Family Spring bear trip

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Jan 24, 2019
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I want to start off by saying my wife and kids have wanted to go out west with me for acouple years now and to be honest I've ran out of excuses not to take them. I wholeheartedly believe we can do this and more or less am looking for guidance from people who have hunted western states with children. What were some things that you would make sure to do? Would you do it again? Any tips or concerns camping/hunting with kids in grizzly country? (Plan to camp inside a hot fence)

For some context : We are a family of 6 (4 kids ages 9-12) its not uncommon for us to spend 25+ hours a week in the deer woods during nov-dec. All of the kids have harvested deer and honestly i could not ask for more patient and driven wife and kids. We are in the planning stages of a 5+/- day DIY spring bear hunt late may/early june, Spot and stalk, Will be driving from indiana and truck camping in either idaho or Montana, wife and possibly myself holding tags. This hunt is being geared towards my wife and kids having a positive experience hunting out west that hopefully results in my wife harvesting a bear. A rough plan is to enjoy the morning around camp and focus on bears in the evenings. Hike in the early afternoon and glass until dark. We will more than likely hike into a different area and glass new country every day unless we are turning up bears. Any criticism is appreciated!
 
I know nothing about bears but love seeing things like this. I took my wife/kids to Yellowstone in 2022 and they 'get it' now and that's a huge part of why my oldest is going elk hunting this fall.
 
I dont know anything about Spring Bear Hunting out west, but my son has expressed interest in wanting to kill a bear. Like you my son and daughter have killed some deer, and my son managed a small fork horn mule deer last year when we went to eastern montana.

I know even less about grizzlies and not sure I want to know much about them other than places to avoid them lol

But like you i drug the whole famdamnly across country to montana for a fall mule deer hunt if you want to talk the semantics of that feel free to PM me lol
 
I have taken my kids out for a yearly fall bear hunt the last couple years, but they are much younger than yours. The only thing I would reconsider is taking them to a brand new place you are unfamiliar with that has grizzlies. For me, the less things to worry about the better.

I mostly try to make it fun for them which means not rushing out of camp at the crack of dawn and making it back to camp well before dusk - yes, prime killing hours. Have plenty of snacks (especially healthy snacks) and some drinks - you can include some sweat treats but I personally feel the sugar crash and lack of energy as a result is not worth it. I also try to have some activities back at camp - sling shot, bow and arrow, ect. Make sure they have decent clothes and layers so they will be warm and comfortable. Hope you have fun!
 
I live in WA and hunt spring/fall bears every year and have included my kids since they were little. We just concluded a successful WA fall backcountry bear hunt. Feel free to shoot me PM’s if you have specific questions, I will toss some general advice on here for you and others that I have learned.
- Spring bear with kids is best late May/early June. Better weather and access with snow can equal less hiking. And there are less people out I have found.
- Be prepared to deal with ticks. They can be obnoxiously thick or non existent depending on location. My girls hated finding them in their hair at night. I used short gaiters on their pants and sprayed them with 25% Deet.
- Spray all your clothes with Premetherin before heading out. It makes a big difference.
- Bring a large saw of some sort. On one of our spring Idaho trips this year we had to cut 60+ trees out of the road to get where we wanted to be. Then a storm knocked a few more down when we headed out.
- Get some sort of satellite communicator, there will likely be no service where you will be hunting.
- Have really good tires plus at least one spare for your vehicle. Depending on where you go, the rocks on the logging roads can be brutal on tires.
- Bring a tarp for daily glassing. The days of spring are long, providing shade when the sun is blaring and weather protection with the spring storms roll in will keep everyone much happier.
- Get trekking poles at least for you and the wife if you don’t have them. The steepness of western bear country makes them a necessity, I also use them as tarp support poles.
- Understand that when a bear is spotted you will likely have to make a move that could put you a mile or more away from your glassing spot and be away from the others in your group for hours. With young kids this takes some planning.
- Choose locations with low grizzly populations. There are places in all the western states where you can make this concern a non issue. My wife did not want to be left alone for any length of time with grizzlies around.
- Pre plan/escout out 3-4 areas, then download maps for each are on whatever hunting map system you use. Many areas in the western states have terrible cell service around or in the mountains. If one spot isnt working out, having your next option already chosen and downloaded will save frustrations.

I’m sure others will chime in with more. Hope these help.
 
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