Besides spot and stalk, does anyone have good tips for hunting bear up here in colorado?
For years, we've always run across their scat but never a live bear.
I recommend that you get a small book written by Tom Beck. Beck was the DOW bear researcher for many years and contributed just about all knowledge available from the DOW regarding Colorado Bears. Sorry I don't remember the title right off. He was from your part of the state, BTW.
Beck documented colorado bear feeding habits and found that in late August through late September Colorado bears migrate to areas with heavy stands of oak brush (assuming an acorn crop) as well as areas with crops of serviceberrys, chockcherries, etc. These areas are generally at elevations of 6,500 feet to about 8,000 feet. He found that bears would travel many many miles to get to these feeding hot spots and are inclined to feed continuosly for up to 18 hours per day.
Females go into hibernation very shortly thereafter and males a bit later. Bears tend to hibernate at higher elevations where snow will cover their entryways. Beck found that bears not so protected were heavily preyed upon during the winter by coyotes which were able to kill them easily while in hibernatory stupor.
You can see that the best time to hunt bears is during the September bear rifle season or with an Archery or ML bear tag.
Finding lots (lots and lots) of bear scat in an area means it is one of their fall feeding areas. You have to be there when the bears are there. If you are there later in the fall the bears have cleared out.
An area that I have bowhunted in September for many years is a hotspot for bears in September. Seeing them was not uncommon. The past five years I have hunted the area in early October during rifle elk only season and the evidence of bears is huge as it always has been. We don't often see bears there in October even though they are common in September. Last year was an exception with three bears spotted on opening morning of rifle elk season. The thing that was different was the serviceberry crop was still viable and available last year whereas other years the weather has usually knocked them out by early October.
We have never seen bears on the entrails of our kill sites. Within 48 hours the coyotes have completely consumed everything where we hunt.
He said, if the weather is warm stay up high, look for wild berries particularly blueberries. A good blueberry crop is a bear magnet according to this gent.
Having grown up a Yooper with considerble familiarity with black bears and blueberries, I can say that with over thirty years of hunting, fishing and camping in colorado I have never seen a blueberry plant in this state. That includes unit 33. He may have been refering to serviceberries which are common in Colorado, but not at higher elevations. They occur more in the lower elevations between sage and quakies.
