# Bear help



## DeepTines (Dec 19, 2018)

Hey all new guy here! I have been coming on here for a while and have decided to join in on all the discussions. I’m from central part of Utah. I have hunted deer and elk all my life. I have been building bear points for a while now but I have never hunted them. I have a particular unit I know pretty well that I am interested in. My only problem is I don’t know where to start looking. I am planning on doing the fall hunt and baiting. What kind of things do I need to look for while trying to locate bears? Are they usually up higher during the fall hunt? I appreciate any info someone can give me on how to hunt bears.


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## sheepassassin (Mar 23, 2018)

Bears are where you find them. On the unit in my back yard I’ll see them from the top of the mountain to the gas station dumpster in town that boarders WMA, and everywhere in between. For the most part bears prefer cover where food and water is easy to find. It’s easy to tell if bears are in an area by placing cams over water sources during the summer months. That will tell you most of what you need to know, so you don’t need to waste time during the hunt. They can and will eat a variety of things so nailing down one particular food source might not be your best bet. Spring time bears prefer sweets more than meats, and fall bears seem to be the exact opposite. Me personally if I had a fall tag, I’d try to kill a deer or elk in an area there’s known bears in and then hunt the carcass for the next week. A drainage i hunt always has a bear on my elk carcass within 12 hours of me killing it. A few times I’ve been beat to them if I had to leave a blood trail over night. Keep in mind they are just a big raccoon. Keep it simple, find where they like to be and the rest should fall into place with a little effort.


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## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

I would direct you to a good place to bait some bears on the Manti if it didn't get torched to smitherines in the pole canyon fire last year.


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## AF CYN (Mar 19, 2009)

Any particular reason you're interested in the Fall hunt? I think it would be easier to bait in the June hunt.


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## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

+1 on the June hunt. 

For a number of years a couple hound buddies and myself ran bear baits in Idaho from April through September and bear activity at the bait sites always peaked out in June. Once the summer berries came on about mid-July we'd start to see the number of bear hitting the baits slowly start to taper off. As summer progressed and more natural bear food sources became available the number of bear we were attracting fell off further.

I'm not saying successful baiting in the fall can't be done, just that my experience has been that it tougher to attract bear to a bait site in the fall than it is in late spring/early summer.


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

Read twice what kev wrote.

And find tracks and scat to locate heavy use areas.


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## DeepTines (Dec 19, 2018)

Thanks for all the replies everyone. My reason for hunting the fall hunt is because of work. I have a July - early October opening I can hunt during the year. It is possible during a slow year I can swing a summer hunt but it’s impossible to tell what the year will be like. So i takenit fall is a better season to run dogs? I might have to wait a few more years then until I have an opening I can hunt earlier.


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## robiland (Jan 20, 2008)

I would wait it out and do a June hunt. Lat year was my 1st year huntiing a bear. I burned 11 points a unit and went in with not much of an idea about hunting and where to bait. I ended up finding a few spots by where I had seen bear sign on the past. After I got going, people told me to be patient and the big bears would come out about the 20th of June. Well, I had smaller bears finally hit my sight 1st week of june. So I made a plan. I used fryer oil (FROM MY STORE) and donuts. I had 6 bears on 1 sight and 7 on another by the end of june. However, I shot my bear the about the 17 of I remember right. But when I went to clean up my sights, thats when the big bears just showed up. And I mean a few chubby fat rolly bears. It was cool to see. I should have listened and waited. I shot a medium sized blonde bear. Still very happy with it.


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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

start with areas with water and cover.


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