Colorado Bear season??

[Auburnpack]

Just wondering why there isnt a spring bear season in Colorado? I am assuming the population numbers are up due to the NR tags being reduced to $100.

 

[aj427ci]

No spring bear because of the republic of boulder got it voted out, and hunters didn’t speak up loud enough.

 

[Auburnpack]

I should have known. Sounds like the California invasion? Just like the northeast invasion of NC. Hopefully the November amendment to our state constitution, to preserve the right to hunt and fish will help prevent issues in the future.

Too bad there isnt a spring season. I found an early June flight from NC to Denver round trip for $98! would have been a very cheap hunting trip!

 

[LuketheDog]

1,054,032 fools in Colorado fell for the hype...

 

[JohnCushman]

It's a nice little bit of karma that everyone who voted to take our bear hunting away are the ones who are now complaining about being over run with bears and having bears come into their towns and getting in their trash. Serves them right.

 

[Auburnpack]

I wish I could help reduced those numbers by 1! A spring hunt would help get people like me into the woods for something other than turkey. Like many others in the fall, horns are priority!

 

[AtenJones]

With airfare that low, have you considered flying into Denver, and then driving to Wyoming? It might be more of a drive than you're looking for, but it may be an option.

 

[nrpate05]

Not sure why the spring season got deleted. It's been like that for awhile now. Funny thing is that more bears are killed annually in CO without the spring season. It would be nice to be able to hunt big game in the spring. Turkey hunting gets a little old to me.

 

[JohnCushman]

I believe spring bear season was taken because it's breeding season for bears coming out of hibernation. So, they let the bears breed and overrun us lol

 

[vanish]

Spring season in Colorado was removed and banned because it was a ballot initiative and the people voted in favor of eliminating it. Mostly because bears are so cute and cuddly.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

Funny thing is that more bears are killed annually in CO without the spring season.

Probably true although I have't been able to find pre 1992 bear harvest stats, I have seen stats that the population of bears doubled in that time period. Currently you can hunt bears from Sept 1 - 4th season in Nov and in many units get 2 bear tags.

 

[R.P.Coltrane]

Does anybody know the dates of fall season? I was looking around CPW website this morning and couldn’t find it.

Also I assume there is quite the difference between trash bears and mountain bears. I haven’t hunted black bears before but I’d love to spot and stalk them in the mountains!

 

[Deleted member 28227]

You'll have to look at the big game brochure for specific seasons
https://cpw.state.co.us/Documents/RulesRegs/Brochure/BigGame/biggame.pdf

Generally speaking though you are looking at two rifle seasons a limited Sept 2-30 season and then a second OTC season that runs concurrently during each of the various elk and deer seasons, to apply for the OTC license you have to purchase an elk or deer license in that same unit.

You can purchase two tags A + B or B+B so during the fall you could hunt bear in two different units or double down and try to hunt bears twice in 1 unit, provided your unit is a B unit.

Honestly the system is overly complicated in my opinion. I think they should just one once season sept-nov limited in some unit otc in others like any other species.

 

[R.P.Coltrane]

Hey thanks for the info!

 

[Kbbond]

All true that spring bear hunting was removed due to a ballot initiative which bypassed management decision by the then, colorado division of wildlife. True that we have seen an increase in total harvest with only one fall season as opposed to the spring and fall seasons combined pre 1994. Most folks who are in favor of keeping a ban on spring bear hunting like to point at that and say, "gee, we are harvesting more bears now than with the spring and fall seasons combined, so removing spring bear season is not the problem!" Well, considering bear has a roughly 3-5% success rate and we are harvesting more bears now than ever before...I'd say that's at least decent anecdotal evidence that spring hunting at least helped keep the population in check.

My question is this, and it's why I'm happy to see threads like this where people are interested in hunting bear: why is success so low when we have so many bears? Simple answer is that people are not interested in hunting bears, period. It never fails when I speak with people who are upset that the spring hunt got banned as well as baiting and use of hounds for taking bears, that when asked if they bear hunt...their answer is "no."

I think its awesome you are looking at hunting bears in colorado and hopefully you come back with a bounty and a story that will help others become interested! The system really is not that complicated and if you have questions, parks and wildlife personnel are always willing to help you find answers, best of luck!

 

[JohnCushman]

I think part of the success rate being so low is guys buying the 'just in case' bear tags while they archery or muzzleloader hunt for if they happen upon a bear. 9 times out of 10 the tag goes unfilled, but better to have it than not need it than need it and not have it. So, I can see the success rate being low when you compare tags sold to the actual harvest.

 

[Kbbond]

I absolutely agree and that's all it is. Buy a bear tag to have one in case, but very few people that I've come across are actually hunting for bears. Hope to do some work in my area to get people more interested instead of saying away from it!

 

[SFC B]

I was a "just in case" guy who got lucky in 2017. That joker happen to walk out in front of me and I believe, if I read the stats right, I was the ONLY hunter to harvest a bear during the regular rifle seasons in all of GMU 26 (there was one in archery, one in a Sept rifle season and 2 PLO only). I think the lack of dogs or bait along with the range of a bear makes it almost a lottery ticket to most.

 

[Auburnpack]

With airfare that low, have you considered flying into Denver, and then driving to Wyoming? It might be more of a drive than you're looking for, but it may be an option.

I flew to Denver in Oct to Antelope hunt in Wy. Direct flight on Southwest and no bag fees since we bring all our camping supplies. I think Wy tags are $350ish. That Col $100 tag and $49 flights would have been a very cheap spring vacation/hunt.