Black bear brag board

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Z71&Gun

Z71&Gun

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Nov 12, 2020
Messages
225
Location
Washington
That does make for some great bear hunting. Archery bear season opens in a week in California and living in Reno it's only about an hour drive to our hunt area. They have some of the same conditions. Rifle bear doesn't open until September or October though. Very few bear tags are issued in Nevada.

Would you recommend a certain side of the state?
Depends on what you're after. Harvest stats are similar everywhere. The areas that are higher are popular deer units and high harvest numbers are likely due to incidental encounters during deer season.

The peninsula has a whole different class of bear, much larger than the rest of the state, mostly black. Weather on the peninsula is tricky.

The northwest corner is underrated. Lots of access, lots of jet black bears. Finding a particular spot will be the biggest challenge as the whole area is suitable bear habitat.

Northeast corner has bears, some color phase, mountain terrain and good access. Biggest challenge here will be navigating private vs public at desired elevation.

Southeast corner has a lot of color phase bears, public land and good access. Biggest challenge will be finding good habitat and carrying/locating water.

East side of the North cascades has high harvest numbers but tends to be inundated with hikers, bikes and ATVs in the summer. Especially areas off of I-90, hwy 2 and hwy 20. I assume the numbers are from incidental opportunities in the fall.

I haven't spent time in the SW.

If I were planning a hunt from out of state, I would either plan a guided trip to an inland part of the peninsula in search of a jet black Booner, or I would plan to hunt DIY in the north west cascade timber lands. As an out of stater, these are the only reasonable plan ahead options considering the frequency of wildfires in August. Every year my fall bear plan is just to hunt the nearest area that's not on fire.
 
Joined
May 2, 2016
Messages
563
Location
Reno, NV
Depends on what you're after. Harvest stats are similar everywhere. The areas that are higher are popular deer units and high harvest numbers are likely due to incidental encounters during deer season.

The peninsula has a whole different class of bear, much larger than the rest of the state, mostly black. Weather on the peninsula is tricky.

The northwest corner is underrated. Lots of access, lots of jet black bears. Finding a particular spot will be the biggest challenge as the whole area is suitable bear habitat.

Northeast corner has bears, some color phase, mountain terrain and good access. Biggest challenge here will be navigating private vs public at desired elevation.

Southeast corner has a lot of color phase bears, public land and good access. Biggest challenge will be finding good habitat and carrying/locating water.

East side of the North cascades has high harvest numbers but tends to be inundated with hikers, bikes and ATVs in the summer. Especially areas off of I-90, hwy 2 and hwy 20. I assume the numbers are from incidental opportunities in the fall.

I haven't spent time in the SW.

If I were planning a hunt from out of state, I would either plan a guided trip to an inland part of the peninsula in search of a jet black Booner, or I would plan to hunt DIY in the north west cascade timber lands. As an out of stater, these are the only reasonable plan ahead options considering the frequency of wildfires in August. Every year my fall bear plan is just to hunt the nearest area that's not on fire.
Thanks, appreciate the insight
 
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