Tag Archives: Grizzly Bear Hunts

Grizzly Bear Hunting in Alaska.

Overcome Challenges When Grizzly Bear Hunting

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Hunting Grizzly Bear

Grizzly Bear Hunting

Grizzly bear hunting can be the biggest charge of your life if your make sure you know what you are doing, and pay attention to everything around you. For instance, know your bears. That’s usually the biggest mistake made while Grizzly bear hunting is taking a bear that turns out to be smaller than the hunter thought or wanted. It’s hard to field-judge the size of bears until you have experience.

If the bear appears to be lanky and has a long nose and ears, and longer legs, it’s a smaller specimen, likely less than 125 pounds. The big bears you want to see while Grizzly bear hunting will look blocky with small ears and their legs appear short. Most hunters shoot smaller bears because they shoot the first one they see. Bigger bears usually come in later in the season. After all, that’s how they got that big in the first place.

You also want to be timing your Grizzly bear hunting at the right time of the year. Timing means everything for spring bears. You need to be out there hunting right after the bear get active following hibernation, and before they start shedding their winter coats. Usually the peak time is the last week in May and first two weeks of June. Grizzly bear hunting in the spring offers more ways and more diverse types of habitat than any other big game animal.

Hunts for Grizzly Bears

Grizzly Bear Hunts in Alaska

Know what your bear will eat and where it is likely to be found. If you are Grizzly bear hunting, be aware these bears are typically, but not exclusively active during the dawn, dusk, and nighttime hours.

In spring and early summer, they’ll often be found in lower elevations along rivers and streams, catching fish when the spawning runs are in progress. Grizzlies will also hunt for winter-killed animals in these areas as well. In later summer these bears usually head up to higher elevations scrounging for ripe wild berries.

For Fall Grizzly bear hunting, you’ll likely find these bears in white bark pine stands eating pine nuts. Or they’ll be digging around a tree trying to find a squirrels cache of nuts. Bears also dig for roots in mid-elevation meadows, more so in years when there are fewer pine nuts.

Knowing bear body language will stand you in good stead on your Grizzly bear hunting trip. For instance, and this information will come in handy if you come upon a bear by surprise, a bear standing on its hind feet is usually trying to get a better look and smell by sniffing the air. This is not an aggressive posture. It means the bear is unsure of what’s in front of him – but still could drop on all fours and charge.

If the Grizzly is swinging its head from side to side, or turns sideways from you, it expressing a reluctance to charge and is looking for a way out of the situation. Your bear hunting adventure can only be heightened by as much information as possible to make it a trip to remember.

Source:  Helping Us With Hunting
The Bear Hunting Blog 

Black Bears & Grizzly Bears, The Difference is…

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Hunting Grizzly Bear

Grizzly Bear Hunting

There is no such thing as “a” bear. There are bears…plural. That is to say, there are different species. Most people are familiar with the polar bear. Some might have even heard of the Kodiak bear. For those that enjoy bear hunting, the two most commonly cited bears would be the black bear and the legendary grizzly bear. Is there much of a difference between black bears and grizzly bears? Actually, there are quite a few pronounced differences and those wishing to head out into the great outdoors to hunt bear need to know such differences.

Bear hunting is one of the more misunderstood sportive activities one could take part in. There are a great many complexities required to succeed with this type of hunting. The skills required are quite vast and many of them will center on how to make such a hunt a lot safer.

One other aspect that people do not realize is that different strategies need to be employed for different bears. In most regions of North America, the primary bear indigenous to the land mass would be the black bear. However, in certain areas, black bear live side by side with grizzly bears. (Granted, some of this co-existence is far from peaceful) Now, when you are hunting bear, you need to be sure as to what type of bear you come across in the field. In certain areas, black bear season and grizzly bear season may occur at different points in the season. Other areas may require you have two separate bear licenses for each animal.

Hunting Black Bear

Black Bear Hunting

And, most importantly, the way you hunt a black bear is different than how you would hunt a grizzly bear. Often, these differences are designed to take safety concerns into consideration. Black bears are dangerous. No one is denying that fact. However, grizzly bears can be even more dangerous and more aggressive. They can also be a lot more difficult to kill. Black bears have been hunted in states such as New Jersey with shotguns. Very few hunters would take such a risk hunting grizzly bear with such a weapon.

This is why it is so very necessary to be able to clearly determine the difference between a grizzly bear and a black bear. There are some definitive differences between the two. Here is a look at those differences:

Most people will say the main difference is that black bears are black and grizzly bears are brown. (Grizzly bears are commonly referred to as brown bears) Generally, this is true. However, not all grizzlies are brown. Many are jet black. And yes, some black bears are brown. And both of them can be…blond! So, you cannot always go by the color of the bears as the only way to tell which species they are. You need to look at other attributes to determine the differences.

Size would be a major factor. Grizzlies are huge huger on average than black bears. Yes, there will be the errant black bear that is large in size. And there will be some undersized grizzly bears. However, most grizzlies are in the 500lbs – 800lb range. Black bears will be in the 200lbs – 400lbs range. The average height of a grizzly is three feet on all fours and well in excess of six feet when standing. Black bear are decidedly smaller being 3 feet on all fours but rarely more than six feet when standing. Again, there may be exceptions so you cannot always go by size.
The key differentiating factors include the following:

The face of a grizzly will be significantly depressed. This is most evident in the eye/nose region. The ears of the grizzly will also be short and round. Black bears are quite different. The ears of the black bear are significantly longer and more pointed than a grizzly. The nose of the black bear is more extended.

The body of a grizzly has a large hump on the back. A black bear has NO hump. This is probably the most definitive distinguishing factor between the animals.

The claws of a grizzle are significantly larger than a black bear. It is certainly not recommended to get close enough to the bear to tell the difference. However, if you are examining bear tracks, the larger grizzly tracks will have pronounced claws.

Few single items can determine which bear is which. But, when you put all the factors together, you can make a perfect comparison.

Source: Outdoor Base Camp.com
The Bear Hunting Blog

Grizzly Bear Presentation from Garth Mowat

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A photo of a grizzly taken by Sherry Benko for the club’s photography contest last year.

The Fernie Rod and Gun Club has invited senior wildlife biologist, Garth Mowat, to give a Grizzly Bear presentation at the club’s monthly meeting at the Elks Hall in Fernie on Monday at 7:30 p.m.

Topics in the presentation will include past, present and future Grizzly Bear management, population estimates, recent studies, hunting opportunities and a Kootenay Grizzly Bear committee review.

The entire Kootenay region is included in the presentation but the main focus will be the Southern Rockies and Flathead Grizzly Bear Management areas, which include all of the Elk Valley, Flathead and Bull River areas.

There will be detailed data on Grizzly Bear management and studies from the last four years including the population estimates for the Flathead and Elk Valley.

There will also be some time to discuss some recent studies done on elk, moose, deer and sheep populations, harvest data and future management plans on these animals.

For more info please contact the club at [email protected]
Source: By Angela Treharne – The Free Press
The Bear Hunting Blog