Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Western MT bears out?

I have gone out three days in the past week. Havn't even found a track yet. Went into the elk horns one day and up stemple pass the second. You can almost make it up teh back way to the top of stemple. I got stopped a mile or so from the top.

Not much green out yet though....

Anyone in helena have any other spots that might be worth trying?

It's an odd year, not green at all yet in the early places, even though not much snow. It's just around the corner though.

Looks like 70s next week. That ought to get a few more rolling around.

Got out yesterday and saw where a bear had dug up a couple ground squirrels recently. No tracks to be found on the dry ground, so I couldn't tell what flavor it was. Was just happy to see some sign. Itching to bloody the 454 model 92.

Edited 'cause I can't type after drinking.

Boomwack: Just this minute (Thursday May 2nd 2,013 at 10:22 PM) saw that Bozeman set a new all time low temperature record for this date at 16 degrees and Butte came within a couple of degrees of their all time low for this date which was 11 degrees (the record).
Yeah it is still "wintery" here in far SW Montana.
All my Bear Hunting compadres are reporting lots of Wolf tracks though.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

There's no bears left, the wolves ate em all.

Bad news is they are calling for another drought... ugghhhh

No sign yet around the Bitterroot for me, plenty of gophers out though!

4100fps: I found a bunch of black bear hair in wolf scat all over the greater Flathead area last spring. The wolves are certainly eating the bears - just the young ones it seems. I'd rather have the bears in the woods than the wolves, for sure.

We need a spring wolf season running concurrent with bear season. I never see 'em in the fall, but do in the spring during denning season. It would be a step in the right direction - a step toward shoot on sight year round.

I found where she killed this cub. Took the head back to the den for the pups.

FWP bio flying yesterday, got a pic of two wolves, one collared, chasing a griz. Me thinks it got a little too close to some puppies in a den. Chasing right off the south fork road.

Yessir, looks like them cold nights should be behind us now...

G'damn wolves...... government introduced evasive species chit.

Do not forget your extra chit 'wolf' tags.....

Is that why guys on the internet act like they are all over the hills like flies on chit, but when the numbers come in the often fail to meet quota?

I'm headed to Trout Creek this weekend. Hoping to kill a gobbler but a bear will fill in as well if I can find one. Will report back with my findings on conditions and such.

Is that why guys on the internet act like they are all over the hills like flies on chit, but when the numbers come in the often fail to meet quota? [/quote]

It has been my findings hunting fall or spring around here your chances of finding wolf tracks is greater than finding bear tracks. Even though wolves are very elusive, keen and stealthy.

Go back 15 years ago around here, you would find a bear track long before a wolf track.

I use to have not much sympathy for bears now I have some sympathy towards them. Different lion hunters in the area have found dead bears in dec/jan with nothing but wolf tracks around there partly devoured carcas....whats up with that.

Are moose count is going down, but more moose skeletons/carcass being found, livestock mortality reports keep going up....

For the sake of this thread and bear season alone, I hope and wish all wolves end up with parvo and die.

Cool pic drahtaar.



Travis

Here is another standoff I got pics of. The sow put a cub up the tree. The wolf paced back and forth for quite a while. She charged out a couple times, eventually the wolf gave up.

My case in point is in drahtaar pics 'bout wolves

May they all get parvo and die

My point is, wolves have been running around these parts in force, where these pics were taken long before the reintro. There is more elk, less mulies, more bears, more wolves, more lions than ever before. Why wouldn't they go after bears? They have meat on their bones too. There is just as many bear piles with fawn hooves as there is wolf sign. I personally don't feel bad for any of them. Truth be told, lions are causing more problems where I hunt than wolves, and I promise you, the bears(black and griz) are killing far more fawns and calves than wolves. Everywhere is different, and its all in your perspective. Wolves are nothing new here, and they certainly aren't the end all be all of hunting here either.