Idaho Spring Bear

[Idaho4x4Bronco]

Just a reminder, be on the look out for Grizz... I've been watching a decent black bear all week after work and went up there tonight to seal the deal on my first bear, and never saw it. About 20 mins before sun down, a massive grizzly came strolling through.

First time being close to a grizz, it was within 300 yards and not gonna lie, those are some big scary critters. Stay safe fellas.

 

[Oregonhuntrboi]

How well did what you saw in the field compare to the recent imagery photos on OnX or the like? The areas I’m looking at that do have a clear snow line don’t show any “green up” on the recent satellite photos, but the areas that are clearly green have no snow at all… is the first green up too sparse and subtle to show clearly on a satellite image?

Ya onx was completely off. the green up was everywhere onx showed brown. I just tried to focus on the “greenest grass” every bear I saw was near a creek and eating grass that was in flower patches.

 

[Oregonhuntrboi]

Just a reminder, be on the look out for Grizz... I've been watching a decent black bear all week after work and went up there tonight to seal the deal on my first bear, and never saw it. About 20 mins before sun down, a massive grizzly came strolling through.

First time being close to a grizz, it was within 300 yards and not gonna lie, those are some big scary critters. Stay safe fellas.

I’m hunting an area that has never had grizz reported. That being said, the first bear I saw was a massive boar and sure looked like one to me.

 

[gotlag1789]

Ya onx was completely off. the green up was everywhere onx showed brown. I just tried to focus on the “greenest grass” every bear I saw was near a creek and eating grass that was in flower patches.

Yeah same, the recent imagery didn’t look like anything we were seeing with our eyes. In their defense, it was about 2 weeks off. OnX had the snowline at like 4800, whereas there was only snow right at the top in the treeline and same as above, the greenest stuff was right down on the creek bottoms working it’s way up.

 

[KG92]

It’s been my experience that OnX recent imagery is about 10-14 days behind.

It helps to look at previous years’ data on there as well. You’ll see when every brown spot changes to bright green in one click. Then you can compare that to your current imagery and make an educated guess about when stuff will be green. That strategy worked like a charm for me in central ID last week, unfortunately, we didn’t see any bears.

 

[gotlag1789]

It’s been my experience that OnX recent imagery is about 10-14 days behind.

It helps to look at previous years’ data on there as well. You’ll see when every brown spot changes to bright green in one click. Then you can compare that to your current imagery and make an educated guess about when stuff will be green. That strategy worked like a charm for me in central ID last week, unfortunately, we didn’t see any bears.

Yeah, we were in central area, as well. the weather was beautiful at least. heavy hiking/sight seeing haha.

 

[Jason Snyder]

Sometimes spring bear hunting is all about timing and hitting a stretch of nice days in a row.

There is plenty of green up in western and central ID

 

[IDVortex]

While I'm taking advantage of this gorgeous day today, and in between glassing. I was wondering. Are spring bears more active later in the morning to afternoon? Or does it depend?

 

[Jason Snyder]

While I'm taking advantage of this gorgeous day today, and in between glassing. I was wondering. Are spring bears more active later in the morning to afternoon? Or does it depend?

No expert but…

Early morning, especially on warmer days until about 8-10 is good time for activity.

Mid day can be slow.

Late afternoon to dark is primo.

 

[IDVortex]

No expert but…

Early morning, especially on warmer days until about 8-10 is good time for activity.

Mid day can be slow.

Late afternoon to dark is primo.

More of a expert than I am.

 

[gotlag1789]

4/21 after driving all night, we rolled up to our trailhead ~1000 and a dude came walking down the adjacent trail with a bear lol. said he had shot him at 0800. it had been in the 70s by mid day. but assuming morning and night... take that with a grain of salt as i shot nothing but rocks haha.

question for everyone else. when there is no snowline to guide the glassing and the greenup is way down low by the river bottoms, is that where youd put your eyes? we were in a super steep canyon section, the inital trail was around 4k ft and the ridge went up to 6k and down to 2200 on the bottom. we looked up and down for 7 days and didnt see anything. is there a particular area to key in on?

 

[Jason Snyder]

4/21 after driving all night, we rolled up to our trailhead ~1000 and a dude came walking down the adjacent trail with a bear lol. said he had shot him at 0800. it had been in the 70s by mid day. but assuming morning and night... take that with a grain of salt as i shot nothing but rocks haha.

question for everyone else. when there is no snowline to guide the glassing and the greenup is way down low by the river bottoms, is that where youd put your eyes? we were in a super steep canyon section, the inital trail was around 4k ft and the ridge went up to 6k and down to 2200 on the bottom. we looked up and down for 7 days and didnt see anything. is there a particular area to key in on?

Glass the easy spots first and then pick apart the timber stringers and such.

A lot of times I’ll spot bears with my naked eye first. Even at 1000-1600 yards a bear will stand out. The bear I shot this year I glassed with 10x binos at two miles then put the 25x spotter on him.

Sometimes early in the season you will find bears just wandering. Probably moving from denning areas to places with better feed.

Glass the green or right above it.

 

[gotlag1789]

Glass the easy spots first and then pick apart the timber stringers and such.

A lot of times I’ll spot bears with my naked eye first. Even at 1000-1600 yards a bear will stand out. The bear I shot this year I glassed with 10x binos at two miles then put the 25x spotter on him.

Sometimes early in the season you will find bears just wandering. Probably moving from denning areas to places with better feed.

Glass the green or right above it.

Appreciate that input

 

[KG92]

Yeah, we were in central area, as well. the weather was beautiful at least. heavy hiking/sight seeing haha.

Did you have a cold snap where you were? The area I was in had seen 70 degree temps for a couple of weeks. A day before I got there, it dipped down to highs in the mid 40s and got windy, and remained that way through our trip. I’m guessing that slowed everything down and made the bears much less visible.

 

[gotlag1789]

Did you have a cold snap where you were? The area I was in had seen 70 degree temps for a couple of weeks. A day before I got there, it dipped down to highs in the mid 40s and got windy, and remained that way through our trip. I’m guessing that slowed everything down and made the bears much less visible.

Nah it was like low 30s at night and then by 1000 it was 65-70 in the sun. We had one cloudy day and like 10 seconds of rain. Otherwise it was sunny/beautiful. Friday though we seen the rain roll in and it didnt stop until we got out of the dakotas 2 days later haha.

 

[IDVortex]

Well, I've given up hunting, went out twice and saw nothing. So giving up, because that's the world we live in.

Went out from 11-5:15 today. No bears, no sign. Found my elk hunting spot though. Going to try this spot hopefully at sun rise tomorrow morning, otherwise i think I'm going to move on to another area.

realizing after about 5 minutes of glassing my eyes are done, and so is my head. May come back into town tomorrow and check out some UHD binos or just order some Maverns B5.

Crazy how a area looks perfect for bears, but you see nothing. Also, never really realized how hard it is to focus on taking apart a certain area before moving on when glassing. Learning patience, the other thing. At 6'2" and 170, I'm fat and out of shape.

 

[Goody454]

View attachment 707298

Well, I've given up hunting, went out twice and saw nothing. So giving up, because that's the world we live in.

Went out from 11-5:15 today. No bears, no sign. Found my elk hunting spot though. Going to try this spot hopefully at sun rise tomorrow morning, otherwise i think I'm going to move on to another area.

realizing after about 5 minutes of glassing my eyes are done, and so is my head. May come back into town tomorrow and check out some UHD binos or just order some Maverns B5.

Crazy how a area looks perfect for bears, but you see nothing. Also, never really realized how hard it is to focus on taking apart a certain area before moving on when glassing. Learning patience, the other thing. At 6'2" and 170, I'm fat and out of shape.

6’2” and 170 is fat…?
Also, giving up after 2-days…

I’m guessing this is a joke.

 

[IDVortex]

6’2” and 170 is fat…?
Also, giving up after 2-days…

I’m guessing this is a joke.

Is it not fat? My legs say otherwise and my lungs.

Of course, 2 days is the best amount to give before you call it quits.

Yes, satire.

 

[NLenz22]

We’re almost to Idaho for a 5 day hunt and it looks like we’re going to have some cold, crappy weather. Do the bears tend to go back to their dens to sit out the cold, or do they just not move as much? Has anyone had any luck calling bears when hunting conditions are less than ideal?

 

[ridgehopper]

We’re almost to Idaho for a 5 day hunt and it looks like we’re going to have some cold, crappy weather. Do the bears tend to go back to their dens to sit out the cold, or do they just not move as much? Has anyone had any luck calling bears when hunting conditions are less than ideal?

The bears won’t be moving a ton right now even if it’s nice