Oregon Spring Bear 2023

[jonesn3]

My dad and I drew the South Central tag. Planning to be out there next week. Not expecting too much, especially based on the harvest numbers and comments here, but just looking forward to getting out and hiking/glassing again.

 

[roosiebull]

Interesting evening for us, haha

 

[EZduzIT]

Wife and I have been hitting it hard with no luck in sign or sightings. Gonna keep moving around!

 

[roosiebull]

Well, my wife killed her first bear and it was a good one. Pretty fun season the little we got to hunt. It died in a complete ****hole, but that’s kinda what bear do. Super happy for her, and glad we waited for a good bear, it ended up being bigger than I thought which is always nice when hunting bear… beautiful bear too with a big white patch on his chest, but I didn’t cape it since we were in a horrible spot, but I got him out in one trip but boned him out… pretty cool stuff! Good way to break in the new pack too, it was a very good test for it, heavy pack in some brutal terrain. Proud husband

 

[DawnPatrol]

Congrats!! Classic place for a western OR bear to die.

 

[TripleJ]

Well, my wife killed her first bear and it was a good one. Pretty fun season the little we got to hunt. It died in a complete ****hole, but that’s kinda what bear do. Super happy for her, and glad we waited for a good bear, it ended up being bigger than I thought which is always nice when hunting bear… beautiful bear too with a big white patch on his chest, but I didn’t cape it since we were in a horrible spot, but I got him out in one trip but boned him out… pretty cool stuff! Good way to break in the new pack too, it was a very good test for it, heavy pack in some brutal terrain. Proud husband

Heck yeah, congrats to your wife Mike, that's a great bear! I like your mentality in getting it out in 1 pack, I would rather suffer a lot one time, than suffer moderately 2 times. Great work!

 

[roosiebull]

Heck yeah, congrats to your wife Mike, that's a great bear! I like your mentality in getting it out in 1 pack, I would rather suffer a lot one time, than suffer moderately 2 times. Great work!

Thanks buddy! I agree with you on one heavy trip unless I physically can’t carry it, and I didn’t want to go back in there if I didn’t have to, it sucked for awhile, coastal burns are horrendous, but most good bear spots are, especially in the bottom where they prefer to die.

I knew I could keep putting one foot in front of the other and not be burdened with the idea of having to get all the way back to the pickup and then all the way back over the mountain and back down into that stuff and all the way back… that is easier to just accept the suck and know you only have to do it once

I felt bad for my wife and all she was packing was one trekking pole

 

[EZduzIT]

Update to our bear hunt in SW. ultimately we were unsuccessful finding any bears. We hunted 8ish days. The first few days were about 90 degrees and mainly us getting our bearings and trying to find the best green up and elevations. It’s no joke navigating logging roads as far back as you can get unless you’re a local and have been hitting it for years. We did not see much but deer and turkeys the first few days. I have a ton of family in the area so we ended up visiting for a day with them and showing my wife all the memories as a kid. We headed back out in the same general area for another day. The weather had changed back to overcast with intermittent rain. We talked to a few loggers who said they hadn’t seen much for bears. We decided to head north and try out some new country. When we got to our new area we realized it was a whole lot greener and in my opinion seemed more promising for us. We primarily glassed green clear cuts with a creek at the bottom or walked decommissioned roads. The second to last day walking a decommissioned logging road we ran across our first fresh bear scat. The only we had found the entire trip. In this new likely area we glassed for the night over some green patches that also had a water hole. Weather had turned around for us and was sunny in the 60s. Again, no bears so we started hiking back to the truck. To our surprise a beautiful red mtn lion was in the middle of the road looking at us. Our wind had been good so we caught it off guard as it was stalking in on some quail. Cool sighting, would love to have been able to harvest it. Other than that we also had seen a ton of elk everyday. The last day we devoted to seeing the ocean since my wife has never been on the pacific side. We ate some clam chowder, packed our bags and rifle and headed home. Very fun time! Thanks everyone for the cool pictures and intel on your hunts this year!

 

[roosiebull]

Sounds like a great trip! One thing I love about spring bear hunting is the beautiful landscape, the woods are alive and I don’t have the pressure to fill the tag like my other tags, it’s just a great time to be in the woods

 

[Cameron.25]

Had a fun week in the backcountry with my dog in the NE corner. My bear was same height as me, 6ft. Saw lots of other bears too, got footage of a boar mounting a sow too but it was far off

 

[7718Sallee]

I just got back from a week in NE also. I harvested a medium bear waaay too far from a road and the truck. But I’m always hunting for an adventure with my typical M O being if l see it I’ll go after it. It was 6 miles as the bird flys and 2800’ elevation loss. Had an awesome adventure with beautiful views and a packout that tested my mental toughness. The new K4 pack worked really well and didn’t slide down my hips like the K2 and K3 l previously owned.

 

[jonesn3]

My dad and I drew the South Central tag. Planning to be out there next week. Not expecting too much, especially based on the harvest numbers and comments here, but just looking forward to getting out and hiking/glassing again.

We turned up one bear between sleet and snow showers the other weekend. Glassed him at about 1300 yds away, by the time we got over to where he had been, he had moved off and we couldn’t relocate him. Just glad to have spotted a nice looking boar

 

[OregonSteeler]

I just got back from a week in NE also. I harvested a medium bear waaay too far from a road and the truck. But I’m always hunting for an adventure with my typical M O being if l see it I’ll go after it. It was 6 miles as the bird flys and 2800’ elevation loss. Had an awesome adventure with beautiful views and a packout that tested my mental toughness. The new K4 pack worked really well and didn’t slide down my hips like the K2 and K3 l previously owned.

Those are some awesome pics with the low laying fog! You should post them on the One Pic a Day thread.

 

[Sierra Hunter]

Had a fun week in the backcountry with my dog in the NE corner. My bear was same height as me, 6ft. Saw lots of other bears too, got footage of a boar mounting a sow too but it was far off

Great looking bear and rad to see your dog out there with you, can’t have too much orange on him out there. Do you make him stay back in your stalk, how does that play out. My GSD would be whining and making all kinds of racket.

 

[Cameron.25]

Great looking bear and rad to see your dog out there with you, can’t have too much orange on him out there. Do you make him stay back in your stalk, how does that play out. My GSD would be whining and making all kinds of racket.

Hey thanks! Yeah it was literally the first time taking her out hunting, she's 7.5 years old tho so she is not as high energy anymore which helped. But as she ages I've noticed she really hates not being with me at all times so I figured I'd try it out so id have some company since my wife couldn't make this trip. She did amazing, I was really proud of her, especially with how much elevation gain/loss we did(2600ft gain/loss twice), spending so much time on and around cliffs, crossing creeks, warm weather etc. Pack out was absolutely brutal too and we were packed really deep in. This was a long distance type hunt too, there's no way I'd take her on a bowhunt. She didn't get closer than 300 yards to the bear so she knew we were sneaking along after something but she couldn't see or smell the bear until right before we walked up on him where he died. She did growl and bark at the dead bear until I started skinning, then she just wanted some meat lol

 

[DaleW]

Well I went out last night to try and kill a bear I had seen in mid April. After biking/hiking the 2.5 miles in I get to the cut and sure enough I see him starting come out of the bottom. I watch him for only around 20 seconds before I hear a huge racket down below be. Turns an elk herd was right below me and I pushed them right into the bear. He ran around 1000 yards without stopping to get into the timber. All I could do is laugh

I may have been too selective this year. I'm not seeing them like I was earlier on unfortunately. We'll see

 

[roosiebull]

Well I went out last night to try and kill a bear I had seen in mid April. After biking/hiking the 2.5 miles in I get to the cut and sure enough I see him starting come out of the bottom. I watch him for only around 20 seconds before I hear a huge racket down below be. Turns an elk herd was right below me and I pushed them right into the bear. He ran around 1000 yards without stopping to get into the timber. All I could do is laugh

I may have been too selective this year. I'm not seeing them like I was earlier on unfortunately. We'll see

Bear are the luckiest critters in the woods, I have seen some bizarre stuff that saved their lives more than once… you’re right, just have to laugh sometimes