Idaho Spring Bear

Last year I was driving up the canyons here in my truck the last week of March. Snowmobile or tracks right now for access. Warm weather coming this weekend is going to make it an absolute mess for a while. Here comes the flooding. It is going to take a LONG time to burn this amount of snow off. We got a few more inches last night, and chance of more this evening. No comparison between this year and last year. Steelhead fishing is going to be tough once that runoff brings the river up quick this weekend.

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sneaky said:
Last year I was driving up the canyons here in my truck the last week of March. Snowmobile or tracks right now for access. Warm weather coming this weekend is going to make it an absolute mess for a while. Here comes the flooding. It is going to take a LONG time to burn this amount of snow off. We got a few more inches last night, and chance of more this evening. No comparison between this year and last year. Steelhead fishing is going to be tough once that runoff brings the river up quick this weekend.

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Thanks for the update
 
Anyone currently in the North Fork/Salmon River canyon area? Or even the Riggins side of the canyon? I'm headed into an area north of the Salmon River in 21 at the very end of April. If 5000' and below is clear, I think my access and opportunities will be ok. 6000-6500 would be ideal but that ain't happening this year.
 
I think you’ll be good to 5000’ feet on the north side of the river at the end of April, lots of south faces that will burn off up there


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KG92 said:
Anyone currently in the North Fork/Salmon River canyon area? Or even the Riggins side of the canyon? I'm headed into an area north of the Salmon River in 21 at the very end of April. If 5000' and below is clear, I think my access and opportunities will be ok. 6000-6500 would be ideal but that ain't happening this year.
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I bet you will have drifts you can’t get through. I bear hunted above Riggins last year in May, we still couldn’t get around.
 
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Those bear don’t care about snow, when its time to come out of their dens, snow depth isn’t much of a factor! If the chipmunk squirrels are out, so are the bears!

I’m working on the north slope in Alaska right now, it was -30 this morning and there are grizzlies out and about for a week now, and there’s lots of snow too!

Hike off the road system away from the hound boys and baiters, hunt till dark and you will find bears!
 
.204smokechaser said:
Those of you who want to get into 10 won’t be able to go far for a few more weeks yet unless you have rigs that can handle driving on shitty snow or tracked utvs. There’s a few folks I had to tell the bad news today at the gas station that came all the way here without checking conditions. Beaver Creek is only plowed to Sheep Creek. After that, 3-6’ of spring time snow conditions on the road until you get to the River and spotty up river from there.
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You can get down there, but still A LOT of snow. Got 2 of my baits out this weekend and did see fresh sign in an area where one of the bears dens at. He wasn’t in it his den.
 
Pictures taken last week in central Idaho at 5600ft. North slopes buried under several feet of snow. South slopes pretty open at this elevation. Roads and access still very limited.
 

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How many of you guys are bringing a quad, SxS, or dirt bike? Buddy and I are heading there first week of June and just cannot decide to bring a quad and dirt bike or not? Looking at the unit it seems there's not a lot of trails to get around but may be worth it to aid in potential pack out.

Bear fever is really starting to kick in!
 
OregonSteeler said:
How many of you guys are bringing a quad, SxS, or dirt bike? Buddy and I are heading there first week of June and just cannot decide to bring a quad and dirt bike or not? Looking at the unit it seems there's not a lot of trails to get around but may be worth it to aid in potential pack out.

Bear fever is really starting to kick in!
Click to expand...
If you have one, I'd drag it along. I try to plan as many "through" hunts as I can. Basically meaning park a rig at the bottom and drive up to the top and hunt down to the lower vehicle. Obviously, you cant do that everywhere but more roaded units, it works well.
 
mtnbiker208 said:
Unit 4/6 boundary
Normal snow depth for this time of year.
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I am planning on heading that way this year for the first time. Me and a buddy would love that terrain. Any pointers or advice you could share about bear hunting that area? We were looking into 4,6,7. But open to other areas
 
Jessewillits said:
I am planning on heading that way this year for the first time. Me and a buddy would love that terrain. Any pointers or advice you could share about bear hunting that area? We were looking into 4,6,7. But open to other areas
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I am not much of a bear hunter, but i am a winter freak. I was just showing the amount of snow we currently have, which is normal for this time of year.
 
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