87+ Miles in

[huntingaddiction]

Last night I logged another 9 miles on the boots for bear season.  That puts me at 87+ miles for the season.  Seems like bears just love to beat me down until there seems like there is no hope, then boom one will show up.  I have hunted 9 out of the first 10 days and will continue to go.  Just a matter of time now, eventually a shooter will step out!!!

[Magnum_Willys]

The best way I’ve found to hunt bear is locate a spot you can see a large area - preferably as far as you can shoot, and just sit.    Sit all day if cloudy.   The best bear guide I know only logs miles to and from his hunt areas.   Last time I went with him we saw 9 from one spot sitting all day.

[huntnnw]

only way I hunt them, gotta have confidence where you sit and see a large area. Some of my best areas are under 1/2 mi from roads and some you can sit in truck and glass

[Mtnwalker]

  One of the biggest revelations that we had when I used to hunt the coast was realizing that we were moving too much. Once we started locating good feed and doing all day sits our success went up exponentially

[baker5150]

Glassing always pays off for me with bears.
I may not be able to get to a bear in time, due to distance or fading light, but I see way more bears sitting and glassing.
Finding a spot you can see large areas, and access them quickly, can be a challenge (west side).

That said, last season i took my fall bear wile walking down an old skid road looking for another vantage point to glass across a canyon, he was sitting in a grass patch at 20 yards.

[jrebel]

You could just have bad bear luck.....like me....   I know where they are (trail cams prove it) and still cannot find them.  I have choose to sit and glass a lot as I have been told the worst thing a guy can do is cent up the area with human cent.   With that said, I did pass up 5 smaller bears this spring and ended up not killing one.  I don't think I am going to pass up the next (non cub) bear I see.  I will look for the big one with my second tag.  Good luck and hopefully you find one before the 100 mile mark.   

[huntingaddiction]

The best way I’ve found to hunt bear is locate a spot you can see a large area - preferably as far as you can shoot, and just sit.    Sit all day if cloudy.   The best bear guide I know only logs miles to and from his hunt areas.   Last time I went with him we saw 9 from one spot sitting all day.

My guess is he is hunting the East side of the state.  Doesn't really work like that on the West side.

[huntingaddiction]

You could just have bad bear luck.....like me....   I know where they are (trail cams prove it) and still cannot find them.  I have choose to sit and glass a lot as I have been told the worst thing a guy can do is cent up the area with human cent.   With that said, I did pass up 5 smaller bears this spring and ended up not killing one.  I don't think I am going to pass up the next (non cub) bear I see.  I will look for the big one with my second tag.  Good luck and hopefully you find one before the 100 mile mark.   

We are doing a lot of sitting,  We just also do a lot of exploring.  I'm not sure scent matters as much with bears.  We find most of our bears on the way back from the spot we went into.  We tend to hunt areas with a lot of vegetation and multiple areas to check.  Buddy got one opening weekend, just seems like this year there are more people than usual and somehow I keep seeing people drive in to areas 5 to 6 miles back after I just hiked all the way in there. 

[Magnum_Willys]

The best way I’ve found to hunt bear is locate a spot you can see a large area - preferably as far as you can shoot, and just sit.    Sit all day if cloudy.   The best bear guide I know only logs miles to and from his hunt areas.   Last time I went with him we saw 9 from one spot sitting all day.

My guess is he is hunting the East side of the state.  Doesn't really work like that on the West side.

True !

[Bareback]

I was speaking with the wife last night wondering if we had reached the 100 mike mark in preparation for this season. Sunday we hit 126. 200 miles is not unreasonable.

Why? Back in March when this covid crap started. My 16 year old daughter said she wanted to bear hunt (I’ve never bear hunted nor had any interest either). I’m thinking to myself, she’s watching to much YouTube and social media, everything is easy on the internet. I told her, ‘if she’s serious, we will do but I’m going to need 110% effort from her.’ She accepted. My thoughts, at least she’ll have to put the Iphone down. Since that day, every place we go, it’s packs on, weighted down (training/endurance), but she still has the Iphone (camera).

Since March we’ve spent many miles out on the OP. As this late snow has melted we’ve transitioned over to Mt Baker area and south. We’ve ventured up many trails, reaching an elevation and then begin side hilling/route finding. It’s been an adventure. Sure she complains a lot, but that’s what kids do..... my goodness that kid can eat.

Every place we’ve been we find bear sign but we just haven’t found the honey hole. We will, it’ll just take time. The hardest part of this area is finding vantage points that will provide a large enough area to glass, be accessible, and animal retrievable. At this point if she’s fortunate enough to have reasonable encounter it most likely will be in transition.

Hopefully at the conclusion of this season she’ll have an appreciation of what hunting truely is, successful or not.

[huntingaddiction]

I was speaking with the wife last night wondering if we had reached the 100 mike mark in preparation for this season. Sunday we hit 126. 200 miles is not unreasonable.

Why? Back in March when this covid crap started. My 16 year old daughter said she wanted to bear hunt (I’ve never bear hunted nor had any interest either). I’m thinking to myself, she’s watching to much YouTube and social media, everything is easy on the internet. I told her, ‘if she’s serious, we will do but I’m going to need 110% effort from her.’ She accepted. My thoughts, at least she’ll have to put the Iphone down. Since that day, every place we go, it’s packs on, weighted down (training/endurance), but she still has the Iphone (camera).

Since March we’ve spent many miles out on the OP. As this late snow has melted we’ve transitioned over to Baker Lake area and south. We’ve ventured up many trails, reaching an elevation and then begin side hilling/route finding. It’s been an adventure. Sure she complains a lot, but that’s what kids do..... my goodness that kid can eat.

Every place we’ve been we find bear sign but we just haven’t found the honey hole. We will, it’ll just take time. The hardest part of this area is finding vantage points that will provide a large enough area to glass, be accessible, and animal retrievable. At this point if she’s fortunate enough to have reasonable encounter it most likely will be in transition.

Hopefully at the conclusion of this season she’ll have an appreciation of what hunting truely is, successful or not.

That's awesome, tell her to keep working at it and hopefully she gets one!

[bankwalker]

Every spot I hunt I can glass berry filled clear cuts 1 mile in any direction. With multiple shooting locations to get anywhere from 300-700 yards when the time comes.
It's just a matter of time seeing a shooter.

[Magnum_Willys]

Every spot I hunt I can glass berry filled clear cuts 1 mile in any direction. With multiple shooting locations to get anywhere from 300-700 yards when the time comes.
It's just a matter of time seeing a shooter.

Thats the kinda spot you are looking for - save the shoe leather! 

[huntingaddiction]

Every spot I hunt I can glass berry filled clear cuts 1 mile in any direction. With multiple shooting locations to get anywhere from 300-700 yards when the time comes.
It's just a matter of time seeing a shooter.

I wish we had that kid of spot, where I'm at.  We don't.  Pretty much hike from cut to cut.

[Machias]

Good luck, all that hard work and persistence will pay off!!