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Anyone hunting areas with high black bear population?

Bears are in my area, but I’ve only ever had one bear on a trail cam and thought I may have saw one bolt while scouting another time. It still gives me the creeps while coming or going in the dark or if I’m just pushing through real thick stuff! :sweatsmile:
 
There is nothing to fear. You are the Hunter. Go about your business and leave your worries and sidearm at home. If you are really concerned, prepare one of your arrows with a blunt point. In the most unlikely circumstance that a bear approaches you, silently shoot it in the ass. And if your state has bear hunting, consider that a great place to take up the hunt. The meat and fat, particularly from smaller bears is heavenly.
 
There is nothing to fear. You are the Hunter. Go about your business and leave your worries and sidearm at home. If you are really concerned, prepare one of your arrows with a blunt point. In the most unlikely circumstance that a bear approaches you, silently shoot it in the ass. And if your state has bear hunting, consider that a great place to take up the hunt. The meat and fat, particularly from smaller bears is heavenly.

Tim Treadwell....is that you?
 
A few bears around my hunting grounds. I see a couple on stand and a few more walking every year. Guys that bait see a lot more. Never had any problem with bears but when you spook one close it can be a little unnerving. They amaze me at how stealthy they are for their size but when spooked they are more like a bulldozer.
 
I appreciate all the responses. Everyone pretty much confirmed what I was thinking. I don't do any baiting where I am, Its illegal. The area I am hunting is wild, no houses or human garbage. We do have a bear season but it is over at this time, tho dog guys are still allowed to "train" their dogs out of season. I actually passed a truck loaded with dogs the other day. So knowing this I would assume these bears probably have a fear of humans and will probably choose to get out of the area when they smell / hear me coming. I also don't plan on bringing food in my blind, trying to minimize smells in an attempt to not get the blind destroyed. As far as hunting one of these beast I have applied to get a tag for next year. Our state works off of points and the northern part of the state takes more points, around 6-8 to get a tag.
 
I walked up on a bear feeding on a dead elk in June once. Scared the bear off and we planned to camp there that night so we moved to the other side of the meadow and set up camp. My BIL Jeff's tent was maybe 75 yards from the elk.
We thought we would see the bear again before dark. We didn't, the bear came back after dark and spent the night crunching elk bones. Kept my BIL awake all night although I slept well knowing my tent was farther from the bear.
So next morning I'm hoping to see the Bruins again, but no dice, he's hiding in the brush, not coming out cause he knows we're there.
About an hour after daylight we're packing up to move on. I take a stroll into the bushes to relieve
myself. Jeff said I wasn't gone a minute and the bear wanders over to the carcass for breakfast. A couple of minutes later I finish my stroll, when i get to the meadow the bear knew i was coming and snuck off into the brush again.
That bear could keep track of us so well it was uncanny. And the walking was quiet, pine forest and it had rained off and on during the night. Amazing.
 
I've come across bears in the dark and in my experience they're similar to deer in that they don't seem to care much. Walking out the ridge from camp one morning I spotted a set of (what i thought were) cat eyes maybe 25 yards away. Thinking to myself I wonder why somebody put two there they suddenly blinked. After a few tense moments it eventually just kept waking right passed me. I only realized it was a bear after I followed its scat trail out later that morning. Have also set up right next to a blowdown with a momma and 3 cubs sleeping in it during turkey season. My hunting buddy has had them climb his tree stand before, with him in it. THey're generally either very skiddish or very curious, rarely agressive.
 
I wouldn’t worry too much about it. We’ve got a good population of Black Bears where I’m at. I’ll have 5-10 distinct bears on camera leading up to the season opener.

I run into one every year while out scouting late summer. They always try to catch wind of me and once they do, they’re gone.

The only issue I’ve ever had was when I was walking in one morning before daylight and unknowingly ran a cub up a tree. I stopped because I heard something, looked up and this lab-sized cub was about 25’ up the tree in front of me. I shined my headlamp around and spotted the sow about 40 yards out she huffed a few times but never charged. I walked back up the hill and killed my light, sat down for about 20 minutes and heard them gather up and head out.

I’d be aware of them, but other than getting between some cubs I don’t think they’re much of a threat. At least not here, may be different out west or north.


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Both trips I have backpack hunted in CO I have had bears within 40 yards of my hammock during at least one night each trip. No issues with them trying to get into anything and food was hung away from sleep setup. Here at home we have a healthy population and I have had lots of bow range encounters over the years but never anything aggressive. I didnt own a side arm until the hogs started getting bad and had a coupe of encounters with really big hogs and got charged once by a sow with a litter of piglets.
 
Young bears will destroy stuff just for the fun of it. Trail cams, blinds, fruit trees, etc.

But to the OP question, I never made any noise going to stand on my old farm and never had any issues with the bears. I've had a few trail cam pics with bear in one pic and me walking in/out in the very next pic sometimes just a few seconds after the bear and I never knew it was there.

Same thing happened to me last season. A sow and two cubs ran under the tree I was headed to about 45 minutes before I arrived. They must have been in the bottom where I parked.


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