2022 Idaho Spring Bear UNIT 1

[Hambone74]

I was reading your post a few years ago in regards to Spring Bear hunting in Bonners Ferry. My son and I are headed up Mid May. Would you be willing to share some information with us? Not looking for honey holes just trying to decide if we should go around Priest Lake or Bonners Ferry. Any help is appreciated. Thanks

I have a sample size of one year, and this winter is drastically more snowy than last year, but by June last year there wasn't anywhere I went scouting that had snow in enough quantity to be a bother.

I am planning on going up near Priest this spring myself. Word is there are a ton of bears up there. Read online that some of the highest densities in Idaho. Based upon my experience this past fall and spring, I wouldn't worry about pressure in Bear season. Elk season is the only time I ever saw other hunters in the woods up here

I grew up at priest lake in unit 1 and still actively hunt/spend time up there. while there are a decent population of bears up there hunting is tough…. VERY thick heavily wooded country with limited opportunities for glassing spot and stalk. If your sights are set on unit 1 I would focus on the east side of the lake and the bonners ferry side. feel free to PM me with more details.

Sorry to bother you. Looking for some information in regards to bear hunting in Bonners Ferry. My son and I will be going up mid May. Not looking for personal honey hole just some general or any information will help. We hunted up there a few years ago and saw 2 bears for a split second. Thanks for your help.

 

[BuckSmasher]

I was reading your post a few years ago in regards to Spring Bear hunting in Bonners Ferry. My son and I are headed up Mid May. Would you be willing to share some information with us? Not looking for honey holes just trying to decide if we should go around Priest Lake or Bonners Ferry. Any help is appreciated. Thanks



Sorry to bother you. Looking for some information in regards to bear hunting in Bonners Ferry. My son and I will be going up mid May. Not looking for personal honey hole just some general or any information will help. We hunted up there a few years ago and saw 2 bears for a split second. Thanks for your help.

Unit 1 is huge and I break it up in my mind to the three mountain ranges or parts of ranges in it. Cabinets on the east side north of Lake Pend Oreille (pond-o-ray) and south of Kootenay River, Purcells north and east of Kootenay river to Canadian border, and the Selkirks running along west side of Unit all along its length.

Each range varies somewhat in moisture, vegetation and land management. The West side of the Selkirks is state ground, pretty well roaded, and has a bunch of logged areas of varying ages. East slope of Selkirks from Pack river north is very remote. Big fire up there just south of the Canadian border two years ago and I have been wanting to check it out. Almost guarantee you could clean up on morel's in that burn if you wanted to. Westside has a bunch of activity with loggers off roaders bear hunters, hikers etc, at least the state ground portions of it.

The Idaho portion of the Cabinets are fairly remote, gentler than the Selkirks and maybe a touch less moist, not so much as you would casually notice as all of Unit 1 is Temperate rainforest but they are somewhat in the shadow of Selkirks. Good mix of country you can get away from roads and good access.

Purcells are even more gentle than Cabinets, more roaded and more logging activity. Still quite a few opportunities to get away from the road if you want though. Moyie River runs north to south in the Purcells on its way to join up with Kootenay river. Pretty country.

I am gonna go ahead and admit we hunted up there for two and a half days last year at the beginning of May and saw zero bears. Deer and moose and eagles and all kinds of other stuff but no bears. That being said it is prime habitat and I know they are there. Another thing to keep in mind is it is Grizzly habitat. I don't think there are a lot of them but a few. Archers got attacked during elk season a few years ago up Pack River, but ALL of Unit 1 you could stumble across a grizz.

I honestly don't know where I would go if I was heading up. I think the best you can do is park your truck as far in as you can, hike to researched lookout spots and glass. Of course snow depth and presence is gonna vary wildly by aspect and shade. Might not be any all the way to the top on south facing open slopes and quite a bit on shaded north slopes even lower down, that is why I have always thought 'snow elevation' when talking about spring thaw to be very site specific.


Where are you coming up from? I told you all I know. And spent quite a bit of time typing this up. Make sure you let me know how your bear hunt goes!

 

[Hambone74]

Unit 1 is huge and I break it up in my mind to the three mountain ranges or parts of ranges in it. Cabinets on the east side north of Lake Pend Oreille (pond-o-ray) and south of Kootenay River, Purcells north and east of Kootenay river to Canadian border, and the Selkirks running along west side of Unit all along its length.

Each range varies somewhat in moisture, vegetation and land management. The West side of the Selkirks is state ground, pretty well roaded, and has a bunch of logged areas of varying ages. East slope of Selkirks from Pack river north is very remote. Big fire up there just south of the Canadian border two years ago and I have been wanting to check it out. Almost guarantee you could clean up on morel's in that burn if you wanted to. Westside has a bunch of activity with loggers off roaders bear hunters, hikers etc, at least the state ground portions of it.

The Idaho portion of the Cabinets are fairly remote, gentler than the Selkirks and maybe a touch less moist, not so much as you would casually notice as all of Unit 1 is Temperate rainforest but they are somewhat in the shadow of Selkirks. Good mix of country you can get away from roads and good access.

Purcells are even more gentle than Cabinets, more roaded and more logging activity. Still quite a few opportunities to get away from the road if you want though. Moyie River runs north to south in the Purcells on its way to join up with Kootenay river. Pretty country.

I am gonna go ahead and admit we hunted up there for two and a half days last year at the beginning of May and saw zero bears. Deer and moose and eagles and all kinds of other stuff but no bears. That being said it is prime habitat and I know they are there. Another thing to keep in mind is it is Grizzly habitat. I don't think there are a lot of them but a few. Archers got attacked during elk season a few years ago up Pack River, but ALL of Unit 1 you could stumble across a grizz.

I honestly don't know where I would go if I was heading up. I think the best you can do is park your truck as far in as you can, hike to researched lookout spots and glass. Of course snow depth and presence is gonna vary wildly by aspect and shade. Might not be any all the way to the top on south facing open slopes and quite a bit on shaded north slopes even lower down, that is why I have always thought 'snow elevation' when talking about spring thaw to be very site specific.


Where are you coming up from? I told you all I know. And spent quite a bit of time typing this up. Make sure you let me know how your bear hunt goes!

Thank you for the response and the great information. I’m coming from Northern Utah. I will definitely let you know how we do. We are headed up May 13-19 looking forward to it. Thanks again!!