Trail Head Advice

[Go Blue]

I’ve been hunting bear on the Hancock Property these last two years at Kapowsin. We’ve been thinking of hunting bear over near Stevens Pass to Leavenworth or near by. I’m not asking for honey holes, and I wouldn’t expect to get any. But would anyone like to share a trail head that I could hike back in on for a starters. This would give me a starting point.

 Thanks in advance

[highcountry_hunter]

Not asking for your honey hole, just tell me exactly where you park and start hiking in from


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[Jonathan_S]

Go check out a few in June/July and find the berry plants within a few miles of the truck. Go back in late August and find the ones with the most piles of red and purple poop. That's the one you want at that time

[Go Blue]

Go check out a few in June/July and find the berry plants within a few miles of the truck. Go back in late August and find the ones with the most piles of red and purple poop. That's the one you want at that time

Thanks

[huntnnw]

Go look at west and south facing slopes in the mountains that look brushy and you are able to glass from a vantage point. You have all winter, spring and summer to look at google earth and other maps, plus some scouting and you should have some areas nailed down. Pay attention to summer weather trends. Cool wet summers means berries will ripen later into August and into September. Hot dry summers will have Early to mid-August ripening.  Berries lower in elevation will ripen sooner than up high adjust accordingly.  Don't get too caught up into having to be miles in deep. I've got many spots you can glass from fs roads or walk under a mile and see a lot of bears.

[Skyvalhunter]

Do you want a popular trail head because most in that area are over run with hikers. Look at the trail into Top lake via Little Wenatchee it's not overly crowded and will get you into higher alpine areas. It's very hard to find a non crowded TH these days.

[knob221]

Lots of good advice on here so far. I agree that you'll have a hard time finding non crowded trail heads in that area, and maybe its just my perception, but I think one of the best places to run into anti-hunting trail users is on the I-90 pass. Use hiking trail websites such as Washington Trails Association or Alltrails and their trip reports section to get a gauge of how popular a trail is.

[RobinHoodlum]

Stevens Pass ski area is in fact a jump off point  Provided you're not an idiot (which I'm not insinuating), you can pretty quickly get away from the PCT and hiker people and find some bears.

[MtnMuley]

There's not a trailhead in the areas you've mentioned that won't hold bears.

[huntnnw]

I would not just look at trailheads, look at maps with the terrain that looks good and hike off Fs roads

[Bullkllr]

Don't have much to add, but from my observations most of that area is very thick these days- at least until you get to higher elevations.

[FreeSkier85]

Accurate statement above that the terrain is pretty thick with underbrush until you get up high. I hunted the Top Lake area for high buck without success, just pretty thick woods and didn't event come across a bear either. It was a weird season for berries though, maybe that was part of the problem.