Black bear pattern questions

[7t9cobra]

I was out target shooting in June. We just drove in a spur road and were slamming doors, talking and about to set up targets. I look back up the road where we just drove through and I see a bear head poking up through the grass on the edge of some reprod. It looked like a big boar. He walked out and stared at us for a couple of minutes then left. Opening day for bear season, I set up with my electronic caller in the same area. I heard something loud come running in and then it left silently. I think it's safe to assume it was the bear. It ended up downwind of me so I assume he winded me and left quietly.
          So over the weekend, me and a buddy of mine walked down that same road looking for some elk sign. We are walking out and I'm literally pointing to where the bear was back in June and I kid you not, a big boar walks out in the same exact spot. we ranged it at 117 yards, so that's not going to work with the bow obviously. We waited for him to work his way across the road then we quickly snuck up there and he was gone. So I decided to go sit and watch that stretch of road from 4PM until dark. I never saw him. just a few deer and some cow elk. It was also raining hard off and on so I'm not sure how that would affect the bears habits. There is very limited visibility in that unit. the stretch of road is the only spot you can see more than 50 yards. I don't know bear habits very well. Would it be safe to assume that bear probably crosses the road around the same time every day depending on the weather? Both times I saw him was 5-6PM. I'm just trying to decide if it would be worth giving up some archery elk and deer time to sit and wait for the bear or not.

[Buckewe]

Look for sign bears only stay where there is food. If you find what its eating you will find them.

[Bango skank]

No way would a bear cross that same spot daily.  They have big home ranges, especially the boars.

[Boss .300 winmag]

No way would a bear cross that same spot daily.  They have big home ranges, especially the boars.

I’ve seen that happen before, just depends on bear and the situation.😉

[HillHound]

Seems like the bears I have seen multiples times in the same areas almost try to use different trails daily. Even if they are traveling the same general ridge/draw/flat to food or water they still seem to use different routes. Catching them going to water when it is really hot seems like the closest I have ever came to figuring out a bears pattern. Which was still just a crap shoot cause it was anywhere along a 3 mile draw they would come down to the creek sometime between noon and who knows when. Definitely not like deer or elk using the same exact travel corridors regularly

[7t9cobra]

The place is loaded with berries. The river is very close. it was headed towards the water both times. I didn't think they frequented the same spot often, but I find it weird, especially since I've only been down that road 4 times this year and I've seen it twice and possibly had it come in to my call. It's an undisturbed area too. it's one of those areas that people drive past on the way in to hunt but noone really stops there to hunt.

[HillHound]

I would find a strait stretch of the trail/road you can see quite a Ways and sit and wait. I kept seeing them cross a few years ago using different draws in about a half mile stretch going down to water. I decided to sit and watch the longest stretch of the grassy road which I could see about 150 yards one way and 50 the other. Sat there for 4 hours. Had a squirrel cutting pine cones over me for a while. Then I thought he kept running around in the bushes next to me but when I looked over it was a bear stepping out on the road less than 20 yards from me. He turned and saw me a second too late. Dropped him with one shot to the shoulder and then he lunges forward and slides down the bank dead, but in a much nastier spot.
I would try sitting one night get there by 3 and if nothing turns up by late in the day try calling again if you can find a spot that you will be able to see him when he comes down wind of you

[7t9cobra]

I sat about 200 yards downwind from where it crossed tonight. I sat from 3pm to 5:30 and decided I should be hunting elk instead. After not finding sign where I hoped, I decided to go back and watch until dark. At 7:30 I was discouraged and about to throw in the towel and there he goes across the road. I had him in the scope but just didnt take the shot. I snuck up to where he went in and got within 50 yards. I could hear but not see him. So I left the area and will be back tomorrow. He is an absolute monster by the way. I underestimated how big he is.

[Turner89]

Cool, hope you get him.

[RobinHoodlum]

When I read the initial post I thought, move on to an area where you have more than one very limited shooting lane. Now, I think you could have a decent chance if you can stick with the routine. Takes a tremendous amount of patience and concentration to connect doing what you're attempting to do. Best of luck and hats off if you make it happen!

[KFhunter]

If there was a carcass down there the bear was eating on it won't leave until its gone.  Maybe someone shot a deer/elk?  road kill? 

I think it was strange to see it in the same exact spot twice without having a carcass or *something* there its eating on. 

[Okanagan]

Interesting.  From my experience I would keep doing what you are doing and look for him to come out.  You gotta be ready to shoot pretty quickly if he is just crossing the road.

Re bear patterns:  three times and places in 50 years I have found where a black bear walked the same path daily, and stepped in precisely the same tracks.  In each case the repeated steps in the same spots wore depressions into the moss, duff and dirt.  One of those was on the Olympic Peninsula and the bear was apparently sleeping in thick brush on one side of a road and feeding on a dead elk on the other side.

The most remarkable to me was a bear in Southern California mountains that patrolled a mountain side and walked for several hundred yards along a locked off road.  He walked the same path so consistently that his tracks left long established footpad depressions.  To make such foot depressions in that dry country would take months.  I've read of Alaskan brown bears following in the same bear path steps over many years, maybe centuries, till their foot pads wore depressions in stone mountain passes.  I've never seen that.

Deleted some irrelevant stuff 

[7t9cobra]

thanks for the input guys. okanagan, thanks for sharing. You're giving me hope    I'm going to keep at it. I do not believe it's eating on a kill. The first time I saw the bear was in June. It was in the EXACT same spot.
       Last night I went out. I got there at 5:15 which may have been too late since I've seen him at 5:00 PM 5:30 PM and 7:30 PM. So at 6:15 lastnight I hear something walking in slowly to my right, directly across the road. Out steps a yearling bear. It probably weighed 75 lbs at the most. It spent about 10 minutes wandering down the road and just messing around. He even laid down in the road for about a minute then got up and wandered off into the brush. I waited until dark, but the big guy never showed up. I went out this morning before work but had to leave at 8:30.
     Aside from the bear I've seen a doe with 2 fawns almost every night, 3 raccoons, several resident squirrels and some elk. 3 cows and a small non-legal bull. I am headed back out tonight in about an hour so I will report back how tonight goes. I heard the elk are starting to talk so I should be out chasing elk, but I feel like this will be productive and having one patterned like this doesn't happen very often so I need to take advantage of it.

[7t9cobra]

A little update for you guys. I went out one evening with questionable weather and didn't see anything other than a few deer and a couple calves and cows. The weather hasn't cooperated lately so I've spent my time hunting elk and deer (That's another long story not worth sharing in here) . Tonight is looking okay so I might make it out.
   Apparently I might have to make an alias account on here. It seems an acquaintance of mine heard either from here or the grapevine (which is unlikely because I haven't told many people) about my bear situation and recognized my truck sitting on the spur road and decided to start hunting the same bear. A buddy of mine told me about that and I saw his pickup leaving the area yesterday. That's a pretty pathetic way to find a spot if you ask me.

[Yelper Guy]

Totally pathetic!