Bear hunt?

[Colorado Osprey]

1) Is it difficult to get a tag? Am I going to have to wait a few years and build up preference points?

No, no wait. Usually there are left over bear tags in most areas.

2) I don't desire to use dogs. Is this viable?

Very viable.
Just remember that bait is a No-No in Colorado. I see bears almost every time I visit a few areas. They are around and in good numbers.

Sorry on the last, don't know any good books.

[mx'r]

no wait for area 43, and a crap load of bear in that area. We see lot's every year.

[spencerhenry]

dogs arent legal for hunting bears in colorado anyway. the early rifle bear in 43 and other areas are a limited license, this was the first year since the limited early rifle bear was started that there were left over licenses. 43 also got split into east and west for bear hunting. there are quite a few bears in that unit, but a bunch of bear hunters, and low success rate.

[Mtn.man]

DOW has a booklet and dvd on hunting them.

[mx'r]

dogs arent legal for hunting bears in colorado anyway. the early rifle bear in 43 and other areas are a limited license, this was the first year since the limited early rifle bear was started that there were left over licenses. 43 also got split into east and west for bear hunting. there are quite a few bears in that unit, but a bunch of bear hunters, and low success rate.

wow, wasnt aware of the changes. we didnt put in for a bear tag this year, but should have. We see several large ones and lots of smaller ones every year. I didnt think that anyone hunted them much in that area. My famly has a cabin we share in Redstone and the bears could use some thining out for sure!

[sniper7]

No, no wait. Usually there are left over bear tags in most areas.

Very viable.
Just remember that bait is a No-No in Colorado. I see bears almost every time I visit a few areas. They are around and in good numbers.

Sorry on the last, don't know any good books.

where are you seeing bear? i have yet to see a bear in co and I hunt a lot...

I have 5 points saved up. I really just want to get 1 CO bear in my life, other than that I would rather give canada or alaska a go!

my buddy saw one way below where we hunted this year driving in at night, but that was it.

[BigBear]

I've seen one on the back side of Pikes.

[Byte Stryke]

I've seen one on the back side of Pikes.

I saw one in my Blazer a month er two ago

[BigBear]

I saw one in my Blazer a month er two ago

Hardy har har...

[ridgewalker]

For years I lived a mile up Sunshine Canyon out of Boulder (please no comments on the town!) We had bears raiding our trash cans daily and walking by our window to get to the grease in our gas grill.

This is typical of almost every town particularly along the front range. Bears know where the easy meals come from.

Keep applying for preference points on any/every animal you think you will ever want to hunt. Just get the preference points and not the actual hunt for your first choice. It costs about $3-$5 or so a year for the point, but you will be ready to pull the trigger on the points once you research enough and find the areas you want to hunt.

Books, for where to shoot them check out Craig Boddington's book (Craig Boddington.com I think). I have it and it is pretty good. Amazon probably has it or maybe your local library can purchase it if they don't already have it.

There are lots of books on hunting them and lots of websites with good info as well. Just yahoo or google black bear hunting.

Finally, I went to AK in September for an NRA combination black bear and fishing trip. In 3 days we saw maybe 40 bears. I took an OK one maybe 225-250 lbs. It appeared to be an old barren sow with a huge head and small ears.

Good luck on your endeavor!