Hunting Washington Forum

Big Game Hunting => Bear Hunting => Topic started by: Boar88 on June 25, 2025, 06:00:58 PM

Title: Bear Scratch on Tree
Post by: Boar88 on June 25, 2025, 06:00:58 PM: Doing some bear scouting this last weekend, I came across these marks on a cedar tree. Are they from a bear? Deer? Elk?
Title: Re: Bear Scratch on Tree
Post by: Kingofthemountain83 on June 25, 2025, 07:18:14 PM: Looks like it could be an old bear peel...
Title: Re: Bear Scratch on Tree
Post by: MADMAX on June 25, 2025, 08:38:45 PM: Remember why we had a wide open spring beer to begin with, tree farms used to encourage bear hunters due to tree damage
Title: Re: Bear Scratch on Tree
Post by: Boss .300 winmag on June 25, 2025, 08:54:24 PM: I’ve only ever seen bears peel fir trees. Saw a ton of bear peel trees this afternoon that were peeled last and were that burnt orange color now.
Title: Re: Bear Scratch on Tree
Post by: dreadi on June 25, 2025, 10:53:30 PM: Here's some examples of bear damage. Some images were taken yesterday. Some about a month ago.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20250626/347914dc792e2ffa1cac1a9d59c92f82.jpg)
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20250626/4e8a4fc45cd70384aae4da8057889789.jpg)
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20250626/de1b32a249ccd35ec1744993e5693234.jpg)
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20250626/fd3828e99b2283dbc531c4f06d52553e.jpg)

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Title: Re: Bear Scratch on Tree
Post by: JWBINX on June 26, 2025, 06:58:38 AM: Very common this time of year as Bears are after the cambium which is under the bark. :yeah:
Title: Re: Bear Scratch on Tree
Post by: ghosthunter on June 26, 2025, 09:12:13 AM: Porcupine vs Bear

Key Differences to Look For:
Height of Damage: Porcupine damage is typically higher up, while bear damage is often at the base of the tree.
Scrape Marks: Bear damage is characterized by vertical scrape marks left by their teeth.
Extent of Damage: Bears, being much larger, can cause more extensive damage than porcupines.
Bark Removal: Bears discard the bark after exposing the sapwood. Porcupines also remove the bark to reach the ca
Title: Re: Bear Scratch on Tree
Post by: Okanagan on June 26, 2025, 09:16:44 AM: I've noticed three kinds of black bear claw marks on trees. The first is the kind shown in pics in this thread above, where bears are eating the softer layer under the outer bark. That girdles and kills trees, which is why the forest companies tried to exterminate black bears on the west side in the 50's. I've not seen many of those kind of bark peelings east of the mountains. My personal guess is that nutrition is so hard to come by on the wet coast that the bears eat bark more on the coast.

The second kind of bear scratch I've seen, mainly in the interior of British Columbia, is vertical claw scratches on big cedar trees. Often those are near a lake. I have been told that bears are making their territory and by the height of the scratch are telling other bears how big they are. That sounds like a human interpretation to me but could be true.

The third kind of scratch, common to find in the interior of B.C., is claw marks in the bark where a bear climbed the tree, and leaves claw scars in the bark. Those are common on poplar trees in the interior of B.C. Sample shown below.

(https://i.imgur.com/x33FlfSh.jpg)