Advice for 18 year old doing spring bear in Idaho first time

[atorres]

You could get away with no shoes in 24 in may-June.

Thanks. Thinking about 23 and 25 and maybe 19 at this point

 

[Customweld]

Thanks. Thinking about 23 and 25 and maybe 19 at this point

All 3 units are pretty solid for bruins. 19 and 25 are bigger and rougher in terrain than 23.

 

[atorres]

All 3 units are pretty solid for bruins. 19 and 25 are bigger and rougher in terrain than 23.

Glad to hear I'm on the right track. 26 and 27 are included as well if we can get to em with the snow.

What are roads like in the 3? We can't take my 4wd so we're mostly gonna be hiking. Because of that a unit with either excellent roads, or very few roads, is probably preferable to me. Few roads is probably best.

 

[zion zig zag]

What about 12 then? Paved road right through the center with roads off to either side.

 

[atorres]

What about 12 then? Paved road right through the center with roads off to either side.

Too thick for my taste for spot and stalk, from what I've heard at least. And I would prefer for there to be very few roads period.

 

[sneaky]

What vehicle are you guys taking if you aren't taking a 4wd?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[atorres]

What vehicle are you guys taking if you aren't taking a 4wd?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

This is so embarrassing lol. Since my 92 Z71 gets 11-12 mpg, we're taking my buddy's 2 wheel frontier. I've been elk hunting for a few years, I absolutely understand what it means to have a 2wd. I do NOT intend to do a lot of driving, which is the reason I want a unit with fairly limited road coverage. I just want a handful of decent roads to hike off of. Not opposed to wilderness either.

 

[Wassid82]

I've hunted in most areas from mcccll south to the NV boarder and over to WY. Bears in in all those areas. I would focus on the evolution you'd prefer to hunt and then find the terrain. When we do S&S we are looking for timber fibers with open shoots between them. I tend to like to hunt that way earlier in the season vs. later. you'll love the country lots to see during the month of June.

 

[atorres]

I've hunted in most areas from mcccll south to the NV boarder and over to WY. Bears in in all those areas. I would focus on the evolution you'd prefer to hunt and then find the terrain. When we do S&S we are looking for timber fibers with open shoots between them. I tend to like to hunt that way earlier in the season vs. later. you'll love the country lots to see during the month of June.

Not sure what you mean by evolution?

 

[Wassid82]

sorry that was a typo....elevation.... at that time of year I have been most successful in the 4,000-6000 range. sorry for the earlier confusion

 

[atorres]

sorry that was a typo....elevation.... at that time of year I have been most successful in the 4,000-6000 range. sorry for the earlier confusion

Gotcha. Yeah I had a biologist tell me it would probably be 7-8000, but that seems REALLY high for Idaho, at least this part of it. Is the rough 1000 feet below snow line a good place to start?

 

[Wassid82]

There are years when I do hunt that high but mostly I hunt sub 7k for bears......there are enough running around that I dont need to chase another 1-2k in elevation gain. I imagine there are lots of different hunting tactics that will work well.

 

[atorres]

There are years when I do hunt that high but mostly I hunt sub 7k for bears......there are enough running around that I dont need to chase another 1-2k in elevation gain. I imagine there are lots of different hunting tactics that will work well.

Right yeah. Thanks for the advice, never done bear before so I need all the info I can get.

 

[ZH1]

Thanks. Thinking about 23 and 25 and maybe 19 at this point

I'm in the same boat as you.
I'm trying to get a plan together for spring bear right now, I just moved to central Idaho. I'll ask around for you and see if I can get some info that would help you in the units you mentioned.

 

[atorres]

I'm in the same boat as you.
I'm trying to get a plan together for spring bear right now, I just moved to central Idaho. I'll ask around for you and see if I can get some info that would help you in the units you mentioned.

I'm settled on 25 now, maybe some in 19A if we feel like it. Pretty much locked in there. I appreciate you offering help. If you plan to hunt in the area pm me

 

[zion zig zag]

Curious why you settled on 25. I don't know anything about that unit but wondering how you narrowed it down.

 

[atorres]

Curious why you settled on 25. I don't know anything about that unit but wondering how you narrowed it down.

Basically one of the McCall biologists told me that there probably wouldn't be much of a point going to the river breaks this late in the season because they're so low. She said a lot of the green probably wouldn't be fresh anymore and a lot of bears might be higher up

 

[atorres]

In response to your earlier comment about success rates, they vary between 5% and 8% based on past calculations which I've done. With about 31,000 bear hunters, between 28,000 and 29,000 go home empty handed. It doesn't matter which unit you hunt. You may spot more bear in southern Idaho (I certainly do) than in northern Idaho units with much larger populations. If you're not familiar with the unit you're hunting and don't know exactly where to look for them you're wasting your time. And forget the advice about food sources. In any given area there will be many food sources (though less so in early spring), just which one(s) will bears be utilizing ?

Haha, well I will have zero familiarity with any unit and I don't know exactly where to look for em. We have 3 weeks to hunt though so hopefully we can figure things out after the first week or two.

 

[dingle]

Some unsolicited words of advice for the future: ease up on discussing unit specifics on the internet for any reason. You've been given hard-won, solid advice by generous strangers and it's been more than enough to ensure that you and your friend will have a good hunt if you take it to heart. Sometimes it's important to remember to just listen to the old timers and be humbly grateful. They know you'll have to learn your own lessons yourself and with nudges in the right direction you've been given, you'll do just that.

One thing I strongly encourage you and your friend to do is to each bring a pocket notebook and a pen and take the time to write down what happened each day of the hunt whenever you have a moment of downtime. This journal can be as detailed or not as you have time for, and you'll get more efficient with more practice. It will serve you well years down the road by triggering memories and helping you improve your decision making in ways you can't possibly foresee now.

Come back after your hunt and let the forums know how it went and what you learned.

 

[Austink47]

Give um hell. I wish I had gotten into this stuff when I was your age.