Help a noob in d13

[orlyproxy]

Hello, this was my first year black bear hunting. We went spent 3 days in frazier and saw 0 signs of bear, saw tons of deer but not even a single old bear scat. We then moved on to the goldhill area and hiked about 3 miles in, towards piru creek and only found old scat. We made sure to have the wind in our favor. Found a very nice vantage point where 3 drainage met and there was tons of acorns and berries, and we even used a fawn call. Again we saw deer but no bears.

Can anyone give us some pointers of things we should be looking out for. We plan to go back out 2 or 3 more times but only for the weekend. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[canamrider07]

D13 is difficult. You might think your out by yourself but there is probably another easy access point, forest road/OHV trail, where someone else is close by. I would suggest going as late in the season as possible. If you can get up there after a snowfall you can at least see tracks. The Rangers will close the access gates very quickly when it snows. The roads become impassable unless you have a good 4x4. Hiking in when the gates close will give your best chance. But that is very difficult and you have to really know what you’re doing in inclement weather. Here’s some old videos of bears/tracks in D13

 

[Common Sense]

Bears like to eat and move to different areas to find food. Sometimes the gorge on acorns, sometimes berries or other things. Find out what food is “in season”. Find food source and you will find bears.
Unless there is fresh sign, you probably won’t find bears as they are very transitory.

 

[#1Predator]

Bears like to eat and move to different areas to find food. Sometimes the gorge on acorns, sometimes berries or other things. Find out what food is “in season”. Find food source and you will find bears.
Unless there is fresh sign, you probably won’t find bears as they are very transitory.

Good advice here. This year is a heavy mast crop (acorns) year. This happens every 3-5 years. When bears eat acorns they will need a lot of water to help digest the acorns since acorns have very little moisture in them. Look for signs around food and water sources. This being a dry year, water sources may hold the key.