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I am a Utah resident with an Idaho lifetime license. I have bear hunted Idaho now for over 20 years. Those 20 years overall have been great. However now that wolves are running ramped it is very tough. One of my buddies lost his best hound to a wolf pack 2 weeks ago. This dog was treed alone for some time and by the time he got there all that was left was a little fur, inards, bones and some meat. Wolf scat was found under the tree and believe it or not the bear was still in the tree.

I get pretty attached to my dogs and dont want to turn them out to their death. I need some suggestions as to where to hunt in CA. I know Utah fairly well but I hate being around all the people.

If you have any suggestions on places to hunt in CA or other please pass them on. I know this is like asking for your only daughter but any suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks

Well if you know Utah but don't like the crowd in Utah all I can say is don't come to this area of California because as soon as bear season opens thats what this area of CA turns into... (and everyone is guiding - just like back home) I will tell you that the highest bear densities in the state are in the north coastal ranges. Best to just get some USFS forest maps from forests in those areas and learn it that way.

Find the feed and you'll find the bears, brillant huh? Most of the areas of National Forest have a pretty good population of bears but they move with the feed, mostly acorns. After Nov. you'll have snow to contend with in some of the higher country. Like Liz said, if your hunting public ground you'll have to contend with other hunters and lots of them in some areas. If your coming in on I-80 I'd take a look at the areas around Truckee and Tahoe City. Chester and W. of Susanville have some decent hunting and lots of hunters. Anywhere in Trinity Co. is good depending on how the acorns hit. Happy Camp in Siskiyou Co. always has bears but can get a lot of out of state pressure and is a quite a bit farther. Humboldt and Del Norte counties have a great bear population but little public ground. You could always hunt the foothills west of Willows to Red Bluff which doesn't get as much pressure and is public but is a solid brush patch without a lot of roads but there are damn sure bear there. Its going to be a tough go if your coming here blind with no idea where the feed hit and no one to show you around. Good luck,

plenty of bears in eastern tulare county and not a lot of pressure. kern county as well but a little more pressure there.

Competing with wolves is something that has to be done in most parts of the country. Near Clam Lake Wisconsin where I bear hunt during kill season there has been twelve dogs killed by wolves, and there has been one killed during kill season by the shannon golden pack. The only way to get away from them is leaving the dogs in the box. We all know that that isnt going to happen, and from ther on its the luck of the draw if the are alive at the end of the day or not. Its sounds cruel but thats what its come to around here, and its all because of the DNR try to get a healthy wolf population. The only other thing you can do is grind them down in the snow one at a time.

good luck

PM me if anyones interested i can give you a number of a outfitter a hour from where i live hes got hundreds of miles of bear management areas. its in north western ontario and they have never been dogged and believe me the price is attractive. our season is Aug 15th till oct 31

Hey Redshilo, If ya come here and get the lic. and tag let me know and you're welcome to tag along with me, I have a good population of bear in the areas I hunt and not alot of people hunt it. Have a good1, Mike