Bear Hunting

[Buckshot Bear]

Bear Hunting, how does this work?
Is there enough of a bear population for everyone to shoot a bear whenever they want?

 

[Wild Eagle]

I'm sure that someone will be along shortly to explain the details, but the short story is that it is done by a "lottery".  You "win" a tag to hunt a bear.  It's part of how the population is managed.

[Rip Snorter]

Montana https://fwp.mt.gov/hunt/regulations/black-bear

Had a friend with a license shoot a big one near the house year before last.  Chased one away with close gunfire late Spring.  I like bears, but they are not good neighbors.

[Blackwater 53393]

8 minutes ago, Buckshot Bear said:

Bear Hunting, how does this work?
Is there enough of a bear population for everyone to shoot a bear whenever they want?

 

Are ya’ feeling threatened?? 😳

[Alpo]

22 minutes ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

 

Are ya’ feeling threatened?? 😳

I was thinking similar.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

In New Hampshire there is a tag lottery. The bear population is estimated at 5000. I dont know how many tags are issued but the goal is that 500 are harvested. One very dry year 500 were killed early in September (bear month) and the season was stopped early. It was so dry there was not much food in the deep woods.

[Buckshot Bear]

43 minutes ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

 

Are ya’ feeling threatened?? 😳

 

Me an Yogi 😁

[Alpo]

I'm going off on a tangent.

 

In my state, for the first time in 20 something years, they're allowing bear hunting. They are issuing something like 180 tags. Statewide. In my area of the state I think they're issuing 30 tags. Doesn't necessarily mean 30 bears will be killed. Just means that 30 people will have a chance to kill one legally.

 

And as I was thinking that I had this quick little flash of me actually killing a bear. I have never seen a bear in the woods. I have never even seen bear footprints in the woods. And if I did kill one, what the hell would I do with it? Would I eat it? Eat it or not, I would certainly have a rug made from it.

 

And that reminded me.

 

There's a murder mystery series - the cat who. This man named Jim Qwillerman - that's not a typo, he spells it with a w - has this super smart Siamese cat named Koko. And after Qwill solves the crime he always realizes that Koko had given him the clues. Koko knew first.

 

In one of the early books Qwill had rented a furnished apartment that had a polar bear rug. Koko loved that bear. In the next book Qwill had to move because the owner of the apartment was selling it. So he is up in the middle of nowhere staying at his aunt's lake cottage. His girlfriend calls him and tells him that the sale for the apartment has gone through, and knowing how much Koko had liked the bear rug, said that Qwill could have it.

 

The girlfriend drives up to the lake to spend the week with Qwill, and brings the rug. But her car is too small to put it in the trunk. So she has some of her stuff in the front seat and the rug is kind of wrapped around the stuff in the passenger side of the front seat of her car.

 

So here's this woman driving down the road with what looks to be a polar bear in the passenger seat.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

If you cook it, treat it like pork. Bears are the primary source of trichanosis in this country.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

I had a piece of land with bear poop. no bells, no pepper spray.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

I've crossed paths with bears.  Quite a few times.

 

It's been many years since I've purchased a bear tag.

 

During my younger deer hunting days, part of bear season ran concurrently with deer season.  Then it changeed, and I think it's changed back.

 

Anyway, I was always having "bear encounters."  So at some point decided that the best thing to do was to start buying a bear tag every year.  Not that I wanted to shoot a bear; I figgered that it would be good insurance against crossing paths with bears going forward.  It worked!  Never had a bear encounter while carrying a bear tag.  

One time back in the last century, ol' Hank and I were hunting up in northern california.  And we had both bear and deer tags.  So a buddy drove us to the top of some ridge, with our intent to work our way down the mountainside.  At one point, we crossed over our buddy's tire tracks.  And right there, superimposed on the tire tracks, were FRESH bear footprints.

 

"Hank, it looks like he moseyed off toward the right!"

 

"Yup, it sure does!  So we're moseying off toward the left!"

 

That was the closest my "[Anti-] Bear Tag Insurance" ever came to not working.  

[Ozark Huckleberry]

There's a bit more to how the Florida hunt is managed.

 

State wildlife management divides the state into four areas, evaluates bear population for each area, takes into account nuisance bear reports, population density (bears and people), then determines how many bears need to be harvested from each area. They also consider their experience in how successful hunters have been in the past, and use that information to decide how many permits to issue in each area. The permit is only good for that specific area, and only for the hunter who has it. -- hunters cannot legally tag a bear someone else has shot.

 

There are usual ethical hunt restrictions -- no baiting on public land, no harvesting cubs under 100 pounds or sows with cubs, plus the usual hunting safety restrictions regarding paved roads, residences, and populated areas. Anyone who harvests a bear is required to report to FWC within 24 hours for biological samples/measurements (of the bear, not the hunter).

 

During the last hunt, and likely in the upcoming one, anyone with a permit had to go online to check the status of the area they held the permit for before going into the field that day. Once the area had reached the harvest quota, FWC would terminate the hunt in that area regardless of how many unfilled permits were out.

 

Edited November 11, 2025 by Ozark Huckleberry

[Chantry]

9 hours ago, Buckshot Bear said:

Bear Hunting, how does this work?
Is there enough of a bear population for everyone to shoot a bear whenever they want?

 

Most bear hunts are for black bears, which are present in most states.  Sometimes the black bear population gets too high and they start moving to more populated areas and get into garbage and any other edible things left unsecured, including breaking into cars.   Generally black bears will run away when they see people, but not always.

 

I live in  a condo complex in a suburban area and there was a sighting of a female black bear with 2 of her children going into the dumpsters for food a month or two ago.

[Eyesa Horg]

We had 5 hanging around all summer. A rough count of 18-20 in the valley! IIRC, Vermont has about twice what biologists want here.

[Yul Lose]

My youngest son lives in Arizona and purchased a bear tag over the counter no lottery or draw involved. They estimate that there are 2,500 black bears in Arizona. He’s friends with a guide that hunts bears and just recently helped a Wounded Warrior veteran get a bear. Right now he’s trying to fill a hard to get late bull archery elk tag, has until November 20th to do so and then it’s back to bear hunting.

[Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001]

even tho , we get a tag with our sportsman lic. I do not hunt bear 

 

 truth be told , I rarely hunt , gut go to the woods to hide 

 

  CB 

[Stump Water]

In NC you buy your comprehensive hunting license which includes your big game "tags".  Then you buy your bear stamp (just like you have to buy a duck stamp if you're going to hunt waterfowl).  Then you consult the map and find out when the season(s) is where you're going to hunt and whether or not you can hunt with dogs and/or over bait.  You can kill one per year and it has to be over 75 lbs.  In NC the big bears are down east.

 

Also...

 

Mandatory Bear Tooth Submission

• It is mandatory to submit at least one premolar tooth from your harvested bear by January 31st following the applicable bear hunting season.
• After removing both upper premolar teeth (see the ad below and detailed bear tooth submission instructions on the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission website), place one tooth in the official bear tooth envelope you received by mail from the Commission. Keep the second tooth as a backup until you receive confirmation that your submission has been received.

 

[Ozark Huckleberry]

Black bear in downtown St. Augustine this past May:

 

 

"That thing was faster than a car, yo."🤣🤣

[Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001]

wait till ya see one skinned out hangin on a pole 

 

  CB 

 

  kinda spooky 

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

So @Buckshot Bear, do y'all gots any bears down that-a-way...?  

[Buckshot Bear]

1 hour ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

So @Buckshot Bear, do y'all gots any bears down that-a-way...?  

 

 

Some people call these 'bear's but they ain't  

 

[Buckshot Bear]

Hmmmm ok, learnt something.....you eat bear meat?

[Yul Lose]

8 minutes ago, Buckshot Bear said:

Hmmmm ok, learnt something.....you eat bear meat?

I ate (choked it down) once, that was enough.

[Rip Snorter]

Never have, won't.  Has some of the same risks as pork, needs to be well done.

[Cyrus Cassidy #45437]

In Colorado, the bear season overlaps all of the deer and elk seasons, and you have to have a tag for either of those to be eligible for a bear tag. The funny thing is, the cards are stacked against you -- those seasons occur when bears are hibernating. It's true that bear do NOT hibernate all winter; they come out periodically. Your only hope of a harvest is to come across one on one of those short excursions out of their dens.

 

As for me, I used to buy a tag every year in case I happened on one. Then I realized that I was wasting my money, so I quit. Sure enough, the very first year I didn't have a tag, one came traipsing across my path. I still don't buy one. 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

NH ‘s bear season is September while they are foraging.  Any bears that raided my yard were gone by Sept 3.

 

 

Edited November 12, 2025 by Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984

[Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life]

I live in SW Colorado and the bears here are not hibernating yet, I saw one yesterday. 

 

I have shot a couple and ate them. I can take or leave bear meat. They have the flavor of what they are eating. Spring is one of the best times as they are feeding on grass and green plants. My friends in Alaska tell me that this is the only time they will eat bear meat, once they start feeding on salmon, they are pretty bad. 

Attached is a photo my buddy sent me from Kodiak Island of a Kodiak Brown Bear. I sure as hell wouldn't want to meet it when it's mad.

[Alpo]

In the late 40s or possibly the early 50s (I wasn't around yet so I don't know) my father was stationed in Alaska. He was a helicopter mechanic - aviation machinist mate - and when they would test fly the birds part of their flight path took them over Kodiak Island. Just in case there was a malfunction that caused them to have to put down on Kodiak, they were issued bear protection. A 1903 Springfield and one stripper clip of five rounds of M2 ball ammo.

 

 

Yeah, I'd feel safe.

[Cypress Sun]

 

I always try to take them while they're taking a dump.

Gotta be in the woods for that though.

[Injun Ryder, SASS #36201L]

1 hour ago, Alpo said:

In the late 40s or possibly the early 50s (I wasn't around yet so I don't know) my father was stationed in Alaska. He was a helicopter mechanic - aviation machinist mate - and when they would test fly the birds part of their flight path took them over Kodiak Island. Just in case there was a malfunction that caused them to have to put down on Kodiak, they were issued bear protection. A 1903 Springfield and one stripper clip of five rounds of M2 ball ammo.

 

 

Yeah, I'd feel safe.

 

My uncle was in Alaska during WWII for the Aleutian campaign and he told me that the Army pilots would fly over Kodiak, see a bear and strafe it. Then they would have someone go get it with a Jeep. 

[Buckshot Bear]

Out of interest how much do tags cost for different game? 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

4 minutes ago, Buckshot Bear said:

Out of interest how much do tags cost for different game? 

In NH, $16 residents, $48 non-resident.

 

(AI GOT THIS ONE WRONG )))))

Edited November 12, 2025 by Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Black bear or brown?  Most I assume are black unless Colorado or west.

 

When it comes to hunting are the rules different?

[Cyrus Cassidy #45437]

4 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

Black bear or brown?  Most I assume are black unless Colorado or west.

 

When it comes to hunting are the rules different?

 

Colorado ONLY has black bear. There are no grizzlies or any other type of bear here; the last known grizzly bear in Colorado was in 1978, I believe. Keep in mind terms like "black" and "brown" describe a species, NOT a color. A few black bears (the species) can be colored brown or cinnamon, but they're still black bears.

[Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life]

Here in Colorado a non resident tag for bear is $294, deer is $494, elk is 825 (all prices are US Dollars). Residents are $61 for bear, $49 for deer and $ 68 for elk.