Wish it was me!!!! Been out about twice a wk since the season started. Saw some small scat Thurs for the 1st scat sighting. Got my blood moving although the biggest turd in the 2 piles was slightly under 2" (maybe it was cold & he/she was puckered up). It was jet black but upon closer examination it was the usual early Spring emerald green inside w/grass fibers. It had been walking down a spur road (classified) where I had to break out my hand saw & lopping shears to get thru w/my Jeep-hey, it's only a year old & scratched up enough already. Those of you more knowledgable than me can figure out how long it took the pile to turn soot black-my guess a wk-it was the first sign of any activity in the N Skagit unit that I have found. The bear had been walking down the road & peeling bark off every old stump-just one shingle sized piece-looking for bugs I'm sure. I went back early yesterday w/no further info except I found a print-I'm no expert but it looked a little long w/a heel so I'm guess'in a hind foot-just 3-3.5" across & that was an old print under 1" of standing water. Talked to Derrick at the Hamilton Mainline guard shack & he has seen some hunting traffic but no news of anyone getting one. Which one of you is driving a silver Chev trailblazer?
The damage areas aren't so damaged as I was led to believe. On the DNR 2400 road I drove it yesterday to where they blocked it off about 3 miles from Baker Lake Road. Only looked by slowly driving by but saw only 10 peeled trees. Four could have been last year, two definately over 2 years old.
Will be out there next Thurs-still pushing snow in places w/skid plate at about 1000'. If I can't get one I can at least talk about it eh?