Black Bears are some of the most fascinating, intelligent and fun animals to hunt and the opportunity to hunt bears of all colors with bait, hounds or by spot and stalk makes this a very interesting and exciting hunt with a very good success rate. About 50-60% of our bears are some color phase other than black so if a color phase bear is what you are after this is an excellent area to hunt and we keep trail cameras on every active bait site so we can target a bear or bears that suit your bear hunting goals. We have well established baits, fully trained hounds and experienced guides to ensure the best opportunities possible.

Baits are started well in advance of any hunters arriving and maintained regularly throughout the season, most baits have 12-16′ ladder stands, some of which are 2 person stands for couples etc. who wish to sit together at a bait, we also use natural and pop-up ground blinds on some baits for those not able or comfortable with getting in and out of a tree stand.

Our experience and dedication as hound hunters is very deep and if you are looking to experience the thrill of hunting over great hounds you have found a great place to do it, hunting with dogs is only fun if you have really good dogs, so that is the only kind we keep around here, it’s not just a hobby for us it is a full time commitment to maintain excellent hounds! Many of the bloodlines in the hounds we use have been in our families for generations and most years our dogs are hunted in multiple states to guarantee they will be in top performing condition for your hunt. I have rarely met a hound owner who didn’t have the best dogs ever so I’m not going to try to top everyone’s claims to fame but I can tell you if you come here you will see top notch dogs at work. Typically hunting with hounds is done in the morning and hunting over baits is done in the evening with spot and stalk being mostly an opportunistic method.

I encourage hunters to participate in any and all methods but keep in mind sitting over bait takes patience while hunting with hounds and spot and stalk are more rigorous and can be physically demanding. We have bears that will mature to be as much as 7’ squared. Weight will vary depending on the time of year but can be as much as 400 pounds or more in the fall. A hunter can try their hand at hunting either over bait or with hounds or both from any of our locations in the fall and while the same can be said of hunting over bait on spring hunts spot and stalk opportunities are best achieved from our camp location while hound hunts are typically done from the lodge.

Our success rate on bear hunts has been very good over the years with about 80% opportunity overall and for several consecutive years we were 100% success on our fall bait/hound combo hunts. Starting in 2015 we were able to start offering a 2 bear option and 2 of 3 hunters who elected to hunt for a second bear were successful in taking 2 bears on 5 day hunts. In 2016 we will be offering 7 day hunts for those who want to maximize their chances of taking 2 bear.

Here are some photos of successful Clark Fork Outfitters clients with their bears, some were taken on spring hunts and some were taken on fall hunts, some were taken over hounds and some over bait, a few were taken incidentally by spot and stalk.