That's damn Impressive! He'll be hunting circles around most grown men by the time he's 12.Got back from a trip a few days ago, seemed slower than most years. In 8 days saw one nice boar (shooter couldn’t get on him in time) and a young sow, usually see around 5-7 bears. You are welcome Montanans for not shooting your sow, not all NRs are out there targeting boo-boo!I can’t complain too much, got a real nice bear last year.
Brought my oldest (6) along, he had a blast. Averaged about 5 miles a day with lots of glassing, slept 8 nights on the mountain in grizzly country, he’s harder than a lot of grown men I know! Lots of naps and snacks though…
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2025 spring bear thread
- Thread starter Sask hunter
- Start date
It’s Bucky
Member
- Joined
- May 15, 2025
- Messages
- 26
What caliber rifle Pat?
psinclair
Well-known member
6.5 PRC, 139gr scenar
Turkeygetpwnd38
Active member
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2024
- Messages
- 36
That’s the plan, hope there is still opportunity and animals to hunt by then!
Coop
Well-known member
9 bears so far this year, but none worth pulling the trigger on. This small boar had a beautiful coat and was fun to watch. The sow and her three cubs was great to see as well. I know them from hunting the same area last year, and it's great to see that she was able to keep all three alive!
Frequently Banned Troll
Well-known member
Quitters - it the bear rut, FYI.
cgasner1
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2016
- Messages
- 4,614
Wish I was a quitter. Next weekend is my boys birthday party and Sunday is father days. This spring ripped by I never even got to start
Frequently Banned Troll
Well-known member
Put a Fathers Day bear hunt on the agenda sometime. That’s what I do.
@Frequently Banned Troll I saw a guy skinning a bear in town a couple weeks ago that would have made you proud. Didn't even come close to taking up the whole tailgate...
Frequently Banned Troll
Well-known member
We had 2 in rifle range last night. One looked like a sow, and the other a boar but we couldn't get a real good feel for it being big. So instead of shooting a bear, there was some long range rock crushing practice that didn't even bother the bears. We do have a Fathers Day hunt planned to see if we can do a triple on big MT bears.
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
Recap of my remaining trip - had less cell battery than I thought, so saved it for essentials only.
Day 3: Glassed a jet black bear, small ears! Joined by a tiny black fur ball
Fun watching them though.
Day 4: New drainage 3 miles away. Glassed another jet black sow and tiny cub. This sow appeared to have a darker muzzle than the first one. They came out several times between 3 PM and dark. The last 30 mins of light the sow was out feeding alone. Makes me nervous thinking how easy it is to kill a bear, thinking it is a loner.
Day 5: High country glassing. No bears, but about 8 PM 2 cow elk are in an open park staring back to a cut and chirping away. They are acting like one of their own had just been killed. They did this for almost an hour, then ran off. At one point I contemplated checking out the scene of the likely kill 400 yards away, but thought better of it in case it was a GB.
A few mins after the cows took off I spotted a cougar sauntering across the park! I have always wanted to see one in the wild. Appeared like a big tom with a very full belly. Watched him for 5 mins until he dropped off a ledge. Twice he turned around lazily to look back at the kill site. Very cool!
Day 6: Located a string of wallows. Tons of elk and moose sign.
Set up camp in a new spot and hiked about 1500’ vertical to be in position to kill a bear if one showed in a N aspect pocket park w/ fresh sign. Sat until last light. No dice. Hiked back down in the dark and missed camp by about 50 yards. Phone died. I fumbled around in the pitch black until finally relocating camp at 1:30 AM, very tired.
Around midnight I was walking up a creek bottom and bumped into a set of glowing eyes reflecting my headlamp 40 feet ahead on the game trail. Deer? It dipped its head lower, still staring intently. Something seemed off… I advanced and the animal silently turned and bounded off. Long thick tail - another lion!
It knew I was there a long way off, but was reluctant to abandon its fresh kill, a porcupine. I am very thankful it did not defend itself, it would have been on me before I had any clue what was happening.
Overall, very fun trip. Saw 1 deer, 2 moose, many elk including a nice bull, pronghorn, weasel, marmot, and countless spring flowers. I was even treated to a spectacular double rainbow following a brief storm.
I tried distress calling 5 different set-ups w/ rabbit and fawn calls. Weather was hot, so did these midday when I was less likely to be successful glassing. Each time I was perched on a large boulder or up a tree. No responses.
I appreciate all the helpful PM’s with generous tips. Trip #2 the learning curve advanced a lot, and another spring bear attempt is definitely in the works for a future season.
Day 3: Glassed a jet black bear, small ears! Joined by a tiny black fur ball
Fun watching them though.Day 4: New drainage 3 miles away. Glassed another jet black sow and tiny cub. This sow appeared to have a darker muzzle than the first one. They came out several times between 3 PM and dark. The last 30 mins of light the sow was out feeding alone. Makes me nervous thinking how easy it is to kill a bear, thinking it is a loner.
Day 5: High country glassing. No bears, but about 8 PM 2 cow elk are in an open park staring back to a cut and chirping away. They are acting like one of their own had just been killed. They did this for almost an hour, then ran off. At one point I contemplated checking out the scene of the likely kill 400 yards away, but thought better of it in case it was a GB.
A few mins after the cows took off I spotted a cougar sauntering across the park! I have always wanted to see one in the wild. Appeared like a big tom with a very full belly. Watched him for 5 mins until he dropped off a ledge. Twice he turned around lazily to look back at the kill site. Very cool!
Day 6: Located a string of wallows. Tons of elk and moose sign.
Set up camp in a new spot and hiked about 1500’ vertical to be in position to kill a bear if one showed in a N aspect pocket park w/ fresh sign. Sat until last light. No dice. Hiked back down in the dark and missed camp by about 50 yards. Phone died. I fumbled around in the pitch black until finally relocating camp at 1:30 AM, very tired.
Around midnight I was walking up a creek bottom and bumped into a set of glowing eyes reflecting my headlamp 40 feet ahead on the game trail. Deer? It dipped its head lower, still staring intently. Something seemed off… I advanced and the animal silently turned and bounded off. Long thick tail - another lion!
It knew I was there a long way off, but was reluctant to abandon its fresh kill, a porcupine. I am very thankful it did not defend itself, it would have been on me before I had any clue what was happening.
Overall, very fun trip. Saw 1 deer, 2 moose, many elk including a nice bull, pronghorn, weasel, marmot, and countless spring flowers. I was even treated to a spectacular double rainbow following a brief storm.
I tried distress calling 5 different set-ups w/ rabbit and fawn calls. Weather was hot, so did these midday when I was less likely to be successful glassing. Each time I was perched on a large boulder or up a tree. No responses.
I appreciate all the helpful PM’s with generous tips. Trip #2 the learning curve advanced a lot, and another spring bear attempt is definitely in the works for a future season.
ashersdad
Well-known member
The boys and I made a quick trip to Idaho looking for bears. Saw bears every day including 3 grizzlies. We only saw one bear that was big enough to shoot and as we were closing the distance, a grizzly came out and chased it off. We did see a mountain lion at 30 yards which was cool. Walked down where it came from and found a dead whitetail. Set up a trail camera overnight and got a nice picture. It was a nice trip and we had a great time!
