West side Hungry Horse Reservoir VS. East side of Swan Valley for Blackies?

ColtCRX16

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Alright, I'm not asking for you to share your honey hole, but looking for honest, boots on the ground opinions. Having never lived or hunted in MT I'm taking my daughter, and best friend next spring to the Swan Valley and we are going to hunt some western Black Bears. I've done lots of E scouting with Google Earth Pro, onX, and BaseMap. I've identified some areas in both the Hungry Horse Basin, and the Swan Valley, my thoughts and concerns are the Swan Valley Looks Steep and Deep, and the Hungry Horse looks like it could be crowded? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thought I'd share last years bear, I started scouting in April and had this one along with a much larger bear located in the same area. I was able to harvest him on the first Saturday, of our Fall Season.
 

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Might see more griz than you will blackbear.
Yep, figured that and honestly having never been around your top three predators Griz, Wolf's, or Cats. Grizzlies concern me the most, We have all taken and passed our MT Bear Identification test, and hunted Black Bears for years. We understand their habits and temperaments, but yep the Griz is a new one.
 
I haven't hunted black bear in those areas so I can't speak to the quality of hunting, but I have spent some time around there out and about.

I've been thinking about your question on crowding. The Swan highway is paved, maintained, and plowed throughout the winter. And there are frequently some forest service roads that are plowed as well for winter logging operations.

The West Side Road along the Hungry Horse Reservoir is not maintained (plowed) past the dam. The road is fairly sheltered, holds snow, and is popular with snowmobilers well into 'late' winter. This past winter was a heavy snow year and the West Side road was first passable (rutted snow in places) to 4x4 pickup/AWD SUV all the way up the reservoir around May 13th. While I can't recall the entire west side being passable before the first week in May, the first 15 or 20 miles after the dam are usually clear by late April or early May.

Likewise, the East Side Reservoir Road is not passable past mile 15 or so, until about the same time the West Side has melted out. And if it is passable earlier, the road is gated at mile 38 until May 15.

I guess this doesn't really address crowding, just some things to keep in mind.
 
I haven't hunted black bear in those areas so I can't speak to the quality of hunting, but I have spent some time around there out and about.

I've been thinking about your question on crowding. The Swan highway is paved, maintained, and plowed throughout the winter. And there are frequently some forest service roads that are plowed as well for winter logging operations.

The West Side Road along the Hungry Horse Reservoir is not maintained (plowed) past the dam. The road is fairly sheltered, holds snow, and is popular with snowmobilers well into 'late' winter. This past winter was a heavy snow year and the West Side road was first passable (rutted snow in places) to 4x4 pickup/AWD SUV all the way up the reservoir around May 13th. While I can't recall the entire west side being passable before the first week in May, the first 15 or 20 miles after the dam are usually clear by late April or early May.

Likewise, the East Side Reservoir Road is not passable past mile 15 or so, until about the same time the West Side has melted out. And if it is passable earlier, the road is gated at mile 38 until May 15.

I guess this doesn't really address crowding, just some things to keep in mind.
Thank you, these are the things I need to know, your insight is greatly appreciated.
 
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