Arizona Bear Hunting Info, Please.

Joe_81

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Joined
Apr 23, 2020
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Anyone out there done a DIY spot-and-stalk archery bear hunt in Arizona? I'd like to backpack hunt the mountains and was wondering if anyone out there has useful information/advice.

Much obliged.
 

cjl2010

Lil-Rokslider
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Jun 12, 2015
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Depending what part of the state you want to be in It’s going to be hot as shit out. Better be able to get it out fairly quick.
 
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Oct 8, 2019
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If you have not already done so, I do recommend looking at the web site for AZ Game & Fish. If you are doing this, you might as well also get a mountain lion tag.

Are you wanting to chase them in the spring or the fall? I ask since they are two different hunts.

In the spring you never know when the bears will come out of hibernation. This can make it a challenge when scheduling a hunt; that and combined with the female harvest limit.

In the fall, you need to be prepared to high heat and potentially high humidity. Also, you will need to be prepared to quickly break the bear down, get the meal cool, and get the fat off the hide. While you may want to hunt them in the mountains, they can be down much lower eating prickly pear fruit.
 

JCohHTX

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May 6, 2019
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77
Joe, did this ever come to fruition? I am looking at a fall DIY bear hunt in AZ. Would be interested to know how it went if you got out there.
 

Honyock

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Dec 21, 2019
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Location
Edmond, OK
Joe, did this ever come to fruition? I am looking at a fall DIY bear hunt in AZ. Would be interested to know how it went if you got out there.
We hunted the White Mountain Apache Rez in eastern Arizona the first week of August. I had no idea that Arizona had mountains and huge pine trees. Camp was at 8,000' and we hunted between 8,500' to 10,000'. We had to hunt with a guide on the Rez and it was worth it. Three in our group and we got two that went 7'2" and one that went 6'6". There are some really big black bears on the Rez.
 

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FlyGuy

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Aug 13, 2016
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The Woodlands, TX
Was that baited, hound hunt, or spot and stalk? I think I recall hearing that baiting is allowed on the Rez but that may not actually be true?


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Honyock

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Dec 21, 2019
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817
Location
Edmond, OK
It was baited. They hunt bait until elk season and then after elk season they switch over to dogs. The guide we used hunters this year have taken 35 bears and 30 were over 7'. We saw some incredible bull elk and tons of cow elk.
 

otmeeks

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Joined
Aug 2, 2020
Messages
16
Unit 23 has a lot of bears, with a wide variety of terrain to hunt. The bad thing about this unit is the quota is filled fast. The highest concentration of animal versus elevation usually is determined by rain fall and forage. The way we have found to hund fall bear is to find good prickly pear covered ridges and glass early morning, very early, like being at glassing spot hours before sun up. Oaks with good acorns are also good but harder to hunt.
 
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Would recommend Diamond Outfitters with Mike Harris and Layne Chitwood as your guides. They are damn good at what they do. They kill lots of big bears every year.
 
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