herry]

i've called in a bear with a predator call and another one with a cow elk call.  pretty fun to see them coming in. i arrowed one. the other winded me at 80 yards and bolted.  

calling bears is fun.