Deer Ways For Bears

Most of us believe that tagging a black bear with some certainty lies in booking an adventure with an outfitter who possesses hounds or a hunting territory that allows baiting. These are great experiences: chasing fevered hounds over scenic surroundings; cowboying recklessly atop lathered steeds; and swatting pesky blackflies and mosquitoes. Yes, these are fine hunts that every hunter should try, if his savings account seems able to handle a new assault. If you're like me, guided hunts and savings accounts with available funds are equally unlikely luxuries.

Even if you can't put such a trip together, you can take comfort in knowing that, for budget-minded sportsmen, there is a home for you.

There are no deep secrets to the current state of bear hunting. The key lies in adapting familiar hunting modes to an animal with slightly different habits and habitat. To find the nearest area or best hunt unit, call your local conservation officer or game biologist and ask about areas with high densities or high incidence of problem bears. Once you do this, you are well on your way to becoming a bear hunter. Next, scout the area to determine what method is most likely to bring you success.

SPOT-AND-STALK
Spot-and-stalk is familiar terminology with most of us; it's a method of hunting that consists of two steps. First, the hunter employs optics to locate an animal from afar. He then plans a sensible route of approach that will bring him within effective shooting range. This means different things to different hunters, depending on where in the nation the hunter resides. The New England or Southern bear hunter's interest may center on a second-growth pulp-wood clearing below a handy hillside; the Midwest hunter may guard a cornfield by watching from the vantage of a grain silo; the Rocky Mountain hunter may go about business as usual above a juniper/pinon ridge; and the West Coast nimrod may carefully glass a bowl of wild blackberries.

Spot-and-stalk is 95 percent glassing and five percent stalking, with the former being infinitely more important in this case than the latter. I say this because the bear is at the top of the food chain, having no natural enemies besides man and less to fear than the deer we are all familiar with. Although a deer can be jumpier than the man who mugged a mobster's mama, a bear is laid-back by comparison. A black bear's eyes just don't match those of a wary deer and his ears are no better than yours or mine. The bear does own one heck of an olfactory system, so stalking means minding the wind more than anything else. Move slowly, don't step on the bigger crunchies and you are well on your way to success.

To be in the game you need the best pair of binoculars you can afford--something with high objective and appropriate magnification. Tight Eastern quarters do not require the optical power of the vast, wide-open West. High objective comes in handy because the dark shades of the black bear mean he blends well with shadows and deep recesses. My Zeiss 10x40s have not disappointed me. The best way to put these optics to work is to gain the high ground well in advance of good light or evening coolness and look with them, not through them. Dissect, probe, investigate and nibble every inch of a hillside. Quick sweeps and careless glances will not bring reward.

Where you concentrate your efforts has much to do with where you find the food and the season of year. You may find spring bears grazing grass in meadows or mountain openings. In areas with an agricultural economy, winter oats, wheat or barley may bring spring bears from afar. Winter-killed livestock, elk or moose are sure to bring a bear into the open. During fall months food is more obvious, if not more widely scattered.