Bear Peel?? What does one look like?

[BOWHUNTER45]

yeah I would say that sums it up !! nice pictures ..

[Decker]

Awesome, thanks for the great pics everyone!!! This community is SO helpful with sharing knowledge! You all are the best! 

[Skyvalhunter]

The otside layers just come off the same as when you walk in a strip bar and plop down a roll of cash!!

[shedcrazy]

Why is it I never see peeled trees over here on the eastside?

[Gutpile]

Why is it I never see peeled trees over here on the eastside?

]I've often wondered that same thing. I've never seen a peel and had never heard of one until I saw it talked about on this site. Maybe it's because the west side bears are active earlier in the spring before the grasses and shoots green up so they are trying to fill there bellies. Our Eastside bears are still denned up? Dont know but it sounds good to me. 

[Skywagon_185]

The spring sap that runs up a Doug Fir tree is very sweet tasting to the bear.  They pull the bark off with their claws then scrape the sweet tasting cambium layer with their teeth.  If you look at the pieces of bark on the ground, you can tell something about the size of the bear.  Every piece will have 4 claw marks in it and you can tell the size by the width of the claw marks.
The east side Doug Fir doesn't have the rapid (read wet) flush growth of spring wood.  Preferred species is Doug Fir but they will occasionally peel a Hemlock.
They have devastated many stands here on the wet side and will often climb and peel way up the tree.
Mike

[Gutpile]

Thats a pretty good explanation. Sounds good to me.

[Kain]

Do all these peeled trees seem to be around the same size?

Im pretty sure this is a bear peel.  It is the first one I have ever found down here.  I didnt find it until Sept so it was already old.

[billythekidrock]

Kain, yes. That is a bear peel.
You can tell by the vertical teeth marks where they scraped the cambium layer.

As for size...they can very. Typically the trees are 10-12 inches through, but I have found trees peeled that were 3 & 4 feet through. Not all peels are at ground level either. Sometimes they start peeling 50 feet up.

They will peel fir, hemlock, spruce, cedar and even maple.

[ghosthunter]

I was out Friday-Saturday and this am in North Skagit found lots of old peel whole stands but no fresh sign. Talked to the local forester up on a road and he had not seen a bear yet.

[NWWABOWHNTR]

Most of the fresh peel's I found over the past few years in the skagit have seemed to be in May....

[BOWHUNTER45]

yeah exactely....Hell we still have snow in the hills in skagit co.. and most of the bears and the peels I see are in May  too !!!