Kapowsin - Spring 2013

[sweetlou]

If you buy the pass they'll give you a map of all the tree damaged areas, highlighted in red. I was in there last week and went to some of those areas and saw two bear. But just way down in the swampy nasty bottoms.

[sirmissalot]

Seeing two bears that early into the season is pretty good luck 

[Bob Williams1]

Seeing two bears that early into the season is pretty good luck 

I now have spent probably 17 -18 hours up there in the 3 times i have been up and have not seen any bear.. Today i saw a Coyote a couple hundred yards in front of the truck on the main line..He dipped into the trees never to be seen again..(He was gonna get the side arm had he peeped out)
a rabbit and 2 deer in 6+plus hours.. When i was up there early Friday in the rain i saw about 20 deer at various locations another rabbit and thats it.

Got a friggen sunburn out there today.

We'll keep after them. ..I am hoping in a couple weeks there will be better opportunity in terms of animals moving around because i literally glassed acres and acres of clear cuts... Looked from long distances with the spotting scope and even tried some predator callin (cub distress and the usual rabbit distress) but nothing seems to respond. . Gotta admit i was to the point i was gonna hit a coyote if he came out and be happy with the outing. Oh well

[sweetlou]

I wasn't hunting, of course. But there up and moving, just not very much. There is one spot, I'm not sure i remember how to get there. But it is a steep steep rocky incline and to the left down the hill is where i saw them. It is a big swampy mess. Depending on how comfortable one is shooting 500 yards, its a perfect vantage point. Good luck to all you permit holders!

[Bob Williams1]

I wasn't hunting, of course. But there up and moving, just not very much. There is one spot, I'm not sure i remember how to get there. But it is a steep steep rocky incline and to the left down the hill is where i saw them. It is a big swampy mess. Depending on how comfortable one is shooting 500 yards, its a perfect vantage point. Good luck to all you permit holders!

Oh yea i know right where your talkin about..    ...hahahahaaaa..geez

[sirmissalot]

Obviously it changes year to year but when I had the tag a few years ago, it was amazing the increase in fresh sign I saw towards the end of May, so don't get discouraged. The first two weeks kind of seemed like a waste of time, and being the first time I drew a spring bear tag I was giving it 100% effort from the get go. I did lots and lots of glassing but the only one I caught in the open was right off the mainline and he was moving pretty quickly through the clearcut. I feel like it would be prime time right now to just be walking grassy side roads and skidders trying to catch one eating grass.

Have you guys been seeing fresh peels?

[CementFinisher]

its not even close to time for them to start peeling. when you see one inch long fresh starts on trees is when they will start peeling. that's when the sap and starches start moving from roots to new growth

[Bob Williams1]

headin out in about 10 minutes.. Will be in the 0600-0601 area.

[Wanttohuntmore]

Fishing with the kids today, will be out tomorrow.

[notellumcreek]

headin out in about 10 minutes.. Will be in the 0600-0601 area.

Good luck bob  I haven't been going up since the first 2 days. Will be hitting it again though this next week during the afternoons, let me know if you want to hit up that nasty swamp sweetlou is talking about I dont mind putting in some work...   

[sweetlou]

I wasn't hunting, of course. But there up and moving, just not very much. There is one spot, I'm not sure i remember how to get there. But it is a steep steep rocky incline and to the left down the hill is where i saw them. It is a big swampy mess. Depending on how comfortable one is shooting 500 yards, its a perfect vantage point. Good luck to all you permit holders!

Oh yea i know right where your talkin about..    ...hahahahaaaa..geez

You know it if you saw it funny guy

[Bob Williams1]

Well put in another 8 hours up at Kapowsin yesterday..Saw lots a wildlife just not the furry critters i am after. Spent most of the morning around the 0600 loop that has plenty of cuts with fresh growth sproutin through..Lots of deer eating them from sun up to about 8:30. Spent the mid morning early afternoon circling up to about the 2000-2200 foot elevation.That's were i came across my first peel of a small pine tree.Looked kind of like an elk scrape. Small tree with broken branches and stripped trunk. Small band of elk but still no bear.
I spent the afternoon down just past camp 5 were i spotted lots of cabbage patches but nothing appeared tore up as one would expect if there was a critter in there..No turned over mud or tracks present. Did see a cool beaver damn with lots of trees chewed down...Had the .45 ready in case it sprung from the water and wanted to dance.. Kinda surprised the tree farm doesn't deem that thing problematic. Oh well

Gonna take a few days off and nurse my pride back to health and then maybe hit it up again later this week with Notellupcreek and Scottfrick.

Did meet a guy who spends sometime on this site as well...Great to meet you Al!! Get your account together because we wanna hear how your successful bear hunts goes down brother..Your determination will breed success and we wanna hear about damn it!!

 

[trophyhunt]

I was past camp 5 last weekend in a walk in area and I saw all those cabbage patches, ton's of them, I would think that is a good place to look. It snowed like crazy on me, I was at 2400 feet. Is the snow level back up and is it gone? Good luck

[Bob Williams1]

No the snow was all gone at least in those areas..I was into snow last weekend up a little higher towards Camp 7? But i was goin up some pretty steep loggin roads until i thought this was kinda dumb to be this high if the animals don't like really cold climate and their looking for something other then frozen food.

Plus the really warm weather we had last week got rid of all that down low. Definitely considering a 'stake out' on one of those large Skunk cabbage plots.. I think either just at sun break if your in position or late evening is the ticket until some other roughage comes in for them to eat on and they're exposed in a clear cut or large bowl.

Have yet to see much tree peeling but then again i have been stickin mainly to clear cuts and not under the tree canopy to much but i'm sure things are gonna change pretty quick in these next couple weeks in terms of visible sign and damage to property so i'm ready .... love this guy ------>  but when a bear finally hits my crosshair it will be more like this guy----> talk about tree damage..hahahahaha

Best of luck

[notellumcreek]

Suppose to get hot by wednesday/thursday, hopefully will help do some waking up. Liljozie and I plan on going out wednesday or thursday afternoon, hopefully will have some good news to bring back and post here.