Olympics bear

[Blcktaildreamer]

If a guy wanted to hunt bear in one of the olympics wilderness what one would you start scouting?


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[dreamunelk]

Slide shoots and any place there will be berries.

[JimmyHoffa]

I think they are all pretty good bear areas.  The Buckhorn South gets loaded, like really loaded with hikers and their dogs in Aug-Sept.  Buckhorn North has lots of hikers, but is a steep tiring hike up to the meadows.  Brothers is a kind of ragged hike, but a little less hikers.

[Blcktaildreamer]

I like the look of brothers from google earth it looks good north and south of the duckabush trail


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[sirmissalot]

Olympics have been tough for me I haven't found a good spot yet, but I'm still looking. I'm sure I'll find one. Most the good spots are in the park, we really don't get a lot of good alpine area on the east side of the park boundary. You can't go off trail nearly as easily as you could in the eastside alpine areas so it makes it tougher

[JimmyHoffa]

yeah, and anything alpine will likely have a few tents stuck in the meadows.  And like you said, most of the big berry fields are in the park.  Outside the park it seems like the better areas are the small creeks that come out of the alpine.  Not really a running creek, but really soggy ground with lots of bright green grass, fiddleheads and some skunk cabbage.  For berries, I actually find the best later berries down low in the creeks that don't get a lot of sunshine--whereas a clear cut full of salmon berries will be done by July the low, dark creeks will have full salmon berries in September.

[bankwalker]

The "apline" meadow type areas I'm hunting in August are full on with blue berries typically.
But last season they were shriveled and gone by August 1st. Very bad year for high Country bears in my area.
The salal berries I've been hunting in the lower elevation  were gone by September last year too. When they were typically full on into early November in most years

[sirmissalot]

Berries were bad all over last year. This year should be great

[bankwalker]

Berries were bad all over last year. This year should be great

This year they are really early around my house. Matlock area. And we're already popping up pretty good the first weekend of June during the wynoochee steelhead opener. I was up just below the fish collection area and berries everywhere.
Not looking forward to seeing my hunting areas up around the national park boundary come august. Probably gonna be done and shriveled like last year.

[JimmyHoffa]

Last year the more open berries did seem to suck--small, shriveled, few on the bushes.  I found the best under the canopy next to the rivers and creeks.  The cool air in the mornings would leave enough dew on the plants to keep them growing.
Only three weeks until bear season!!!!

[bankwalker]

I'm so ready!!!

[sirmissalot]

Berries were bad all over last year. This year should be great

This year they are really early around my house. Matlock area. And we're already popping up pretty good the first weekend of June during the wynoochee steelhead opener. I was up just below the fish collection area and berries everywhere.
Not looking forward to seeing my hunting areas up around the national park boundary come august. Probably gonna be done and shriveled like last year.

You must be talking reds


I'm excited as well, just can't decide on where to go and a lot of that will depend on the berries. I said in another thread, a couple weeks ago the berries above 4,000ft still had flowers on the buds, so they are a long ways from ripe

[bankwalker]

I'm talking blue berries up around the lake. Reds down low around the house.
Picked a few pounds of Blues on the west side of the lake last week

I hope you're right I haven't been above 2000ft or so. My bear hunting spots sit around 2400-3000

[JimmyHoffa]

Only two weeks to go.  With the amount of rain being decent so far, maybe the berries will be good in size this year.  Last year so many were the size of BBs--not even worth yogi's time.

[tasmanianjumper]

Does anyone know about the area around Jefferson Ridge? I was thinking of following NF 2466 until it ends at 47 36' 7.83" N 123 13' 35.48" W up north along the trail. Are berries common throughout the area? I plan on going Coyote hunting and Bear Scouting this week.

Where is the best berry areas? I have no problem footing it uphill from the truck to get the bear........... especially since it is much easier to drag it downhill than uphill.

[sirmissalot]

I found plenty of mountain blueberries ripe around 3,000 on the 17th on the east side of the olympics. Blue huckleberries were still green and small around 4,000 feet and barely visible with some still having flower buds at 4500. I think opening weekend will be good in the 3-4,000ft range around here. Most my spots in the cascades probably won't be good till the end of August or so it looks like

[JimmyHoffa]

This was from today/Aug 3 at 3000' on the north side.
Lots of the bushes covered in them. 

[bankwalker]

South end is full swing from 2600-3600ft. I've been out twice and haven't seen a bear where I was. But Monday and today someone beat me to my spot and put a stalk on a bear in two different locations with no shots fired.

[haus]

Olympics have been tough for me I haven't found a good spot yet, but I'm still looking. I'm sure I'll find one. Most the good spots are in the park, we really don't get a lot of good alpine area on the east side of the park boundary. You can't go off trail nearly as easily as you could in the eastside alpine areas so it makes it tougher

Same here, been all over anything accessible from the 23 and much of the area from hoodsport north to the 25, but never really found a specific spot to stick to. Sure looks like much of the higher elevation areas outside of the wilderness sections were really good 10-15 years ago though. In the spring I see quite a bit of sign on the abandoned roads below wonder mountain, but that section doesn't provide much for berry growth during the season.