Best places to see and maybe hunt bears?

Bushpig4Ever · Mar 9, 2019

After reading books on bears (Herrero, Kaniut, Hron and mainly Shelton), I would like to see them in the wild, only know bears from zoos. What areas do you recommend? What about Yellowstone? I have been to Montana before but there was not time for Yellowstone 'cause I also visited Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming, time was a limiting factor. What about Bella Coola, BC, regarding bears? Seems to be a beautiful area and full of bears or am I wrong? What areas have the highest concentration of bears?

When it comes to hunting black bear, what places and outfitters do you recommend? Looking forward to good advise.

brandondd24 · Mar 9, 2019

Im from Wisconsin, seen a few black bears in the wild but not too common, the family took a trip to Yellowstone a few years back, seen lots in the wild. The most I’ve seen in the wild was in Alaska on a fishing trip.

gillettehunter · Mar 9, 2019

There are bears in Yellowstone. The time of year you go will affect sightings. Mid summer is worst. Between the heat and extreme amount of tourists its hard to see much wildlife. Early in the year and you should be successful if you spend a few days looking.
As far as hunting them you might talk to a couple of booking agents for suggestions. Several other web sites have hunt reports that might get you in the right direction.
Bruce

VonJager · Mar 9, 2019

I guess it depends on what you are looking for in a bear hunt. Bait and hounds work, but some states do not allow. Spot and stalk works but not as successful as bait or hounds.

I did a very reasonably priced fall hound hunt in Maine in 2013.

Idaho and New Mexico have high color phase chance( I am sure some other states do to.)

I have looked into a boat based coastal black bear hunt in Alaska, bait hunts in Canada. Prices vary but reasonable hunts can be found.

North Carolina produces some MONSTERS, but in a very specific couple of counties.

VonJager · Mar 9, 2019

Ridgewalker · Mar 9, 2019

Take a boat around the Kenai Penninsula in the fall out of Homer, AK. I did a black bear hunt there and in three days saw 40+ bears on or near the beaches.

Search on AH for a good story someone did on the inside passage and got a great black bear!

If you want to see brown bears, I’d go to Hyder, AK again in September when they are trying to fatten up for the winter. Hyder has a Park with a walkway and ranger carrying a large caliber rifle to protect the bears from the tourists

! We even had one walking around in the RV Park we were in.

And yes Yellowstone driving the road around it.

Also just driving through BC, Canada I’ve seen lots particularly early and late in the day.

To bad I don’t still have my place out of Boulder, CO. We had them daily most October’s trying to get into our trash shed, or emptying our trash cans when we put them out for pickup as well as nocking over the grill to get to the grease trap and lick the grill.

JMT on where I have seen lots of them. Fall and spring are the best times IMO.

Good luck in your pursuit!

cmnhunt · Mar 9, 2019

Bushpig4Ever said:
After reading books on bears (Herrero, Kaniut, Hron and mainly Shelton), I would like to see them in the wild, only know bears from zoos. What areas do you recommend? What about Yellowstone? I have been to Montana before but there was not time for Yellowstone 'cause I also visited Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming, time was a limiting factor. What about Bella Coola, BC, regarding bears? Seems to be a beautiful area and full of bears or am I wrong? What areas have the highest concentration of bears?

When it comes to hunting black bear, what places and outfitters do you recommend? Looking forward to good advise.

There are multiple good places to go and see. If you want to just look at bears you can take a trip to Alaska and watch bears from your car on the tops of mountains eating blueberries in the fall. Or if you want to hunt, you can find anything from boat hunts in SE Alaska, the Kenai peninsula, or as an add on to an interior Alaska hunt. If you want to bait hunt, Alaska, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec, New Foundland will all work. You should be able to find a very reasonable price. Also, spot and stalk in BC. Black Bear are very numerous in Canada and Alaska.

BRICKBURN · Mar 9, 2019

BC boasts one of the highest populations of black bears in the world, with a population between 120 and 150 thousand animals.

No baiting allowed of bears in BC and it's not needed. Hunting is largely spot and stalk and the bears are often glassed in clear cuts and old logging slashes.

Bella Coola, BC. is a very pretty area.

Outfitters?
There are 145 Outfitters in BC that offer Black Bear Hunting.
The search on the Guides and Outfitters website.
https://www.goabc.org/members-direc...location_id=0&location_id_path=&submit=Search

meigsbucks · Mar 9, 2019

I’ve taken two spot and stalk black bears in Northwest Montana: Thompson Falls and Superior areas. Some color phase. My outfitter is now retired.
If you want good sized bears over bait, try Saskatchewan. My buddy has hunted with Charlie Oys 414-704-2991. He’s taken nice bears the past three years, including color phase.

Red Leg · Mar 9, 2019

I have a couple trip reports posted about hunting black bear in British Columbia. Fabulous experience, where we saw lots of bears and took several fine animals. As Brickburn notes, all spot and stalk hunting in some of the most amazing terrain on the continent.

Nevada Mike · Mar 29, 2019

I think the best black bear hunting is spring spot and stalk. There are lots of black bears in the Snake River canyon between Idaho and Oregon. Vancouver Island is another place to take a really nice black bear.

If you want to see grizzlies go to Yellowstone or Glacier National Parks. I would go in the Fall.

If you want to hunt grizzlies - go to Alaska. British Columbia has closed grizzly hunting province wide. AFAIK there are no legal grizzly hunts in the lower 48 states.

Steve Ausband · Mar 30, 2019

There's a five-county area in northeastern North Carolina that probably has the highest concentration of black bears in the world, as well as some of the largest. It's an area of maybe 3,200 square miles, much of it swamps, lakes, thick scrub, and farmland. Not unusual to see 10-20 bears on "bear watching tours" in a day, depending on when you go. For hunting, you might check Dare To Hyde outfitters.

Rick Cox · Apr 2, 2019

Sounds like @Ridgewalker and @BRICKBURN have pretty well covered the best bases.

WAB · Apr 2, 2019

I shot some pretty nice black bear in Alaska. We ran our own boat down the coast.

Lee M · Apr 2, 2019

I read an article that PA and WI have produced the most record book entries recently. But Canada and Alaska would be great hunts.

Best places to see and maybe hunt bears?

Bushpig4Ever

brandondd24

gillettehunter

VonJager

VonJager

Ridgewalker

cmnhunt

BRICKBURN

meigsbucks

Red Leg

Nevada Mike

Steve Ausband

Rick Cox

WAB

Lee M

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