Insight on Mason (633) Spring Bear

[locdown21]

I drew Mason Spring Bear this year; this is my first spring bear hunt   I'm putting together a plan of attack and hoping to incorporate any insight on this area folks on the board might be able to share.

A few questions I've been looking to get answers on:
- Will bears be out and about in this area by mid- April?
- If I have one week to take off from work, should I shoot for earlier or later in the season?
- Anyone ever see turkeys out here, I've got a killer Bearturken recipe I've been wanting to try out

[northwesthunter84]

I hunt in Kitsap, bears are active all year long.  Found fresh tracks last weekend.

[cm2cb4]

Not so much for turkey. Go to E WA or pay 150 for access to Vail. I went there before you needed to pay a fee and took a couple. Anyhow I hunt both Kitsap and Mason. Pulled for Kitsap spring bear this year. Active year round. I tend to favor later part due to the fact that they start coming into heat then

[justyhntr]

We were out Wednesday checking game cameras and found some fresh bear scat, we set cameras in that area to see if we can get pics. The grasses are coming in good . The area I'm going to hunt( mid unit) is pretty flat without any high spots for glassing so we're going to walk the grassy swamp areas and old logging roads, if we cut fresh sign we'll set up and call. I don't have high expectation( it's not easy ground to hunt) but we will be hitting it hard every weekend in May. I won't use vacation for this tag, rather save it for fall bear. Good Luck

[weatherbow21]

I've seen two turkeys in my 30 years of living here in the Mason unit, not something I would count on.

The bears are going to be awake but pretty sluggish until the weather gets a little better. Grass is green so they've got feed but you've probably got another month until they are peeling trees. I'd shoot for the end of May for taking time off, but I'd hunt every weekend you can until then, keeping an eye out for poop and I'd do lots of calling if I were you, thats going to be a tough hunt and your best odds might be calling, as there's not a lot of vantage points in most of the mason unit.

[hunterednate]

How'd the hunt go for you guys? I drew Kitsap last spring but never saw a bear. Hunted eight days over the course of the season, covered a lot of ground (mostly the west and north ends of the unit), did a lot of calling sets, but no luck. Beautiful country, though, and found some intriguing spots for late season deer.