Anyone getting anxious to start bear hunting?

[woodtick]

I wish the snow would melt and the roads would get muddy, I want to go chase Smokey around!! Anyone else getting sick of the winter blues? The Wolf hunt was a bust, literally wrecked the crap out of my truck! Hope everyone is having a great new year.

[RUTTIN]

I am hoping I will draw a bear tag this year, would be my first time hunting bears. Makes me a little nervous though, bears kind of scare the crap out of me, the longer I have been around them the better it gets.

[tdub24]

I haven't even seen a live bear and only one dead one that couldn't have been bigger than a shih tzu. Does UT have a bunch of bears? As if I do not have enough studying to do, now you folks got me thinking about bear!!!

Best of Luck

[Fish]

I need to apply soon for spring bear in WA. Me and a buddy have enough points to be able to draw but its still a random draw here.
Lots of bears in WA but never a sure thing on killing one.

[WapitiBob]

I'm hoping to draw my 1st tag this year. Never hunted bear in 40 years of hunting but decided to try it.

[jenbickel]

I am hoping I will draw a bear tag this year, would be my first time hunting bears. Makes me a little nervous though, bears kind of scare the crap out of me, the longer I have been around them the better it gets.

Lol that's the way I was too! Then I ran up 40 yards to my bear and shot it with my bow and BAM! My fear was gone!

[RUTTIN]

I was setting up a trail cam one day, turned around and had a 300lb blonde 5 feet from me just looking at me! By the time I reached for my pistol he was running the other way.(and so was I) I actually run into a lot of bears right behind my house but I am usually in the ranger riding around. I am stoked as I have max points for the area I put in for, should be a good year as we don't have much snow as of yet, makes baiting a lot easier.

[xtreme]

I was told today that a neighbor has recent trail cam pic of a bear. I wasnt sure bear in Ar were moving, if thats the case I need to fill my bait. I keep thinking of a spring spot and stalk in Idaho or Mt.
I can't let jenbickel get by with her story of shooting her bear from such a safe distance. My first bear was a really quick shot with the243wsss at about 200yds. I wasnt worried about an injured bear because I had dogs for back up. The injured bear went into an oakbrush thicket. The thicket was about 50 yds square and I knew he was in there. I ran/fell of a 20 ft steep bank and my friend tells me to get back up the bank as the bear is climbing a large oak tree. The tree had many limbs and when I got there we were on the same level close enough I could have touched him. My z5 scope was out of the question so I just pointed at his exposed chest and pulled the trigger. He got down some how and still crawled through the thicket behind me and laid down, I didnt see him but the hunter who had seen him in the tree walked right up to him, he wasnt dead and looked up rolled over and got up. The race was on, the bear got close but faded away. Actually the dogs got there and took the bear to the ground.
The 243 is not enough for solo spot and stalk but the other hunter killed his bear with one shot from a 223 while trying to bow hunt.

[hoshour]

I'm glad to see there are some bear hunters on the forum. I posted in the General Hunting section and from the response you wouldn't think anyone here hunted bear.

I just about set on going out to MT Area 100 or 106 in May, though I might consider going to one of the ID panhandle units. A color-phase black bear would look just fine on my trophy room floor!

[tim]

i guess we are lucky here in idaho. just go to the super market and buy a tag. I will probably go out saturday afternoon and see what i can find. Luckily there are units close by that close the end of june. still lots of snow up high.