Idaho Spring Bear

[collinjet]

Hey y'all,

Just got back from my first western hunt. It was an amazing 10 day trip (13 total with travel) that was way more enjoyable than I ever could have imagined. I ended up talking to a bunch of different groups being that a solo hunter from WI really stood out. People were quick to share info and I really appreciated each piece of advice I got along the way. I eventually befriended 3 guys from Washington. They had an extra seat in their SxS and offered for me to join them. I ended up spending 5 days with those guys and have plans to hunt Idaho again with them in the future. By the end of the hunt I had seen about 300 elk, 100 deer & 8 or so bear. Took one shot that was a bit out of my comfort range and thought I connected, searched for a few hours with no signs of a hit. One really cool experience was seeing a big sow with 3 cubs that were all different colors. Being that before this trip I had only seen 2 bear in the wild and that I got a crash course on western hunting from my new buddies, I'd say this trip was a huge success. Funny enough, on my way back into WI I saw the bear that ohiodope16 is referring to, and that sucker was huge! Curious to see what the vehicle that took it out looks like.

Taking a look into fall bear options, I see that we have till the 5th to apply for Idaho's controlled hunts. Does anyone have any insights on applying for these? If so, please feel free to reach out!

 

[BagelswithaJ]

Headed to the Unit 14/15 area next week for some late season Bear with my son. Anyone know the road conditions to Orogrande? I have never been and wanted to give him a cool trip as a graduation present. I understand there was a fire in that are last summer. Should we consider Unit 14 instead or further north in 15?

Thanks

 

[gtriple]

Headed to the Unit 14/15 area next week for some late season Bear with my son. Anyone know the road conditions to Orogrande? I have never been and wanted to give him a cool trip as a graduation present. I understand there was a fire in that are last summer. Should we consider Unit 14 instead or further north in 15?

Thanks

Tough hunting this late to be honest. I hunted 14 earlier this season and it is so thick. Access should be better than what I had, although I didn't try to get to Orogrande. If you want a guided hunt over dogs/bait, lmk and I'll hook you up with a guy in the area. Pretty affordable and they kill a good number of bears.

 

[OregonSteeler]

Tough hunting this late to be honest. I hunted 14 earlier this season and it is so thick. Access should be better than what I had, although I didn't try to get to Orogrande. If you want a guided hunt over dogs/bait, lmk and I'll hook you up with a guy in the area. Pretty affordable and they kill a good number of bears.

Hunted unit 14 this last week. Spot on in terms of tough hunting this late. Elk calves everywhere so I'm sure they've keyed into them by now. Also, this was our first time hunting Idaho and lots of roads that we thought were accessible had gates on them. Had to walk 3-4 miles to get to the drainages we wanted to glass. Really limited our efficiency.

Good luck!

 

[Customweld]

Hunted unit 14 this last week. Spot on in terms of tough hunting this late. Elk calves everywhere so I'm sure they've keyed into them by now. Also, this was our first time hunting Idaho and lots of roads that we thought were accessible had gates on them. Had to walk 3-4 miles to get to the drainages we wanted to glass. Really limited our efficiency.

Good luck!

There really aren’t many roads that are open in 14. If you do a lot of studying on google earth, there a lot of roads, but the majority are gated year round.

 

[RedPaint]

Great thread. Just read it all. Thank you. Quick question, do you guys often See wolves when doing spring bear?

 

[yellowbeard]

Great thread. Just read it all. Thank you. Quick question, do you guys often See wolves when doing spring bear?

Often, no. Very occasionally yes. I've seen more mountain lions than wolves in spring bear season. See a reasonable amount of wolf sign. Never had a shot opportunity. I always buy a tag, it's cheap.

 

[BLJ]

Often, no. Very occasionally yes. I've seen more mountain lions than wolves in spring bear season. See a reasonable amount of wolf sign. Never had a shot opportunity. I always buy a tag, it's cheap.

Spot and stalk spring bear, mountain lion and wolf would be the hunt of a lifetime.

 

[Fuenstock]

I’ve only seen wolves once during a late rifle
Cow elk hunt.

 

[N.ID7803]

Great thread. Just read it all. Thank you. Quick question, do you guys often See wolves when doing spring bear?

You know it goes, go without a tag a you will see a whole pack. Tags are cheap, pair it with a membership to F4WM.org and you may come home with $500-2000 or more depending the unit.

 

[MHWASH]

Also keep in mind that several of the "reduced" bear tag units also sell "reduced" mountain lion tags that open during the same season.

 

[.204smokechaser]

For anyone planning on going to 10 next spring who hasn’t been and is only coming for bear, I’d look elsewhere. Been a shit year for bear numbers. I’ve seen 3 this fall. Only a few on the 10 cameras I’m running. Not much bear crap along the river or Kelly Creek. Huckleberry crop wasn’t much or short, choke cherries were hard to find, and the elderberry crop wasn’t great. I’m hoping the low numbers that me and co workers are seeing is just a fluke.

 

[North Idaho Stickbow]

For anyone planning on going to 10 next spring who hasn’t been and is only coming for bear, I’d look elsewhere. Been a shit year for bear numbers. I’ve seen 3 this fall. Only a few on the 10 cameras I’m running. Not much bear crap along the river or Kelly Creek. Huckleberry crop wasn’t much or short, choke cherries were hard to find, and the elderberry crop wasn’t great. I’m hoping the low numbers that me and co workers are seeing is just a fluke.

It was unusually quiet in that area this spring too. You never know what next spring holds though.

 

[.204smokechaser]

It was unusually quiet in that area this spring too. You never know what next spring holds though.

for sure don’t. Around this time last fall I saw 24 in a day just between Aquarius and Black Canyon,

 

[R0bertsDr8ke]

I’m starting to plan a 2024 hunt with a hand full of other NR buddies. We are looking at reduced price units in the pan handle. For the most part we’d be looking to spot&stalk hunt. We are total spring bear novices- everything we know is either from this thread or a hand full of YouTube videos. Thanks very much to those who shared their knowledge and experience.

-how old is too old of a burn area in terms of being able to glass effectively? Should I be looking at stuff that burned as recently as 2021 for green grass and such? Are burns from 10 years ago probably going to be too thick?

- Looks like unit 6 has more animals killed than 7…. But 7 looks a lot bigger and wilder. Any thoughts on whether the difference is just a result of better access and more roads? Or am I really less likely to see bears in 7?

- There was a post a ways back in the thread where a guy hunted 10 or 12 and found that a lot of what he thought was open country when he was e-scouting turned out to be heavy brush that was 6-10’ tall and impossible to glass. Any e-scouting tips to better distinguish what the non-forested cover looks like?

-with bait hunting around, will it be feasible to set a vehicle based base camp and hike to spots we e-scouted day to day? Or will that leave us too close to locals’ bait sites?

 

[GWilliams]

I’m starting to plan a 2024 hunt with a hand full of other NR buddies. We are looking at reduced price units in the pan handle. For the most part we’d be looking to spot&stalk hunt. We are total spring bear novices- everything we know is either from this thread or a hand full of YouTube videos. Thanks very much to those who shared their knowledge and experience.

-how old is too old of a burn area in terms of being able to glass effectively? Should I be looking at stuff that burned as recently as 2021 for green grass and such? Are burns from 10 years ago probably going to be too thick?

- Looks like unit 6 has more animals killed than 7…. But 7 looks a lot bigger and wilder. Any thoughts on whether the difference is just a result of better access and more roads? Or am I really less likely to see bears in 7?

- There was a post a ways back in the thread where a guy hunted 10 or 12 and found that a lot of what he thought was open country when he was e-scouting turned out to be heavy brush that was 6-10’ tall and impossible to glass. Any e-scouting tips to better distinguish what the non-forested cover looks like?

-with bait hunting around, will it be feasible to set a vehicle based base camp and hike to spots we e-scouted day to day? Or will that leave us too close to locals’ bait sites?

I would certainly try to utilize onX’s new recent imagery feature for better e scouting, but having secondary and tertiary plans is the best bet. Everything changes once you set eyes on it. I have car camped and hiked out daily in a region that was heavy with baiting, just be respectful of these spots. I have done an Idaho spring bear hunt 2 years ago and a NW Montana spring bear hunt last year. Find bear sign and you’ll know you are in the right spot, and IMO you can’t beat good glassing country. Let your eyes do the work. Good luck

 

[JJCascade]

For anyone planning on going to 10 next spring who hasn’t been and is only coming for bear, I’d look elsewhere. Been a shit year for bear numbers. I’ve seen 3 this fall. Only a few on the 10 cameras I’m running. Not much bear crap along the river or Kelly Creek. Huckleberry crop wasn’t much or short, choke cherries were hard to find, and the elderberry crop wasn’t great. I’m hoping the low numbers that me and co workers are seeing is just a fluke.

i wonder if the bad elderberry crop there is similar to where i hunted last year in WA, i went there a couple weeks ago to harvest berries due to there being tons last year and when i got there, no berries and no leaves even. perhaps the cold snap earlier this year dropped them early

 

[jstahlberg]

Does anyone have any information about how the spring hunting is in Unit 22? I'd heard of a regulation that opened OTC tags to hunters hunting within a mile of or on private property. As someone who would apply for the tag and take the opportunity to spend a week or so hunting public, is it worth it anymore?

 

[Customweld]

Does anyone have any information about how the spring hunting is in Unit 22? I'd heard of a regulation that opened OTC tags to hunters hunting within a mile of or on private property. As someone who would apply for the tag and take the opportunity to spend a week or so hunting public, is it worth it anymore?

Still some good bruins in there. 32a has definitely seen an impact from that new rule.

 

[Huckleberry Hound]

MAybe a couple months ago i got a survey from idfg about bear hunting regs. Lots of questions about otc opportunities, bag limits, baiting, season dates etc. Seems pretty clear that they might be making some changes. When does idfg usually publish the new big game regs? Anybody heard anything about changes to bear coming this year?