2021 Bears

[HillHound]

Great job guys. Glad to see some people filling tags. I think I made a big mistake by not heading to the Westside to hunt since there must be no fire danger over there at all and no need to close DNR or restrict camping, Which by the way I seem to be the only one following the restrictions in my spots. Good luck to the rest of you with tags to fill still. I filled one with my spring tag so I’ll try not to be too negative  about being held out of spots  that I know I can get a bear if I put the time in.

[FreeSkier85]

Had my chance to notch first bear on Sunday morning. Posted up above some blueberries and patiently waited 1.5 hours. Heard rustling and snapping of twigs that kept my attention. Slowly worked my way down into the thickets to get a better look when a black blur came running out about 60 yards away. I steadied my rifle on him and realized he was a bit smaller than I was looking to take a life on. Figured with it being opening day there was no need to pull the trigger if I wasn't fully sold on the size. He winded me and took off running as I sat there smiling about how close I had come. Spent a fair amount of time scouting this summer and glad to see my instincts were correct.

Looking to go back up in there on Saturday and see if I can track down a bigger bear to pull the trigger on. Pretty excited though, only a matter of time now!

[Turner89]

Not too exciting of a story for this guy! Got out at first light with my buddy, we set up on a unit where we deer hunt a lot, he had seen a bear there a couple weeks earlier and also had one in there last July. At first light we ended up being socked in so we bumped around to some other spots to check for deer and maybe a bear. After a while of that we headed to see if the dog had burned off which it had. We set up and glassed for a couple hours and only turned up deer. We bailed out again to go set some cameras up in a spot that we’d been seeing lots of bucks in for a break from glassing. When we got back after setting the camera we hit the glass again, after scanning for a bit I looked down and shot my wife a text. Just as I set the phone down I looked up and saw a big black blob where there wasn’t one before. Hit him with the glass and confirmed it was a bear. Got on the gun and just as he was about to hit a leave strip of timber he paused and I put one in the neck at 400 and rolled him. He rolled out of sight so we gave it a few minutes, reviewed footage and then headed down to look for him. My buddy found him right as we broke down off the ridge and then we got to work! Awesome day! He’s a dandy, very happy with him.
   nice bear buck rub.   Sounds like you guys use bear hunting to scout for deer also.  Nice job.

[elkoholic1]

  OPENING EVENING SUCCESS..... 

   Thank goodness for friends with winches.....

[Jingles]

Congrats on the success, unfortunately some of are still locked out c of the areas we scouted all summer

[logola512c]

Leisurely start today. First calling set at 9:30. No action but got to watch the wildfire smoke roll in.  Went to the next drainage over and started the second set. 20 minutes in got bored and started glassing a big cut about 1.5 miles away.  Saw a black dot, left my caller where it lay and rushed over. Stopped about a half mile short and walked the road above to the slash pile he was closest to when I spotted him. Peeked around the pile and he hadn't moved. Easy 70 yarder.

Nice bear!  Could you tell what he was eating in that clearcut?  That looks like a lot of the cleacuts I was in all day and I didn't see any berries that looked like bear food.  Congrats again.   

[Maybach Outdoors]

Leisurely start today. First calling set at 9:30. No action but got to watch the wildfire smoke roll in.  Went to the next drainage over and started the second set. 20 minutes in got bored and started glassing a big cut about 1.5 miles away.  Saw a black dot, left my caller where it lay and rushed over. Stopped about a half mile short and walked the road above to the slash pile he was closest to when I spotted him. Peeked around the pile and he hadn't moved. Easy 70 yarder.

Nice bear!  Could you tell what he was eating in that clearcut?  That looks like a lot of the cleacuts I was in all day and I didn't see any berries that looked like bear food.  Congrats again.

I'm also intersted in this question... why hunt them in the clearcuts? I'm assuming this is just to see them better especially on the wetside... Apprecite the insight!

M

[freezerfull]

Also had some opening evening success! Old, old sow. Had a long night getting her out and much too early of a Monday at work.

[fly-by]

Leisurely start today. First calling set at 9:30. No action but got to watch the wildfire smoke roll in.  Went to the next drainage over and started the second set. 20 minutes in got bored and started glassing a big cut about 1.5 miles away.  Saw a black dot, left my caller where it lay and rushed over. Stopped about a half mile short and walked the road above to the slash pile he was closest to when I spotted him. Peeked around the pile and he hadn't moved. Easy 70 yarder.

Nice bear!  Could you tell what he was eating in that clearcut?  That looks like a lot of the cleacuts I was in all day and I didn't see any berries that looked like bear food.  Congrats again.

I'm also intersted in this question... why hunt them in the clearcuts? I'm assuming this is just to see them better especially on the wetside... Apprecite the insight!

M

He was eating Trailing Blackberries at 3250ft on a south facing slope.  They are the smaller native variety that grow finer more sparse bushes compared to the invasive Himalayans. Maybe thigh high and spaced about 10 feet apart.  Roughly half the berries on any given plant were ripe.

[HillHound]

Congrats on a great bear! Way to save those fawns. An old guy I knew used to call the old ones that had rubbed the hair off their faces monkey face bears. Not sure if that is common terminology.  Definitely looks like the west side Bears are going to be blowing this thread up for a while. You guys better get out and shoot your bears you have leads on before All us east siders start coming your way since everywhere we scouted is closed

[Jellymon]

Congrats on a great bear! Way to save those fawns. An old guy I knew used to call the old ones that had rubbed the hair off their faces monkey face bears. Not sure if that is common terminology.  Definitely looks like the west side Bears are going to be blowing this thread up for a while. You guys better get out and shoot your bears you have leads on before All us east siders start coming your way since everywhere we scouted is closed

Just think back to when you eastsiders  used to have to wait for September opener. Maybe that will make you not feel as left out yet. 

Easy to say when your first tags already filled. 

[Stevewazfishing]

After a long sit and laying eyes on this girl twice and not getting a shot opportunity she finally popped back out a third time at 60yds and presented me with a shot. Made a perfect shot and rolled her on the spot. As she was rolling around put a second shot in her for good measure so she didn’t get down in the nasty stuff. Special thanks to my brother for being out there to help pack it out. Couldn’t ask for better hunting partners than my two bros!

[jrebel]

After a long sit and laying eyes on this girl twice and not getting a shot opportunity she finally popped back out a third time at 60yds and presented me with a shot. Made a perfect shot and rolled her on the spot. As she was rolling around put a second shot in her for good measure so she didn’t get down in the nasty stuff. Special thanks to my brother for being out there to help pack it out. Couldn’t ask for better hunting partners than my two bros!

Congrats on a beautiful color phase.....another fawn killer down.   

[Platensek-po]

After a long sit and laying eyes on this girl twice and not getting a shot opportunity she finally popped back out a third time at 60yds and presented me with a shot. Made a perfect shot and rolled her on the spot. As she was rolling around put a second shot in her for good measure so she didn’t get down in the nasty stuff. Special thanks to my brother for being out there to help pack it out. Couldn’t ask for better hunting partners than my two bros!

Nice one!

[dmoua]

Filled the first tag with a tasty one. Called into 15 yards and gave it a few chances to run off but it stuck around too long so I fed him some 185 Berger’s.