Berry timing

[tgomez]

Berries are very ripe in my spot at 2,000 ft to 3,000 feet. Usually start drying up towards the first week of September and the bear feed on the hazelnuts.

[3nails]

 On the west side, especially to the north, you'll have a very hard time finding berries until MAYBE mid September. Most likely zero berries on the north slopes of ridges this year. If you can find a good south slope that produces berries this year it will be a gold mine. Bear hunting, however, is like bass fishing.

[7mmfan]

On the west side, especially to the north, you'll have a very hard time finding berries until MAYBE mid September. Most likely zero berries on the north slopes of ridges this year. If you can find a good south slope that produces berries this year it will be a gold mine. Bear hunting, however, is like bass fishing.

That's good info. I'll be treating this trip on the 8th/9th as a scouting trip for both bears and berries. Will give me a good idea of where to spend my time later on.

[RobinHoodlum]

Heck of a salmon berry crop right now including relatively high elevation (i.e.3000'). Where they're concentrated the bears are on them pretty good.  Also seeing high bush hucks coming in now in forested areas at the same elevation.

2 observations - 1) Whether the sub alpine and alpine berries are ripe or not, some bears still follow the green up and snow is not a deterrent. 2) If there is a good crop of berries in treed areas and small pockets, they seem to prefer to forage in these areas and it takes more work to catch them in the larger open meadows.

You'll learn a lot about what they're doing if you hike and glass in bear rich areas at various elevations. Hard to do in western WA with all the frigging gates and fee access BS though!

Good luck!

[RobinHoodlum]

Do they migrate downslope as berries start to ripen?

Sorrry i didnt respond to your original question. My opinion is no, they're not going down slope this time of year. Staying put or going up with the receding snow.

[Bango skank]

Big year for service berries in NE.  Not sure if bears like them?

They definitely do

[3nails]

Do they migrate downslope as berries start to ripen?

Sorrry i didnt respond to your original question. My opinion is no, they're not going down slope this time of year. Staying put or going up with the receding snow.

What are you referring to in "migrate"? A bear may feed on salmonberries on a sand bar in the river at '1,000 elevation in the morning and then decide to dine on some fresh greens that evening at '5,500 10 miles away.

[7mmfan]

Do they migrate downslope as berries start to ripen?

Sorrry i didnt respond to your original question. My opinion is no, they're not going down slope this time of year. Staying put or going up with the receding snow.

What are you referring to in "migrate"? A bear may feed on salmonberries on a sand bar in the river at '1,000 elevation in the morning and then decide to dine on some fresh greens that evening at '5,500 10 miles away.

I guess that's the question. Do they travel long distances for food daily? I've always pictured them camping on food in a given area and not really moving around much until the food moves. The reason I ask is I spotted half a dozen bears 2 weeks ago at 5000' on a wide open ridge grubbing on something. They were all diligently eating. Berries hadn't even flowered yet and there were huge snow drifts/fields nearby. My main question would be, as berries start to ripen at lower elevations, will those bears at 5000'-5500'-6000' move downhill to the "berry line" so to speak, and start following it uphill as they begin to ripen at higher elevations? I'm confident that I'm WAY overthinking this, but that's kind of my M.O. What I'm gathering is this time of year, the bears are where you find them until there is a large enough concentration of berries up high to draw them there.

[3nails]

Do they migrate downslope as berries start to ripen?

Sorrry i didnt respond to your original question. My opinion is no, they're not going down slope this time of year. Staying put or going up with the receding snow.

What are you referring to in "migrate"? A bear may feed on salmonberries on a sand bar in the river at '1,000 elevation in the morning and then decide to dine on some fresh greens that evening at '5,500 10 miles away.

I guess that's the question. Do they travel long distances for food daily? I've always pictured them camping on food in a given area and not really moving around much until the food moves. The reason I ask is I spotted half a dozen bears 2 weeks ago at 5000' on a wide open ridge grubbing on something. They were all diligently eating. Berries hadn't even flowered yet and there were huge snow drifts/fields nearby. My main question would be, as berries start to ripen at lower elevations, will those bears at 5000'-5500'-6000' move downhill to the "berry line" so to speak, and start following it uphill as they begin to ripen at higher elevations? I'm confident that I'm WAY overthinking this, but that's kind of my M.O. What I'm gathering is this time of year, the bears are where you find them until there is a large enough concentration of berries up high to draw them there.

The answer is: All of the above. A bears range can be huge. The bear himself doesn't know what he is going to do until his nose and stomach tells him. A '5,000 elevation gain hike is nothing but a stroll to him. There are actually far more bears down low eating berries at any given time than there is up high. It's just that they are easier to see up there. If you find a good berry meadow up high this year you may see 6 or 7 in it one day and zero the next. But this year in particular if you find a good patch sit on it with the wind in your favor and something will show up.

[WSU]

The last bear I shot was within rifle range of highway 2 in August down around sultan/startup/goldbar.  Tons of bears in the area eating black berries.  I've shot bears in the same time frame at 4-5K eating huckleberries.  In either case it's obvious there are lots of bears around.  I think find a good source and you'll find bears, high or low.

[konradcountry]

Saw plenty of berries at low elevation yesterday.

Lot of thimbleberry and wild strawberry.

[huntingaddiction]

We have been finding bears on huckleberries and salmon berries already.

[jk78]

The northern cascade units have blue berry sized and ripe around the 3000 , 3500 hundred elevation. They seemed to be next to creeks and a bumper crop this year.  These were way above average size and tasted great! I wonder if the moist weather has something to do with the amount of snow and rain this year or just the area? I came out of the hills with the stains on my hands and face when returning to the truck. Plan on picking a couple gallons plenty around. Just stay in the lower land and follow them up as they ripen. The berries up high are tiny and a long way from ripe.

[birdshooter1189]

The northern cascade units have blue berry sized and ripe around the 3000 , 3500 hundred elevation. They seemed to be next to creeks and a bumper crop this year.  These were way above average size and tasted great! I wonder if the moist weather has something to do with the amount of snow and rain this year or just the area? I came out of the hills with the stains on my hands and face when returning to the truck. Plan on picking a couple gallons plenty around. Just stay in the lower land and follow them up as they ripen. The berries up high are tiny and a long way from ripe.

Thanks for the report.  I'm hoping to find a spot to pick a couple gallons of berries this season.  My family used to pick at a couple spots near Stampede pass.  One spot got overgrown with trees and another became popular with commercial pickers.  I'm scouting for a new spot near Snoqualmie pass, Chinook Pass, or the olympics.  I'll hopefully be able to do some exploring this weekend.

[7mmfan]

The northern cascade units have blue berry sized and ripe around the 3000 , 3500 hundred elevation. They seemed to be next to creeks and a bumper crop this year.  These were way above average size and tasted great! I wonder if the moist weather has something to do with the amount of snow and rain this year or just the area? I came out of the hills with the stains on my hands and face when returning to the truck. Plan on picking a couple gallons plenty around. Just stay in the lower land and follow them up as they ripen. The berries up high are tiny and a long way from ripe.

That's a great berry report, thank you.

My Dad did a long hike last weekend, got up to around 5500' or so. Said there was tons of berries, but obviously far from ripe. Where we're going on the 8/9 I can glass openings along a creek bottom down to about 4000' so hopefully one or two might make themselves visible. Then I just have to figure out how to get them out of there!