Nice picture! I'm ready for a color phase this spring.....the last seven have all been coal black.

I reckon in the next 10-15 days we start to hear stories about Longclaws being spotted or his tracks about 90 miles south of here eh. You think?

We still got a bit to go before they start popping out here. Already been going through the gear pile.

Still working to get my first Montana bear. This will be my year!
Hopefully will be seeing my finished lifesize black bear from Alaska in the next week or two.

I'll be looking for the little blondish barren ground goph grizzlies...I cant get in a LOT more shooting, and am not required to pack the meat out....

Mark,

That thing looks like a cow. Make sure you weigh him after he hits the turf- I'd like to know what the scale reads!

Thoughts of Idaho bears have been consuming every waking moment. May can't get here soon enough!..

I'll have three tags in my pocket and lots of long, lonely evenings behind glass.

3 tags...?

this oughta be good....

thinking he meant 3 tags that weren't filled... aka Tag soup

Mark, you mentioned a while back you had some articles about bear hunting you could send out. Could you email them to me? bluedreaux at gmail dot com

I'd sure appreciate it. Thinking I need to bring my dad up this fall. He's been wanting to go for a few years and I want make it happen.

Eric

counting...

add 15 days for us wy. bear killers
still can't come soon enuf

U should have an email there Blue

Dober

Yep. 80 bucks for three tags good for 70 some evenings. Can use all three tags within a 45 minute drive from my house.

Guessing you're meaning 3 different states....?

2 in Idaho and 1 in Montana is my guess

That'd be my guess as well...

Hoping to be able to get out west and go bear hunting for the first time this spring.

Since there's probably no bear hunt for me this year here's last springs colossal ground shrinkage from Lolo Creek. Man I thought this was a good bear from 300 yards away. The ears looked a lot smaller through the glass. I was unpleasantly suprised when I finally found where he stopped rolling into the abyss. He only weighed about 100 pounds.

Checking it with the FWP was embarrasing but at least it was an easy pack out!

I've got about double the 54 day figure until we get out that way to look for some bears. One of the boy's buddies is coming out with us this spring. They're already making big plans and talking it up. Should be an incredibly good time for all.

May 13th is the beginning of the Golden time for the areas I haunt

Good looking hide on it either way. If you're in to eating them probably tasted good too.

I found some green budding out already on my hike this weekend. If the weather stays it's course we're going to have a really early spring this year. Should be able to access some of the higher area I can't usually get in to.

Dropped the ball big time last year on an elk hunt by not having an oso tag in my pocket... saw a big fat bastid on my way down outta the canyon in a nice brown phase Oh well, this year.

Ahhh.. Can't wait to feed the ticks

Seriously, the cabin fever is getting bad for me.



52, and counting

Got it Mark, thanks.

Lets see some dead bears this year. I'll be hunting in about 40 days.

So wrong for those of us with no bears to hunt, just good old hedge bears (ground hogs). At least the pack out is easy. Good luck to all, looking foward to lots of stories.

God I hope so.


Travis

Good luck I got a spring bear hunt on my list

Where you going?

Dober

A very long wait still here in the East. Fall only, around mid Sept.

Was hoping to get to Idaho but no go with work. Good luck. My rug from last year is due in a couple of weeks.

Gorgeous bear Tony.


Travis

Nice! I like that picture.

Nice Brown Bear track from AK a couple years ago. Would of liked to see the critter that left it.

Thats a honker of a bruin Tony!

Idaho? Spot n stalk or bait?

Thx 4 sharing

Dober

Mark
you and some of the others sound like pretty dedicated
and savvy spring bear hunters and chasers.
like to hear your thoughts on the time of the month for peak activity of boars searching for sows.

Around here, it's my opinion that they begin to seek female companionship around the 27th of May. Peak of the rut I can't say 4 sure but tween there and mid June (which is when our season ends in parts of our state).

The good about the rut in our area is you see some big bruins that you might not be seeing. Then the down side is that if we don't get on them and kill them that night, often time we don't see them again. At the rut time of year I'm speaking.

Dober

Gonna take my 9 year old son with me this year. He's been along for ducks/geese, coyotes, rock chucks, and even spent a memorable morning with me in the antelope blind a couple of years ago, but this will be the first time we really get after it together.

I am SO freaking excited to take him that I can't stand it. In fact, I can't remember the last time I was this excited for a hunt of any sort.

It will be spot and stalk, but he's a tough little dude and I really think he'll do just fine. Truth be told, he's probably in better shape than me right now.

Yeah my 2 year old G-son and his sister who's 4 will be seeing their first bruins this spring. My oldest G-son who's 12 has a desire to bounce a bruin so we'll see.

Now, I just gotta find one of the furry buggers...grin

Dober

Grazie. Spot and stalk outside Golden BC. Was really chasing grizzly. He really has a beautiful thick coat. Looking forward to seeing the rug. They were late coming around due to the large amount of snow still remaining mid-May.

Since bear hunting is mostly a sit and glass deal (at least for me), what optics do you guys use and/or favor for bear hunting?

For most of my work I use 7x42 SLC's, I also use my 15x56's quite a bit as well. For micro mgt of heads at range I like a big spotter (Leo 12-40) and for hiking I carry my 20x50 Leo hardbody. It's older than dirt but one of the very best spotters going for my eyes.

Lastly, we use a pair of 6x30 Yo's quite a bit and I've a small pair of Vortex (10x26 or something like that) that I carry when I know a death march is inevitable and I have an intended volunteer in mind.

I'm all about glassing, glassing and glassing.

Last piece of gear I use for glassing is a piece of Latigo about the size of a large pizza that I use for a pad to sit on while glassing. Keeps my backside dry and out of rocks, stickers etc and keeps me glassing more.

Couple of buds carry Crazy Creek chairs and love them as they have a back rest.

Dober

Bears make for a great father-son hunt. Spot and stalk, Washington:


My son got his one afternoon, I tagged mine the next morning. A friend got the glossy black sow. It was great!

I roll with Steiner Peregrine 10X42 binos and a Swarovski 20-60X65 HD spotting scope. They're expensive, but worth it.

For glassing, a pair of Vortex 15x56 Kaibabs, for evaluating I use my Leupold 12-40x60 HD spotter, and I always have my 8.5x52 Minox in a bino vault on my chest.

Dober - What are your thoughts on bear activity the first week in June this year in re: to that area I hunted last year? I'm assuming the snow is going to be gone a lot earlier this year than it was last year?

Check on NOAA's website. There's a lot of good info on snowpack there.

In my part of the world, its going to be early this year.

lieca 10x 42s and a 3" thick butt pad ( got a boney butt)
spotter is a 1983 era swarovski.
fawn in a can and a dying rabbitt always in the pack.

Ranger-that's gonna be model perfect! Looking forward to seeing ya this year if it works out. The new lil micro area I found is gonna be a rock star of a place, I can feel it.

Be a great place for your boy, or you....grin to plant a 7' coal black tip to tip bruin....

Dober

The excitement is building - planning is well underway. Just ordered up a batch of those Rapala lures we had such good luck with last year. Now if we can just manage to have nice weather!

I'll be there to help you rip some lips.....

Dober

Yeah, I'm hoping that I don't end up having to escort clients on snowshoes during the first part of May. Hoping it's going to become unseasonably warm during March and April.

I know I'm not one of the Montana guys, but I hunt withing a mile or two of the state line on the Idaho side.

I hunted hard in 2008. No shot. In 2009, two chances, didn't get a shot with my really bad eyes. (Stalking with the help of a friend. When it was time to shoot, couldn't find the bear in the scope.) Last spring (Day 37 over the three years?), I decided if it was at least a five and a half footer, or a color, I'd shoot if I Had the chance. When I saw this guy I could tell he was young, but I thought he was really pretty.

He lost a little getting rugged. Hi is now 5 foot from nose to tail, and five four from claw to claw. Now, I'm regretting it a little. Since I have two larger rugs on the wall, I should have let him walk. Oh well, his coat is nice and I love the spring hunts. I got him back from the taxidermist Tuesday.


And yes, I know many of you would have done your rug with the mouth closed!

Anyway,about 60 more days for me...

Sorry to hear that you regret killing an animal. That's too bad.

Yea, I know I sound ungrateful. I think he is beautiful and I had a great time hunting, but I do regret I didn't let him walk and have another year or two.

Since none of us are hunting spring bear so we don't starve, this is hunting for fun and trophies. (See comments about "ground shrinkage" and hoping for bears that square 7 feet.) My comment that I am "regretting it a little" for not holding out for a larger bear is my being honest, but I understand it may sound disrespectful to the animal and will make an effort to not harvest another bear I'm not 100% on.

You've NEVER wondered if you should have waited for another animal after you've shot? I'm not trying to be argumentative, just to understand. Two years ago I took a spike elk. Seconds after having shot, a big bull came in. I regretted shooting the spike when, if I would have waited, I could have taken a shot at the big bull.

I thought the vast majority of hunters have had similar experiences.

Possibly they have. The only time I've ever noticed someone who was regretful, was when a client mistakenly shot the wrong bull moose of three that were responding to a call. He got over it, though. Took him about two days to subside that regret. As for me, personally, I've never regretted killing anything. But, I've somewhat regretted not killing something when I had ample chance to do so.

You're not alone. I'd venture a guess that most have been there at least once.