Drew My First Spring Bear Tag - Skagit

[Duckhunter14]

After 5 years of applying I finally drew a spring bear tag, my 1st option; the North Skagit hunt. I have almost zero experience on the area but I cant wait to get out and start glassing cuts and trying to find a quality bear and do the tag justice. Any advice from anyone who has drawn the tag in recent years would be much appreciated. I have already put several feelers out to guys who have drawn or joined on those hunts in years past, and I'm going to be giving the Game Department a call also, and the timber companies if need be. But any information would be helpful. Hopefully I can share a success story at some point this spring. I wish everyone luck on their hunts! I cant believe how quickly its coming up! Thanks

Clint

[saylean]

Right on Duckhunter! 5 years is a long time to wait, it'll be a blast. My advise, take your time and enjoy it.

Best of luck to you sir!

[Sideswipe]

Yup, congrats & good luck Clint. Took 7 yrs but I will be go'in back to North Skagit too. Got my ltr today about OUR Mtg in LaConner next month. See ya there. Bruce

[Bango skank]

I dont know about you but im counting off the days!  I let a real nice one walk last september while elk hunting and im still kicking myself for it!

[h2ofowlr]

Good luck.  Took me 21 trips up there before I filled my tag with the bear I wanted.

[johnnyaustin44]

Good luck.  Took me 21 trips up there before I filled my tag with the bear I wanted.

That should make you feel better Clint. Haha

[Duckhunter14]

Good luck.  Took me 21 trips up there before I filled my tag with the bear I wanted.

That should make you feel better Clint. Haha

  I'm going to just hope he was being selective. Johnny you're holding my shells! You know how patient I am. Luckily Corey isn't going to be very picky.

Thanks a lot guys! I look forward to seeing everyone at the meeting on the 9th, I just got my letter yesterday also. I'm counting down the days! 

Clint

[Duckhunter14]

Here is a little motivation for me guys; the top bear is my best fall bear. I wrote a little story with pictures on it. Then the second is a spring bear that Johnny (johnnyaustin44) killed a couple years back in the NE corner. Both were great trips and I can only hope that we'll have more stories to tell and pictures to share after this years spring hunt. It may be a long shot, but my goal is to try an find a mature boar like one of these on the hunt. Even if it takes 21 trips. If you have a bear that you've killed and would like to share, please do! Everyone loves a good bear pic!

[JediHunter]

Wheres the picture of the Huge Friggen Bear from Illwaco?

[Duckhunter14]

Wheres the picture of the Huge Friggen Bear from Illwaco?

  the one I could fit in my pack? I think I'll leave that one out. No matter what angle or how far back I stood it still didn't look like a good bear. That's what we'll try to avoid come spring there haas.

[Sideswipe]

Bear from Illwaco eh? Gotta chuckle outta that one. A backpack bear, my day is complete now. My 2d bear was a boar I shot opening day of Blacktail season in Northern CA a few years ago.He was a beaut...color of a chocolate lab w/a white blaze on his chest. Doubt he weighed over 160# if that. Just caught glimpses of him as he was bust'in brush look'in for acorns. Shot him at 25-35 yds. Learne,d what ground shrInkage was that day. I expect every bear Hunter, if honest, has experienced this at least once.

Ain't it nice to have Hunt'in ponders, who remind you of you exploits from time to time?  😉  By the way, nice bear pics Clint.

[Duckhunter14]

Thanks Bruce, yeah the Illwaco bear was a similar situation to yours. The bear was in tall grass making a ruckus and it was alone. I thought it was much bigger than it was. It was a dink, luckily most of my buddies who have bear hunted for any amount of time have made a similar mistake. You live and learn. But we never cease to rib each other about it. Corey (JediHunter) was with me on the hunt and hasn't let me forget about it! He drew the Skagit tag this year too, we're hoping to get him his first bear. It should be a blast!

Speaking of first bear Corey; didn't I let you shoot first on the bear in the first picture? Hope you've zeroed your rifle before this hunt! Hate to have you help me pack another bear out you missed. 

[jkononen]

Buddy and I had it last year. We both tagged out on a couple nice bears. Same buddy drew it again this year so we'll be back out. If you wanna send a PM feel free maybe we can even meet up. I live close to the unit and know my way around it pretty well.

[Duckhunter14]

Both great bears jkononen! Thanks for sharing!  That's what we're looking for!

I'll shoot you a PM. I cant wait for the hunt!

[Duckhunter14]

Well we started off with a bang! Corey (JediHunter) was number #1 shooter with his first baby due in June so we found good sign, stuck with it and finally got a look at this bear and Corey made a great shot. The bear only ran 30 yards and died. The bear had probably peeled 40-50 trees in one little area and was definitely the bear they wanted out of there. Just happened to be convenient that it was a mature boar.

[Ripper]

Wow, congrats. First bear down for the year on here. That's got me fired up. I'm headed over to Coleville this weekend to start my hunt.

[Duckhunter14]

Good luck Ripper! Hope to see some photos if you're successful. Shoot straight!

Clint

[jkononen]

Awesome. Glad you guys got one so quickand a good one to boot.. My bud said he ran into you guys on that road.

[X-Force]

The hide on him looks perfect.

[Machias]

Nice bear, congrats!!

[TheSkyBuster]

 

[ghosthunter]

Excellent

[Duckhunter14]

Awesome. Glad you guys got one so quickand a good one to boot.. My bud said he ran into you guys on that road.

Was he in a white Toyota Tacoma pickup with a canopy? I believe that was the only other hunter we saw up there opening day.

[jkononen]

Yup, it's silver with white canopy. There was a lot of sign on that road last year. One of my other friends even got pics of a nice mtn lion up there too. I live maybe 5 mins from that gate.

[Duckhunter14]

Yup, it's silver with white canopy. There was a lot of sign on that road last year. One of my other friends even got pics of a nice mtn lion up there too. I live maybe 5 mins from that gate.

Gotcha, yep that was them. Yeah we found a lot of old peels up there from years past. I think we took care of one of the problems though.  We could hear him ripping into those trees and peeling the bark off before he stepped out and presented a shot and when we went down after him all the trees down off the road were stripped clean. It was tough to tell how old he was because his teeth were so bad from all that peeling.

[bowtechian]

Congrats !! That's a great bear I'm chomping at the bit for Aug!   

Give us a update on the age when you get the info back

[Duckhunter14]

Will do bowtechian. Ill make sure Corey reports back when he gets the results!

[bowtechian]

Any of you guys who hunt mostly Skagit ever see color phase bruins? 

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[Duckhunter14]

I've heard of a few color phase bears being seen and killed in the Skagit, but it seems to be predominately black based on most guys I've talked to and pictures I've seen of bears being killed in the unit.

[Duckhunter14]

Hunted hard all weekend and found very little sign and zero bear. Saw a few elk and some deer, a ton of grouse and a lot of beautiful country. But with the snow level dropping rapidly Sunday I think I need to give it another week or more. The pouring rain was bad enough but when it turned to slush and then snow I figured it was time to call it a day and head home with my tail between my legs. Hope we have some nice warm weather the next two weeks and I may give it another go. Anyone have any success? I ran into a few guys that seemed to be having the same luck as I was.

[Boss .300 winmag]

Any of you guys who hunt mostly Skagit ever see color phase bruins? 

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I seen 5 in my hunting, one beautiful chocolate phase one behind the main gate in Hamilton.

[bowtechian]

Hey duckhunter14 hope you have been able to get back out to punch your tag so we can see another bear added to this thread

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[Gunitharvester]

That's an awesome bear! Ya I was the passenger seat in the silver Toyota opening morning. We were planning on walking up that dandy road you guys got him on, but looks like we were just a minute too late! Have you been back up that road and if so, seen more sign? I'm heading back up this week.

[Duckhunter14]

That's an awesome bear! Ya I was the passenger seat in the silver Toyota opening morning. We were planning on walking up that dandy road you guys got him on, but looks like we were just a minute too late! Have you been back up that road and if so, seen more sign? I'm heading back up this week.

Yeah I ran up there to check for any fresh sign this last weekend and there was no new activity. I went both ways and there was no sign or any fresh peels. I did see some peels this weekend but they were behind a gate off of 20. We didnt mean to snake you opening day. We were just stopping to walk that road because it looked good and then we saw the peels. We ended up killing him the next night actually.

[Sideswipe]

Corey, Clint nice job & great bear. I'm still look'in. Spotted a yearling yesterday as he dove off the downhill side of the road 😄

[Duckhunter14]

Corey, Clint nice job & great bear. I'm still look'in. Spotted a yearling yesterday as he dove off the downhill side of the road 😄

Thanks Bruce! We definitely got lucky on that one. I've been up several times since then and have seen very little for sign and haven't seen a bear. Glad to hear you saw one, hopefully they start getting more active as we move into May. I'm driving a blue Chevy Silverado crew cab with a Kuiu sticker in the back if you see me up there on the hill flag me down. Good luck! Clint

[Wea300mag]

Outstanding bear, congrats!!!