Monroe Spring Bear

[billythekidrock]

Could be a porky skull.

[huntncoug]

I parked a mile or two in and walked from there.  I must have just missed you.

[saylean]

I was parked at 6 am and headed in. I was probably too stealthy for ya...kidding kidding

[saylean]

Somebody needs to ring the wake up bell over in Monroe...went out yesterday...saw a grouse.

I did have something hang up on me in the woods while calling though...could have been anything. I was sitting waiting for the area to calm down once I got to my spot, I hear a crash not far off in the woods and a bird go nuts for a second. So I grab the old Bearmanric call and give it a whirl for sometime. Heard it a few more times, but just wouldnt come in. Didnt sound like a deer, more of something crasing around.

Talked to another hunter up there, he hasnt seen anything, sign wise either.

Another week or so, we should be better off. 

[arees]

I was out again on Friday evening but did not find anything in the bear category.  I did find one cougar track.



I hope to be out again Sunday and possibly tonight.

[arees]

We finally got into some encouraging bear sign today (Sunday).  The sign was black, furry, and booking it up the side of a clear cut.  I had the bear in my scope, but never found a shot I was comfortable with.  The friend I was hunting with thought it might have been 300 yards, but I can't be certain.     We had driven up to where a road was blocked off and then continued on foot, glassing the clear cuts.  After finding nothing, we returned to the car and headed back down the road.  We paused in a clear cut we had passed through before just for one last look before driving on.  Rolf was just saying that there was nothing moving when he shouted "Bear!"  The bear was running up the hill when we spotted it but we bailed out of the truck as fast as we could.

I made it to a log pile looking for a steady rest.  The bear stopped a couple of times, once behind some brush from my position and again but not long enough for me to get a shot off.  It disappeared over a shoulder of the hill and we never caught site of it again despite making a run across the clear cut trying to get to a better position.  This photo shows the path the bear took running from right to left up the hill and over the shoulder.



It didn't help to have my five year old ask why I didn't shoot the bear, but at least he was with me for the adventure.  It did give me the chance to give a talk on why you never take the shot unless you are certain you will hit.  It would have felt better to have shot the bear.  Oh well, the season is still young.

We did see some sign that might be recent.  Here is a picture of where we think a bear was starting to eat a tree.  Unlike all the others we have seen, there is no sign of sap in the damaged area.  The others all show hardened sap somewhere around the damage, but not this one.  Expert opinions are certainly welcome.



Besides the bear, we spotted a couple of frogs (photo to fuzzy), some morels, and a couple of deer in the clear cuts:



It was the day for James to spot interesting airplanes.  He spotted this one fly by underneath us while we were glassing one clear cut.



When we had stopped for some BB gun practice, he spotted a glider going overhead.



All in all it was a good day.  It could have been a great day, but I will take the good ones.

[billythekidrock]

At least some one that is hunting is seeing bears. Keep tabs on that spot as he may come back.

The Alder tree looks like a buck rub to me. I don't know how large the tree is, but that low to the ground with deep gouges a couple inches apart rememind of of eyeguard damage. It is definately last years and I highly doubt it is from a bear.

[arees]

I was out again on Wednesday and Friday, checking the same area I spotted the bear last weekend and some of the surrounding area.  I didn't find anything interesting on Wednesday, but I got into some good sign on Friday.  I pushed into some very thick stuff that had lots of peel damage from past years.  I have noticed that the trees are starting to bud as well.  A short way in I came across some recent scat.



I admit that the previous torn up stumps I have been seeing have not passed muster, but I think this one will.



I think the claw marks on it will be convincing.



I didn't have my son along this time so I was able to sit near the scat and the stump surrounded by peeled trees from past years and call for a full hour.  The farthest I could see in any direction was about 30 feet.  I never saw anything nor did I hear anything conclusive, but my spine sure tingled each time I heard a twig snap.

Just before dusk I stopped at a spot where I could glass a large valley including the hillside where I saw the bear last weekend.  No bears were spotted, but I was treated to a drumming display by the local grouse.



I was also able to get some video of him drumming but I don't have it posted anywhere at the moment.  He really didn't care about me at all.

I will be back out on Sunday hunting and learning.

[saylean]

Cool pic of the grouse Arees...Good luck out there. Its only a matter of time now that the grass is in full swing.

[arees]

The bear sign is improving and I'm getting out every chance I can.  I made it out Sunday and again this evening.  Sunday morning was a late start, but my hunting buddy and I wanted to check out a trail we had seen that should lead to a swampy river bottom.  We were hoping to find some good greens for the bears to eat down there.  The trail lead to the top of a steep hillside overlooking where two creeks joined up.  We made our way down to a point where we were on the finger between the two creeks with as much of a view as we could hope for.

We called for most of an hour with no success before we had to pull out and meet my friend Rolf for the afternoon hunt.  Here is a picture of my hunting buddy keeping a look out for any movement.



After meeting up with Rolf, we went out scouting a new area that had been on my list of places to check.  The GPS had been left behind on the counter where it would be safe.  This left us to make some guesses where we were and this time the only thing we were sure of was that we probably weren't where we wanted to be.  After getting home and consulting the satellite photos I figure we were skirting in and out of the hunting area.  We were just outside the area when we found this:



We were close enough to the edge of the hunting area that I'm sure this bear crosses the boarder.

I went back out solo this evening, armed with a better understanding of how to get to where I wanted to go.  I was looking for an out of the way marshy area that was bordering a bear damage area.  The topo showed it was fairly flat so I thought it might have a healthy skunk cabbage population.  I made it as close as I could by road and set off on foot trying to get the lay of the land.  I found an old road heading generally in the right direction that looked like it would take me up a hill that would give me a good place to glass from and the road should be going through the bear damage area.

About half an hour into the hike I got to an overlook that let me spot the swampy area I was looking for but I decided to continue hiking up the road because it had lots of grass and looked promising.  At the end of two hours of hiking I was back down at the bottom of the hill and ready to try for the spot I originally was looking for.

I headed off down a thickly overgrown road that paralleled the swamp, hoping for someplace to cut over.  The forest between the road and the swamp was thick brush and trees about 20 feet tall.  I found a spot where some large animal had cut across the old road and had broken a hole through the brush in the direction I wanted to go.  The visibility would be poor and the footing treacherous, but I had my Ruger revolver and set off.

About 20 yards into the brush I came across some pretty good sign:



I think it is safe to say that this is fresh and the peeling has started.

I never found a passable way to the swampy area I wanted to get to.  I had a glimpse of it from higher up and it looks like it has a clearing with grass.  With time running out, I set up along the creek leading into the swampy area.  It cost me a few handfuls of devil's club but I got to a spot next to an old cedar stump where I could see for a little ways around me.  I called until I ran out of light but never got a response.

No success yet, but things are heating up.

[Diehard0123]

Awesome Arees, I hope you get em!

[saylean]

Looks like a fresh peel to me...you're getting closer!

I wish I could still go out! 

[nwvarmithunter]

me and my bro went out the last four days just looking around seen 6 bear nothing too nice but the damage we seen was crazy those poor timber companys and our state land is just getting devastated guess thell learn some day dont know bout you guys but back when hounds were in use damage was never this bad cant remember the last time seen six bear in four days on the west side of wa

[arees]

I was out again on Saturday afternoon, but the rest of the weekend was spent on family time.  My wife has been very understanding about this hunt, but I figured that Mother's Day would be best spent on family time.

On Saturday I was out alone again.  I went back to where I had seen the fresh peels and tried to reach what looked like a clearing.  It was an hour of climbing through a skunk cabbage swamp to get to the edge of an overgrown beaver pond.  It was not the clearing I had hoped for, but there was forage there and I was able to set up for an hour of calling between the swamp and where I had seen the peels earlier.  Other than the occasional mysterious noise in the woods there was no action.

I cut out of the swamp through the area with the peels and up to one of the abandoned roads for some more hiking through likely territory.  I certainly found encouraging sign.  First there was scat...



Then there were the first track (this one looked like he stepped in some old scat)...



and the second track...



and more scat (this seemed fresher than the others)...



and more scat...



but still no bear.  The sign keeps encouraging me, I just need to be there at the right time.

The end of Saturday was spent looking at a new area where I came across a bear feeder.  I posted that in a separate thread.

http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,26998.0.html

[jackelope]

thats a lot of poo.