Spring Spot and Stalk Bear Hunting Tips and Tactics
Sheldon Marion
Spring Spot and Stalk Bear Hunting Tips and Tactics
After what seems to be an eternity, Spring has finally sprung in the North. For most people, it is a welcome time of year, but for bear hunters, it is truly something special. If you’re like me, you’ve been planning your next bear hunt from the day you cut your last bear tag. There is something about finally getting out of the house in the spring when the weather is warm and the snow is gone to start chasing these big bruins. Being back out in the wilderness, seeing the green grass poking up through all the dead foliage, leaves starting to sprout on the trees and all of the song birds that have migrated back up North, make it such a beautiful and special time of year to be in the woods. Whether you’re new to hunting, an old timer with more years of experience then you want to admit to, or want to hunt bears for the first time, I have some tips and tricks to help you get a head start on your spring bear hunting season.
Getting Started
Anytime we start something new, it can be a daunting task figuring out the first steps. We tend to want to rush into things without much of a thought process and figure it out as we go. Unfortunately for bear hunting, this can get you seriously hurt or you can wound a lot of bears with no success in recovering one.
Food Source
The first thing you should do is learn as much about bear habitat before anything else. Fortunately for us in the North, bears are pretty much everywhere. Wherever there is a good food source, there will be bears. Bears are scavengers and will eat almost anything, so you have to be a bit picky on where you are locating the bears that you are wanting to hunt. If you are anywhere close to a dump, I would highly suggest that you avoid that area. There’s a thing called a dump bear and theres a reason why people don’t hunt them. They smell and taste like garbage….actual garbage. In the early spring, the options for food is very limited. There’s a time between when the snow melts away and when the grasses and clovers start to grow. During this time there is a good chance that bears will be out of their dens but not in full force. They know that there isn’t much food for them so they seem to stay in their den till it starts to get hotter and who doesn’t like “five more minutes” when they’re getting out of bed. For them, the only real food is typically in willow thickets and at the tops of popular trees when the branches are just starting to bud. They will strip the branches of the buds and hang out in the tops of popular trees till the grasses start to grow on hills, pipelines, open fields and meadows.
Once as the grasses start growing, you will see a huge increase in bear numbers. After a winter of sleeping and living off of its reserve body fat, they have one thing on their mind and that’s food! For the first week or two when they come out of hibernation they have to slowly get their digestive track moving normal again so they wont be eating any meat. They have to push the plug* out of them and the only way to do this is to eat vegetation.
*The plug is a large mass of hardened feces produced by a bear during its winter hibernation. The plug forms in the colon, and consists of a variety of materials ingested by the bear during and immediately before hibernating.
It isn’t uncommon to see more then one bear on a straight stretch of road, side hill or pipeline all eating on the fresh grass growing. They really don’t seem to care about the other bears in the area and almost don’t really care about you coming towards them. Their main focus is getting that fresh green grass into their belly.
Bear Anatomy
I’ve heard it a thousand times; shoot the bear in the shoulder to break his shoulders and he wont be able to run. Please don’t be the person to keep spreading this rumor. Unless you’re shooting a monster of a caliber like a 375 H&H or a 378 Weatherby, the only thing that’s going to happen is you’re going to wound a bear and he will run off on you with very little chance of recovery. A bear is built like a tank. They can absorb so much energy and disperse it throughout its body and walk away like nothing has happened. Something to think about is how many times have you seen a dead bear on the side of the highway compared to dead deer or moose. They can get hit by a car or truck and run off like nothing has happened. When it comes to shooting a bear, you have to know where the vitals are located. Their lungs aren’t in the same place where most big game animals are. They are slightly farther back and a good shot on a bear almost looks like a gut shot. That is because you have to shoot a bit farther back then where you would on most animals. I heard someone describe the shot placement as the middle of the middle. Meaning draw a straight line horizontally across a bear, when he’s standing broad side, in the middle of his body. Then a draw a line vertically down the middle of his body. Where those two lines meet is where you want to shoot. Take into consideration that this only works when the bear is perfectly broadside. If it is quartering away from you, you want to aim where the arrow or bullet will exit where those two lines meet. Same rule applies for if the bear is quartering to you. On any quartering shot, you always want to aim for the exit and not the entrance. This ensures that you hit as many vitals as possible.
Firepower
When you’re deciding on which caliber to bring with you, you don’t need to over think it. Most people will feel comfortable with the bigger calibers such as the 300 Win Mag, 338 Win Mag, 7mm Remington Mag, or the trusty old 30-06. In reality, almost any caliber that you are comfortable with will do the job with proper shot placement and bullet selection. 243, 25-06, 280, 30-06, 308, 7mm, 300 and 338 are all excellent bear calibers. If you decide on one of the smaller calibers, like the 243 or 308, I would highly recommend using a heavy, deep penetrating bullet like a Nosler Partition. The bigger calibers also need a good bullet. Don’t cheap out and buy the cheapest bullets on the shelf. Spend a little bit of money and buy premium ammo like Nosler Accubond or Partitions. Nothing is worse then having to track a wounded bear because you decided to use cheap bullets that fragmented on impact and didn’t penetrate both lungs. The bears deserve a lot more respect then that and you can get yourself in a very bad situation very quickly.
If you are considering a bow, I wouldn’t go any lighter then 40 pound draw weight, which is what most provinces regulate is the lowest poundage you can use on big game animals. The set back with lower poundage is the distance you can shoot. With 40 pounds, I wouldn’t shoot past 20 yards. If you are in a area that allows bear baiting, it would be a good starting point. If you are in a area where you can only spot and stalk, I wouldn’t recommend a 40 pound draw weight. 50 to 60 pounds is ideal. When choosing your set up for your bow, you really need to pay attention to your broadhead selection. Just like bullet selection, don’t go out and buy the cheapest ones you can find. You a need a very durable and strong broadhead in order to penetrate a bear and puncture both lungs. A lot of people are using mechanical broadheads but I would slightly lean away from them just because the blades can bend easily and there have been issues in the past with the blades not opening up, but that’s just my personal opinion. There has been a lot of bears taken with mechanical broadheads. I would go for a solid broadhead. For me, I use Black Widow Innovations Widowmaker broadheads. They penetrate like crazy, tough, durable and are extremely accurate.
Spotting
Spotting bears in the spring is probably one of the easiest animals to spot. The big, round, black or brown blob stands out like a sore thumb. They tend to stick to south facing hills, during the early part of spring when there is still snow on the ground, or foraging open meadows, ditches and pipelines when the grasses start growing on them. You don’t need to spend a bunch of money on the latest and greatest spotting scopes or binoculars. A cheap set of Bushnell, Leupold or Vortex will all work great. What I look for when I’m glassing a area is basically a dark blob that looks like a tree root or a burnt tree. A lot of the time I don’t even have to use my binoculars or spotting scope to find them because they stand out so much. Once as I see them, I’ll bring out the glass just to judge the size of the bear. I’m also fortunate enough that, where I hunt, there is a lot of long and wide pipelines that the bears all funnel into to. The odd occasion that I do hunt in the hills, I find a nice vantage point that overlooks one or two draws that I can glass in to. Make sure to take your time and look over the area from the top to the bottom and really pay attention to the shadows, thick brush and thick cover like spruce tree branches that are overhanging. Bears are active all throughout the day, but during the peak heat of the day they will hide out in the shadows to get some shade from the sun. Other areas to really target are water sources and any openings with green grass growing. Sooner or later I can almost guarantee you that a bear will move into that green space and will start chewing on the fresh grass.
Judging the Size and Sex
Bears can be extremely deceiving. From a far, they almost all look the same. They all look like a big bear until the day comes when you see a real big bear. Its one of those things that isn’t noticeable until you see just how big a BIG bear actually is. The first thing you want to pay attention to when judging the size of a bear is its ears. If it has big ears that are close together and on the top of its head, its going to be a small bear. If it has small ears and seems to be on the side of its head, then it’s a big bear.
Sexing a bear is one of the most hardest things to do. Unfortunately, they don’t have a big rack of antlers on their head as a dead give away. If you pay close enough attention though, you can get a good idea whether it’s a boar(male) or a sow(female). One of the most obvious things to look for is cubs. If it has cubs, it’s a sow. After that, things get to be a little more complicated. You have to watch for body movement, body language and the size of its front shoulders compared to its hind end. It might sound a bit harsh for the female readers, and I apologize for it, but if it has a big ass, then its most likely a sow. Big boars will have a deep chest with broad shoulders and it makes their butts look small compared to their front shoulders. Another characteristic of a big boar is what I call the “gym junky walk.” You’ve all seen the type of guy that walks around with his chest out, arms out wide and walks with a slight waddle in his shoulders. Big boars do the same movement. As they walk they stagger slightly from side to side and slightly swing their front paws out. Sows will walk with their front paws going in a straight line. The last thing I look for is the body language of the bear. If it is a small boar or a sow, it will be on the look out for a big bore. It’ll still eat with its head down but you’ll see their eyes come up often or they will be looking over their shoulder and checking their surroundings often. A big boar knows he’s a big boar. He will walk in with confidence(gym junky walk), put his head down, start eating and not care what’s around him. If he sees you, he will most likely pick his head up, eye you up and take a couple of sniffs, then go right back to eating without any worries at all. In his mind, you’re just a smaller bear that’s in his territory and he knows that he is bigger then you so he doesn’t see you as a threat.
Putting the Stock On
Bears can be one of the easiest or hardest animals to stalk up on. Small bears act like a spooked whitetail in a area with a lot of hunting pressure, while big bears can act like their bullet proof and not scared of anything. Bears don’t have any predators other than other bears and humans. Small bears are constantly on the look out for a big boar coming to whoop them if they are in a big boars area. A big boar knows he’s big so he really doesn’t pay much attention to his surroundings nearly as much as a small boar, making it slightly easier to stalk up to them. While a sow with cubs is always on the lookout for that big boar that’ll come in to eat her cubs.
For rifle hunters, its typically pretty easy. I’ve harvested a lot bears with my rifle wearing blue jeans and a long sleeve shirt. Bears have terrible eye sight but have phenomenal noses. If the wind isn’t in your favour, blowing your scent towards the bear, the chances of getting within 100 yards are slim, but it can happen. With the wind in your favor, blowing your scent away from the bear, it is fairly easy to walk up to within 100 yards of the bear. As long as you walk slow and try to step quietly, they typically don’t pay much attention to you until you get within their comfort zone. Their comfort zone varies from bear to bear but typically its between 50 to 200 yards. Well within rifle range.
For bow hunters, it is a much different story. You need camo*, wind in your favor, stay low to the ground, move extremely slow and, at times, act like a small bear just trying to feed on some grass.
*If you don’t have camo, wearing all black or dark brown clothing will work. If you take this route, you will have to act like you’re a bear. Crawl on your hands and knees and move as if you are a bear slowly grazing on grass while moving towards your target bear.
If you are trying to get within bow range, you need to start your stalk a little different then if you were trying to get within rifle range. You want to stay out of the bears view as much as possible right from the start. If they see you walking up then all of a sudden disappear, you will raise some concerns for the bear and making it difficult to get close. If possible, you want to walk inside a tree line and slowly approach the bear. If the bear is in an open area and is grazing on the green grass, he is most likely not going anywhere, so don’t be afraid to lose sight of him momentarily when you are walking inside the tree line. Chances are he’s going to be right where you last saw him. If you are in more open country, you are going to want to find something to keep between you and the bear. Willows, tree stumps, tall grass and rose bushes to name a few. Its very important to not move until the bear has his head down and eating or has his butt facing you. They have terrible eye sight, and they might not be able to really tell what you are from a distance but they will be able to see movement, so its important that you only move when he cant see you move. If you are slowly making some ground and the bear does see you, a good way to relieve some of his stress is to act like a bear. Stay on your hands and knees, keep your head down and turn broadside to the bear. Theres a good chance that the bear will think that you’re just a small bear that isn’t threatening and is just trying to get some food in its belly. If you stay facing forward toward the bear, it might give him the signal that you are still a small bear, however your body language is telling him that you are a threat and you are challenging him to the area, which will in turn make him run off or get very wary of you.
After watching and studying bear behaviour and, with a lot of practice and patients, you will be able to put the stock on almost any bear you see in the woods. The main things to keep in mind is food sources, wind direction, staying out of the bears line of sight and making very little to no noise. With those four things you will be well on your way on becoming a successful spring bear hunter. Have fun, be safe and good luck hunting!
