What Week Would You Bear Hunt?

[dan]

From my observations it seems bears get less and less active as it gets later in the year. 1st week seems best to me then it drops off more and more as time goes by. I like the 1st week.

Interesting, that wasn't the answer I expected. I'll have to give that more serious thought then. I was kinda expecting to get a pep talk on why later is better as bear forge on increasingly scarcer food sources before hibernating. Thanks as always Dan.

Over the many years of dealing with bears, patterns start to develop, it is my experience as the foliage starts to shrink (less foliage & natural food sources) so does daytime activity. One of the bigger reasons why I would hunt early in the season is: later in the season, when cooler weather sets in, you would think there feeding would increase, but it doesn't, it slows down, its mother natures way of telling that bear "you will burn more fat reserves looking for food than what you will take in". We have had bait stations totally shut down as cooler weather sets in but if there a 2 day or even a 3 day stretch of unseasonably warm weather sets in, those bait station explode with activity, as cooler weather sets back in they shut down again.

So if I were you, your best chances are hunt early when there's still some sort of natural food source out there. I think that would be your best chances at seeing a bear at that time of year. Good luck

Mike thats a real good tip about the short warm spell. I remembered you telling me about that once and After that I paid attention and you are spot on...

[Octang]

I would get upwind of thick swampy areas likely to hold bear and spray scent to the crosswinds to a spot each direction you can shoot. . Nothing comes in, next day hit a new spot. I think Jim had an excellent idea about checking with canoe outfitters and the DNR about complaints...

Interesting tip. I was planning to pick a spot to hunt and ride it out for the week, scenting that same location each day. Though I didn't like the idea of all my eggs being in one basket like that, I figured it was better to keep one area consistently scented instead of jumping around being a moving target.

If it has an equal or better chance of improving success, I much more like your idea of hitting a new spot.

My brother in law will be coming up there with me (without a bear tag), while I am in the stand I think I'll have him paddle around the area to see if any bears are coming to take drink before dusk. I know that is a popular way to hunt them in parts of Alaska and figured getting eyes on one could set me up for a good hunt the next day potentially.

And yeah, calling the location station in Ely to inquire about Bear activity is definitely high on my to-do list this summer.

There is really some good info in this thread and I appreciate it.

[BassBoysLLP]

From my observations it seems bears get less and less active as it gets later in the year. 1st week seems best to me then it drops off more and more as time goes by. I like the 1st week.

Interesting, that wasn't the answer I expected. I'll have to give that more serious thought then. I was kinda expecting to get a pep talk on why later is better as bear forge on increasingly scarcer food sources before hibernating. Thanks as always Dan.

Over the many years of dealing with bears, patterns start to develop, it is my experience as the foliage starts to shrink (less foliage & natural food sources) so does daytime activity. One of the bigger reasons why I would hunt early in the season is: later in the season, when cooler weather sets in, you would think there feeding would increase, but it doesn't, it slows down, its mother natures way of telling that bear "you will burn more fat reserves looking for food than what you will take in". We have had bait stations totally shut down as cooler weather sets in but if there a 2 day or even a 3 day stretch of unseasonably warm weather sets in, those bait station explode with activity, as cooler weather sets back in they shut down again.

So if I were you, your best chances are hunt early when there's still some sort of natural food source out there. I think that would be your best chances at seeing a bear at that time of year. Good luck

Mike thats a real good tip about the short warm spell. I remembered you telling me about that once and After that I paid attention and you are spot on...

Never heard that before but I like it. I hate deer hunting in warm weather. Sounds like a great reason to default to bear hunting!