August 1 Plans?

[huntingaddiction]

No clue now that Hillary shut me out of my hunting spots. Might try FS with all the other people that will be forced to hunt on top of each other. But most of it is too high for berries to be ripe so probably no bears anyways

Pretty hot this year, already seeing berries where we normally wouldn't until middle of August.

[hunter399]

No clue now that Hillary shut me out of my hunting spots. Might try FS with all the other people that will be forced to hunt on top of each other. But most of it is too high for berries to be ripe so probably no bears anyways

Pretty hot this year, already seeing berries where we normally wouldn't until middle of August.

I was gonna say the same.
I was picking berrys a few week ago at 4-5k that are not normally ready till August. Yes there was some green ones there ,but also some ripe ones.
Without rain hucks are hit and miss on the dry side.

[jstone]

Hope for an early fall

[SpicyTacos]

I have a spot in the alpine however I’ve never been there in August. I want to go up there but it’s a lot of work. Does anyone have insight or encouragement to just go glass and see what happens?  I can glass from 3500-6000ft. Good luck to anyone getting out there this weekend.

[HighCountryHunter88]

keep in mind that the cascades probably have a 3 week head start on the growing season after that heat wave.

[ganghis]

I have a spot in the alpine however I’ve never been there in August. I want to go up there but it’s a lot of work. Does anyone have insight or encouragement to just go glass and see what happens?  I can glass from 3500-6000ft. Good luck to anyone getting out there this weekend.

Depends whether you're talking westside or east.  Guessing westside will be a little earlier; eastside a lot earlier.  Do some searching on WTA trip reports (advanced search, type in blueberries or something) for areas similar to where you want to go.  You could still get lucky and find a bear doing bear things up high earlier, but it's much better after the berries hit.   From these searches, I think the main berry crop in the west cascades is still pretty low (like <2,000 feet).  That said, if you enjoy spending time in the mountains anyway there's nothing wrong with packing a gun and a kill kit!

[SpicyTacos]

Thanks for the input. I think I’m going to be patient and wait for the berries up high to ripen up. I will focus on calling in some clear cuts at 2000’, with nearby riparian drainages with a bunch of different aged cuts. Or split the weekend into cuts and a hike. Take care.

[RobinHoodlum]

The berry crop was lookimg good at 2500 - 3500' last Sunday on west side. Piles I saw suggest bears were focused especially on red hucks, which were by far the most abundant

[crabcreekhunter]

I'll be mid elevation in Chelan county 4k-5.5k, going for a hike with the rifle.  No berries to really speak of in the area, but better than sitting on the couch.

[jstone]

  good luck everyone

[Wanttohuntmore]

Good luck,  on my way now!  Been 10 yrs since I shot my last bear,  been putting my son and nephew on them.   Today I might take one if the situation is right.

[hunter399]

I will head out in a few days .
Kinda holding off to see if we get this rain that's in the forecast.
I mean sneak out there ,since everything is closed .
I might feel a little better about going out if some rain hits.
East side of course.

[logola512c]

Hope folks had more luck than I did.  I was up around 4000 feet on the wetside in the smoke for most of the morning and didn't see anything alive except for about a billion mosquitos and birds.  Oh...and a weird dead bullfrog laying on a knife edge ridge trail a long ways from any water source.  It's neck was creepy swollen and red, and otherwise nothing had touched it.  kinda freaked me out.  But the berries were non-existent and went lower for the rest of the day, where I found a bunch of over-ripe raspberries and piles and piles of 2-3 day old bear scat...but Smoky didn't come out and play.

[krolelov]

I was in 418 at 5000 ft. Quite a few berries but very green. They need 3-4 weeks to ripen. By far the worst bugs infestation I have ever seen. 100% Deet worked on mosquitos to some extent but not on the black flies. Does anybody know how to repel those?

[ganghis]

I was surprised to find some ripe huckleberries (mostly red) up around 6000 ft in the Norse Peak wilderness.  The ripest ones were on a SE aspect.... north facing ones were still mostly green around 4500 ft.  No sign of bears though