Our black bear hunts are conducted on private and public hunting land in California. We either hunt on over 210,000 private acres of Green Diamond Resource Company land with a population of four bears every square mile or various public and private hunting grounds depending on where most of the bears are located during scouting at the time of your hunt. The archery season opens the third Saturday in August. The general season opens in September and continues into late December. Bear tags are over the counter first come first served. We will use 4x4 transportation and be on foot during the hunt. During the archery season we will hunt spot and stalk. During the general season we will use highly trained veteran hounds to locate and pursue the bears in the morning. In the evening we will hunt spot and stalk. There are many bears in the locations that we hunt and most are color phased. The averaged sized bear taken is usually around 250 pounds. Our success ratio is high on this hunt. If you have never heard the sound that a pack of hounds makes while trailing and fighting a mean bear then you are missing out on one of the most exciting ways to hunt bear.

We also have bear hunts available in Idaho. This is an over the counter tag. The season is April 15th - May 31st. We hunt the bears with hounds or over bait. This is a great alternative to waiting for our CA fall hunts if you want to get out in the Spring and do some big game hunting or if you can not physically do a hunt with hounds and you still want a good opportunity at a bear over bait. The average sized bear taken is around 250 pounds and most of the bears are color phased. Our success ratio is high on this hunt. Our Idaho bear hunt is a five day hunt with meals and lodging included.

Black bear tag applications are available for purchase if you are at least 12 years of age and possess a California hunting license.

(click here for license and game tag fees)

The bag limit is one adult black bear per season. Cubs and females with cubs may not be taken. A cub is a bear less than one year of age or bears weighing less than 50 pounds.

Validation of black bear tags is only permitted by Department of Fish and Game employees. Bear tags must be countersigned before transporting such bear except for the purpose of taking it to the nearest person authorized to countersign the tag. The report card portion of the tag must be returned to the Department of Fish and Game whether a bear was taken or not.

Presentation of the black bear skull must occur within 10 days of taking the bear to a Department of Fish and Game employee. The portion of the skull not needed for scientific purposes will be returned.