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Bowhunting Bears on the Ground

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By Trevon Stoltzfus

As if merely a shadow in a bowhunter’s dream, the big bear ghosted through the timber. He was out there a ways, but he was headed straight at me. All I could do was wait.

The bruin slipped in and out of the dense brush as he closed the distance, and my hands trembled in anticipation as he neared my ground blind. When he finally emerged into the little opening where I waited, he was just 6 yards away. He turned broadside. Taking a deep breath and doing my best to compose myself while looking straight across at him, I drew my bow and settled my top pin on his vitals.

The bruin paused briefly, allowing me the perfect opportunity to release my arrow. The hit was deadly, and with a grunt the bear sprinted back into the thick undergrowth. Mere seconds later a low moan rose from a thicket less than 50 yards away, signaling my trophy black bear’s last breath.

There is very little that is more exciting than hunting black bears eye to eye, on the ground, with a stick and string. Bowhunting bears from an elevated treestand is incredibly thrilling and effective. But I believe that it just doesn’t compare to the exhilaration of facing them on the ground, either from a well-situated ground blind or while stalking.

Black Bears on Your Own On the Ground

Ursus americanus, the American black bear, is found as far south as Florida and Mexico and as far north as arctic Alaska and Canada. But for those bowhunters eager to hunt black bears on the ground in a do-it-yourself style, the very best bet is probably the western United States from Alaska to Arizona. There’s lots of wide-open public land and very little bear-hunting pressure.

Western State-by-State Overview

It’s important to know each individual western state’s rules and regulations when bowhunting black bears, as the game laws change from state to state.

For those enthusiastic archers who want the thrill and exhilaration of the classic spot-and-stalk bowhunt, look to Alaska, California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. If the ultimate chess match of taking a dominant bear over bait and with a ground blind is your game of choice, then look to Idaho, Wyoming and Utah. Be sure to reference each state’s black-bear regulations for baiting-station permit requirements and limitations.

Spot-and-Stalk Bears

The classic spot-and-stalk method is by far the most used method for archery hunting black bears in the western United States. That’s because a majority of those states prohibit baiting or hunting with hounds. Along with patience and good glassing techniques, the key to understanding and successfully bowhunting big bruins can be broken down into two essential things: food and the right hunting area or unit. Black bears love to eat wild nuts, acorns, fruit, insects and succulent greens. Bears will also eat meat and less succulent greens when preferred foods and forage are scarce. Finding the right areas that provide what hungry bears are craving is the real key to spot-and-stalk bear hunting.

Kirk Edgerton, an experienced and very successful spot-and-stalk black-bear guru from northern California, explains his theory on locating a quality bear-hunting area. “I focus on two basic types of hunting areas: logging units and mountainous areas. Logging units are typically found along the northwest coast where heavy, dense timber meets open logged areas. The age of the logged-off area is very important. You want to find a unit where the undergrowth has just started to take over the logged-off areas. This new growth provides great feed for the bears, especially in the spring, but it’s not yet so high as to completely hide the bears.

“When I glass such an area, I should be able to still see the rocks and grasses on the ground. If there are too many young trees blocking my view of the ground, I switch to a new location. Another giveaway is deer and elk feeding in the unit. If they’re using it to feed then you can bet the bears will also.

“I also look for stumps that have been torn up by the bears. In the best units, the logging stumps have begun to decay and are now great places for small bugs and larvae. The bears will pull apart those rotting stumps to forage. While glassing a unit, I expect to see such bear-hit stumps. Those stumps will display a yellow or red area where the gray bark has been removed. Fresh-hit stumps are a sure sign that bears are feeding in the area.

“I’ve spotted, stalked and killed black bears in the morning, in the evening and at midday,” says Edgerton. “So during a typical day, I’ll hunt a handful of units, driving in between those scattered areas looking for the freshest indications that the bears are in a particular area.”

Edgerton believes in a simple methodology when it comes to spotting and stalking trophy black bears. In the early morning, he starts his glassing by zeroing in on the center of especially lush green and often fairly open areas, as the bears will have fed most of the night in those areas. In the evenings, Edgerton focuses on the edge of areas with thicker, taller vegetation as the bears will have moved into those denser areas for the daylight hours and will be moving slowly out of them as darkness again approaches.

Once a quality bear is spotted, a careful stalk can be planned. Black bears have an extremely keen sense of hearing and smell, and although their eyesight is not the best, they can easily pick up movement if a bowhunter isn’t careful. As in any bowhunting situation, monitoring the wind is critical. Choosing an approach route that puts a bowhunter within their effective range without being detected is both difficult and exciting. Should a bear smell you, he will be gone instantly.

Edgerton is a firm believer in not pressing his stalking luck if the wind is anything but ideal. “I hate to risk blowing the bear out of the area,” he says. “Instead, I’ll either hold off on that particular bear for another day or I’ll try a predator call. If I’ve glassed a unit and located an especially big bear in a bad position for a stalk, a predator call can sometimes be used to call that bear in or at least move him to a more stalkable spot. When using a predator call for black bears, the more calling the better, as once the calling stops the bear typically loses interest.”

By utilizing those techniques for finding the best and most active areas and for getting close enough for a sure shot, Kirk Edgerton is successful stalking black bears on the ground.

Baits and
Ground Blinds

In especially thick areas, baiting (where legal) is a wonderful way to hunt black bears. Hunting them from a ground blind, eye to eye, adds extra spice.

Taking a trophy black bear on your own bait site can be an exciting game of strategy and patience. Two of the best I know at it are Gage Brock and Chad Baart of Boise, Idaho. They’ve taken the art of baiting black bears on public land to a whole new level by breaking their technique down into three distinct parts—choosing a bait site, baiting and playing the dominance card.

Choosing a Bait Site

When asked about choosing a quality bait site, Chad Baart states confidently, “I look for an area that has little easy access from roads but yet still provides good enough access for packing in the bait. The best place to bait is on ridge tops where nighttime thermals will carry the odors down through the canyons.”

Gage Brock agrees. “As far as the area itself, I like dark timber, and lately I’m looking for areas that have been burned off by forest fires about 20 years ago. The green feed in those areas is a natural attractant for the bears. The edge of a big drainage often represents the best sort of bait site. I also look for general areas that don’t get human pressure every day.”

“Baiting is my favorite way to hunt black bears,” Baart adds. “Baiting big bruins is like a chess game. You make your move and they make theirs. Getting bears to come in to the bait is not that difficult. Where the difficulty lies is in getting the bears to come in during legal shooting hours. It’s all great fun.”

The Art of Baiting

Bear bait can consist of anything from dog food to bread and from vanilla extract to Jell-O. Brock and Baart are firm believers in using lots of bait and garnishing that bait with French-fryer grease. “When I initially set up a bait station, I don’t plan to go back for at least 10 to 12 days. This allows the bears in the area to work out their pecking order without being pressured,” stresses Brock. “By getting all of the work done in one trip you are not continually spreading scent with repeat trips and allowing the bears to figure out a time table of when you are in there. This means hauling a lot of bait on that first trip, although with the price of fuel these days, this approach also keeps costs down. If you absolutely have to re-bait, do it between 11 am and 2 pm.”

“The next thing a bowhunter must do is set off the bait,” Brock explains. “By this I mean you need to let every bear in the county know that the bait is there by putting out an attractant such as anise oil, rotten fish or whatever you can find that is stinky.”

Brock and Baart’s favorite stinky stuff? “We just love a sealed five-gallon bucket of rotten suckers that has been sitting in the sun for five days,” admits Baart. “The smellier, the better. We also like to use lots of fryer grease around the bait. The idea is that the bears will have to step in the grease to get to the bait. When they leave the bait site, they track that grease up and down the canyon, and that attracts even more bears.”

The last thing that must be considered when establishing a successful bait site is ground blind placement. While many bears are taken with a bow from treestands, there is nothing quite like staying on ground level with the bears. Chad Baart suggests initially making a brush pile where the blind will be. This gives the bears the opportunity to become accustomed to something in that spot. Then when you return and set up your ground blind to hunt, the bears won’t be as wary of the new shape at the bait site.

Playing the Dominance Card

Once your bait is established and set off, dominance becomes the key to trophy-class bears. According to Baart, “Playing the dominance card is the real key to our big-bear success.”

At any truly active bait site there will be smaller, subordinate bears and larger, more dominant bears hitting the site. Usually there will be one really big dominant bear overseeing everything. That big, smart old bear would normally feed only at night. But eventually he gets tired of the smaller bears stealing his food during the daylight hours and he starts patrolling the site during the day.

“This is why it’s so important to have multiple bears hitting your bait site,” Baart says. “As more bears hit the site, the dominant bears will have to work harder to keep the subordinate bears off the bait. It will also force the bigger bears to alter their schedules to patrol the bait site, making them much more visible during shooting hours. This is why I like to wait at least 12 days before going in to hunt a new bait. That extra time allows the dominance effect to kick in.

“Quite often the dominant bear or bears will not feed when on patrol, but they will nevertheless offer a good bow shot to a ready and waiting bowhunter.”

Bears on the Ground!

With so many places in the West boasting healthy black bear populations and accessible public land to bowhunt, a focused and committed do-it-yourself archer has a great chance to harvest a quality trophy bruin. No matter which state you select or what ground-based hunting method you choose, you can be assured that the reward of harvesting a mature black bear on their level will be a memory that will last a lifetime.

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