Montana Spring Bear 2025 Start to Finish

[bigbassfish]

Figured I would start this thread off to keep track of my planning and eventually turn it into a live hunt report when the time comes. I am in the process of planning a Bear hunt with my girlfriend next Spring. After dedicating 2023 to a bucket list goal of mine, bowhunting a public land Arkansas black bear, we were fortunate enough to harvest a beautiful male bear our first year and we have the bear hunting bug now.

We haven't really settled on an area yet, we both have flexible enough schedules to be able to take off on short notice, looking at probably 10 days sometime end of May- first week of June depending on weather. I spent a summer in Ennis, so I am somewhat familiar with the SW corner of the state. From what I have gathered, the NW corner will have higher density of both flavors of bear, but is also much thicker country. Ideally, we would like to be able to glass and feel like we are not just hunting the thick timber back home. Is it a reasonable assessment that we may have more success in the NW corner, but more opportunities to glass down south?

I am fairly early on in the thought process here, but it would be my thought that we would likely camp at the truck, and then backpack in for a night or two at a time to try and be as mobile as possible, returning to the truck camp every couple of days or even every night as the situation dictates. Originally I was thinking we would pack in somewhere for the week, but I'm not sure that's the best use of our time.

Still working on getting a bunch of our gear together, we have always been day hunters and its been years since i've been a backpacker. Really looking forward to continuing to provide updates as we work through all of this!

 

[Geewhiz]

Is it a reasonable assessment that we may have more success in the NW corner, but more opportunities to glass down south?

Yes

 

[bigbassfish]

While i haven't really looked into draw odds at all, it would be a bonus if we could bear hunt somewhere we could feasibly draw a Mule deer or Elk tag, and possibly scout the area some while we are there.

Sounds like regardless were we go, we can probably plan for all 4 seasons of weather, and the chance for plenty of rain. I will probably pick up a Seek Outside Cimarron for this hunt, and after just getting back from grouse hunting in CO and getting rained/snowed on in the mountains for 12+ hours, my girlfriend is now willing to buy and pack the stove lol. Is this going to be overkill? Never hot tented before, but it sounds like a nice luxury to have.

 

[Timplant]

A buddy and I basically did the same thing in 22' we've been successful every spring since. Drive out there, be willing to move locations. lots of driving and lots more walking, we havn't found a "zone" we love and will spend our entire two weeks in yet. BUT we are getting close!

go out there, don't be scared but respect the big brown ones. be willingto walk and willing to move, also, you very well could drive around and shoot one of the road if you had too. we didn't but you could.

ITS A BLAST

 

[Timplant]

feel free to PM anything specific, I'll share what I can.

 

[bigbassfish]

Thanks for the offer! Are you planning on this year as well? I'll shoot you a PM with some questions on towns....

This may depend on where we end up going, but I would like to get some vehicle recovery stuff together. I have bad luck on our NF roads, i've gotten something like 4 flats in the past year so I always carry a tire patch kit, air compressor, bottle jack and blocks, along with a shovel. I know I should probably take a chainsaw, what other things should I be taking? Tire chains are a big one in question, what about a Jerry can? My truck has the 36 gallon tank and average anywhere from 18-20mpg so not sure if this is needed.

 

[bigbassfish]

Outside of the recovery gear, we still need to figure out a sleep system. Leaning very heavily towards a floorless tipi tent and a stove is not out of the question, but kind of sounds like a hassle if its not going to be cold and wet like a late season hunt in Colorado could be. Honestly a half nest may be more the ticket for a little extra comfort depending on conditions, but i'm already considering a borah bivy so this may be redundant. Sleeping bags will be the WM Badger for me, and something comparable for her, on the bright side we have sleeping pads figured out already.

This is turning into an expensive trip as i'm trying to fight the urge to buy a bunch of backpacking gear AND truck/base camping gear, but being our first time hunting out west we're willing to do it right and buy quality the first time. Guess well just have to plan more hunting trips to recoup the costs....

 

[jtevanMT]

May and June can be wet (and snowy) in the MT mountains. If you plan on spending more than 2 days away from the truck I would have a stove ready to go and pack it into your camp based on weather forecast. The 1-3 hr breaks in the rain will often bring out the bears. You won’t see them if you are wet and sitting in your truck instead of your glassing spot.

Good Luck, I look forwards to following your story.

 

[bigbassfish]

I think i'm starting to lean more and more towards a pair of borah bivies and skipping the nest. The extra peace of mind keeping our down bags dry and protected from splashes along with the versatility to spike out with a tarp seem like a no brainer. Could also get away from a slippery ground cloth. Granted, I have never owned a floorless shelter so maybe the problems I'm imagining are exaggerated.

From what i recall from my summer near Ennis, the rivers are pretty nasty with run off until atleast June making for some difficult fly fishing. Are we going to struggle trying to fish or is it manageable on the higher mountain streams?

 

[jtevanMT]

Borah Gear has great products (made in Hamilton, MT).

The snowpack and spring temps will dictate run-off. Typically, end of May and early June are peak flows and everything will be muddy and/or blown out. I would not plan on fishing unless you are near a mountain lake that is free of ice. Bring a rod anyway in case of a low snow year but if you run out of room, leave it at home.

We have not had issues with a floorless teepee, stove and Borah ground tarps under a quality pad and quilt. Just find a level spot. I also use a Borah tarp to stay dry on glassing spots throughout the day. Super light and easy to setup with trecking pokes.

If you are not used to camping in g-bear areas, read the threads on Rockslide about the gear you will need (dry bag for food and rope to hang) and how to safely manage a camp to reduce the chance of an bad encounter.

 

[JohnB]

I've had a fair amount of condensation on the inside of my Borah bivy and do all I can to not sleep in it when I'm sleeping under a tarp.

 

[Seeknelk]

Be prepared to deal with wood ticks. Lots of wood tick. At least in most places I bear hunt, and they really come out thick in the spring out here.

 

[GoatPackr]

I'd scrap the backpack camp idea at least for now. Take that money and put a nice canopy on your truck and put a good thick memory foam pad in the bed. You will have plenty of areas to day hunt and have a nice comfortable DRY place to come back to. Maybe every couple days get a room if you want to shower.

Maybe after getting to know a few areas you can expand the camp and pick up the backpack camp stuff in a few years if you want to continue with that. Most people find that it's not needed for spring bear in the areas you are wanting to hunt.

 

[bigbassfish]

Thanks for all the good info... I've camping in griz country a handful of times but i always had a vehicle to lock food away in. I have hung bear bags in Boy Scouts camping in bb country, and we will plan on doing a PCT style hang when needed.

Plenty of experience with ticks hunting early season here in the south, i picked up a pair of the Sitka Equinox guard pants when they first came out and I don't think I've had a problem since. I've recently started hunting in a pair of Kuiu Kutana Stretch pants, which might be my absolute all time favorite for comfort and breathability, definitely cooler than the sitka pants, the side zips on the kutanas are amazing for getting a breeze, but i don't feel as bug proof that's for sure lol.

My original thought with the bivies is they could double as a ground cloth when using the tipi tent, but more versatile than tyvek if we spike out under a glassing tarp. If i went this route, i would likely do the custom modification to have the bug netting go all the way down the centerline of the bivy to help fight the condensation issues. Maybe if ticks are going to be real bad, the nest is the better move just to get some peace from the bugs.

 

[bigbassfish]

I'd scrap the backpack camp idea at least for now. Take that money and put a nice canopy on your truck and put a good thick memory foam pad in the bed. You will have plenty of areas to day hunt and have a nice comfortable DRY place to come back to. Maybe every couple days get a room if you want to shower.

Maybe after getting to know a few areas you can expand the camp and pick up the backpack camp stuff in a few years if you want to continue with that. Most people find that it's not needed for spring bear in the areas you are wanting to hunt.

This was actually the first major purchase for this upcoming trip, i found a killer deal on a color matched Leer topper, less than a year old, for $800, hard to pass up. The issue is we normally have the bed loaded full of gear and we'd have to drag everything in and out every night to have space to sleep. 5.5ft truck bed as a person over 6ft makes it tough too, along with the constant dust issue. If nothing else, we have spent several nights in the cab decently comfortable.

 

[Blind Squirrel]

This was actually the first major purchase for this upcoming trip, i found a killer deal on a color matched Leer topper, less than a year old, for $800, hard to pass up. The issue is we normally have the bed loaded full of gear and we'd have to drag everything in and out every night to have space to sleep. 5.5ft truck bed as a person over 6ft makes it tough too, along with the constant dust issue. If nothing else, we have spent several nights in the cab decently comfortable.

This is basically what we did last year. We also moved around a lot. After the first three nights, we ended up crashing in a motel that was close to the area we finally found some sign in and hunted the last few days. The motel was nice to come back to and have a place to crash. I definitely slept better than in the back of a vehicle or tent.
Another poster mentioned ticks. I sprayed my clothes down with sawyer permethrin spray and had no ticks. My two hunting partners did not and were picking ticks off all day long. After day two, we found a store and bought tick spray.

 

[bigbassfish]

How often do you see turkey sign in the bear woods? I see the season is concurrent with most of bear season, and my girlfriend would probably rather chase gobbles herself anyways. If the rivers are blown out, turkey hunting sounds like a great back up if we tag out on a bear early on our trip.

 

[Blind Squirrel]

How often do you see turkey sign in the bear woods? I see the season is concurrent with most of bear season, and my girlfriend would probably rather chase gobbles herself anyways. If the rivers are blown out, turkey hunting sounds like a great back up if we tag out on a bear early on our trip.

We saw them everyday. So much that next time we go, we are taking one shotgun in the group. You are smarter than we were. We didn’t even think about turkey season until we were in the woods.

 

[bigbassfish]

That's great to hear! Is that the northern part of the state or more south?

For those that have bear hunted out west, how much would a shotgun blast mess up the bear hunting if we happened into some birds before tagging out?


Holy crap reading through Montana's turkey regs, if one so desired you could get 11 turkey tags? Is that because there's that many more birds, or is turkey hunting just so much less popular than in the south?

 

[Blind Squirrel]

That's great to hear! Is that the northern part of the state or more south?

For those that have bear hunted out west, how much would a shotgun blast mess up the bear hunting if we happened into some birds before tagging out?


Holy crap reading through Montana's turkey regs, if one so desired you could get 11 turkey tags? Is that because there's that many more birds, or is turkey hunting just so much less popular than in the south?

We were in the northwest