Idaho Spring Bear

[.204smokechaser]

I’ll have to say I’ve ran into 9 different states worth of bear hunters this spring and all have been pleasant to conversate with.

 

[.204smokechaser]

Clearwater Region has several units that close on 5/31 every year.

Being a non-res, I only see unit 32 being closed and portions of 24. Is there anywhere else other than the controlled hunt areas I'm not seeing? Just curious. Thanks

 

[Old_Norther]

Saving this thread! Great Info.

 

[bucksduckstrucks]

Looking towards the 2023 spring bear in Idaho, I have ran baits in Idaho but this year my military unit will be in Africa for all of June. Hoping to do a backpack spring bear hunt in Idaho. Any suggestions on where to start?

 

[bucksduckstrucks]

I have herd thy the snow packs could effect the bears coming out of there dens is thi true leaving on my bear hunt April 30 to may 7th in the frank church any for sight would be appreciated

Mind if I ask how this hunt went for you? I am looking into a spring hunt in the church for 2023.

 

[bucksduckstrucks]

I'd be happy to help as well with locations. But sounds like you got it covered!

Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk

I'd be interested in chatting about locations if you're still open to it? I have baited bears in Central Idaho but in 2023 my military unit will be in Africa for all of June (when we normally bait), so I am looking into spot and stalk.

 

[BLJ]

Tagged for later. Looks like a lot of good info.

 

[dham6574]

A hunt residents should be happy to help with. Come have a great time and kill a bear. Montana and Wyoming also have good spring bear hunting. Spot and stalk is lots of fun and totally doable for hunting. On multiple trips I've spotted bears on day one.

Nonresidents wondering where to go have lots of options. The units with the most bears killed, say top three, are well known. They're good and have a lot of bears killed to some extent because of their popularity. Not crazy busy in those units from my experience but also kind of nice to get off the beaten track a bit more.

Salmon, McCall, Sawtooth, Beaverhead, Lemhi all have at least decent bear numbers. The Middle Fork and Selway Zones are not very accessible due to high country access points until Mid June or later when the bear hunting starts to drop off or get closed. You could target a mid June backcountry hunt in there and make it work but access will be a challenge and the bear hunting won’t be easy that late and in huge country. You could also do a fly-in hunt earlier in the season when the greenup is closer to the river and animals are closer to winter range. That would likely be a better hunt. You could have a wolf, lion, bear combo hunt and just an amazing time in deep backcountry. The other main access point to the Selway and Salmon Zones is along the river roads. Steep hiking but a good number of bears if you hike away from access points.

In general, for the average guy not messing with the lower priced tags which are more difficult to access and rugged to get around will make for a more successful hunt. Buy full price and go for it.

Throughout the state, you'll want to do your research to see if the road you're planning on taking will be open. Anything above 5,000 feet is a red flag. Call the forest service office and post on here if you want about the roads. Look at Snotel and information available online about snowpack. Many will be closed or impassable. You might be good for a while and then hit a snowbank. A common good approach is to find a lower elevation road and hike up from there. 4 wheelers are very helpful for getting around when access might be hit or miss.

Northern Idaho has more bears generally speaking than south and central Idaho. Panhandle, Clearwater, and Lolo areas can be productive. You will have to plan for how you hunt with all the dense timber but there are bears around and more wolves up there too.

Pioneer and more desert units south of I-84 don't have a lot of bears.

Normally the later part of April through early June the hunting can be good. May is a nice middle ground. You might want to hunt a little lower or higher depending on the timing.

Feel free to PM. Depending on volume and where you're looking, I might be able to help. I don't know that much about the areas north of the Salmon River Breaks. Anything south of that I've probably ventured through and hunted at least a little for some critter.

Late reply on this but it won't let me PM you. I'm looking to do a spring bear hunt in early June, looking to spot and stalk, and not afraid of a hike. Do you have any recommendations for places to go or some tips and tricks?

 

[TERMINATOR]

Late reply on this but it won't let me PM you. I'm looking to do a spring bear hunt in early June, looking to spot and stalk, and not afraid of a hike. Do you have any recommendations for places to go or some tips and tricks?

This entire 27 pages is nothing but tips tricks and where to go

You should read it

 

[dham6574]

This entire 27 pages is nothing but tips tricks and where to go

You should read it

I mean I wouldn't be replying here if I hadn't been reading it. But as you stated, there's 27 pages which isn't exactly concise or easy to sift through while I've got other stuff going on. I'm also trying to get enough posts to get permissions. And if Idahohikker doesn't want to respond to me, he doesn't have to

 

[idahodave]

Sifting through the information provided represents too much work because it isn't "concise" enough?...Jesus I hate what the internet has done to hunting.

 

[TERMINATOR]

Sifting through the information provided represents too much work because it isn't "concise" enough?...Jesus I hate what the internet has done to hunting.

Exactly

Lazy a$$ people be like "Just give me the GPS #s. I don't want to have to read or anything...I got other stuff going on. Just spoon feed me and wipe my chin"

I read every post in this thread because I was interested in Bear hunting. If a person is too da*n lazy to spend a hour reading through these post to learn about bear hunting then they really are not that interested in bear hunting and deserve jack squat.

If this wasn't worth reading there would not be 27 pages of post...it would have died after 2-3 pages

 

[Rob5589]

Late reply on this but it won't let me PM you. I'm looking to do a spring bear hunt in early June, looking to spot and stalk, and not afraid of a hike. Do you have any recommendations for places to go or some tips and tricks?

Check the IDFG website for harvest stats and pick a unit. I've hunted ID 6 seasons in 5 different units (for deer and elk) and have never seen a bear, ever. So it's not as easy as you may think. It's going to take work and boot miles.

 

[TERMINATOR]

I mean I wouldn't be replying here if I hadn't been reading it. But as you stated, there's 27 pages which isn't exactly concise or easy to sift through while I've got other stuff going on. I'm also trying to get enough posts to get permissions. And if Idahohikker doesn't want to respond to me, he doesn't have to

Oh...you got other stuff going on....sorry...I didn't realize you had other stuff going on.

@idahohikker should tell you to read the 27 pages and then reach out to him if you have any questions after you have invested a teeny tiny bit of effort into doing your homework. If everybody on this thread just ask him to tell him what unit to hunt and what rock to sit on while you glass he would be buried in PMs and you all would be fighting over that rock

 

[TERMINATOR]

Check the IDFG website for harvest stats and pick a unit. I've hunted ID 6 seasons in 5 different units (for deer and elk) and have never seen a bear, ever. So it's not as easy as you may think. It's going to take work and boot miles.

The success rate on Spot/Stalk bear hunting without bait stands or dogs in Idaho is about 5% .

It is pretty good bet that a person that is too lazy to read this thread doesn't have what it takes to be better than the 95% who don't succeed

 

[Coveyleader]

Wait until “hunting the public” or some other “influencer” screws this up. They can read this thread, get off their ass and show everyone how easy it is and wala…… ID spring bear draw tags in the not so distant future!

 

[Trackerbacker]

I've noticed whenever there's help offered here, there's 2:1 people who complain about help being offered, than requests for help.

It's a good thread, lots of good info. Someone who will read it AND buy a tag AND go hunting, is far smaller than the margin asking for gps coordinates who'll never go hunting and take your precious rock.

Some yall residents need to chill out. Be it idaho, montana, Wyoming, hell, most residents of any state and their "non residents are taking MY animals" need to chill out.

Best case, we have more hunters who might become conservationists. Worst case you were out hunted.

Some of yall definitely took your ball and went home after losing...

 

[Customweld]

I've noticed whenever there's help offered here, there's 2:1 people who complain about help being offered, than requests for help.

It's a good thread, lots of good info. Someone who will read it AND buy a tag AND go hunting, is far smaller than the margin asking for gps coordinates who'll never go hunting and take your precious rock.

Some yall residents need to chill out. Be it idaho, montana, Wyoming, hell, most residents of any state and their "non residents are taking MY animals" need to chill out.

Best case, we have more hunters who might become conservationists. Worst case you were out hunted.

Some of yall definitely took your ball and went home after losing...

There are quite a few residents who chimed in on this thread, with top notch advice and info. Myself included. I don’t reckon any one was complaining about someone asking for a spot, but rather someone who had too much going on to read through 27 pages of Idaho bear hunting Easter eggs. If a guy comes on here asking for more information than 27 pages can offer, than I don’t know what else we can do for him.

 

[Trackerbacker]

There are quite a few residents who chimed in on this thread, with top notch advice and info. Myself included. I don’t reckon any one was complaining about someone asking for a spot, but rather someone who had too much going on to read through 27 pages of Idaho bear hunting Easter eggs. If a guy comes on here asking for more information than 27 pages can offer, than I don’t know what else we can do for him.

I can get behind this, read it with a different inference

 

[dham6574]

The success rate on Spot/Stalk bear hunting without bait stands or dogs in Idaho is about 5% .

It is pretty good bet that a person that is too lazy to read this thread doesn't have what it takes to be better than the 95% who don't succeed

I'm gonna go ahead and apologize for a very poorly worded response to you and everyone else that added as well and to @idahohikker, the 6th was my birthday and I had a few drinks and didn't word what I was trying to say well at all. I can totally see how I came across as lazy, which is not what I was trying to do or who I am, especially since I'm trying to get after a hard hunt in rough terrain. Completely my fault. I have read this thread at least twice and others, but when I read through the thread I didn't see much if any advice for June hunts, most advice seemed to go in May when there are fewer green-up areas but I can't go any earlier. I'm not out here just looking for a GPS coordinate or a rock to sit on, if I wanted my hand held through the whole hunt, I would book a closed fence hunt.

Let me try and reword what I'm saying, I'm looking to go bear hunting in 1st week of June. I can't go earlier. I've been looking into central Idaho around the Salmon river since I won't be able to bait or run hounds so will be doing spot and stalk and am planning on climbing to glassing spots and trying to stay out of grizzly country. So I'm looking at units like 19, 26, 20A, or 28. I know most of the advice here is to go earlier when there's less snow melted, but in June when more snow has melted would it be better to be chasing the melting snow line or looking at a more open country that late in the season? Also is there any good way to avoid running into hound hunters and bait stands besides hiking deeper? If those have been answered, I apologize, I missed them when I read through.