Well, in the past few weeks there have been multiple Bear sightings in the "Hood"! 6 or so in the last couple of weeks. Some within a mile of my house. Anyway they can ony be taken with bow and muzzleloader. I have never been around any Bear to hunt. Are the shy? Do the spook easily if they see you? It would be luck to see one but that is hunting right! Any input would help as I am going to pursue them when the time is right.

Well I have not hunted bear before, this year will be my first black bear hunt. But I have encountered them while deer hunting. As far as being spooky it depends on the bear, I have had them high tail it out of the area and then I have had them sit down and watch me like I was watching them. While hunting if you come across a cub chances are momma is right there as well, maybe not in your sight but she can smell and hear you long before you can her. Thats really all I can offer you, but I am sure there are more people on here with more (and better) advice. Good Hunting.

I'm not sure about where you are but here in OR they are very shy and spooky and you normally find them in deepest darkest nastiest stuff around but like any animal they will venture out into the open from time to time and in some areas if they have lost some of their fear of humans they may be out in the open alot. Here we have to spot and stalk which is fun and challenging but baiting and dogs allow you to pick your animal which cuts down on the number of sows and immature animals killed plus you normally see more animals. But then again in places like Alaska or parts of Canada you may see 20 or 30 animals a day just walking or driving around and glassing so it just depends on the particular area. I can tell you that they can be hard to bring down especially if they are already worked up before the shot but even with a heart or double lung shot I've seen them go a reasonable distance and the other thing to remember is that they are more unpredictable than a grizz and they are responsible for more attacks than the grizz and as a side note between the grizz and blacky the blacky is more likely to consume you than a grizz, the grizz just knocks the crap out of you until if figures your no longer a threat and then leaves you which is why they say play dead but if you play dead with a black bear you may be eaten alive.

Jeremy,

I have been hunting northeastern black bears for nearly as long as I've been hunting big northeatern whitetails. I'm not the most successful bear hunter you could talk to, but I "only" still hunt them (though I know many tree hunters and houndsmen and have nothing against those methods) and I've learned a thing or three over the years. I've seen countless bears but I've harvested only one. Mostly because I was and still am very adamant about taking only an adult of 300 lb.'ish size or more. (the one bear that I took dressed at a little under 300# but he sure looked more than 300# at the time!)I have found that most bears are very alert, very shy, and difficult to decieve. I can't count the number of times that I came upon clear sign that a bear was "just there" before me, and likely scrammed because I was not stealthy enough. Yearlings and cubbies seem fairly careless and not as cognizant of your presence. But as BigSteve points out, if you're looking at a cubbie, your head should be swiveling around for a sow - she's not far I promise you. My standard reaction to cubbies is to just plain get out of the area as quietly as possible in the direction I came from. Nothing is quite as unpredictable as a sow with cubbies. Don't take chances with cubbies - they are cute to watch, but if you see one (or more), scram quietly. If momma is right there and "huffs" those cubbies up a tree - and she doesn't climb, you're in about as much trouble as you can be. Don't let that happen. (I know - it's happened to me!) Now, 1 1/2 year olds or young bears that are recently separated from their mothers are less silly, but somewhat careless as well. These are the bears most often shot by hunters. They may dress out to 140 to 150 lbs or so depending on food and habitat. I would ask you to be patient and not excitedly take one of these. They have yet to gain the experience they need to avoid "all" danger, and more importantly, certainly have not even reproduced yet. The reproduction rate of black bears is quite low compared to other big game species, and taking young bears only adversely affects the population even more. A good rule of thumb that you likely may read about is that the ears and belly of a black bear are a good way to judge whether you are looking at and adult or youngin'. I have found over the years, this rule to be a good one and use it regularly. If the ears "look" large compared to the head, and the bear appears lean, it is likely a young bear. If the ears look "quite" small and round for the head, and the belly is round too, you're likely looking at an adult. At this point, consider yourself extemely lucky to have somehow outsmarted an adult black bear and calmly (if that's at all possible!) drill a large caliber hole through his boiler room!

Hope I've helped

Renster

Thanks guys! I guess I never expected them to move into the area. I had always hoped but they are here now. I live near Dragon Run in Virginia. This area is a heavily swamp like river that feeds into the Chesapeake Bay. Some Deep bottoms and creeks and of course open fields. I would love to get on one of these. I will keep yall posted.

I wish you the best of luck. I only hunted black bear once. Saw plenty of sign but no bears. Plan on trying again this year, who knows how luck goes?

Thanks PAHANDGUNHUNTER, now I've gotta clean the Bud Light spray off my monitor. That is FAH right there ;-)

Haha! Thanks for posting this! I just had a good laugh!

Great post, thank you!