Have decided to give bear hunting another chance...
Have looked at Montana, Idaho, Manitoba, New Brunswick and Ontario.....Suggestions? Who has been successful, happy with their hunt, where, with who?

Try Alberta, great bear hunting there. A guide I went with a number of time, Chris Mckinnon. Check out his Web site:

www.huntmco.com

You'll have a super hunt, and lots of big bears! A very good chance for colored ones!!!

You might consider a do-it-yourself trip to Prince of Wales island. Quite easy to do and success is what you put into it. If you go in Sept, the fishing and berry picking is unreal. Plus a great trip!

How does one begin to plan this trip?

I drove from Wyoming two different times. Check the Alaska Marine Highway on line. If you go, you have three good choices. Fly and rent a truck from rent a wreck, drive to Bellingham Wash, get on the ferry, drive to Prince Rupert BC and get on the ferry.



Pick a schedule for ferry, send for bear tag and hunting license or buy up there. There are forest service cabins you can rent to, but you have to reserve in advance like a year. You can tent camp also but it rains like a mother. Like 12" in 24 hours. I have done both. I took a wall tent with a wood stove and was comfortable. The cabin was nice to. But you need to take #2 diesel for fuel stove.



I drove both times to Prince Rupert,one spring trip and on fall trip, fun and senic drive.

Bought fishing license POW, sent for bear tag and hunting license. Get a Cites before hand also. I drove a small pickup and hauled me and my son on one trip with gear. The fishing was great for dog salmon, catch and release, you can get one on almost every cast. I got tired of that. The blue berrys are fantastic, and I got a bear on each trip. A 6'6 and a 6'. Nothing huge but great hides and I did it on my own.



I also tried the deer, bear thing, I learned the deer hunting is better in Nov. but the bear isn't.

Any more ? just ask.

I would advise not trying to go too late, as in making it a combo hunt along with sitka blacktail, you end up not devoting the correct amount of time needed for either.
my wife & I did the do it yourself route there last year. we had a wonderful time & she did shoot a small blacktail buck, but it rained so darned hard for so long that we couldn't hunt the rivers effectively & the bears pretty much evaded us. we do have the story about the one that got away.

It is worth your time to get in contact with the local Klawock indian council about some "local" knowledge & hunting permissions. We didn't interact with the locals much until the last evening we were there (momma got tired of my camp cooking & asked to go into town & eat), in the 2 hours we were in town (Klawock) eating we had bunches of locals chatting with us about all the places that they would have given us permission to hunt if they had known we were there. they kinda consider the bears as a nuisance & are very helpful to people coming in to the area to hunt them.
I/we will probally go back, but we will go in the spring next time, the weather will be a bit more condusive for a wife to enjoy & the bears are more huntable on the rivers during the first couple of salmon runs than they are late in the year after 3 full salmon runs.
As I said we had a wonderful time, but I know a lot more about bear hunting now than I did before.

mike

If you're interested in a spring bear hunt, this one is top shelf:
http://members.shaw.ca/bearhunt/

If you would like, I can send you photos of the bears we took last May. Email me at trkyhntr@comcast.net

I've been up to Alberta three times on guided bear hunts and have always had a good time and hunt. Never a problem with opportunity and have some nice trophies as a result.

I've gone with Vern Mochid of Beaver Creek Hunting Company

http://www.beavercreekhunting.com/

but I've also been over to Chris McKinnons place to chat with him and friends.

http://www.huntmco.com/


I believe Chris will put you up at his lodge while Vern will be camping on his sites. So if you want modern accomodations Chris would be better but if you want to camp in tents (nice camp setup, cook tent and then 2-man wall tents with stoves) Vern would be better. Either way you're gonna see bears and probably some big ones.

Color phase bears are not unusual up there, I shot a blond and have seen some cinnimon. Largest I've shot with Vern was 7' but a fella I took up there this last Spring shot one that was easily 7'6"

My 2004 Idaho bruiser:



Much of Idaho allows two bears and it is very reasonably priced. They are almost 50% on color. If you want to hand gun hunt a bear you can here but not in Canada. New Brunswick is under hunted, the locals do not hunt bears, lots of bears but color is very rare. I have had variable luck in Manitoba and color is available there as well.

Camp in Idaho:



I book for outfitters in any of these places.

New Brunswick also has some excellent fly fishing, my guy is in the Miramichi watershed area which is fantastic.

A view of New Brunswick:



My hunts have all been guided with Idaho being the best bang for my buck. One "pro" for going guided is, if you want to get into the back country it is easier to use their horses/vehicles, equipment and let them haul gear and cook. It gives you more time to hunt and fish.

I can set you up on a very good hunt if you would like to go guided.

aspenhill@triton.net

Whistler-one of the few passions I have is bruins. I am kind of a far gone bruin chaser and look at about 50-70 a year here in my home state.

Guess I'd have one question for you, what kind of hunt are you looking for spot and stalk, sitting in a stand over a bait and also are you looking to go at it on a guided hunt or do it your self?

Perhaps that is more than one question...let me know if I can help you out in any way?

Have a super day!

Dogz

My daughter is interested in a bear hunt (she's only 13, and got her 1st button buck last week ) But I am on a very tight budget, any ideas?
I don't want to take her on a 7 day goose chase, but I don't have to have a fully guided hunt either.
Also, she has become a crack shot with a 7mm-08, is that enough gun with 150gr Partitions?
Thanks!

ACSTEEL - "Also, she has become a crack shot with a 7mm-08, is that enough gun with 150gr Partitions?"
________________________________________________________

ACSTEEL, that'll do just fine. I've killed two Black bears, one 250 pound boar with a .280 Rem., 160 grains Nosler Partition, at about 90 yards, and another, a 400 pound Black bear (treed) with a S&W 57 .41 Mag., with 210 grains JHP bullet.

If she shoots well, that 7mm-08 will be just the ticket.

I agree with Ann. Lots of big Black bears in Idaho.

Good luck.

L.W.

Thanks for the replys.
Alberta is a little to far, have hunted Northern Montana in both spring and fall of same year with an outfitter with no results. Saw several sows with cubs but no boers. Course it did snow 3.5 inches the first day. I like the idea of spot and stalk but would consider a bait. Would like to hunt with a muzzleloader but plan to carry a rifle as backup. Cost is a consideration and I would like to find a place for repeat hunting in the future.
Mark R Dobrenski, hows the hunting in and around your area?
Anyone have experience bear hunting in Ontario?

Bear hunting in this state is very good (IMO), with a bit of homework you should be able to put yourself into decent bruin country.

I'd be for betting that if you came back for 2-3 years you'd be a long way towards figuring it out. And in myexpereince there is one heck of a lot of satisfaction to be had in figuring things out for your self.

Not dissing bucket hunts (guided bait hunts), but to me there couldn't be much for satisfaction except in knowing that I filled a space on the wall. But, to each his own.

Dogz


"GET TO THE HILL"

Actually Mark, our Idaho fall hunts are walk and stalk due to the fruit crops the bears raid. There is too much mast for baited hunts. Being you live out west in good bear country I am sure you realize that. That said, we were 100% and took several bears over 7 foot this year.

Spring is baited but in the mountains we use one gallon of bait per day, mostly we make burns utilizing scents. Why one gallon? Because these are horse back hunts and you cannot carry tons of bait that way in the mountains. Seems to work just as well, one of the most enjoyable over all hunting experiences I have had.