Idaho fall bear
 

Where to start? I'm snakebit on bear so far. Hunted on three occasions over three years in east TN with hounds and a guide. No luck. Took a decade off to get a few things done and now I'm back in the saddle so to speak. I applied for a controlled hunt in Idaho and did not get drawn. Went ahead and purchased 2 over the counter tags for bear and 3 for wolf. Now to decide which unit.

One bear tag is regular so I can hunt any unit for it. I also have three wolf tags and can hunt any unit. Ecallers are legal for wolves statewide so I could use one as long as I have a wolf tag in my pocket. I am not tied to any unit to be honest, I would just like a pelt. Color phase would be great but not required. Any color would be fine for my first bear.

I will be hunting from a GMC Envoy, 2wd. I will be in state 5 days starting Monday, September 16 through Friday, September 20. I am 52 with a sort of bad knee and a sort of bad back. As little hiking as possible. I can hike long distances 2-5 miles, but carrying hide/meat out would be a real task.

Anyone had any luck with bear? Fall or spring makes no difference to me, I just would like a bear to add to the list. Any and all help is appreciated.

The easiest way to get a bear would be to go to a state like Maine and use a guide to hunt over bait.

Canada as well. However, this requires long hours on the stand and some people don't want to hunt over bait.

These hunts are on the cheaper side of guided hunts though and most people could save up enough money to get the best opportunity at a bear.

I haven't done one yet, but I've been considering taking my bow one of these years and doing it. As I don't see myself ever having an archery opportunity at a bear on my own.

Maybe by luck in PA. but it would be unlikely.

-Jake
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I can bait in Idaho in about half the units. I was hoping not to have to carry a bunch of bait in but I may end up doing it.

My recommendation for a baited, guided hunt was in response to you just wanting to add a bear to the list. A guide who's running stands and baits year round is as close to a sure thing as you can get in the bear world.

On a 5 day hunt in unfamiliar country I wouldn't personally bother trying to bait.

I'd get high early and glass as much as I could. They should be feeding hard that time of year.

-Jake

You have an elk tag? Elk gut piles are good area's to wait for a bear obviously, plus the only toting your doing is back to the rig with wonderful meat.

No elk or deer tag. Only wolf and Bear.

Not all of Canada has bear hunting over bait. I have hunted British Columbia for bear and it is illegal to bait them there. It is all spot and stalk. Both times I went there I saw a lot of bear and both times I took a good bear. I have a chocolate phase black bear that squares 7'1" and a jet black one that squares an even 7" taken on spot and stalk hunts there.

Nice bears

Thanks so much guys.

Nice bears.

After speaking to folks on various forums, I've about decided to hunt in 12 and set up at least one bait. Glass and call during the day and sit a stand in the evening. One of my friends practically demanded I use his fancy e-caller. I'll use mostly popcorn so I can easily carry it.

I am a dedicated (and addicted) bear hunter, and I usually hunt over bait. Up here in New England, the only method more effective than bait is hounds. The difference is substantial - 80% success on hounds is not unheard of. Baiting seems to be more in the 25% success area.

Spot and stalk or still hunting bear in the thick woods is an exercise in futility. Most of the people who tag bears this way are deer hunters who happen upon a bear by chance.

For your first bear hunt, give baiting or hounding a try.

Idaho bear hunt update. Where to start? LOL

Car barfed on me for 9 hours in Missouri. No explanation for why it quit in the middle of the night and made me push it off the road, no explanation for why it started again the next morning right before the tow truck got there. Three days of driving up. Set up baits in a few likely spots. It got real interesting after that. I could not keep up with the baits once they were being hit (2 took 24 hours, 1 was hit the first night). One of them was dug out 6+ feet deep and 12' long in one night where I had poured some strawberry syrup down the stump hole.

I called for the rest of the day after setting out my baits. Called up half a dozen coyotes, a very nice mountain lion and 2 bobcats (they were together), I guess they could have been lynx as I was not close enough to tell the difference. No bear and no wolves. I had intended to get up before dawn and listen for wolves up near the peaks of the mountains but I was too tired and never did.

Went to check my baits again the following morning and all of them needed replenishing. After I replenished the last one I went back to the first one only to find the gate to the road locked. It was washed out about half a mile past my bait. I put on my pack and walked the mile in to it. Not paying any attention and not knowing exactly where it was, I walked up on and spooked two large black males. I sat down and watched it for about 20 minutes and a large male comes into it. I watch him for 10 minutes or so and he stretches up against a tree and I squeezed a shot off right between his shoulders. He went back to all fours just as a fired and I shot right over him. I walked the mile back out as it was getting dark and was at the ranger station the next morning. After explaining my dilemma to the ranger he gave me a visitor's permit and a key to the gate so I could retrieve my bait. I went back there and sat for a while but no bears. At lunch I went and checked my other baits. I gave up on one of them because I was unable to keep up with the demand and replenished the remaining one.

I had been carrying a .308 semi and a pistol but I was carrying more bait in so I opted for a bolt action and left the pistol in the truck. I went back to the truck, ate lunch and went to sit the bait for the afternoon. In the 15 minutes that I was at the truck, the largest bear I have ever seen in my life had moved in on the bait. I sat and watched for a while as the wind was right and here comes three little 35 pound fuzzballs. I was thinking there was no way that bear could be a sow but it was. I continued to watch them for 30 minutes. The wind shifted and I knew she was going to wind me and she did. The three bobble heads went up a tree and she went into a frenzy. I don't think she could see me but she was making a mess of the place huffing non-stop, running off for 80 yards or so and running back down the mountain to the bait area. I got tired of it and was going to move out to the truck and go to another bait. She had other ideas. the first charge started at 30 yards and ended when I fired a round into the ground between her front feet at about 10 feet. That stopped her but did not run her off. She proceeded to tear down and stomp into pieces every tree in a ten yard area less than 8". She and I had a yelling match, a calm conversation, a screaming match and then another calm conversation. I fired another round into the ground between her feet when she charged me the second time at about 8 yards. She went back to the bait and sat down on top of it. I tried easing out but she blocked me again and I had to be ready to shoot if needed. I could not back up the mountain to my truck with my chair in hand so I ended up leaving a perfectly good chair in the woods when she finally let me ease out after a two hour standoff in a thicket on the side of a godawful hill in Idaho.

When I got to the truck, I took off my hunting gear, put on some khakis and a knit shirt and drove home. I still wanted a bear rug but not bad enough to kill a bear and take it off of it. At that point in time, all I wanted to do was go home and hug my family. So that's exactly what I did. I left three days early - lol. All told I saw 11 bears including the three cubs.

Now - someone help me find an antelope hunt.