Bear Peel?? What does one look like?

[sled]

  So for those of us that are new to spring bear hunting what exactly does a bear peel look like?
  I scouted a little in the Monroe unit tonight and found seven trees in about 75 yards that had bark missing, only one was actually through the bark.  They were about 3 to 4 feet off the ground, and about 1 to 1 1/2 in diameter on only one side of the tree.  Didnt notice any claw marks just fairly big pieces of bark on the ground.
  Im just not sure what to look for or what to look for for spring bear hunting.  Ill try to take pics next time im up there, maybe set up my trail camera.

[CAMPMEAT]

Sounds like it to me. I've seen "peels" at about the same height, give or take. Look for hair also on the trees.

[dirty24d]

They look like this.

[flinger]

this one was about 5 to 6 ft.

[sled]

  wOW.  What I saw was kind of like it started to peel then lost interest.  Not near what those pics show.

[sled]

  Do they only peel trees in the spring?

[blacktailcrzy]

well they mostly peel in the spring because of the major lack of food and that under the trees bark there is new spring growth happening and the fresh cambium is running and they chew or scratch it off for some substance 

[bobcat]

A little reading material:

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1579&context=icwdm_usdanwrc&sei-redir=1#search=%22bear+peels+wdfw%22

[woodman]

I was checking pics from last year and the first ones that I spotted showed up in May. This was during my spring bear hunt.

[FWilliams]

look for douglas fir 8 to 10 inch in diameter, the picture showing the vertical marks are what you are looking for, once they get the bark off they drag their front teeth down the trunk to get at the soft cambium layer.   the whiter the the wood the fresher the peel, they will start to color up right away, look at the darker pic for reference of one that is turning. i hunted for a timber company in the late eighties where we had them peeling 50 trees a week.

[257 Wby Mag]

Heres a freshy.

[brew]

found this on in crapitol forest last spring

[runamuk]

  So for those of us that are new to spring bear hunting what exactly does a bear peel look like?
  I scouted a little in the Monroe unit tonight and found seven trees in about 75 yards that had bark missing, only one was actually through the bark.  They were about 3 to 4 feet off the ground, and about 1 to 1 1/2 in diameter on only one side of the tree.  Didnt notice any claw marks just fairly big pieces of bark on the ground.
  Im just not sure what to look for or what to look for for spring bear hunting.  Ill try to take pics next time im up there, maybe set up my trail camera.

hate to say but what this sounds like is a deer/elk rub if only some bark is missing and the diameter of the tree is only a couple inches 

the peels posted in here are what I see every spring yogi does a number on the trees near my house in fact I ought to go for a drive this afternoon see if they have done any fresh damage

[cryfowl]

Look for the large nail scratches above 4' on the tree.  If it is just pealed around the base, it is possible you are looking at porcupine damage and not a bear.  There are tons of those lil spiney boogars around here. 

[billythekidrock]

Bear peel. Notice the claw marks in the bark and cambium.
 

 
Porcupine peel. Notice the small teeth marks.