Free: Contests & Raffles.
Spring bears have tasted great, the ones I have killed. I just like to put in to try to get a chance to hunt a little early, and it is a different style of hunt.Plus, the hides are great if you catch them early.
Quote from: saylean on January 19, 2016, 08:16:31 PMSpring bears have tasted great, the ones I have killed. I just like to put in to try to get a chance to hunt a little early, and it is a different style of hunt.Plus, the hides are great if you catch them early.My thoughts as well. The 2 spring bears I killed tasted good. The 2 fall bears I have killed tasted bad! I know the spring bears that get into the skunk cabbage can be very nasty.
Better hides, and easier to find! The boars are out looking for sows, and your hunting big game in the spring, it's a blast for me.
They're not really any easier to find on the west side... in general and in my opinion. They aren't very active until the spring green up begins and at that point you lose a lot of your advantage. The food source is anywhere (grass and stumps) so it is hard to focus on one particular area that'd hold bear (no berry patches). Their hide can be good if you get them before they rub, but they're also good late in the regular season. In general they're going to be lighter weight because they've been fasting for the winter, so if you're looking for trophy weight I'm fairly certain spring is a bad time.Taste, as H20 mentioned, one was not great, the other was good (but I turned it into summer sausage and pepperoni, even duck is good like that) .Plan to spend a lot of time at it. I think success rates are fairly low because people don't dedicate enough time to being out in the woods. I know Monroe took ~4 bears total last year, one of which was mine. Clearly Skagit is the place to go Jokes aside, its not an easy hunt, but what else are you going to do with your spring, hunt turkeys? (Jk, turkey hunting is fun too).
Hunting is better in Monroe, its just the hunters that are better in the Skagit.
North Skagit bears are few and far between. Plus they all taste nasty. Do not waste your point(s) applying for this unit.
I love the fact that you get keys to the gates.