Oregon sw spring bear

[7718Sallee]

I’ve been a long time lurker here reading and trying to absorb all the knowledge which I’m thankful for. Any Oregonians out there that are willing to help a brother out? I’ve been self taught blacktail and Roosevelt hunting about 10 years with some success. I’m trying/ hoping to shortcut my learning curve a bit. I’m very hard working and eager to learn, just looking for someone experienced to help me with bears. Planning on going on my first bear hunts this coming spring. Taking a shot in the dark here hopefully it’s well received

 

[orelkaddict]

Where at in Oregon as that will affect my answer as to how to hunt them? We spring bear hunt most years with a decent success rate so I've got a little practice

 

[541hunter]

In Sw OR your best bet is clearcuts on a south facing slope. I see most bears midday to evening.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[TripleJ]

In Sw OR your best bet is clearcuts on a south facing slope. I see most bears midday to evening.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This. Look for clearcuts that have greened up.

 

[7718Sallee]

Im planning on sw spring bear. really like backpack hunting so I’m looking at the kalmiopsis/ rogue wilderness area using trails for access and hitting glassing spots. Several Burns there the last few years I’m curious if the bears will be in middle of burn areas and find bedding out there too? or will they just be at the edge feeding then head back to timber for bedding/security areas?

 

[541hunter]

Im planning on sw spring bear. really like backpack hunting so I’m looking at the kalmiopsis/ rogue wilderness area using trails for access and hitting glassing spots. Several Burns there the last few years I’m curious if the bears will be in middle of burn areas and find bedding out there too? or will they just be at the edge feeding then head back to timber for bedding/security areas?

Never been in the kalmiopsis but I have heard it’s very brushy and steep. Also it has been severely hit by fire the last couple years. I would do a lot of research on the area before stepping into it.
Also FYI sw bear tags have been moved back to a draw tag.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[OR Archer]

Id focus my efforts more to private timberlands that allow walk in or bike in access. Typically there will be less pressure and they'll hold the right age clear cuts to find the bears in.

 

[Arrowslinger]

Id focus my efforts more to private timberlands that allow walk in or bike in access. Typically there will be less pressure and they'll hold the right age clear cuts to find the bears in.

I’ve done this 3x as an out of stater and have come home with 3 bears. Most of the private timber land I’ve used in the spring is before fire season and open to vehicle access. Drive and glass.

 

[7718Sallee]

I’m 100% against Weyerhaeuser pay for access model. Is there an easy way to find which private timber lands will be open for free? So that I can narrow my areas for digital/ paper map scouting? Thanks for the help guys

 

[Oregon]

You need to figure out an area first, then whose land it is.
They all have different rules.
Stimson is weekends and after 5pm on weekdays.
Lewis and Clark now requires a free permit to carry on your person and leave on dashboard of truck if parking at gate.
Weyerhaeuser is only one who is now charging that I know of. All their gates have signs saying so.
Timber companies are pretty good at posting signage at gate with the rules.

 

[HuntWyld]

OP have you hit the woods yet? Any luck on your spring bear debut?

 

[Oregon]

OP have you hit the woods yet? Any luck on your spring bear debut?

Not sure if OP has, but this guy has a tag burning a hole in his pocket itching bad to go. I see the hill off my back porch I will get my bear on. Just needs to quit raining! I don’t bear hunt in the rain. SW Oregon has been getting hammered. Inches of rain a day. Screw that! April showers bring tall green grass and bear aplenty in May.

 

[HuntWyld]

Ya I’m local here in SW Oregon too and we’ve been getting hit hard with rain. Had some sun lastnight tho and found a big sow and a 1 year old cub grazing away like cattle on the fresh green grass that all the rain brought up.

 

[ChrisHanson]

I've always had good successes still hunting and ambushing skunk cabbage patches first two weeks of may in the rogue. The frustrating part is you won't see bears for days, but if you're reading the bear sign right you'll find a lunker.
And this is probably a case of confusing coincidence with facts, but I've never seen a tank standing in the middle of a clear cut on a sunny afternoon. I have seen a parade of trucks with guys glassing out of them though..

 

[Oregon]

I've always had good successes still hunting and ambushing skunk cabbage patches first two weeks of may in the rogue. The frustrating part is you won't see bears for days, but if you're reading the bear sign right you'll find a lunker.
And this is probably a case of confusing coincidence with facts, but I've never seen a tank standing in the middle of a clear cut on a sunny afternoon. I have seen a parade of trucks with guys glassing out of them though..

Bears on the coast tend to be extremely nocturnal when there are open roads. I’ve done this a bunch. I get lazy and drive around glass and don’t see squat.
Walk in behind timber company lands gates and seen plenty of bears 1-3 miles in, all hours of the day. I have seen most bears on warm dry days between 4 and sunset. In my younger days, I’d hunt every chance I’d get. First light, middle of day, raining, driving roads etc.
now I only hunt walking in and nice afternoons. I’d give my left testicle to drive to a spot and shoot a bear. My knees would appreciate the heck out it!

 

[7718Sallee]

I went out this last weekend for a couple of day hunts just outside Eugene which is the closest to my house but it’s still 1.5 hour drive each way. Spent 2/3 of my time driving trying to find cuts behind closed gates but as I was new to the area and those specific timber companies lots of confusion for me even though I had marked dozens of areas to check on onyx. Same timber Co has some gates open open to hunt, some closed open to hunt, and some closed no trespassing . Lots of roads I had planned on using to access cuts were 20years overgrown. I’ve been deer and elk hunting quite awhile but almost all cascades. So in short I ended up finding 2 very large clear cut areas of master vantage with thick bottoms 2-6’ tall reprod lots of lush green grass both about 2-3 miles behind gates. Sat one Saturday afternoon about 3 hours and the other Sunday evening about 4 hours seen 1 herd of 24elk and 6 deer overall. No bears no bear sign. My son and I are taking 3 days this weekend to head into the kalmiopsis wilderness and have an adventure hopefully turn up a bear. Then have a 3 day trip planned at the end of the month with a new friend into a different part of the kalmiopsis. So I’m determined to figure it out.

 

[HuntWyld]

Remember it’s not typically like deer or elk hunting where your seeing lots of animals throughout the season and you spend the majority of your time just trying to get close enough to one your after. With bears often you spend the majority of the season not seeing anything and spending all your time looking to see just that 1 bear to capitalize on...

 

[mattstanton]

Another good find is old skid roads grown up with lots of green grass. They also like swampy areas with skunk cabbage and wild onions. Keep an eye on the timbered edges of clear cuts. Bears will often cruise the edges

 

[7718Sallee]

Just got back from wilderness hunt with my son. We found 1 great food source with tons of sign but ended up walking through it on the trail on the way in to our onyx map destination which tuned out to not be a good. So we camped and glassed. Spent the whole next day glassing and still hunting our way up into the top of the nice area riddled with bear sign. And watched it till about 730 pm. But no bears came out. Do you guys think if you walk through an area they will blow out for days? It is the best food source around for quite a ways. I also want opinions on these scat piles we found. 3 of them all the same age 2 extremely large piles side by side almost touching and then what I would call a cub pile 8” away. Seemed weird like 2 large bears and 1 cub. Idk?? Is it bears or deer that eat all the new leaves off the rhododendrons?

 

[HuntWyld]

I don’t know about bears completely leaving an area due to human interaction but I will say from personal experience that they often go nocturnal for some period. I highly doubt that is separate bears taking a crap at the same time and place I don’t think mom and cub have synchronized bowels, to me that just looks like a reasonably sized bear going while slowly taking a step or two.