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Old 05-25-2020, 06:13 PM
Abe89 Abe89 is offline
 
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Default Bear: Looking for new ideas

I’ve been out for bear every year for the past 4-5 seasons (I should mention thats when I picked up hunting) usually a 4 day solo backpack spot and stalk, and maybe a few day trips depending on a busy work/family balance. We haven’t had to buy meat once with what I’ve been blessed to put away.
I don’t have time to run a bait site, and I’m very slowly finding good areas for spot and stalk.
I’ve slowly been learning, zeroing in on spots, but for 4-5 years I’ve only seen 5 bear, 3 of those a sow with two cubs, and all within the same day.
I’ve spent 2 full days this season glassing miles of basins and ridglines that I could see from one spot, saw no shortage of game, no bear. Did a day trip, burned tons of boot leather, would sit and glass 10-20 min every time a new perspective opened up, often into the same clearings, as I moved up the ridge. Again, I’m seeing no shortage of game, many elk in the new grass coming up. I hiked through some areas like this looking specifically for sign...not a sniffle
I gravitate towards southern Alberta as I have better times finding glassing spots, (I’ve spent some time trying west of rocky but after spending a few trips busting my ass through blow downs only to find the clearing on my sat picture was 10-15 year old regrowth....saw lots of bear sign but without bait how do you hunt that??? Literally, fought blow downs for 2hrs to travel 1/4 mile).
Anyway, should I change it up? Keep on keeping on? I’m open to ideas! I’ve got one maybe two more days to give it this season and we’re running low on the elk I shot last fall....cheers!


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  #2  
Old 05-25-2020, 06:21 PM
Abe89 Abe89 is offline
 
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I should mention in predominantly a public land guy. I haven’t had very many positive experiences with private land.


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  #3  
Old 05-25-2020, 06:31 PM
Battle Rat Battle Rat is offline
 
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Pipelines that are not too old and over grown with grass that are surrounded by heavy forest.
Evenings are the best but early mornings can produce activity also.
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Old 05-25-2020, 08:22 PM
Xiph0id Xiph0id is offline
 
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What area are you from?

I see lots when hunting deer, up north.
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  #5  
Old 05-25-2020, 08:53 PM
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3blade 3blade is offline
 
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Drive north, as in north of hwy 16. Have tire chains and a winch, it gets pretty muddy. Pick out cutlines that go for a ways, hike over the first or second rise if you really feel like it, but lots of times you will see them from the roads. Don’t slam on the brakes, just let it coast to a stop and get out quietly.

Chat with the guys driving work trucks and ask where they are having problems.

Southern AB has black bears that are eaten by grizzlys and chased by Calgary hunters, they learn not to be in the open.

Now finding black bears in the fall is a whole different story. I’m only interested in a blueberry-fattened blubber bear, and have yet to see one after July. Go figure
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Old 05-25-2020, 10:18 PM
Abe89 Abe89 is offline
 
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Appreciate it folks thanks.


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Old 05-25-2020, 10:19 PM
wildwoods wildwoods is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 3blade View Post
Drive north, as in north of hwy 16. Have tire chains and a winch, it gets pretty muddy. Pick out cutlines that go for a ways, hike over the first or second rise if you really feel like it, but lots of times you will see them from the roads. Don’t slam on the brakes, just let it coast to a stop and get out quietly.

Chat with the guys driving work trucks and ask where they are having problems.

Southern AB has black bears that are eaten by grizzlys and chased by Calgary hunters, they learn not to be in the open.

Now finding black bears in the fall is a whole different story. I’m only interested in a blueberry-fattened blubber bear, and have yet to see one after July. Go figure
This is excellent advise^^^
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Old 05-25-2020, 10:24 PM
skidderman skidderman is online now
 
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I went out one day. Saw four just driving around early morning and evening. No shortage.
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Old 05-26-2020, 07:39 AM
st99 st99 is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 3blade View Post
Drive north, as in north of hwy 16. Have tire chains and a winch, it gets pretty muddy. Pick out cutlines that go for a ways, hike over the first or second rise if you really feel like it, but lots of times you will see them from the roads. Don’t slam on the brakes, just let it coast to a stop and get out quietly.

Chat with the guys driving work trucks and ask where they are having problems.

Southern AB has black bears that are eaten by grizzlys and chased by Calgary hunters, they learn not to be in the open.

Now finding black bears in the fall is a whole different story. I’m only interested in a blueberry-fattened blubber bear, and have yet to see one after July. Go figure
x2, southern alberta do have bears, but the density is too low for regular success, WMU 340 to 360 will give you a good bear adventure
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  #10  
Old 05-26-2020, 07:40 PM
NewGuard84 NewGuard84 is offline
 
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With the circumstances this spring, I decided to be more active for spring bear and reviewed and took to heart many other posters' recommendations in other threads. I thought I would share what has helped my sightings go way up this year:

Location: I hunt south, west and north of Edm. N and NW have been best.

Time of day: For me, noon, the afternoon and into evening hours have been busy and the morning hours really dead. That's just my own experience.

Landscape features: Heavy timber with green grass/fresh growth close seem to be the key features where I see them. Water, dandelions, help also. Cut lines have visibility for you and close cover for them so there and treeline edges are where I have seen most.

Drive/Stalk: I used to walk more but have shifted to lots of driving to see the most treeline edges/cut lines I can in a day. When I spot, I then park and stalk. Not a big road hunter usually, but this let's you see many more spots, think literally 50-100+ in a day instead of a small fraction of that on foot.

Weather/Conditions: Warm and calm has been best for me. Rainy or cooler not much worse if moderate. Windy days have again been dead for me.

Good luck, your sightings will increase like mine have.
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Old 05-26-2020, 08:15 PM
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Grizzly Adams Grizzly Adams is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 3blade View Post
Drive north, as in north of hwy 16. Have tire chains and a winch, it gets pretty muddy. Pick out cutlines that go for a ways, hike over the first or second rise if you really feel like it, but lots of times you will see them from the roads. Don’t slam on the brakes, just let it coast to a stop and get out quietly.

Chat with the guys driving work trucks and ask where they are having problems.

Southern AB has black bears that are eaten by grizzlys and chased by Calgary hunters, they learn not to be in the open.

Now finding black bears in the fall is a whole different story. I’m only interested in a blueberry-fattened blubber bear, and have yet to see one after July. Go figure
Go North, no way around it.

Grizz
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  #12  
Old 05-26-2020, 09:50 PM
Abe89 Abe89 is offline
 
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Really appreciate it folks. Thanks. Hopefully I’ll have first bear pics for y’all before season ends.


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  #13  
Old 05-27-2020, 01:20 PM
coyotecaller coyotecaller is offline
 
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Have you ever tried calling? Electronic call I believe are illegal but mouth calls work well. I’ve had some success in the past. It does take quite awhile, where most bears we’ve called usually take 1-2 hours to come. Some advice though, make sure to watch your 6
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Old 05-29-2020, 12:11 PM
Huk Huk is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 3blade View Post
Drive north, as in north of hwy 16. Have tire chains and a winch, it gets pretty muddy. Pick out cutlines that go for a ways, hike over the first or second rise if you really feel like it, but lots of times you will see them from the roads. Don’t slam on the brakes, just let it coast to a stop and get out quietly.

Chat with the guys driving work trucks and ask where they are having problems.

Southern AB has black bears that are eaten by grizzlys and chased by Calgary hunters, they learn not to be in the open.

Now finding black bears in the fall is a whole different story. I’m only interested in a blueberry-fattened blubber bear, and have yet to see one after July. Go figure

I'll second this point about SW AB grizzlies. I killed a small black bear completely by chance about 6 years ago while I was bowhunting for elk in the fall. It's the only black bear I've seen in that unit ever. I have seen plenty of big grizzlies though!
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Old 05-29-2020, 04:34 PM
Abe89 Abe89 is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by coyotecaller View Post
Have you ever tried calling? Electronic call I believe are illegal but mouth calls work well. I’ve had some success in the past. It does take quite awhile, where most bears we’ve called usually take 1-2 hours to come. Some advice though, make sure to watch your 6

Yeah I’m usually solo so I stay away from the calls!!


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  #16  
Old 05-29-2020, 04:59 PM
Smoky buck Smoky buck is online now
 
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It sounds like you are trying to hunt bears like they are deer and elk likely working harder than you need to. Also with spot & stalk bears you don’t need large openings like basins, clear cuts, or pipelines. They are worth checking out but if they don’t have bear sign move on. Sometimes small spots like a simple 20yard square feeding area near water and big timber are far better locations then big opening. Walking old roads with grassy pull outs/sides near water and big timber can often out produce glassing basins and large openings.

Find bear sign and don’t worry about big openings then figure out how to find the bear leaving sign. Bears are habitual if you find lots of sign they come back.

I am not there hunting the area you are so I can’t say what you should and should not do. The only thing that applies to every location is when you are trying to find bears in a new area is focus on finding bear sign and covering ground is often a good way to start in a new area
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Old 05-29-2020, 05:57 PM
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ORVIS ORVIS is offline
 
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We went out bear hunting for the first time and found more driving around instead of glassing a big open area.
Things we learned:
The calm days showed the most bears
Afternoons after 5ish we saw the most bears
We found some text book areas to find bears but it didn’t have sign so we moved on after glassing it.
Grassy areas adjacent to OLD heavy timber with lots of deadfall is where you want to go, it didn’t have a huge area of grass but it was big enough, lots of cover and deadfall to run across, and a tiny creek.
I was fortunate enough to take my first black Bear this spring and hearing the death moan right after is very Errie!

I hope this helps! I’m a newer hunter but that’s what we learned on this trip!
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  #18  
Old 05-29-2020, 06:20 PM
Abe89 Abe89 is offline
 
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Yep you would be right. I’m a creature of habit and I do it I know! Hopefully I’ve got one more trip in the next two weeks to apply some of this advice. But I just had knee surgery today so we will have to see how that shapes up! A lot of really good advice, and I really appreciate it.


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  #19  
Old 06-10-2020, 07:02 PM
Abe89 Abe89 is offline
 
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Well thanks for all the input folks. Managed to throw a blitz trip together this last weekend for a few days, went north into Swan Hills and Slave area, drove miles upon miles of road, hiked over ridges and cutlines found vistas glassed and glassed and drove and drove. Hunted hard from 2-10:45. Saw 3 prints and two piles of scat. Probably was just in there too late, things were too green, but such is life with responsibilities and schedules. You use what time you have. Thanks again to everyone.


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  #20  
Old 06-10-2020, 10:37 PM
Dubious Dubious is offline
 
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Was up by red earth last season was seeing 20-35 different bears a day along pipelines and logging clearings. Like everyone else said go north there a pile of bears in the 500 zones.
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