Hunting Washington Forum

Big Game Hunting => Bear Hunting => Topic started by: Learo2000GT on September 24, 2021, 06:43:40 PM

Title: Anyone been on the west’s side hunting recently? Any berries left?
Post by: Learo2000GT on September 24, 2021, 06:43:40 PM: 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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Title: Re: Anyone been on the west’s side hunting recently? Any berries left?
Post by: Alan K on September 24, 2021, 07:12:30 PM: Himalaya blackberries are still on a bit around here. Probably too late on the rest, but still worth giving it a go!
Title: Re: Anyone been on the west’s side hunting recently? Any berries left?
Post by: Moccasin_Mountain on September 24, 2021, 07:32:18 PM: There's huckleberries in certain areas but most are winding down now.
Title: Re: Anyone been on the west’s side hunting recently? Any berries left?
Post by: Dysfunctional Vet on September 24, 2021, 07:34:07 PM: Last weekend the bear sign was around the fading blackberries. At least where I was. Good luck
Title: Re: Anyone been on the west’s side hunting recently? Any berries left?
Post by: bkaech on September 24, 2021, 09:06:50 PM: 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.
Title: Re: Anyone been on the west’s side hunting recently? Any berries left?
Post by: wussfacekiller on September 25, 2021, 12:57:42 PM: 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?
Title: Re: Anyone been on the west’s side hunting recently? Any berries left?
Post by: Alpine Mojo on September 25, 2021, 03:37:37 PM: 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.
Title: Re: Anyone been on the west’s side hunting recently? Any berries left?
Post by: Bogie85 on September 27, 2021, 03:45:04 PM: I was out this weekend, and the berries are pretty minimal now. And bear are really on the move lately.
Title: Re: Anyone been on the west’s side hunting recently? Any berries left?
Post by: pianoman9701 on September 27, 2021, 05:21:40 PM: Lots of blueberries at 4500' last week. :dunno:
Title: Anyone been on the west’s side hunting recently? Any berries left?
Post by: Learo2000GT on October 02, 2021, 07:59:13 AM: 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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Title: Re: Anyone been on the west’s side hunting recently? Any berries left?
Post by: swampbear on October 02, 2021, 04:20:09 PM: Got my bear last week, and he was full of berries.
Title: Re: Anyone been on the west’s side hunting recently? Any berries left?
Post by: seastrike on October 03, 2021, 10:45:22 AM: 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.
Title: Re: Anyone been on the west’s side hunting recently? Any berries left?
Post by: bankwalker on October 14, 2021, 10:00:16 PM: 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.
Title: Re: Anyone been on the west’s side hunting recently? Any berries left?
Post by: lewy on October 14, 2021, 10:14:13 PM: 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