Bear Hunting around West Yellowstone area?

coldboremiracle

coldboremiracle

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Guys, im going to be in the west yellowstone area next month, and my bear tag is still good. Anybody know of any good areas to find a black bear near there?
 
Did you hunt that area during the spring season?

You heading that way to fish or archery hunt for elk by chance?

Big thing about that area is having your game face on at all times as there are two kinds of bruins in that area. Personally I'd bet on one seeing just as many G bears as B bears...
 
dogz said:
Did you hunt that area during the spring season?

You heading that way to fish or archery hunt for elk by chance?

Big thing about that area is having your game face on at all times as there are two kinds of bruins in that area. Personally I'd bet on one seeing just as many G bears as B bears...
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I didn't, we hunted up by Flathead in the spring. I'd love to see a grizzly, from a safe distance, but just focused on black bears.
 
On average the Flathead is going to be a better choice than West for fall bruins. Main reason, they generally have much stronger berry crops. Find the berries, you'll find the bruins it's as simple as that.

Do you live in Montana now or are you from another state?
 
dogz said:
On average the Flathead is going to be a better choice than West for fall bruins. Main reason, they generally have much stronger berry crops. Find the berries, you'll find the bruins it's as simple as that.

Do you live in Montana now or are you from another state?
Click to expand...
No, Im from Utah. i dont have the time to go all the way back up NW. and I already have some work to do near Island park, so i figured I might take a day here and there and skip across the border and look for bears.
 
I spend a lot of time in that area and had a lot more interactions with grizzlies than black bears in those parts. You certainly can find a good black bear but you would want to be really really confident in your ID before pulling the trigger. Also the huckleberry crop up there is awful this year so I don't know how that will change behaviors. I'd be interested to know how far some of the bears move to find berries? If I was in your shoes I'd consider driving a little further and spending my time north of Big Sky because I see a lot more black bears up there while summer hiking.
If my memory serves me right, The last black bear I've seen in that area was last September and since then I've seen eight griz (one of which was much too close). That I'm sure that ratio isn't representative of the populations (and I probably saw some of the same griz more than once) but you get the point…
 
Bryerific said:
I spend a lot of time in that area and had a lot more interactions with grizzlies than black bears in those parts. You certainly can find a good black bear but you would want to be really really confident in your ID before pulling the trigger. Also the huckleberry crop up there is awful this year so I don't know how that will change behaviors. I'd be interested to know how far some of the bears move to find berries? If I was in your shoes I'd consider driving a little further and spending my time north of Big Sky because I see a lot more black bears up there while summer hiking.
If my memory serves me right, The last black bear I've seen in that area was last September and since then I've seen eight griz (one of which was much too close). That I'm sure that ratio isn't representative of the populations (and I probably saw some of the same griz more than once) but you get the point…
Click to expand...
Thanks! I was thinking of going up Big Sky way as well.
 

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