Bear den elevation

[Pizzle12345]

I am curious if there is a standard location for bear dens.  From google searching it seems like it depends on what state and geography so I am asking specifically for western Washington in Snohomish county and north and for the Idaho near Spokane.   My best guess would be that the dens will be closer to rivers and streams in the trees and not at higher elevations.  But I am writing this post to see if people in these two areas have similar experiences. 

I think these areas should have similar terrain. 

[MtnMuley]

I know of multiple bear dens in the north central part of the state ranging from just over 1K to just under 6K in elevation. I personally think more winter in what I'd call the mid elevations.

[CP]

There were a number of dens around my old cabin, which was about 2600ft and just East of Snoqualmie pass. 

[Boss .300 winmag]

All the way above tree line to the valleys. Just depends on the sows idea of a good spot which will influence her off spring.

[jason stevens]

I'm not sure the bears in snohomish county actually den up.ive seen bears during Nov, Dec an January  out here in gold bar.

[Pizzle12345]

So I was reading that bears don’t den up in the same den from year to year.   It sounds like there is no real pattern.  I was kind of hoping to snoop around woods and find a bear den. 

[Ridgeratt]

There's huge logging slash piles in eastern Washington. I have asked myself just how many bears get burned up during the winter when those piles get torched

[Kingofthemountain83]

I've found a few dens on the west side that I recall... In the Mason GMU... They were all dug out on a side hill... One tree well from a root wad... All under 1000'... A few eastern WA Cowichie... 4500'+ One was a mine shaft... Tracks went in in the snow... The others were dug outs in the hill...

[hunter399]

There's huge logging slash piles in eastern Washington. I have asked myself just how many bears get burned up during the winter when those piles get torched

Back in the early 2000's ,I burned a lot of slash piles. I remember a unit up by the ski hill 49 .
They wasn't happy,when the wind blown all that smoke that way.
I always was waiting for a bear to pop out,never happened,not to say that there wasn't a bear in there. Depending on how much snow was on the ground,some piles would light fast,others you be standing there for an hour or more , climbing inside . We used drip torches, propane torch.
Depending on the day , could use gallons of fuel.

Now days they might have one pile at the landing. They really don't burn all that much anymore.
Burn permits, pollution, all that ,they just don't burn as much these days. Back in the day ,it was in the logging contract to pile as much slash as they could. Now it's run it over,toss in the bush,spread it out.

[ganghis]

I was snowboarding down Mt Adams one spring and there were bear tracks going down hill at around 10,000 feet.  Figured it was probably a bear that had just dug itself out of a den.  So yeah pretty variable I'd say!

[boneaddict]

Top to bottom and somewhere in between

[ghosthunter]

There's huge logging slash piles in eastern Washington. I have asked myself just how many bears get burned up during the winter when those piles get torched

Back in the early 2000's ,I burned a lot of slash piles. I remember a unit up by the ski hill 49 .
They wasn't happy,when the wind blown all that smoke that way.
I always was waiting for a bear to pop out,never happened,not to say that there wasn't a bear in there. Depending on how much snow was on the ground,some piles would light fast,others you be standing there for an hour or more , climbing inside . We used drip torches, propane torch.
Depending on the day , could use gallons of fuel.

Now days they might have one pile at the landing. They really don't burn all that much anymore.
Burn permits, pollution, all that ,they just don't burn as much these days. Back in the day ,it was in the logging contract to pile as much slash as they could. Now it's run it over,toss in the bush,spread it out.

I did the same as a young man for FS. Would use a chainsaw to cut shafts into huge debri piles. Packed in garbage bags of diesel/ gas mix and light with a drip torch.
Perfect place for a bear to den in my opinion,but never saw one in those piles.

I think bears are flexible and use a variety of den structures depending on the area.

[Alchase]

The most West side Black Bears do not Hibernate the whole winter like Black Bears in other regions. They will come and go from their denning sites often in winter, just depends on the location of the den. A buddy of mine in Seabeck had a sow den-up inside his abandoned chicken coup. She came and went most of the winter, and emerged with two cubs in late March and never went back to the den.

[GOcougsHunter]

The most West side Black Bears do not Hibernate the whole winter like Black Bears in other regions. They will come and go from their denning sites often in winter, just depends on the location of the den. A buddy of mine in Seabeck had a sow den-up inside his abandoned chicken coup. She came and went most of the winter, and emerged with two cubs in late March and never went back to the den.

 

Will confirm that!  Brother in law has a video of a big fat bear in his front yard in Woodinville this past weekend.  Was solo.

[Kingofthemountain83]

Bears enter "torpor" hibernation... According to Google... I've seen bears walking around Mason and Kitsap Dec-March... Like they didn't know they were supposed to be sleeping...