Tracking bears
 

Hello guys, I'd like to track down a bear instead of luring him to my feeder.

Do you think that this is something possible or is this mostly not?

If you have enough property it's possible. If you're property size is limited, and the bear leaves the property you're out of luck. I've only been bear hunting the last couple seasons. And I figure when I finally get snow during the season it will be my best chance at getting one. I often cut tracks in the winter. But my season is mid November and I haven't hunted a season with snow yet.
-Jake

There's virtually no terrain size limit so this won't be an issue. There's a spring and autumn season but I doubt there would be any snow. I'll have to track from feces, tracks, bedding etc.

Sounds like a cool challenge, let's see if it will still be that cool then

I seriously doubt that anyone could track a bear when there is no snow on the ground. I have property and a lot of other huntable land up in northern MI in good bear country and hardly ever see a track or any other evidence of them even being around. I've actually only run into a couple in the 43 years I've had the property and one was last year just at daylight on the way to my first set in May during our turkey season.

a bear will wander 5-9 miles on average per night, good luck
RR

Yeah that's what I feared. Tracks are a no go. How about calling?

Also, does bears stay around a same area even though they wander that much ?

Bait and dogs are illegal in Colorado. So we have a few choices to hunt bears.

One is to try and still hunt into natural food areas. It's mostly what I uses. I scout before the season for berries, and come hunting season I try to catch one feeding.

The second way is probably the most popular. Spot and stalk. Just like you'd do for elk and deer.

The 3rd way is to call them in. This can be exciting and i've tried it. If you can get a bar to come in to a call it will either come in sneaky and you have to be careful it doesn't come in behind you. That seldom happens, because if you're playing the wind right the bear will catch your scent long before you see them. Sometimes a bog boar will come charging straight into you. Be ready, because it thinks you're a meal.


To just find tracks and try to track one? That's a real longshot. I doubt you'd ever be successful. Bears are way too smart for that and they have a nose better than any other game. Plus, they cover so much ground you'd be tracking forever and never catch up. Without you ever being aware of it the bear would be tracking you. Are you talking grizzly or black bear?

Of course you're always looking for bear tracks to see if they're in the area, but not so much to follow them unless they're headed for a known food source that you know about. Then it's time to put on the sneak.

Tracking a specific bruin is probably an impossibility. I have taken a few by spot and stalk after glassing them though.

When I was a young 20 yr old hunter I cut a nice bear track in the snow. I followed it and went through some of the thickest nasty swamps and thickets. I continued on for hours and the tracks came to a tree and the bear wasn't up there. I couldn't figure it out and then looked close at the tracks and the bear must have known I was following and back tracked for about 100 ft then jumped over a blow down and was off on another direction. I continued to follow and came to a steep hill. I went slowly along the track and finally came to the top. I could see a big area where the bear sat and watched me meandering along its track way below before I even got to the hill. I was getting tired and knew I wouldn't catch it and went back to camp. When I told the story to a couple of old timers who were the owners of the camp they burst out laughing and said ....boy...don't you know you can't track down a bear they are too smart. I am thinking they were right and never tried again.

Thanks all for sharing ! Well I guess that settle that. Calling near natural food areas will be my focus. Would have loved to spot and stalk but the terrain doesn't allow that here.

You don't have to call from natural food sources. You can call from an ywhere you think bears will be. Which is almost anywhere since they move around so much.

Natural food sources if where you can sneak up on them.

Got it, I'm a bit worried on using predator call such as a fawn in distress. There's a lot of coyotes and wolves and I might end up luring in a pack of unexpected guest. Might be overwhelmed even with a fully loaded 30-30 ;)

You'll bring in all the predators. Lions, bobcats, bears, coyotes etc.

Just shoo away the ones you don't want. I always have a small game licence that's good all year here. If a coyote comes in....bang! The rest are safe.

The more experienced guys are saying no go on the tracking. I still hope to give it a try someday in the snow. I regularly shoot whitetail this way.... total different game I'm sure. In my area I could sit a long time before ever seeing a bear. Most people get together in groups and drive them and do pretty good. I still hope to try tracking one if I can ever cut across a track when I have snow.
-Jake

Hard to do when PA only has a 3 or 4 day bear season.

You might have a chance in the snow, but remember to not be right on the track. Stay downwind of them, as you would tracking an elk or deer. Just close enough to still see the track or circle out 40 yards or so and back every now and then to make sure you are still parallel. Remember you are more likely to find the animal bedded away from the track, so don't stare at the track but keep eyes up and ahead (parallel and downwind) Bears will hook back around, down wind, so they can see their back trail and let their nose warn them of approaching danger. I've never tracked one, but it has been done by others. Apparently seeing the bear is a rare occasion. Getting a shot is rarer yet. Either way, you can learn a lot about an animal by tracking for several hours--shot or no shot in the end.

Bear crap on the horse trail. Wonder how fresh that is? Right around the corner the bear. Yep I tracked a bear. ;)

x2 on tracking a bear without snow on the ground!

How's the wrist coming along? By now I hope you're up to using the compound bow again.

I'm back to 100%. I'm done deer hunting for the season so I'll have to wait for turkey season to hunt with my compound.