What's everyone know about DIY bear hunting?

We don't get many bears here in Ohio but the boss says I get to pick the vacation destination this year, I would like to stay in the east if I can but I'm not opposed to heading west... maybe canada? I'd like to spot and stalk with a rifle if I can. Thanks in advance and God bless.

Been watching some videos from WA and ID

If you draw a tag here you can spot and stalk them but you better be GOOD. You will need to stalk within about 10 yards of them before you will see them in the wet, swampy tangles they like in the fall.

Spring is the best time to spot and stalk bears but you can do it in the fall too.
I have taken dozens of bears spot and stalk.it is the best way to take bears especially in spring since you can pass on the ones you dont want(sows cubs too big or too small,rubbed hides etc) and take the ones you want.
When spot and stalk hunting here in NE Ont have seen as many as 16 bears in a day-usually 4 or 5.
Go to a place with high bear populations and spot and stalk hunting is very good.
In spring the bears are in old burns and clearcuts,and in fall they are in the blueberries or if you are in a farming area they are in the farmers oat fields.

In the fall look for tracks in corn fields

Kind of along what Boco said, spring is a great time to get after bears that are feeding on new greens. They will be concentrating on the areas that spring up first and then move on to new ares as they green up. Makes them vulnerable.
Here it happens to be along the coastal shoreline.

You can buy two OTC fall bear tags in Oregon for about $200. Lots of places with fruit trees and berries in the fall that brings them in like a magnet.

Bear hunting is great out west, you'll just have to put a few miles in instead of sitting over a barrel. Spring and fall are both good, but feed is much different in each season and they will be in slightly different areas. Spring has a slight advantage because snow will isolate areas you won't hunt. Finding sunny green areas is the ticket. I prefer fall bears for the meats sake. And chasing dear and elk as well.

Thank you everyone, I will ultimately sit over a barrel at some point in my life... but I'm in my 29's, I wanna work for it and have stories to tell my grandkids! I appreciate the answers, is it that much better in the spring? I'm looking to get grease so I would really like a fall bear if I can... but a nice fur would be cool too

Fall bears are great for food, grease, and fur and I prefer hunting them then. You always run the risk though of having it snow in september and it put the black bears to bed a little early. I can think of a few times guiding it's been kind of a bummer. Generally, plan for nice weather and great scenery

In Alberta you can't do a DIY bear hunt as a American unless you've got a friend to hunter host you. Most or all guided bear hunts are over bait so I thunk you're pretty much guaranteed a bear. I'm not much of a bear hunter (mainly due to grizzly being predominantly in my area and no season for them) but I see lots in the fall once the oats are ripe.

Our fall bears are pretty nice when they are up in the mountains eating berries. But, you can likely find similar much closer to you.
I prefer spring bears, for no real particular reason, other than I want to do other things in the fall. Some are I shoot are rubbed. Not even really a consideration for me, any more.

I’d go fall. I have way better luck in the fall and the meat on a bear that has been eating berries and apples is fantastic.

Do a Google search for "Frosty pass, white pine creek trail, Chelan County". The first week of September or so, when the huckleberries (blue berries) are ripe. This is in Washington State. Or anywhere else in the upper reaches of Icicle Creek.
I really shouldn't be making this public, but what the heck.

You are looking for information like this:
https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/frosty-pass
Then scroll down the page for more info, you'll see what the country looks like. It is definitely hike-in. After Labor day you won't see many people, early buck (three point minimum one side, opens on the 10th or 15th can't remember), you may see a couple other hunters then. Lots of country though.

Get up high where you can glass acres and acres of huckleberries. Take a wrist-rocket and some 32 caliber lead balls for shooting blue grouse. It's some very beautiful country. Take a fishing pole and some small spinners like yellow and red dotted Panther Martins, some rooster tails too.

I would suggest accessing the area via White Pine trail just east of Stevens Pass on US Hwy 2 rather than via Leavenworth and Icicle Creek.

NJ has thousands of bears and OTC tags for $2 each! Top THAT...

Pete

That's exactly what I want

Yeah but they also have bunny huggers and a crooked governor who cares more about likes on social media than he does conservation. I thought the season was banned there?

If you want to stay in the east and do a DIY hunt without bait your only real options are coastal Carolina hunts.

Montana is where I've thought about going... but I might not leave once I'm there. I think I'd just find Steve Rinella convince him to hire me for my charisma, and expurlative hunting ability, get my job and stay there forever. Hahaha Beautiful country with incredible hunting and fishing.

Don’t know if a N R needs a guide in Ontario ? I haven’t did it in a while but if nothing has changed. A NR can go to Quebec for spring hunt, and DIY without a guide, if you hunt in a ZEC, (zone exploitation control ) There are many, you join the ZEC and buy the tag over the counter.

No you cannot. You will need to hunt in a designated bear hunting concession and a registered guide must issue your permit. The Tags are over the counter, but you still need a permit.

If you're not dead set on DIY spot and stalk You can hunt over bait, run hounds, and trap bears in Maine with a guide. 1 bear by hunting 1 bear by trapping. 2 bears per year.

Grand Junction CO. A couple young archery elk hunters left that area because of too many bears.

I'm in Rifle, Colorado, just east of Grand Junction about an hour. I LOVE hunting bears. And if you want an adrenaline rush, use a fawn in distress call, and have your head on a swivel. My preferred method is with a handgun, or a flintlock. There's nothing like entering the food chain, not just hunting it. And that's exactly what you'll do if you use a fawn in distress call. Spring or Fall, works either way. We lost our spring season several years ago, but using predator calls in the fall works just as well. You start blowing a distress call of any kind, and you're gonna have bears coming quickly. And you won't hear them. They can be EXTREMELY quiet, even when running. Come out to Rifle, and I'll get ya on bears. I own Timberline Sporting Goods in Rifle, and I'll help ya all I can. We have TONS of them here. Nothing like the quality they have in Canada, or Maine, but we have a lot of them.

I do a DYI bear hunt every year out my back door here in WV. No baiting and I don’t use dogs although it’s legal here.
We have a long season and tags are over the counter.
Depending on where your are in OH you could come down and hunt multiple times instead of one week and done.
All mountain counties have lots of bear. Some counties have a 2 bear limit. A couple of years ago I killed 2 in one year.
Key is finding food sources. Specifically white oaks which most years are patchy, thus concentrating the bear.
I run tons of cameras and last year I found a marking tree. Had multiple bears hitting that tree daily. I killed a bear visiting that marking tree. Never heard of anyone doing that, but I hunted there because of what the camera told me.
Great counties are Tucker, Randolph, Preston, Nicholas, Boone, Kanawha, among others. In many mountain counties there are vast areas of National forest.
Tons of bear in the very southern part as well.
Bear outfitting is illegal here so it is DYI only.
Camping is legal on most of the forest.
In many counties you can hunt bear and deer at the same time with a gun. Although many counties dropped that last year. Bow season for bear and deer run from late Sept. through 12/31.
Many years the kill is over 3,000. Won’t be that high from 2022 as they shortened alot of the rifle seasons. Said they had reached population goals. I saw no less bear over the last several years, but with the lower kill numbers will spike.
Good luck!!!!

Hunting bears in Montana. I have not hunted bears in a few years but when I did they were tough to come by. You could wear out a pair or two of boots depending on population and go home with sore feet and boots for the wall. There seems to be shifts in population with there being a lot more this fall than in the past. Many took bears this past fall season. Talked to a guy who hunted for like two months this past spring and never took a bear. I would not chose Montana as my first choice.

Spot and stalk hunts you might want to head west in the spring. Montana maybe Idaho.