Okie_Poke
FNG
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2024
I am back from my trip without a bear. In terms of timing of our trip, I think we timed the trip pretty well. Snow was generally clear up past 8000 feet on south slopes, though there were still some pretty deep drifts on north slopes and in the shade. We drove into the south side of the range and camped at about 7,800 feet, which was about as far as could be driven in a pickup. Snowpack wasn't the limiting factor, however. The roads past where we stopped to camp were blocked with downed trees and loaded up with water from the snow melt and rain. So, we basically drove into the forest as far as one could drive (at least in that area) and then camped at the truck.
We saw fresh sign from at least three different bears (one big, one with a cub, and then another lone bear) from 7,800 feet up to 8,000 feet. The freshest sign we found in an area about 4-5 miles from our camp. We never laid eyes on any bears, however. We only ended up being able to hunt about 2 1/2 days due to my work schedule. And on one of those days a suprise storm forced us back to camp early. We went back out later that evening after the storm passed, but we didn't have time to get back to the area with the most recent sign. I think if we had more time we were in a decent general area. I would have liked to go in a little further in that area as I think the bears could have been moving up and further into the forest. I also had a couple of other areas I would have liked to take a look at, but we just ran out of time.
We did, however, see probably a hundred elk in those 2 1/2 days. The elk were just everywhere feeding all day long. That was pretty neat. The BIL I took with me on this trip had never done any type of western hunting, so he got to see a lot of elk for the first time. Many of them were a mile plus away, but we routinely walked up on a group much closer. Here's an example:
We talked to a couple other hunters at a gas station who were with a group hunting bears over bait in the same unit. Their group had killed two boars in three days. I can see why running a bait site is worth it if you can make the logistics work. I can also see why folks backpack in to do spot-and-stalk hunting. Having to go in and come out so far each day before we were really "hunting" (i.e., near fresh sign) was a bit of a limitation on this trip, though the biggest limitation was just how little time we ended up having to hunt.
Good luck to the OP. I hope you have a better go of it than I did.
We saw fresh sign from at least three different bears (one big, one with a cub, and then another lone bear) from 7,800 feet up to 8,000 feet. The freshest sign we found in an area about 4-5 miles from our camp. We never laid eyes on any bears, however. We only ended up being able to hunt about 2 1/2 days due to my work schedule. And on one of those days a suprise storm forced us back to camp early. We went back out later that evening after the storm passed, but we didn't have time to get back to the area with the most recent sign. I think if we had more time we were in a decent general area. I would have liked to go in a little further in that area as I think the bears could have been moving up and further into the forest. I also had a couple of other areas I would have liked to take a look at, but we just ran out of time.
We did, however, see probably a hundred elk in those 2 1/2 days. The elk were just everywhere feeding all day long. That was pretty neat. The BIL I took with me on this trip had never done any type of western hunting, so he got to see a lot of elk for the first time. Many of them were a mile plus away, but we routinely walked up on a group much closer. Here's an example:
We talked to a couple other hunters at a gas station who were with a group hunting bears over bait in the same unit. Their group had killed two boars in three days. I can see why running a bait site is worth it if you can make the logistics work. I can also see why folks backpack in to do spot-and-stalk hunting. Having to go in and come out so far each day before we were really "hunting" (i.e., near fresh sign) was a bit of a limitation on this trip, though the biggest limitation was just how little time we ended up having to hunt.
Good luck to the OP. I hope you have a better go of it than I did.
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