![\"Spring](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Bear-season-hunter-3.15.26.jpeg\")
Spring black bear hunting is popular in Wyoming. (Courtesy Julie Mccallister)\u2018Mama Bear\u2019<\/p>\nThings\u00a0could get wild for black bear hunters headed into the hills to pick out hunting sites and set up their bait barrels this spring.<\/p>\n
Usually, the bears aren\u2019t highly active until April, about the time hunting seasons open.<\/p>\n
But with unusually warm, dry weather this year, the bears are out \u201cstupid early,\u201d even at high altitudes, avid black bear hunter Julie\u00a0Mccallister\u00a0of Rock River told Cowboy State Daily.<\/p>\n
Friends of hers who have cabins in the Snowy Range\u00a0Mountains, where she goes bear hunting, are already reporting bears prowling around their cabins, at least a month early.<\/p>\n
She plans to start setting up her bear bait barrels around April 7, in anticipation of opening day on April 15. Elsewhere in Wyoming, black bear hunting season\u00a0opens\u00a0on April 1.<\/p>\n
She must pack her bait in several miles to her hunt site. And with the early emergence of bears this spring, that means she\u2019ll be marching through a gauntlet of wide-awake, hungry bears.<\/p>\n
\u201cI expect this to be a crazy year. I expect to be carrying my Benelli (shotgun) with me setting bait this year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Spring black bear hunting is popular in Wyoming. (Courtesy Julie Mccallister)\u2018Mama Bear\u2019<\/p>\n
Mccallister\u00a0has been hunting black bears for years but doesn\u2019t recall a spring quite like this one. Temperatures were unusually high and snow was sparse most of the winter.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s left her somewhat worried about the plight of bears,\u00a0particularly\u00a0females with new cubs.<\/p>\n
Just like Wyoming\u2019s grizzlies, black bears are highly dependent upon protein-rich green grass to fatten them back up after they emerge from their dens.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe female bears especially, they have to have green grass and plenty of water in order to lactate\u201d and provide milk for their new cubs,\u00a0Mccallister\u00a0said.<\/p>\n
If\u00a0it\u00a0stays dry from now until bear season, then mother bears will be \u201cdriven to food,\u201d and bear\u00a0bait\u00a0will be particularly appealing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a reason that\u00a0\u2018mama\u00a0bear\u2019 is a term. They\u2019re aggressive, they\u2019re flat-out aggressive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
That goes against the usual perception of black bears as relatively timid, compared to grizzlies.<\/p>\n
Going into bear\u00a0country\u00a0this spring, alertness will be key, because black bears are amazingly stealthy,\u00a0Mccallister\u00a0said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who have never hunted them, I warn them, they\u2019re like ghosts. They aren\u2019t like turkeys and they aren\u2019t like squirrels. You won\u2019t hear them coming, they\u2019ll just show up.\u201d<\/p>\n
People outside bear hunting\u00a0circles might\u00a0think setting up bear bait and waiting in a blind isn\u2019t fair chase hunting.<\/p>\n
Mccallister, northeast Wyoming resident Owen Miller and others who bait bears say it allows hunters to carefully observe bears before deciding whether to shoot.<\/p>\n
That helps them avoid shooting females, especially those with cubs, and target only large male black bears, they say.<\/p>\n
![\"Owen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Bear-season-owen-3.15.26.jpeg\")
Owen Miller sets up his bear bait barrels in spring 2023. He expects there to be much less snow at his hunt site this spring. (Courtesy Owen Miller)![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Bear-season-snow-bear-3.15.26.jpeg\")
A black bear braves spring blizzard to check out a bear bait barrel during April 2023. This year, bear hunters expect warm, dry conditions in the mountains. (Courtesy Owen Miller)![\"Wyoming\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Bear-season-Paw-3.15.26.jpeg\")
Wyoming\u2019s black bears aren\u2019t as big as grizzlies, but they can still have massive paws. (Courtesy Owen Miller)Arrow leftArrow rightWildlife Thinks It\u2019s Spring<\/p>\n
Miller also likes to hunt the Snowy Range Mountains for black bears. His bait sights are at an elevation of 7,500 feet.<\/p>\n
In previous years the sites have been covered in snow and can be difficult to access all the way up until Memorial Day, in late May.<\/p>\n
Everything seems to be \u201cabout\u00a0a\u00a0month ahead\u201d this year, so black bear hunters will have to be well-prepared and patient.<\/p>\n
He noted that Yellowstone National Park recently reported the first\u00a0official\u00a0sighting of a grizzly out of the den this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the\u00a0grizzlies\u00a0are out in northwest Wyoming, then those black bears are going to be out at 7,500 feet in the Snowy Range,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
And they might have eaten plenty of other food before hunters show up with bait, he said.<\/p>\n
Even so, \u201cI think the right bait will still draw them in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Conditions are the same in the Big Horn Mountains, according to a friend of\u00a0Miller’s\u00a0who hunts black bears there.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, I was helping him put snow tracks on his four-wheeler to get up there to his bait\u00a0site. This year, he\u00a0thinks\u00a0he can probably already get up there in his pickup, that\u2019s insane,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n
Hunters can\u2019t control the weather, so they must adjust to what the animals are doing, Miller said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe animals don\u2019t have a calendar. They go by their instincts and how they feel,\u201d he said. \u201cEverything is looking at things like it\u2019s spring now.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Julie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Bear-season-2-Family-3.15.26.jpeg\")
Julie Mccallister of Rock River celebrates successful 2025 spring black bear hunt with her husband, Blaine, and grandson Remington. The 2026 spring bear hunt is set begin in April. (Courtesy Julie Mccallister)![\"Black](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Bear-season-food-3.15.26.jpeg\")
Black bear hunters say the meat is some of the most delicious wild game there is. (Courtesy Owen Miller)Spring black bear hunting is popular in Wyoming. (Courtesy Julie Mccallister)Arrow leftArrow rightCan\u2019t Use Tracking Dogs Yet<\/p>\n
Mccallister\u00a0was the driving force behind a bill making it legal to use blood-tracking dogs to find bears shot by hunters that ran off.<\/p>\n
The practice is allowed for big game animals, such as elk and deer.<\/p>\n
Using\u00a0dogs\u00a0to actively pursue healthy big game is strictly forbidden. But they can be used to help hunters find animals that have been shot but then ran off and died in places they couldn\u2019t be found.<\/p>\n
However, black bears are classified as trophy game, making\u00a0the use of\u00a0tracking dogs technically illegal.<\/p>\n
The bill\u00a0Mccallister\u00a0stumped for added \u201cblack bears\u201d into the wording of the statutes officially making it legal. The bill sailed through the Wyoming legislature and was signed into law by Gov. Mark Gordon.<\/p>\n
However, it doesn\u2019t take effect until July 1, which means it doesn\u2019t apply to this year\u2019s spring black bear hunting season,\u00a0Mccallister\u00a0said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI keep reminding people, don\u2019t use tracking dogs yet for this spring season. We have to wait until the fall bear hunting season,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She has a trained tracking dog and is a member of the\u00a0Rocky Mountain Big Game Recovery Network\u00a0of tracking dog owners.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as it\u2019s legal to do so, call us. We don\u2019t charge a fee. We will gratefully accept donations, but there\u2019s no fee for bringing our tracking dogs to come help you,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n