I am looking into hunting with outdoor adventures this falls for black bear. Early season in the Adorondack mountains NY. Any info you may have would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

Hi Tom,
3 of us gave it a try a few years back, up just west of Lake George. It pretty much sucked. Could'nt see much past your barrel, because of vegetation, and the guide had no plans whatsoever. Hopefully, your trip turns out alot better.
Trigger

For us, bears were a sideline when deer hunting in Hamilton County. We would put on drives, and occasionally would put out a bear. I only know a few guys that hunt specifically for bears, and their success is limited. Big woods, hilly to mountainous, so the bear can be 50 yards away and out of view.

I've hunted the Adirondacks many times in a wilderness forever area in Newcomb called the Santinoni Preserve. No motor vehicles allowed you must park at the entrance and hike it all in. There are plenty of bears in this area although I haven't been up there in about 10 years. The Adirondacks is a tough place to hunt, be in shape have a GPS and a topo map and be prepared to walk and climb very steep mountains. Find the beech trees and look for their claw marks and wait them out. No baiting in New York State. I was primarily hunting big whitetails and saw a few bear 200 lbs bears which weren't big enough for me to consider taking.Walk in from the trail head to Moosepond is about 4 miles and I would consider going in deeper to either Calhoun or Ermine brooks. Ermine brook will bring you to the foothills of Little Santononi mt. which is where I found to be the best hunting in that area this is all from memory but get the topo you will deffinelty need it. Carry a pack and always be prepared to stay the night in the woods. This is big wild country and there are NO ROADS, you will not see anyone for your entire trip unless they are hunting with you. There were a few guides offering horse and wagon to pack you in to their base camps for a week. They drop you off and pick you up next week. The guy we always used was Neil Taylor and I think his company name was CATARONDACK OUTFITTERS. very dependable and reasonable. For bear you want to go early before they den up, don't try to time it with the rut for whitetail. This is a wild area and be prepared for freak storms and severe cold. One November we started the hunt in t-shirts and by the end we had 3 ft of snow and it was -35. Try it you will have a great time just be prepared for the wild.

Tom,

That Outdoor Adventures seems to be a guide service? In any case unless they are baiting for bear I don't see how they are going to help all that much unless you like spending money on guides and that scene.

Here is a site with where bear hunting is allowed.
www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/guide/deerareas.html

Since you live there why not just go hunting in an area near you for whatever game is open at the start of the bear season? To be frank the chance of getting a bear is not all that great. You just have to be out there a lot which is it's own reward.

Baiting is not legal in NY, (guide or no guide) he may be using dogs (which is legal} if he has a permit. Check into it . If not i would say to save yourself some money and do it on your own . Do alot of scouting first and i reccommend the cider river flow area . You'll have plenty of places to camp in that area and cabins to rent if thats what you like. There are planty of bear in that area, its in Hamilton county near Indian Lake . Good Luck

Thanks for the replys guys. There are two problems with trying a do it yourself trip for this year.

1) Time for scouting-- work situation and family commitments mean no time away from home this summer.

2) I really don;t live that close to the area. I'm at least a 5 hour drive from decent bear habitat. this again pretty much illiminates early scouting on a regular basis.

I have allready booked with a local guide , just wondering how the general hunting in the area was.

In 2000 I did a 5 day and then again in 2002 a seven day pack trip with Cold Creek Outfitters in Tupper Lake. We took horses and wagon in about 12 miles where they had two heated wall tents setup.

It was a great time, plenty of game around. We were there at a time when deer or bear could be taken. But the consensus was that taking a bear would be a by product of deer hunting, if you were lucky enough to see one and wanted it, take it.

In 2002 we had fresh snowfall just about every morning which meant freash tracks. We had a nice size bear within 400 yds of camp, saw the tracks change everyday, tried following them, but never saw the bear.

The Adirondacks is a wonderful hunting experience and I wouldn't have missed and plan on going back but if you really want a bear there are places to go which would have a higher success rate. I would suppose Maine might be one. And with NJ just reopening this past year I would think it'd be a no brainer.
Rob

Tom: Hunting black bears or any bear is usually pretty tough business but it is always fun. But I like your seriousness: you will never kill one of the buggers if you don't go. I have never hunted in the Adorondack Mts. (and in fact I have never been to NY) but I have hunted and shot black bears....If you have a guide or outfitter and you are not allowed to bait (which is harder than it sounds but is an excellent way of hunting bbs), or use dogs, I will bet they will be taking you to hunt likely or (better) known feeding spots. With out using bait or dogs, the best way to hunt bbs is to find where they are feeding in the morning or late in the evening. In the fall there should be fattening berries and or nuts that bears might eat...or stuff like fish. Figure out what they are eating when you are there and your chances will be greatly increased. I hope you shoot one. I like shooting bears!

What type of gun will you be using?

Good luck

RWJ
Yes I will have a guide, and he is planning to set up over likely feeding areas. I will be hunting during the early Blackj bear season (first week in October for me). I plan on using my 50 cal muzzel loader, I just got it this year and it has been really fun to shoot. It's an inline that sseems to really like power belt bullets pushed by pyro pellets. I will most likely take my 270WSM along too incase I find the shooting opportunities to be longer than I expect but I really doubt it will be. I am REALLY LOOKING FORWARD to this!