Where are the biggest bears in the state?

[Simcoe hunter]

Yep, the biggest bears are in Goldendale.  They sit on a stool in the Town Tavern next to all of the squatch's you guys are looking for.  It can get real ugly in there from time to time.  Oh what the hay.  WDFW says all the deer are here, so the bears might as well be here too.  I do see what appear to be cougar killed deer on Observatory hill while out for evening walks.  Maybe it's bear kills.

Oops, got off topic there for a minute.  Sorry for the rant.  There are some bear here in the Simcoes north of town.  You will have to work for them though.  I have seen several in one particular area.  I wouldn't change my plans to come here looking for a trophy though.  I saw some real good bear sign and tracks in the Manson unit this past fall.

But my favorite place was the Selkirk unit.  That has been a few years though.  Lots of big sign- tracks, markings, etc.  It also was the spookiest place I have hunted to date.  Lots of background noise that made the hair stand up on the back of my neck since I was in the grizzly rehab area.

[huntnnw]

the state record was taken in Spokane county..21 12/16 400lb bear est

my dad took 18 consecutive bears with 18 4/8 to 20' skulls in NE WA

[jkononen]

The Olympic game farm has some dandies.

[Time Immemorial]

Some hogs up in the closed area of the rez, I've seen some nice ones, monster tracks too

[Hangfire]

Really large Black Bears are where you find them all across the state. I shot a bear thats scored just over 20.5" in the Skokomish valley in the 70's. The largest bears I have seen have been in Pend Oreille county. There are places there where I know some are never hunted with any regularity now that hounds not available. The gypsy peaks and Salmo river have some very large bears, also grizzlies. Low hunting pressure, long life and food grows a big bear.

[RadSav]

I would say it depends on your definition of "Biggest".  Are you talking body size (weight) or skull size?


I would have asked you sooner, but I got tired of waiting for the H-W pages to load   And my patience isn't what it used to be.

[h20hunter]

Since i am a meat hunter i would say overall body size. Big fat hogs of bears. Agreed on a few points...all over the state where pressure is less and forage is abundant there will be big bears. Big in body should also relate to big skulls.

[Karl Blanchard]

Just like deer and elk bears only get big by getting old and that means places that don't get hunted much will usually have an older age class of animal.  If I had to pick one spot in the whole state of washington to go find a monster bear it would hands down be the yakama rez.  The Yakamas don't really hunt them much, spiritual thing I believe, I'm sure someone can correct me on that if I am wrong.  When I was delivering to White Swan I knew a few guys down there that did hunt them and good lord they killed some giants!  They invited me several times but I was never sure on the legality of it all so I passed.

[RadSav]

Since i am a meat hunter i would say overall body size. Big fat hogs of bears. Agreed on a few points...all over the state where pressure is less and forage is abundant there will be big bears. Big in body should also relate to big skulls.

In Washington state big bodies don't neccessarily relate to big skulls.  It's an oddity I don't quite understand as Vancouver Island has big skulls and Oregon has big skulls, but Washington rarely does.  The record books reflect this.  In Oregon you shoot a 325# bear and you'll probably make P&Y.  In Washington we've taken boars as large as 450# that don't make P&Y minimums.

Want big bodies...I'd go late Sept early October on high west slope of the Cascades. Green River Watershed and north. There are pockets of good skulls in there, but not very wide spread.  Also Early September far enough on the coast you can smell the salt. 

Want big skulls...I would probably not be hunting west of the pacific crest.  Unless I was going to the mid coast south.  Again I want to be close enough to the coast to smell the salt.  The coastal bears are not what they used to be.  Few eat fish anymore and government hunters took out a lot of the good gene pool late 60's into the early seventies.  But there are still larger pockets of big ones to be found than on the high west slope Cascades.  They are just A LOT harder to hunt now that you can not use bait.

[coachcw]

Selkirk grizz recovery zone !

[h20hunter]

Radsav....very interesting...thanks for posting up.

[Smossy]

Radsav....very interesting...thanks for posting up.

H2o is the biggest bear I know... That means Lake Stevens would be the place to go.

[Smossy]

Since i am a meat hunter i would say overall body size. Big fat hogs of bears. Agreed on a few points...all over the state where pressure is less and forage is abundant there will be big bears. Big in body should also relate to big skulls.

In Washington state big bodies don't neccessarily relate to big skulls.  It's an oddity I don't quite understand as Vancouver Island has big skulls and Oregon has big skulls, but Washington rarely does.  The record books reflect this.  In Oregon you shoot a 325# bear and you'll probably make P&Y.  In Washington we've taken boars as large as 450# that don't make P&Y minimums.

Want big bodies...I'd go late Sept early October on high west slope of the Cascades. Green River Watershed and north. There are pockets of good skulls in there, but not very wide spread.  Also Early September far enough on the coast you can smell the salt. 

Want big skulls...I would probably not be hunting west of the pacific crest.  Unless I was going to the mid coast south.  Again I want to be close enough to the coast to smell the salt.  The coastal bears are not what they used to be.  Few eat fish anymore and government hunters took out a lot of the good gene pool late 60's into the early seventies.  But there are still larger pockets of big ones to be found than on the high west slope Cascades.  They are just A LOT harder to hunt now that you can not use bait.

I just want to eat something I killed/butchered myself. Mmm

[Bob33]

http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php?topic=5425.0

[runamuk]

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