By Dan Larsson
I find that many avid hunters do not hunt black bears. They bump into them when they are hunting ungulates but are not excited about the meat, the smell, or the experience. On the other hand, many who do not live in bear habitats would allow their favorite rifle to hunt bears. With a Spring hunting season, many hunters can get out more during the year if they expand to hunting bears. So, let’s start with the basics.
I hunt black bears because I love to hunt. I like the challenge that all game species offer, and bears differ from the normal hunt offerings. I enjoy eating the meat and have not had the negative experiences many boast about when telling me how awful bear meat is. The other reason I hunt bears and am not picky about their size or age is that they kill many deer fawns and calf elk. In my small endeavor, in a predator-rich environment, I am trying to help our Western Montana ungulate numbers increase to a reasonable population by harvesting wolves and bears.
Bears are opportunists, wanderers, and omnivores. They mirror teenage boys, who live to eat and sleep. There is always a random element to bear behavior and location, but some subtle trends also give us cause to hunt them in certain areas at different times of the year. In the spring, we hunt them wherever the fresh grass and vegetation are. Old logging roads and creek bottoms are prime locations. I love hunting black bears right where the snow melts as Spring pushes its way up the mountain. The early warm weather can be wet, but the temperatures are more enjoyable than the Fall ungulate or Winter predator seasons. It is a beautiful time to be out roaming the mountains looking for something to eat you so you can take it home to your freezer and wall.
In the fall, finding a bear can be hit or miss. Many black bear seasons open after most fruit and berries have gone. If you can find a source of berries, you can almost guarantee you will see bears. Apple trees and huckleberries are excellent places to look. Later in the fall, the bears wander, looking for food. They find moths and other bugs under rocks and logs. Elmer Keith wrote that bears could eat mushrooms in the heavy timber on the North side of taller mountains. We bump into black bears and grizzlies on the high-elevation slopes and ridges in the snow just before hibernation. Bears are where you find them…and a few places you don’t.
Almost all my bears have been harvested cross-canyon. This means some moderate long-range shots, as you can see much more real estate in the next mountainside. Shots around 400 yards are common and doable with the right BB-Gun and optics. Yes, you heard right, we use BB-Guns! Black Bear guns. Hahaha. The reality is that almost all your high-powered rifles are quite adequate bear guns out to 400 yards. A .243 Winchester will work just fine, but should you miss the perfect point-of-impact, you will wish you had a larger caliber. Excellent BB-Guns include mid-range calibers such as .270 Win, 7mm Rem, .308 Win, .300 Mag, and everything in between. Yes, Jay, your favorite cartridge, the 9.3x62mm bear-booming-whipper-snapper Mauser, is a great cartridge choice! Black bears are not as difficult to kill as many believe ethically. My advice is don’t overthink it. Use any expanding bullet and make a good shot.
What can be done with the meat? Most of my bear meat is cut and wrapped just as I do with deer meat. I have always liked the flavor better when processed immediately. Keep as much hair and dirt off it as you can, and it makes excellent stew meat, jerky, sausage, and even steaks when cooked right. I have yet to think bear meat has a raunchy flavor. Be diligent in cooking your bear products to a minimum of 160 degrees Fahrenheit to ensure trichinosis-causing parasites are killed. If you do this, there is no reason to worry about this disease if cooked properly. This is true of all pork, bear, and cat meats. I render as much fat as I can save off the meat and love the baking powder biscuits we make from it. Many wild game-accepting butchers will take your harvested bear meat and make sausage and meat sticks if you desire.
Everyone should have at least one bear hide rug (this is where the head is mounted and the feet are positioned out). This does take up a lot of wall space. Just having the hide tanned and hung on the wall is cool also, and about 1/3 of the price of a rug. A 5-foot bear will cost you around 300$ to have the hide tanned with the paws on. You can hang the hide on a peg beside your fireplace or a choice wall. I do not have a bear head cap and cloak, but you do if that’s your thing!
“I would like to hunt bears; what do I need to know?” Be prepared to do a lot of glassing with good optics. This is a must for cross-canyon bear hunting. It would help if you were ready to come around the corner and have a bear 30 yards from you. A hunter just never knows what will happen. No, bear hunting does not mean hunting without clothes. Insert chuckle here. Spring bear hunting is usually a wet time of the year, so bring suitable footwear and rain gear. It can be freezing or 80 degrees out, so bring adequate clothing (maybe even sunscreen). Oh yeah, and the ticks. Our Montana ticks are easy to spot and feel, but there can be more than a plethora on those old mountain logging roads. I usually do not use bug spray, as a bear’s sense of smell is 100 times better than a human’s. However, you may want to consider using it anyway to reduce the potential of tick bites. Little vampires they are.
Many states allow an over-the-counter purchase of a bear license. Montana requires you to take a bear identification test to reduce the number of grizzlies that get killed, as they can, under the right circumstances, be mistaken for black bears. It can quickly be done on the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks website (our version of the DNR). You may want to try the bear test just for fun. Hikers use pepper spray and bells on their clothing to scare away grizzly bears and avoid confrontations. Having bear spray with you is a good idea, especially if you are calling bears in with distress calls. It is better to spray a grizzly or a sow black bear with cubs than to shoot one. I would leave off the bells, though; it doesn’t go well with hunting.
Black Bear Facts
· They swim well and can run up to and over 25mph.
· Wild bears can live to around 25 years old.
· They do not have excellent eyesight.
· They breed from the middle of May until the beginning of July.
· Bears have their cubs in hibernation with 1-4 cubs; generally, two cubs survive and often remain with the mother for more than one winter. We have seen mother bears with 2-3 years’ worth of cubs, which is uncommon.
· Male bears kill and eat cubs (no fatherly love there!)
· Black bears can be any color from very blond to a blue-black sheen.
· The difference between black bear and grizzly poop is that grizzly poop smells spicy and has bells in it (I’m kidding).
