GMU 175 Lick Creek

[Moose Eyes]

A buddy drew a spring bear tag for this area.  Can anybody who knows about, or lives near, that area provide some information about timing a spring hunt?  Based on past experience and this years snow pack, when do you think will be the best time to hunt this spring?

Thanks!

[jackelope]

in may.

[Timberstalker]

That hunt can be as tough or as easy as you make it.  My dad has had it twice (03,07) He shot a 5' Black the first year after 8 days and then a 6'5 blonde in 07 the first day out.  Snow will control a lot in that unit.  Get on the onions and it should go good.  Be patient they are not all big

[bucklucky]

I would say between mid april to the end of may is a good time 

[Gobble Gobble]

I was in the unit hunting the last day of Fall season and it can be an easy hike or a hard hike it's up to you. There are a lot of active service roads and just as many abandoned jeep trails. You have areas hit hard by the fire and areas untouched. There are some good clear cuts. I know the natives road hunt the unit as I saw several the day I was there. There are several OEV parks along the Check out the GoHunt mapping on the WDFW web site of the area.

[wastickslinger]

I would say May this year

[jackelope]

there's a guy on here who doesn't come around much anymore that had that tag last year. him and his wife both had them. they hunted the more remote areas off of the 40 road and also out of the peola area hard, a few trips over several days a piece off horseback and both of them ate their tags.
they had issues with access due to snow. i can tell you last year at the national forest boundary at the peola road there was 4 feet of snow on the ground on the opening weekend of turkey season. i don't think this year will be much different seeing what i saw 2 weeks ago when i was there. there is lots of roads and lots of big views you could use to glass areas. there's also a lot of nice green grass in the burn areas from the school fire a few years back in the peola area. native hunting is an issue with the elk herds, if you see any idaho plates running around up there, thats where the natives come from.
there's also some neat wilderness areas up the 40 road.

[Archery King]

Hey I have hunted that area a lot from 99' to 08'  im just gonna say Smoothing Iron seen a monster red coloered bear up thier last fall.  Always alot of bears on the hill sides with sunflwers im pretty sure thats because they have a lot of wild onions on them.  Its gonna be the first of may before you get up thier.

[Moose Eyes]

This is all good information.  Thanks, everyone!

[Rob]

Thanks for posting this for me!  I just registered so I could poke at this topic a bit more.

I have only been down to this area once and I am looking fwwd to hunting bear there this spring.  The snow is still really deep from what I see, over 8 feet in the high altitiudes over 5,000 feet.  So we will be hitting this area hard in May hoping to get some access via roads that are snowed in right now.

So from what I understand, look for meadows just below the snow line, and look for wild onion patches.  Are there any more ideas?  Regions to try, valleys to hit, trails to walk, etc?  Is the East side of the unit better than the west side? 

[jackelope]

you might be able to access some of it through asotin creek earlier as it is lower elevation. trying to go in through peola or the mountain road would be pointless anytime soon.

[Moose Eyes]

Nice to see you joined up, Rob!

[Rob]

Cool, I'll try looking into the Asotin creek area.  I like the way that valley looks on the maps.  I will be heading over on 4/25 to hunt it.  hopefully the snow will be lower by then.  If not, then I'll be back several times in May.

Looking to bump into a turkey as well!

I recall from my visit to the area in early Feb, that there is a lot of "feel free to hunt with written permission" signage up.  I'll be scouting that out too!

[Moose Eyes]

Nice avatar, Rob!

[Rob]

Why thankyou!  It should be in my Den by end of May if all goes well...  Only 20 months after I shot it!