Colorado Bear Unit 14, 16

[ManEatsWild]

Anyone here have any experience hunting bears in unit 14? I am a Midwestern noob planning my first DIY mountain hunt with my son this September. Never been to Colorado. I will be buying an OTC tag soon as they are available and planning on bear GMU 4 because of the number of tags. I am trying to decide whether to hunt unit 14 right out of Steamboat Springs, or the Lower end of GMU 16 or 17 in the Arapaho? How high up will bears be? What are the main forage I'm looking for?

 

[HighDesertSage]

Are you trying to scout for elk at the same time? I spent time in 4 and I can tell you that if bear is what you are after I would look at the Grand Mesa Units like 41, 42,53,421, or 521. There are alot of bears up there. I haven't seen very many in 4. I have no experience in 14, 16, or 17.

 

[ManEatsWild]

learning about other game for future visits is a definite plus. Bears will be our only focus this year. I can look into those units. I was focusing on the closest group of units that has a large number of tags. 14,16,17,171,6,161,4,5,214,441 are all part of the GMU. My focus was on 14 and 16 for a couple reasons. I've heard that the bears are thick around Steamboat. Also since we are new to hunting out west, I figured it would be better if we were closer to resources until we gained some experience. I'm from Missouri where we hunt treestands and farmland. This is all new to me. We have done trips to the BWCA and Quetico a few times.

 

[ColoJeep]

161 had a pretty large fire in it earlier this summer, if you are looking at left over tag lists you will see huge numbers for all species. North Central Colorado, all areas around Steamboat were hit hard with beetle kill. The timber that is still standing is dead and is falling/ blowing down all the time, has been a lot of logging and fire prevention going on in these areas over the past several years to try and limit the risk.

 

[vanish]

161 had a pretty large fire in it earlier this summer

Its still burning, and only 12% contained. They are hoping for it to end mid-October.

I've spent a fair amount of time in 14/16/161 over the last 10 years, and have only seen a couple bears. However, I wasn't looking for them, either.

 

[jdf]

I have also hunted 14 for some years..
Never saw any bears or sign..

 

[Rooster52]

We have muzzleloader hunted in 14 and saw at least one bear 4 times during our week. Not big,maybe 125 pounds but still a bear.