bear hibernation

[slimman75]

Hey I am new to bear hunting and was wondering when bears start coming out of hibernation? The elevation is about 9000 ft where I will hunting if that would make any diference.

[Daveinthebush]

Here in Valdez the bears have already started comming out on the mountains at about 2,000 level.  They tend to hibernate up on the mountains.  I think a lot depends on the climate in the area, side of the mountain your on, snow depth, and how hungary they are.  A couple of years ago I was in a village that had a poor king run.  The bears then cam into town looking at the fish racks and the dump.

[JJHACK]

Interesting question. However we should clear up one thing right away. Bears don't hibernate by the true definition of the word. I know it's silly that the most famous of all hibernating animals does not actually hibernate!

Amphibians, reptiles, woodchucks,  chipmonks, hibernate. Bears just sleep for long periods. Whats the difference? You can wake up a bear and he will be groggy but will fight you. You cannot wake up a true hibernating animal. You could cut off one of their limbs and they would not flinch!

As far as when they come out? different in every location. At 9000 feet in the PNW they will be staying put for a while yet at that elevation as it's solid glacial ice!  Further south or on the coast they may only sleep for a couple months and often get out and wander around mid winter. I have seen Bear tracks in the snow and mud in January more then once.

In California and Colorado they would likely be striking out from the den in Mid April or so.  Their feet are soft when they first come out so they don't move  much from the start. They also have a grass plug to get rid of which will drive them down to the lowest greenest lush habitat they can find to get something green to eat as a laxitive to rid that plug from their system.  Once that's gone they will hunt by scent for anything they can find that died over winter.  

The best locations are on the south side of the mountians where sun exposure will green up the habitat first.

[eroyd]

Here on West Coast we generally start seeing good numbers of bears in Mid-April  but you can usually find a few in March. They are usually on or heading for the area's that green up first. ie. South facing slopes, river bottoms, roadsides, tidal flats and other open areas. Apparently they need to gorge themselves on fresh salad to clear up a bit of a constipation problem. :oops:  

They appear to "den up" at higher elevations for I have often caught groggy bears waddling down roads towards such areas. I've seen the occasional set of tracks in mid winter so I suspect they come out once in a while just to take a look.

[bearhuntr]

slimman 75,
Good observations by all! It sounds like you must hunt in the Rockies somewhere...Colo. perhaps? Montana? Utah? I would guess that some bears are out now and by the 1st., most of them. Good luck on your endeavours!
best,
bhtr

[Lawdog]

You're right JJ, we've been seeing bears for about a month now here in Northeast California.  Most of the ones I've been seeing are still eating grasses and such.  ExLax time.  Lawdog