Nevada Black Bear

[Clockwork]

I am a new adult onset hunter (love the term) who after a few years of applying finally got my first animal/tag this past season and was able to get a nice mule deer doe. So in regards to this post, I have been gaining bonus points for the past few years towards black bear as I have really always wanted to hunt one. Now I have looked around the site and don't see many people, if any, ever really talk about hunting black bears here in Nevada. None of my hunting buddies have any inclination to ever hunt a bear so I am on my own with this one.

The units for bears here seem to be only around the Carson city area of the state and a little south from there.

Are they plentiful up in that area? Easy to find? Hard to find? etc

If anyone here has some/ANY advice they could give me on hunting them that they feel could/would help me is welcome, since I am a new hunter I am still trying to learn what works and what doesn't work.

 

[David Gough]

A black bear tag is one of the hardest to draw in the state. Only 45 of the 50 tags go to residents and there is a harvest limit of twenty bears. The hunt, and currently the use of hounds (again), is under attack year after year after year by local anti-hunting groups such as the Bear League and Nevada Wildlife Alliance.

If you're lucky enough to draw a tag, and with max points at 10 that's going to be a lot of luck, either hire a houndsman or spot in the stalk the units around food sources. Multiple bears over the 400 pound range are killed every year. For the love of Pete, don't kill a sow if you can help it. Only hurts efforts to fight off the antis.

If you actually want to start hunting bears on a regular basis look at California. Lots of bears and over-the-counter tags.

 

[kickemall]

I don't know much about Nv. bears except like you, around CC seems to be the hot spot and I suspect thats because of the Tahoe bears. Theres a guy over on Eastman's Nv. forum that hunts them with dogs and might be able to help you. Bears are all about feed, find the feed, find the bears. Where your located you might be better off going to Ca. and getting a non resident otc tag and hunting there as there are plenty of bears and it would be closer than the CC area. Plus you may be waiting a while to draw NV. Good luck.

 

[Clockwork]

A black bear tag is one of the hardest to draw in the state. Only 45 of the 50 tags go to residents and there is a harvest limit of twenty bears. The hunt, and currently the use of hounds (again), is under attack year after year after year by local anti-hunting groups such as the Bear League and Nevada Wildlife Alliance.

If you're lucky enough to draw a tag, and with max points at 10 that's going to be a lot of luck, either hire a houndsman or spot in the stalk the units around food sources. Multiple bears over the 400 pound range are killed every year. For the love of Pete, don't kill a sow if you can help it. Only hurts efforts to fight off the antis.

If you actually want to start hunting bears on a regular basis look at California. Lots of bears and over-the-counter tags.

Well ok, that's unfortunate to hear, Like I said I never read about people doing a bear hunt here and I don't know anybody who does it so I didn't know about all of this. I'll have to check out a new spot to go hunt bears, like in CA like you said or another state.

When I had facebook and other social media I think I remember seeing posts about the anti hunting group Nevada Wildlife Alliance wanting to ban bear hunting in NV.

 

[David Gough]

Well ok, that's unfortunate to hear, Like I said I never read about people doing a bear hunt here and I don't know anybody who does it so I didn't know about all of this. I'll have to check out a new spot to go hunt bears, like in CA like you said or another state.

When I had facebook and other social media I think I remember seeing posts about the anti hunting group Nevada Wildlife Alliance wanting to ban bear hunting in NV.

You could check out northern Arizona too. Being down in Vegas it may be closer to hunt them there.

 

[Professor]

You could check out northern Arizona too. Being down in Vegas it may be closer to hunt them there.

Almost no bears in Arizona north of the grand canyon. They are in the transition zone from Prescott east to New Mexico. For the West that is not a bad drive though. I think a license and OTC tag is around $300, and they have good bear hunting in a lot of districts. My son and I are hunting there this summer, so I have researched a good bit and I just got back from 5 days of hiking and scouting. We did not see a bear, but we found plenty of fresh scat.