Friend got a black bear after I left

[Okanagan]

Just got an e-mail from one of the men I hunted with last week.  He got a bear an hour or so after I left.  He and my former guide friend were looking over some grass pockets on one of the rivers when they both saw a bear across the river.  He had brought his bow but forgotten his rifle in camp.  This bear was in a tough a place to stalk within bow range, so the hunter sneaked out and drove a few miles to camp to fetch his rifle while the other man stayed and kept track of where the bear went.

It was still there when the shooter returned and he dropped it in its tracks with one shot, still had a mouthful of grass.  No measurements given but from one pic I'd guess it to be a 5 1/2 footer and maybe a little more.

We are truly spoiled when it comes to hunting black bears.  Whitetails -- not so much.

[FOsteology]

Yeah, I've heard BC is overrun with black bears. Do you have both a Spring and Fall season? Over the counter tags (for residents) or do you have to submit for a drawing? What's your bag limit?

I've heard for non-resident guided hunters the bag limit is two. Was just wondering if locals had a more liberal bag limit seeing as how there's too many bears.

How about black tail deer? Not much of a population?

[HaMeR]

That's cool!! 

[Okanagan]

Yeah, I've heard BC is overrun with black bears. Do you have both a Spring and Fall season? Over the counter tags (for residents) or do you have to submit for a drawing? What's your bag limit?

I've heard for non-resident guided hunters the bag limit is two. Was just wondering if locals had a more liberal bag limit seeing as how there's too many bears.

How about black tail deer? Not much of a population?

Long Spring and Fall season on black bears, with a bag limit of 2 per year.  Tags are over the counter.    Abundance varies quite a bit region to region, with more bears generally near the coast.  For many years there was no closed season and no bag limit on black bears, but with increased hunting population and slightly fewer bears they are harder to come by in most areas. Coastal & Island bears are all black, except for rare Kermode white ones which are protected.  Interior bears may come in any color.  The bear killed made at least 29 different bears the six of us had seen over four days.  I posted here somewhere that I saw 7 in the two days I was there but I thought through it again and it was 8.

All spot and stalk with a couple of sit and watch a likely place.

There are huntable numbers of black tail deer all along the coast but they are not abundant except perhaps on the Queen Charlotte Islands, where I've never hunted them but have heard good things.  Vancouver Island has pretty good numbers of blacktails, not ever thick like whitetails get, but more abundant than most areas on the mainland.  I saw 8 blacktails in one day's hunt last Fall on the mainland, my best day of blacktail hunting in years.  That doesn't tell you much since you don't know much about my hunting ability!  Fair hunter zeroed in on the best blacktail spot deduced from four years of hunting that area.