High country bear hunting

[sweetlou]

I'm wondering about what time of the year is best for higher elevation bear hunting. I went up to about 3000 feet last year, backpacking, for 3 days and covered a lot of area and never saw bears. Is there a time of year that is best for higher elevations as opposed to lower? Let me know what y'all have experienced. Thanks

[Boss .300 winmag]

I'm wondering about what time of the year is best for higher elevation bear hunting. I went up to about 3000 feet last year, backpacking, for 3 days and covered a lot of area and never saw bears. Is there a time of year that is best for higher elevations as opposed to lower? Let me know what y'all have experienced. Thanks

What time of year did you do this?

[RadSav]

All depends on how good a berry year we are having.  In years with a lot of berries early October seems best.  Lately the berry production has been so poor it's been a struggle in October with Early September being best.  So it's almost impossible to say which week or even month will be best.  You just have to keep getting up there and stay on top of what's going on at elevation.  Good idea to taste the berries often.  If you find a lot of berries, but they are sour or bitter the bear won't be working those areas as hard.  Keep moving until you find an elevation or slope with sweet berries.

In poor berry years I add in a lot of calling along with glassing.  If the bear are working too hard to get full on berries they will often respond very well to calling.  Early September when all the leaves are still on the berry bushes calling can sometimes make the bear more visible too.  They might not come in to the calls as well then, but they will stand up on their hind legs and tip you off to their presence.

[ICEMAN]

All depends on how good a berry year we are having.  In years with a lot of berries early October seems best.  Lately the berry production has been so poor it's been a struggle in October with Early September being best.  So it's almost impossible to say which week or even month will be best.  You just have to keep getting up there and stay on top of what's going on at elevation.  Good idea to taste the berries often.  If you find a lot of berries, but they are sour or bitter the bear won't be working those areas as hard.  Keep moving until you find an elevation or slope with sweet berries.

In poor berry years I add in a lot of calling along with glassing.  If the bear are working too hard to get full on berries they will often respond very well to calling.  Early September when all the leaves are still on the berry bushes calling can sometimes make the bear more visible too.  They might not come in to the calls as well then, but they will stand up on their hind legs and tip you off to their presence.

RadSav, a guy could learn a lot reading your posts. I do....

[sweetlou]

We went the first week of August, due to my buddy going back to school. Those are some good tips, I'm going to go back to the same spot this year. I think a bit higher and later in the year.

[xXLojackXx]

The areas I hunt, come about July the bears are headed up from the river bottoms and in August I can't find any bears under 4500'.

[RadSav]

We went the first week of August, due to my buddy going back to school. Those are some good tips, I'm going to go back to the same spot this year. I think a bit higher and later in the year.

In the early 90's we had a string of years where August was killer!  And those berries lasted well into the first few freezes.  But there have been very few good seasons like that since 2000.  You don't see the daily heavy fog in the evenings where the bushes just drip with water like you did back then.  Not sure exactly why the fog isn't as prevalent as it once was, but it is sure having an effect on those early crops.  We've actually had a few years recently where the berries have shriveled up before they even turn purple.  Seems to have effected the birth rate and survival rate over the past ten years.

Still plenty of bear in the high country.  It's just become more important to strike while the iron is hot.  Need to be checking at least every other week.  Then once you see those berries getting ripe...hit it hard!!!  I expect seeing a dozen or more bear a day like we did in the eighties and nineties is probably going to be the exception to the rule for now. But if you are prepared and observant you should still be able to tag a bear every year.  It's just a bit more work than it use to be.

Hopefully we can get a few consecutive years of really deep snow pack with some giant slides to clear out some of these good hillsides too.  Been a long time since I've seen a lot of that.  Takes about another two years for the berries to grab hold and start producing after a good slide.  Most of our areas are now more than ten years without a good slide.  The brush and trees are choking out the good berry crops.  And when you do see a bear feeding it's pretty dang hard to find an opening for a shot.  I really need to get back in shape and start scouting for some new areas.

Maybe I should find one of the wife's crack addict relatives and offer them some money to have a back country cook go bad and catch some of these areas on fire   I can't remember the last time we had a good fire in the high country!  Maybe that has something to do with it too

[xXLojackXx]

One of my big goals this year is a high country bear with a bow.  I know where good bears hold up, but like you said Rad, that brush is the killer.

[RadSav]

One of my big goals this year is a high country bear with a bow.  I know where good bears hold up, but like you said Rad, that brush is the killer.

I've found that depending on wind bear usually enter these large berry bowls from the timber for their evening feed between noon and one.  Often times they pace back and forth in the timber working the wind until they feel comfortable.  But they enter the bowls at regular spots.  This is a great time for a bow ambush as the thermals are almost always headed up with few surprises.  Our usual bowl is nearly 1/4 mile in diameter and there may be a dozen bear that regularly use it.  When the wind is coming from the northwest they only enter into the bowl from two different places.  Wind from the north two other places.  Wind from the east messes things up and they may enter from any of five places.  But they pace a lot in the timber trying to decide which of those five places they feel most comfortable breaking into the open.

If I were going to try and kill a high country bear with my bow I would not hunt them in the berries.  I would set up in the tall timber and try to get a mid day shot as they are preparing to enter the bowls to feed.  Tracking a bear in the pine needles can be dang tough after a bow shot so make sure you have really got the distance and the shot perfect.  But, that shouldn't be too difficult as most of their attention is watching the open.  They almost never expect danger to come from the dark timber.  The last two bear I killed using this approach were with my .308 and it's been a long time since I killed a high country bear with my bow.  However, those two bear we killed at 30 and 45 yards.  If I had been carrying the bow I'd have been nearly 10 yards closer when I set up for the evening. 

My last morning bear in the high country was taken at 25 yards.  For three consecutive days I'd seen him leaving the berries in the same spot too far away from my perch for a good shot.  On the forth day he did the same thing, but I was sitting in the timber since 5AM waiting for him.  As he pushed through the brush breaking into the open timber he looked right at me.  I'd swear the look on his face as I pulled the trigger was, "Oh Crap!"   That would have been a slam dunk with the bow!

[rasbo]

I like to be above or below depending on the thermals,most bears I have taken are in the am above the feeding areas...

[sweetlou]

Thanks, you guys have helped a lot.
The other problem that I see is that the trail head we use to get back to camp is used quite frequently up to a certain point. My buddy and I usually hike about 3 miles past where everyone usually is. Its about a 3.5 hour hike where we hike usually 4 to 5 hours. The area we hunt is really wide open, a lot of grassy fields, hill sides, rocky areas, and flowers. I don't recall ever really seeing any berries in abundance. I know there are bears there, we have seen multiple bears on the hill sides when we go fishing. But when it comes opening day we can't seem to find any. Also, were about 4 miles from a National Park boundary, where I can glass from camp and look at bears all day long. What do you think about this? find a spot further from the park and people? 

[RadSav]

Thanks, you guys have helped a lot.
The other problem that I see is that the trail head we use to get back to camp is used quite frequently up to a certain point. My buddy and I usually hike about 3 miles past where everyone usually is. Its about a 3.5 hour hike where we hike usually 4 to 5 hours. The area we hunt is really wide open, a lot of grassy fields, hill sides, rocky areas, and flowers. I don't recall ever really seeing any berries in abundance. I know there are bears there, we have seen multiple bears on the hill sides when we go fishing. But when it comes opening day we can't seem to find any. Also, were about 4 miles from a National Park boundary, where I can glass from camp and look at bears all day long. What do you think about this? find a spot further from the park and people?

Secret to bear hunting is "Hunt where the food is!"  Actually that's usually the secret to just about all hunting.  In the fall a bear needs to be adding a lot of calories each day to build up fat for the winter and months of minimal feed.  If you aren't seeing bear there during the season I'd assume that means there is better feed somewhere else.  Probably a concentration of berries or bugs not too far from where you are at.  One of the nice things about bear scat is that it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what's in it.   If you are hunting grass and bug filled rocks and all the bear scat contains fish bones or berries you are in the wrong spot.

Our best high country bear spot is filled with hikers and pot smokers.  It's only about half way between the trail head and a popular hiking destination.  We didn't need to hike further into the wilderness to find the bear as the feed and evidence was that the bear were there.  All we did was look at aerials and figure out where the concentration of food was. My father and I even chartered a plane and scouted it by air one day - Good father and son time It ended up that we only had to get off trail by about 500-800 yards to find where they bear were.  We can still hear the hikers working up the trail.  We can still see the hikers as they round a bend not far away.  And we can still smell the marijuana smoke from where the hikers stop on a rock below us and toke away.  While we see very few bear from the actual trail getting just off of it into the bears comfort zone gets us into a lot of animals.  I'd prefer to not see, hear or smell another human being while in the back country.  But for us that's not where the bear are!

[skagitsteel]

Thanks, you guys have helped a lot.
The other problem that I see is that the trail head we use to get back to camp is used quite frequently up to a certain point. My buddy and I usually hike about 3 miles past where everyone usually is. Its about a 3.5 hour hike where we hike usually 4 to 5 hours. The area we hunt is really wide open, a lot of grassy fields, hill sides, rocky areas, and flowers. I don't recall ever really seeing any berries in abundance. I know there are bears there, we have seen multiple bears on the hill sides when we go fishing. But when it comes opening day we can't seem to find any. Also, were about 4 miles from a National Park boundary, where I can glass from camp and look at bears all day long. What do you think about this? find a spot further from the park and people?

Secret to bear hunting is "Hunt where the food is!"  Actually that's usually the secret to just about all hunting.  In the fall a bear needs to be adding a lot of calories each day to build up fat for the winter and months of minimal feed.  If you aren't seeing bear there during the season I'd assume that means there is better feed somewhere else.  Probably a concentration of berries or bugs not too far from where you are at.  One of the nice things about bear scat is that it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what's in it.   If you are hunting grass and bug filled rocks and all the bear scat contains fish bones or berries you are in the wrong spot.

Our best high country bear spot is filled with hikers and pot smokers.  It's only about half way between the trail head and a popular hiking destination.  We didn't need to hike further into the wilderness to find the bear as the feed and evidence was that the bear were there.  All we did was look at aerials and figure out where the concentration of food was. My father and I even chartered a plane and scouted it by air one day - Good father and son time It ended up that we only had to get off trail by about 500-800 yards to find where they bear were.  We can still hear the hikers working up the trail.  We can still see the hikers as they round a bend not far away.  And we can still smell the marijuana smoke from where the hikers stop on a rock below us and toke away.  While we see very few bear from the actual trail getting just off of it into the bears comfort zone gets us into a lot of animals.  I'd prefer to not see, hear or smell another human being while in the back country.  But for us that's not where the bear are!

I shot my 2012 high country bear less than 100 yards from a hunters camp at first light. goood morning

[ghostshell]

some great info from people.... you can tell who is giving real info. best thing to do is scout your areas and keep tabs on the berries. it changes fairly quick in elevation as far as when the berries ripen. one week an area is booming with huckleberries the next week they moved up a 1000 foot in elevation, its crazy how fast it happens. you need a plan and then be able to adjust it on the fly due to what going on in real time up there, have fun and make some memories.... nothing like the alpine.

[RadSav]

One thing I should probably note about high country bear hunting;

Growing up and doing the majority of my bear hunting on the Oregon coast I thought bear were very easy to kill.  One shot, bow or gun, and down they went.  Usually down for good.  Our average recovery distance with bow at the coast was less than 30 yards.

When I moved to Washington and started hunting alpine bear I was amazed at how much tougher these bear were.  They seemed just as easy to hit, break bones and penetrate.  But these bear at altitude just don't give up often.  It only took a couple seasons for me to realize what was an acceptable shot risk on the coast was no longer acceptable in the high country.  So make sure you are in your comfort zone, don't try to push a bullet through some brush, and best to wait for the proper angle to either break them down or remove their heart.