Hungry Black Bears Out ‘Stupid Early’ Could Make Wyoming Spring Hunts Wild

Things could get wild for black bear hunters headed into the hills to pick out hunting sites and set up their bait barrels this spring.

Usually, the bears aren’t highly active until April, about the time hunting seasons open.

But with unusually warm, dry weather this year, the bears are out “stupid early,” even at high altitudes, avid black bear hunter Julie Mccallister of Rock River told Cowboy State Daily.

Friends of hers who have cabins in the Snowy Range Mountains, where she goes bear hunting, are already reporting bears prowling around their cabins, at least a month early.

She plans to start setting up her bear bait barrels around April 7, in anticipation of opening day on April 15. Elsewhere in Wyoming, black bear hunting season opens on April 1.

She must pack her bait in several miles to her hunt site. And with the early emergence of bears this spring, that means she’ll be marching through a gauntlet of wide-awake, hungry bears.

“I expect this to be a crazy year. I expect to be carrying my Benelli (shotgun) with me setting bait this year,” she said.

‘Mama Bear’

Mccallister has been hunting black bears for years but doesn’t recall a spring quite like this one. Temperatures were unusually high and snow was sparse most of the winter.

That’s left her somewhat worried about the plight of bears, particularly females with new cubs.

Just like Wyoming’s grizzlies, black bears are highly dependent upon protein-rich green grass to fatten them back up after they emerge from their dens.

“The female bears especially, they have to have green grass and plenty of water in order to lactate” and provide milk for their new cubs, Mccallister said.

If it stays dry from now until bear season, then mother bears will be “driven to food,” and bear bait will be particularly appealing.

“There’s a reason that ‘mama bear’ is a term. They’re aggressive, they’re flat-out aggressive,” she said.

That goes against the usual perception of black bears as relatively timid, compared to grizzlies.

Going into bear country this spring, alertness will be key, because black bears are amazingly stealthy, Mccallister said.

“People who have never hunted them, I warn them, they’re like ghosts. They aren’t like turkeys and they aren’t like squirrels. You won’t hear them coming, they’ll just show up.”

People outside bear hunting circles might think setting up bear bait and waiting in a blind isn’t fair chase hunting.

Mccallister, northeast Wyoming resident Owen Miller and others who bait bears say it allows hunters to carefully observe bears before deciding whether to shoot.

That helps them avoid shooting females, especially those with cubs, and target only large male black bears, they say.

Wildlife Thinks It’s Spring

Miller also likes to hunt the Snowy Range Mountains for black bears. His bait sights are at an elevation of 7,500 feet.

In previous years the sites have been covered in snow and can be difficult to access all the way up until Memorial Day, in late May.

Everything seems to be “about a month ahead” this year, so black bear hunters will have to be well-prepared and patient.

He noted that Yellowstone National Park recently reported the first official sighting of a grizzly out of the den this year.

“If the grizzlies are out in northwest Wyoming, then those black bears are going to be out at 7,500 feet in the Snowy Range,” he said.

And they might have eaten plenty of other food before hunters show up with bait, he said.

Even so, “I think the right bait will still draw them in,” he said.

Conditions are the same in the Big Horn Mountains, according to a friend of Miller's who hunts black bears there.

“Last year, I was helping him put snow tracks on his four-wheeler to get up there to his bait site. This year, he thinks he can probably already get up there in his pickup, that’s insane,” Miller said.

Hunters can’t control the weather, so they must adjust to what the animals are doing, Miller said.

“The animals don’t have a calendar. They go by their instincts and how they feel,” he said. “Everything is looking at things like it’s spring now.”

Can’t Use Tracking Dogs Yet

Mccallister was the driving force behind a bill making it legal to use blood-tracking dogs to find bears shot by hunters that ran off.

The practice is allowed for big game animals, such as elk and deer.

Using dogs to actively pursue healthy big game is strictly forbidden. But they can be used to help hunters find animals that have been shot but then ran off and died in places they couldn’t be found.

However, black bears are classified as trophy game, making the use of tracking dogs technically illegal.

The bill Mccallister stumped for added “black bears” into the wording of the statutes officially making it legal. The bill sailed through the Wyoming legislature and was signed into law by Gov. Mark Gordon.

However, it doesn’t take effect until July 1, which means it doesn’t apply to this year’s spring black bear hunting season, Mccallister said.

“I keep reminding people, don’t use tracking dogs yet for this spring season. We have to wait until the fall bear hunting season,” she said.

She has a trained tracking dog and is a member of the Rocky Mountain Big Game Recovery Network of tracking dog owners.

“As soon as it’s legal to do so, call us. We don’t charge a fee. We will gratefully accept donations, but there’s no fee for bringing our tracking dogs to come help you,” she said.

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.