Just wanted to see if anyone has any tips on Hunting black bears? Been trying the last two years with no success. I've been running cameras for the last couple of weeks. Majority of the pictures I've received from my cams have been bears.
My 2 cents- a few things I’d be giving some thought to: 1. Are cameras now, maybe near a food source…berries perhaps this time of year? Or water? Or, en route to food? If so, would they have the same reason to be there in Oct or would they be using a different food/water source? 2. If you’ve hunted the same areas past couple years, how might pressure and (human) scent affect their movement?
I appreciate that. Honestly been thinking about every question you stated all day. I'm not very sure if the berries that I have one cam over will last til October. And the other camera is mainly set on a travel corridor, though there is a small lake within a quarter mile. I know right now there isn't very much foot traffic headed back there but come August I know that will be an issue as that's when most folks will start scouting out there.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but SC coastal, like NC, and into central, doesn’t have much hard mast (like acorns, beech nuts). I think the high country in both states would have more hard mast. I suspect you can probably find some SC pubs on their fall food, but the linked article at the end may help. So figure out how their diet is going to change and that’ll probably help in figuring how their travel may change in the coming months. Like deer, beer have good sense of smell, so expect other hunters may bump them… if you can map out fall food AND play the wind of people travel corridors… You probably also have less concern about denning on the coast… https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/black-bear