Spring bear

Gobbler36 · May 17, 2017

DDAM said:
Anyone from eastern Idaho around the Swan Valley have any input on their snow level in the mountains towards the palisades? Would appreciate any "eyes on deck" detail. I'm planning on hitting those area early May and trying to decide whether crampon/micro spikes will be needed.

Just drove through this area for work on my way to Jackson two weeks ago and snow was still up high but looked as if the a majority had melted again though this was from the Hwy so take it for what it is

Slingshot · May 17, 2017

Spotted this beautiful bear a week ago around 4,000ft along the Montana/Idaho border. wished the bear was a little bigger watched him eat for 30 minutes before he finely caught wind of me and ran off the road.

Make sure the video quality is on high some reason it wants to play it in low quality.

[video=youtube_share;MOKgDP6I6nA]https://youtu.be/MOKgDP6I6nA[/video]

realunlucky · May 17, 2017

Cool video i know nothing about bears but that one looked big to me. Would you say it's average or below average size so I'll have a better idea. Hoping to make it up that way the end of the month.

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Jon Boy · May 17, 2017

Id say its an average sized sow

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Slingshot · May 17, 2017

Jon Boy said:
Id say its an average sized sow

Same

They are definitely an interesting animal this time of year.

JLH208 · May 20, 2017

Definately experienced some walk up shrinkage but can't bitch too much, got my first bear. Sitting behind a tree by the blind my brother and friend were in, this young sow walked in around 1700 today. I believe it is the one my brother missed. The only bear to be hitting the bait every day. 30 yards double lung, died within 50 yards.

- Jesse

JLH208 · May 20, 2017

I was able to get it on film which I was happy about, and I also found this sweet dead head yesterday morning 200 yards from our bait. It had been under snow this whole time and we'd probably walked right over it.

- Jesse

realunlucky · May 21, 2017

Congratulations thanks for sharing this adventure

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DDAM · May 21, 2017

adam634 said:
Just drove through this area for work on my way to Jackson two weeks ago and snow was still up high but looked as if the a majority had melted again though this was from the Hwy so take it for what it is

Thanks Adam634, I was up there about a week ago, bumped into a bunch of everything except bear until the last day and it was a sow with cub. I was going for spot and stalk and the last place I expected to encounter a bear was where we saw it. The bears were less than 20 yards away from me in a tree but I didn't notice, my buddy behind me caught the movement and yelled out to me because I was getting pretty darn close to a mama bear with a cub. Searched for 4 days just to finally find one sign of fresh bear scat on the last day. But elk and deer where every where, steep country though. Would've been a tough one regardless. Thanks again!

Shooter19802003 · May 21, 2017

I was at far north yesterday and there was a guy there checking his bear. This thing was tiny. All jokes aside, my dog is bigger. I'm pretty sure it was either a big 1 year old or really small 2 year old. Judging from the looks of it....about knee high or so tall.....tiny.....but dude was super proud. However, he has a bear and I don't right now....lol.

Slingshot · May 21, 2017

Lol yes that's what I learned growing up hunting bears in the spring, is if the bear looks small it is definitely small and If it looks big it's probably still small.

JimCraig · May 21, 2017

Congrats man. Wow, that color!

Shooter19802003 · May 26, 2017

Well, my partner got his bear tonight. He had the better shot, so he took the first. He shot broadside at about 40 yards. It spun around and he told me to shoot. So I put a 300 grain 375 through its open mouth and out its butt.....througb and through. After that, it still was staggering around. So my buddy shot it again. It then went down, but slowly. It was a good looking brown boar. I would say it was around 200-225lbs. A really good looking spring bear.

danmayland · May 28, 2017

Dang how did I miss this thread!!! Awesome guys. It's been "hot" for bear action here in SW Montana. I've seen 12 bears since May 1 only hunting Friday nights mostly. I'll post some pics an vids soon if bears I've come across. I took my best bear last Friday night. Still combing through pics but I'll post soon!!

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danmayland · May 28, 2017