Best strategy for southwestern Bears

T

tacgnut

New member
Thinking about a zip code change and wondering about hunting prospects in AZ. Never hunted Bears, never seen a bear in the wild, just know that I would like to hunt them some day.
Not sure about the best way to hunt them, calling, spot & stalk, baiting, I have no idea.
Any input would be appreciated.
 
Dogs is the easiest way.You can also call them in with a predator call or electronic caller.Several areas in Arizona have good populations of black bears.Good luck and take care,daveyboy /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-006.gif
 
Hounds can make it more productive but not always "easier" I have been on several hunts from ones that you can load up the bear on a truck to being at the bottom of a black hole where it takes hours to get yourself let alone a critter out. Thank goodness for some fit guides!

As for calling, I have been successful but I had a trapper familiar with the area point out the areas bears were working. (In No. CA.) The first bear came in 2 min on the first stand. Ended up calling in 5 bear in 2 1/2 days. You first need to pick a state and then call the biologists and ask for suggestions. Some wardens are helpful but I always try to ask a trapper. They see things that the rest of us just trample over.

Go fishing where the fish are!
 
Trapping was banned in AZ in '94 and in CA in '98. There are no trappers left in CA, so talking to trappers is a thoroughly outdated idea. Venado, what year did you shoot that bear? the 80's?

Contact Mike Disney, the predator biologist for the state of Arizona, and he'll tell you game units 1, 27, 38, 23S, 23N, 29 and 35A were the most productive bear units last year. Statewide, the harvest was 250 in '06.

In California, 1735 bears are taken by season's end. The best counties last year changed little from the historical data. Siskiyou, Shasta, Humbolt and Trinity counties in the north and Fresno, Tulare, Tuolomne in the south consistently produce the most bears, and last year was no different.

That data assumes that the hunters told the truth when they filled out their tags, and as you well know, hunters lie more than a bear rug.
 
MojaveBob hate to bust your bubble but there are still trappers in California. I know a few who take over 150 bobcats a year, plus fox, and badgers. Footholds were outlawed, not cages. And for Arizona footholds were only outlawed on public land.
 
Derek, hate to burst yours either. I don't believe your numbers. I think you made them up. The only two guys in the state that hit the cats that hard are Reed and Stacy, and they trap down here.

Here's Bobcat harvest data for the entire state of CA for the years shown from the Fish and Game and Commercial Fur Purchase data. No guesses - no made up numbers.

Bobcats - CA PreBan
Year - #of Bobcats
1986 - 8587
1987 - 8257
1988 - 5208
1989 - 2534

Bobcats - CA PostBan
2000 - 220
2001 - 214
2002 - 394

Bobcats - AZ PreBan
1986 - 6421
1987 - 6609
1988 - 3174
1989 - 1253

Bobcats - AZ PostBan
2000 - 109
2001 - 97
2002 - 37
2003 - 267

Coyote trapping in AZ dropped from 14198 in 1986 to a low of 178 in '95, 182 in 2000, and 635 in '03, so your private land argument doesn't hold water.

The difference between Pre- and Post-Ban is HUGE. Your buddies caught more than the whole state. So how many bears and coyotes did your buddies take in their box traps? A thousand? More like Zero.
 
I didn't make anything up. You said trapping was banned and there are no trappers in Ca. But now you admit there are trappers in Ca, and it just so happens I was talking about Jeff and Stacey. I was not talking about harvest numbers. I was just correcting your ignorance. Go to coyotes R us there are a handfull of Cali trappers.
 
I feel like I just got an English lesson from a junior high school toilet seat. Thanks, I learned a lot. Have you thought about joining the debate team?
 
Find the food source where bear are feeding and look for a lot of piles of scat.Pick a spot to sit and watch from late evening till dark.First couple hours of daylight in the morning can be productive as well.During the daylight hours,i hunt the thickest cover i can find.Bears like to lay in shady damp areas through the daytime,to cool there bodies down,they over heat in the hot sun of the day.Even in warm winter days,they will seek out these areas.
 
The really great trappers in Calf are knocking down numbers of bobcats and grey fox, that, as Bob is saying, are hard to believe. I know one that is trapping more bobcats that Reid and Yancy catch combined. All in cages! He just goes quietly about his business and no one bothers him or knows of what he is doing.This is 2006-2007 , not 2003. Things change in literally a few months out there.

It is the same in Az. No one cares about coyotes. but the cat and fox market are what count right now. In 2003, cats and fox prices were in the toilet, your numbers reflect it. No one was trapping them. Also the grey fox and coyote population was hammered by a Parvo outbreak in 2001, so by 2003, there were few to even trap. That is the reason cat numbers are at an all time high right now. Less coyotes equals more bobcats. And few trapping them, because they simply dont know how to use cages, or dont want to fiddle with them. Also the rabbit cycle peaked last year here as well. All these things make a huge difference in critter numbers. Next, you will see bobcat numbers crash as when they over populate, feline distemper, coyote numbers coming back, rabbit cycle crash, will cause a fall in their numbers as well.

Personally........the ban on trapping has been a boom to both my calling business and my trapping. No one out there to bother me, I pretty much have the woods to myself for the most part.

The units that Bob posted are all very good units for bear. But I submit to you that there are some other areas that bear calling is far easier, and the bears more concentrated.
Making for an easier to call bear.
Its all pretty much going to be a mute point, as when the USFS gets done with their so called Transportation Plan, 50% or more of the roads in the National Forest will be closed to access, unless you want to walk, and horse back it. Already started here.
FWIW
Steve
 
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