Where to hunt black bear?

[Donna]

Hello All,

I want to go hunting for black bear next year, 2004, and would like to hear from some bear hunters on where would be some good places to go?

I live in Calif., I know I’m sorry too, and can only travel as far as the neighboring states but I can go to Washington too.

I am planning on using my Ruger Blackhawk .45 LC with a 300-grain swaged lead core, copper tubing jacketed bullet, of my own making, at a muzzle velocity of around 1150 to 1250 FPS as my primary gun and a Marlin .45-74 lever with 410-grain swaged lead core, copper tubing jacketed bullet, also of my own making, at a muzzle velocity of around 1900 FPS as my back up gun.

I’m working up a load for the .45 LC now and with a 300-grain bullet at 1150 FPS at 50 yards I can cover a 4 shot group with a quarter. The load work up looks promising. :wink:  After my .458 caliber bullet swaging die set arrives I’m going to work up a load for my Marlin 1895SS in .45-70.

Thanks for the help.

Donna :roll:

[markc]

Hi Donna, I was gonna be a smart elec and say hunt them in the woods,  but then I read your post and thought better of it.  LOL  You might post the same question down on the bear hunting forum to get a better response.  
markc    :-)

[Charlie Detroit]

Dang! You sound like you know what you're doing! You probably know more about where to find bears than I do. I second the suggestion that you go down to the bear forum. They bait bears here in Wisconsin, but it may no longer be legal; there's always a controversy going on about it. Just outside of Milwaukee by maybe 50 miles, you'll find guys complaining that the bears ate his deer bait.

[Cabin4]

Dang! You sound like you know what you're doing! You probably know more about where to find bears than I do. I second the suggestion that you go down to the bear forum. They bait bears here in Wisconsin, but it may no longer be legal; there's always a controversy going on about it. Just outside of Milwaukee by maybe 50 miles, you'll find guys complaining that the bears ate his deer bait.

Wisconsin does still bait for bears. But getting a chance to hunt for one is a whole differant story. Its a lottery.  Good luck on that lottery. It may take years to get a ticket.

[Graybeard]

Hi Donna. Jim Hack the moderator of the Africa Hunting Forum used to guide for bears in Alaska and I think Washington state where he lives before he became a guide in Africa. He may still do some bear guiding between trips to Africa. For sure he should have some good contacts up in that area of the country and has more bear hunting and guiding experience than anyone I know of. He is on the staff of Bear Hunting Magazine and regularly writes stories on bear hunting.

I suggest you contact Jim and tell him I send you his way for some bear hunting info. He might see it on the Bear Hunting Forum and might not but likely will respond to a PM or e-mail from you about it.

If you could afford to go to Maine which really is about the cheapest bear hunting experience around I'd recommend Jim and Kathy Lynch who are the sponsors of the Bear Hunting Forum. You might find you could fly out and hunt with them cheaper than you can hunt closer to home unless you plan to hunt on your own on government owned land. Check into it.

GB

[Leanwolf]

Donna, there are lots of big Black bears in your state. I lived in L.A. for 35 years and hunted all over the State. I've killed two there, with professional guides and dogs.

I suggest you look around for a good guide with dogs.... unless hunting bears with dogs has been outlawed.

Best of luck.

L.W.

[Donna]

Thanks for all the wonderfull information.

Donna