Where would I begin

[THHuntNY]

I've never hunted bear before and might try to hunt one in the fall. Where would I begin to hunt bear

[MACHINIST]

First be vewy vewy quite!!!! LOL 

[Lawdwaz]

I've never hunted bear before and might try to hunt one in the fall. Where would I begin to hunt bear

 

In state or out of state?

 

Bow or gun?

[THHuntNY]

In state. Probably with bow. But I'd use a gun

[G-Man]

Most bear in NY are accidental. To up your chances of even seeing one the Catskills are a good place to start. You need to find food sources as baiting in NY is illegal.

[Doc]

The best bear set-up that I have ever seen was in PA in the corner of a small corn field that was surrounded by woods. If you could ever find that kind of set-up in NYS that would be a gold mine. There was a huge area right in the corner of the field that was just completely flattened with bear scat all over the place. There was a heavy trail leading from the woods out into that part of the field. Just a perfect situation. This is a pretty rare thing but it does show that under the right conditions, some deer hunting tactics can be used. By the way, While deer hunting one year, one of our bowhunting group set up a stand down in that corner and did see a bear using that trail during daylight.

[thphm]

Do some scouting before hand, find areas with bee hives, corn fields,dumpsters,and other food sources.

[Lawdwaz]

To target a bear in NYS is going to be pretty tough unless you have a very unique situation and a ton of help.  Like noted above,almost all bear kills are the result of a deer hunt that turned into a bear kill.