Anyone been on the west’s side hunting recently? Any berries left?

[Learo2000GT]

I am hunting kapowsin tomorrow for bear and was wondering if the berries are gone at this point.   Doing some map scouting and looking for red areas but the maps can be old.   Thanks. 


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[Alan K]

Himalaya blackberries are still on a bit around here. Probably too late on the rest, but still worth giving it a go!

[Moccasin_Mountain]

There's huckleberries in certain areas but most are winding down now.

[Dysfunctional Vet]

Last weekend the bear sign was around the fading blackberries. At least where I was. Good luck

[bkaech]

Last weekend I was up high looking at elk and there was still some huckleberries around in patches. Not as thick as earlier but still there, mostly in the timber. I was near Mt. Rainier.

[wussfacekiller]

I've been trying to find bear here on the west side since around the 3rd week of August. There was a lot of sign in one spot I was hunting in particular. The blackberries in there have since disappeared. This is pretty low in elevation (800 - 950 ft.). I thought maybe I was just too low in elevation for good berries and that maybe I should climb up to a higher elevation.

Today I hiked up into the 2000 ft. elevation mark, and also didn't find many berries... or bear sign at all.

This is my first year trying to hunt bear. Once the berries are gone, what do the bear move on to for a food source? I want to go back down to the lower elevation where I saw plenty of sign weeks ago, but I don't want to waste my time if they're not going to be there. Any suggestions/tips/tricks for a brand new bear hunter?

[Alpine Mojo]

I was up around the PCT from Stevens Pass to Trap Pass on Thursday.  Plenty of huckleberries over 4000' and up to about 5500'.  SE of Hope and Mig Lakes along Basin Creek has acres of huckleberries.  I didn't see any sign beyond deer/elk but you could pack out buckets full of berries and not put a dent in it.  I don't have any idea about the bear prospects in that area but if you match that similar elevation up and down the Cascades right now you should have no trouble finding berries.

[Bogie85]

I was out this weekend, and the berries are pretty minimal now. And bear are really on the move lately.

[pianoman9701]

Lots of blueberries at 4500' last week. 

[Learo2000GT]

Thanks to all.   My 30-06 is getting some work done but I was out scouting for deer in kapowsin and get up high and ran into a lot of bear sign.  Torn apart logs, poop , claw makes on alders and tops and branches looked liked they have been chowed on.   Not sure if that is bear sign or not.   I had my shotgun but only had buck shot on me and I don’t like using buck shot.  I grew up inMichigan and saw to many animals get wounded and get away with buck shot.  I mainly had it on me as self defense if it came down to a worse case senerio.   But going back in this weekend and found some higher areas.  Didn’t see any berries but ton of sign and a dry creek bed where I can do some walk/still hunting.

Out of curiosity what is the range of a black bear?    Thanks

Do these logs look like bear were digging in for grubs or some other chow?


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[swampbear]

Got my bear last week, and he was full of berries.

[seastrike]

At 5000' in the Cascades yesterday the berries were about done. I saw lots of bears, all on the move. They were getting the remaining berries (very few) and into the Mountain Ash berries. Big movement day all afternoon.

[bankwalker]

If you can find salal berries the bear will be focusing on that now.
All 3 of my October bear were stuffed with them. And almost every bear I've ever seen in October were feeding on them.

[lewy]

North slope hucks and a transition to salal berries now along with some tributaries with spawning salmon. Be in the mindset of what’s left to eat before calling it for the year. When bears are burning more than consuming they know it’s time to head towards their denning areas, but there are still plenty of bears around to be killed