Bears and hibernation

[HAP]

I’m trying to get my 11 year old daughter her first big animal/bear and we’ve got bears coming in consistently to our bait and one that’s a toad with a really beautiful coat and colors. She had him in her scope but he ran off before she could shoot. She got the shakes from a serious case of buck fever, it was great.

My question is when do bears normally hibernate? I know it can depend on the weather, area and other various factors but in general?

Because of work I’m having to be a weekend warrior so trying to get an idea of what to expect and how much time we have. I’m in Idaho.

 

[dgc1963]

Here in Pa as far as when bears go to hibernate its all about the math cold and weather doesnt have much to do with it
what I mean is a Pa bear takes in about 20,000 calories a day getting ready for winter and if their is lots of food they will keep eating and eating when the food starts to lean down a bit they have a built in chip in their head that tells them its not worth staying awake.
We can have a dozen bears hitting a corn field and once its cut the number drops fast real fast . I talked with a local biologist an he said thats a pretty good way to explain it, back here they dont even den sometimes just find a place where they think they are safe even where a tree was uprooted
good luck helping her get one hope this helps some

 

[HAP]

Here in Pa as far as when bears go to hibernate its all about the math cold and weather doesnt have much to do with it
what I mean is a Pa bear takes in about 20,000 calories a day getting ready for winter and if their is lots of food they will keep eating and eating when the food starts to lean down a bit they have a built in chip in their head that tells them its not worth staying awake.
We can have a dozen bears hitting a corn field and once its cut the number drops fast real fast . I talked with a local biologist an he said thats a pretty good way to explain it, back here they dont even den sometimes just find a place where they think they are safe even where a tree was uprooted
good luck helping her get one hope this helps some

Thanks for the information.

 

[Nambaster]

October 27th this bear started denning in unit 25 in Idaho.

 

[Nambaster]

November 17 the same year there was a bear out eating a gut pile of a deer in unit 15. Even when the bears are denned up there is no saying they won’t come out on occasion. It’s always worth hunting them in my book.

 

[Salmonchaser]

We have found them denned up during elk season, call it second week of November in the Blue Mountains however most years they are up and active during that time. We’ve taken a number of bears down low during shoulder season cow hunts around Thanksgiving. I think that is pretty late and related to a late food source provided by a 100 year old orchard. Good luck, hope you get her on one.

 

[HAP]

Thanks for the info gents! Much appreciated!

 

[Panda Bear]

I’m trying to get my 11 year old daughter her first big animal/bear and we’ve got bears coming in consistently to our bait and one that’s a toad with a really beautiful coat and colors. She had him in her scope but he ran off before she could shoot. She got the shakes from a serious case of buck fever, it was great.

My question is when do bears normally hibernate? I know it can depend on the weather, area and other various factors but in general?

Because of work I’m having to be a weekend warrior so trying to get an idea of what to expect and how much time we have. I’m in Idaho.

"In General" We are a bit north of you but our rule of thumb is they will start mid Oct and should all be denned up by mid November . Solitary males , barren females and females with 1 to 2 year old cubs will emerge mid March . Females with new born cubs-mid April.