2021 Spring Bear Thread

[The Hedgehog]

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[MTLabrador]

 

[Sask hunter]

Ran my bush baits today. Couple good ones I would Like to see. I really like that chocolate

 

[ccc23454]

Seen this guy today, hide is pretty beat up

 

[skull]

I’m still working on my spring bear
I have a few coming to the bait, but no time to hunt for know

 

[ccc23454]

I’m still working on my spring bear
I have a few coming to the bait, but no time to hunt for know View attachment 183697View attachment 183698View attachment 183699

How do you like hanging your barrels? On fall baits i loose so much bait to bait thiefs, wonder if that would help some.

 

[Twolftg]

Saw the first bear of the trip tonight a big black one, on a longing road across a switch back. No alot of time left and he was moving so my partner dropped me off on the road we were on 400 yards and 400 ft below. By the time I got up there he was gone. My partner had drove back over to were I saw him buy I couldn't make out his hands signs, guess he had gotten off the road and was about 35 yards above me. He seemed to be just moving through when we saw him any point in going back tomorrow?

 

[Red Fox]

would think it will be in the same drainage or close in the morning. They seam to be on the move looking for love.

 

[Elkwhisper]

One quick announcement: If you are considering shooting a sow in Montana bear units with a quota, please stop and re-evaluate your life decisions. That is all.

No danger of killing the quota tonight.... that ship has sailed. This one was almost to pretty to let go..... almost.

 

[ChaosOneZero]

Here it is. First western black bear. Hunted the Cabinets for about 6 days with a friend from back here in Virginia, along with Hunt Talk’s own Mr. Travis, a truly remarkable dude and probably one of the most accomplished outdoorsmen in NW Montana (I won’t tag him, but many of you will recognize him beside me in one of the pics).

We hunted two drainages on the east side of the wilderness, two on the west side, and an area outside the wilderness. We saw bears - usually more than one - every day and in every drainage, along with a grizzly, a couple moose, couple dozen goats, and more deer than I could count. Don’t know how many miles or vert gain we averaged per day, but the snow, alders, thick timber, downfall, and scrambles kicked our teeth in day in and day out.

Filling the tag finally came together on the last day, at around 615, when this sow hopped down onto a road we were sitting on while glassing a couple clear cuts. It was truly an incredible hunt, and I can’t thank Travis enough for all of his help, even though at times I began to think he was trying to kill me (and the wet and slippery terrain up above a frozen tundra lake took a couple good shots at trying).

 

[KyHunter98]

Four days into my hunt I was able to connect with my first bear. I drove 33 hours from Kentucky to Idaho and have to say it was well worth it and I’m completely hooked on western hunting. Thanks to everyone who gave me some advice on here and helped me make it happen.

 

[Sask hunter]

View attachment 183766Four days into my hunt I was able to connect with my first bear. I drove 33 hours from Kentucky to Idaho and have to say it was well worth it and I’m completely hooked on western hunting. Thanks to everyone who gave me some advice on here and helped me make it happen.View attachment 183767

Congrats!!

 

[mblehm]

View attachment 183766Four days into my hunt I was able to connect with my first bear. I drove 33 hours from Kentucky to Idaho and have to say it was well worth it and I’m completely hooked on western hunting. Thanks to everyone who gave me some advice on here and helped me make it happen.View attachment 183767

Congrats! I made the drive up to just north of Libby MT from Missouri and have just arrived. Hopefully I can get as lucky as you!

 

[skull]

How do you like hanging your barrels? On fall baits i loose so much bait to bait thiefs, wonder if that would help some.

That’s the main reason I went with this system.
I was feeding every single animal in the forest with the barrel flat on the ground.
This system saves me lots of time and bait.
Small bears can’t reach inside the spout to get the bait, only the big bears can reach.
Plus I’m eliminating sows with cubs. The barrel is 60” from the ground to the spout, and has a 9” long spout.
I have been saving 50% of bait by using this system.
It is a real game changer.

 

[Twolftg]

Well today started out rough, snow coming down so hard visibility was about 50 yards. Dropped down below it for a few hours and when we came back up there was about 3 inches. I assumed bears would just dig through it and it wouldn't matter. Didn't see anything with just a few hours left decided to head down and head north about 20 miles, to some new country. When we were 3 miles from are original area there was pretty much zero snow. Lol picked a random spot on the map that looked good. Started hiking up the switch back and decided to cut through the woods to take a short cut to the road above. Ran across this...
Kind of hard to see it all but there is atleast 8 piles of scat, a couple big ones and a bunch of small one. Looked like grizzly scat, so we were on edge assuming it was a sow and cubs. Got up to the clear cut didn't see much started planning how to go down and stay away from the scat area. Of course the quickest way would require us to walk across the logged area thru all slash. There was a little hill side in the middle and I thought it would be best to follow the edge so we could still monitor both sides. When we got to the bottom I looked back up towards the top and 65 yards away there was a young black bear. Seeing it was my second to last day...
Well he is coming home with me. My first Monatana black bear! Thanks for all the help along the way!

 

[Danson In The Desert]

Some friends tipped me off to a bear in one of our glassing area yesterday, and I managed to find it this morning. Only got to watch it for 1-2 minutes, but it was well worth the 5 mile hike.
Alas, no spring OTC tags in this area, so it gets to keep on traveling.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

I put on some miles and checked out a new spot this week. Turned up a sow and cub was all. Maybe go out tomorrow with the boy if he doesn’t mind the slushy forecast, or maybe save time off for a better visibility day.

 

[Sasquatchewan]

First big game animal of 2021! Hunted my worst five days EVER, not a single bear was seen during daytime hours the first five days. I've never been this frustrated on a hunt, all five days I had a perfect wind forecast of W and NW winds. Upper winds were moving in the right direction but somehow my awesome bear spot went cold as the lower/ground winds were all pushing E. Bears would hit the bait 20min after I'd leave and spend the night. I ended up leaving the 6th morning but figured I'd check my cam quickly before making the trip back home. Took my rifle just in case and finally had some action. The wind was just right (go figure) so I still hunted to the bait. There, I found a big sow with her two 1.5yo cubs. I watched them from 20 yds away until the wind shifted slighty and she caught my scent. They slowly left the bait so I decided to jump in my treestand and give it an hour or so as I knew other bears would circle the bait while the sow and cubs were there. Sure enough, as soon as I set my rifle on my lap a bear made an appearance. Gave me a shot and I took it! Very happy with this colour phased bear. This 10 minutes of action made up for the five days of nothingness!



A pretty large fire started the day after I left close by to my site. The nearby city and RMs declared states of emergencies and started evacs. I figured my hunting season was over but we got snow today and the fire is now contained. Seems like I may get a chance to go back and work on my second tag! Eitherway, bear sausage is back on the menu, boys!

 

[Misguided]

Congrats on an awesome bear, matches your beard...I’d have to shoot a gray one to do that.

 

[Misguided]