New to Bear Hunting

[Bobdog99]

Hey, I'm new to trying to hunt bear, and with the season just around the corner I was wondering if I could get a few tips that will help me come August first. I've taken a few scouting trips in the past couple months and I think I've nailed down an area. A few specific questions, in my area there are a few open meadows, then there's a valley area with thicker brush and woods, not too thick as it's the east side not the wet side but too thick to glass, I'm wondering wether I should focus on spotting and stalking from behind the glass or should I venture down into the woods and try to comb through there slowly? Also just looking for any general tips on finding bear or habitat. Thanks for your time, any tips are much appreciated!

[Eric M]

Welcome to the site. This thread will help some. Besides the guys who respond, you will find a ton of information just scouring the older posts. Good Luck. For fall season, a lot of what you will hear is find the berries, find the bears. Personally I have had pretty good luck finding them, not such good luck killing them, Anyway, good luck!
http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,195905.0.html

[Bobdog99]

Thanks for the tip, I actually have read through that thread and I got a lot of good information from it, thanks for the tip about berries I'll start looking for those in the area

[Kittman]

Welcome to the Hunt-WA bear hunting crew.  Speaking for my own experiences with the stalk and spot method, I have always had good luck in the West side higher elevations 3000ft + around the second week of August when the berries are really coming in.  Then after that it always seems to a significant lull in their activity again until mid October or so when the period of Hyperphagia sets in for the bears and they are very active once more prior to hibernation, so that is another good opportunity to hit the bear hunting hard once more.  The key is glassing often and lots of patience while glassing, I like to spend 2 to 3 hours per area studying for sign in a good spot, looking for unusual movement on tree braches and limbs relative to normal wind currents down in the mast foliage.   

[Bobdog99]

That makes sense, my area is in pretty high elevation cause it's doubling as our spot for the high mountain buck hunt, is 4-5k feet too high for bear in August?


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