Outdoors: The hunt is on - a search for a black bear

Montana’s thick forests and abundant mountains host a home to the black bear, a somewhat elusive creature that is currently being hunted.

Spring bear season started on April 15 and in hopes of capturing this magnificent creature, I went on several bear hunts trying to pinpoint one down.

According to Wildlife Biologist for Region One, Bruce Sterling, northwest Montana averages about one bear per square mile.

“Their population is very good in and around Sanders County and northwest Montana,” said Sterling.

On a yearly basis, roughly 140 to 150 bears are harvested out of Sanders County, a number that is pretty high compared to the rest of Montana with the exception of the country up by Libby.

As the trek began on Buffalo Bill Road, the nip of the air came down upon us as we made the hike to what my bear guides said was a guaranteed spot for a bear.

Aaron Miller, Brian Bosley and Larry Kindrick led the hunt up the curvy switchbacks. Stopping from time to time to glass the mountainsides, the woods were still with no predators lurking in the depths, as far as we could see anyhow.

The two-mile hike was an easy one, following a dirt road past beaver ponds and streams that quietly ran down the slopes.

Everything was beginning to thaw out, with what snow was left barely holding on to the sprouts of green grass peeking through.

According to Region One Game Warden Tom Chinaelli, at this time bears mainly eat grass in hopes of getting their bodies recharged after their long winter slumber.

The grasses as well as other plants help to initially get the bears digestive systems going again. While they occasionally munch on carcasses of animals that did not make it through the winter, at this time the bears are not doing much hunting.

The colder weather we’ve received this April has made bears harder to spot although Chinaelli says they are out there.

Knowing this information, we searched for areas where dens could be present because as Chinaelli explained, when temperatures drop bears tend to hang out in their dens more often until it begins to warm up.

The exclusive spot was a vertical rock, housing many areas perfect for a bear’s den.

Closing in the gap to the promising hunting spot, we slowed scouting more often for any signs of bear in the area.

As we came up to the rocks, the green moss was vibrantly growing as icicles began their slow process of melting away back into the water of the plentiful creeks.

Bosley and Miller took to the rocks as Kindrick supervised from down below, looking for any potential place a bear would be. As they peeked into holes trying to determine whether or not they were den worthy, nothing appeared to be showing any life.

The more we looked, the more I began to realize that today is not the day I would see a bear.

According to both Chinaelli and Sterling, spring bear season does not typically begin to pick up until May 1.

With the warmer weather May brings, the bears are more likely to be out and about.

“Typically our harvest really starts to show up about the first of May,” said Sterling.

After more searching, the men came back empty handed and with no potential leads of where a bear would be.

As of Monday, April 22 no bears had been harvested out of Sanders County.

Although, we did not come up with that amazing kill, doomed to become a bear rug on someone’s wooden floor, I did get to experience more of the country here in Sanders County.

After all, hunting isn’t so much about killing an animal, as extraordinaire Miller says, its more about the tradition that comes along with the hunt.