Black Bear Hunts

Black Bear Hunting - From Maine up to New Brunswick, across all of Canada to British Columbia, Alaska and several Rocky Mountain states, we’ve compiled a great selection of Black Bear hunts, 67 in total. Black bear hunts from reputable big game hunting guides and outfitters to bag that big bruin for the wall mount or rug for the floor. Guided and self-guided bow and gun black bear hunts.

American Black Bear Guide (Ursus americanus)The American Black Bear (Ursus americanus) is the most common bear species native to North America. It lives throughout much of the continent, from northern Alaska south into Mexico and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. This includes 41 of the 50 U.S. states, all Canadian provinces except Prince Edward Island, and portions of northern Mexico. Populations in the Southern United States remain in the protected mountains and woodlands of parks and preserves, though bears will occasionally wander outside the parks' boundaries and have set up new territories, in some cases on the margins of urban environments in recent years as their populations increase.

The American Black Bear usually ranges in length from 5 to 6 ft and typically stands about 2.5 to 3 ft at the shoulder. Standing up on its hind feet, a Black Bear can be up to 7 ft tall. Females are on average about 33% smaller than males. Females weigh between 100 and 400 lbs; males usually weigh between 150 and 600 lbs. Adult black bears can reach 660 lbs, but exceptionally large males have been recorded from the wild at up to 8 ft long and at least 800 lbs. The biggest American Black Bear ever recorded was a male from North Carolina that weighed 880 lbs.

It has an excellent sense of smell. Though they generally have shaggy black hair, the coat can vary in color from white through chocolate-brown, cinnamon-brown, and blonde (found mostly west of the Mississippi River), to black in the east (the same is generally true in Canada, the border being between Manitoba and Ontario). They occasionally have a slight V-shaped white chest blaze. The tail is about 5 inches long.

Black bears are found in a wide variety of habitats across their range. They prefer forested and shrubby areas but they are also known to live on ridgetops, in tidelands, burned areas, riparian areas, agricultural fields, and, sometimes, avalanche chutes. Black bears can be found from hardwood and conifer swamps to the rather dry sage and pinyon-juniper habitats in the western states. Black bears typically "hibernate" during winter in hollowed-out dens in tree cavities, under logs or rocks, in banks, caves, or culverts, and in shallow depressions. Dens are normally not reused from one year to the next. While they do not eat, drink, defecate, or urinate during hibernation, it is not the true hibernation of smaller mammals since their body temperature does not drop significantly and they remain somewhat alert and active. Females give birth and nurse their young while hibernating.

Black bears are omnivores whose diet includes plants, meat, and insects. Their diet typically consists of about 10-15% animal matter. They are apex predators in North America, with the exception of areas where they coexist with the brown bear. The black bear eats a wide variety of foods, mainly herbs, nuts and berries.

In some areas, Black Bears share their range with the Brown Bear. Due to their smaller size, Black Bears are at a competitive disadvantage against Brown Bears in open, non-forested areas. Although displacement of black bears by Brown Bears has been documented, actual killing of Black Bears by brown bears has only occasionally been reported. The diurnal (movement in the morning and evening) Black Bear's habit of living in heavily forested areas as opposed to the largely nocturnal brown bear's preference for open spaces usually ensures that the two species avoid confrontations in areas where they co-exist.

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