Tired of predators hurting deer/elk populations in Oregon? Let me kill them for you! (NW Spring Bear advice)

[jfandel3]

I live in West Portland and was able to get a NW Oregon Spring Bear tag. Was thinking I could drive West for an hour or so and hike around to scout some glassing spots, maybe find some sheds, but don't want to waste my time if that's a non-starter. Is that Coast Range area in the Scappoose/Wilson/Trask units known to have some bears?

 

[WoodlandCritter]

Try calling your state biologist. Great place to start for info.

 

[jfandel3]

Try calling your state biologist. Great place to start for info.

Thank you. I certainly will do that. Going to get my boots on the ground for a couple days first and then will look them up.

 

[hibernation]

Big game hunting harvest statistics | Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife

See the latest and historic data about big game hunting statistics for different hunts.

myodfw.com

Start here and look at some of the harvest stats. The NW tag is always easy to draw, partly because success rates are relatively low. There's a fair number of bears in the NW coast range, but not near as many as SW or NE Oregon. And they can be hard to hunt because of the terrain, it's just so thick and bears are often down low in the drainages. You could be 25 yards away and still not able to see it for a clear shot.

Time in the field will be your main factor. Hike spur roads and closed/decommed roads if possible, finger ridges, river bottoms, and look for bear sign. Even if it's from last fall. See if you can look up more specifics on their diet, but in general, springtime they're looking for greenup. Grasses in clearcuts and along exposed road edges. Skunk cabbage. Things like that.

Even if you're focused on glassing open areas, I would really suggest scouting hard to find areas that actually have some bears using them. Bears leave a lot of sign behind, it's usually not too difficult to tell if they're in the general area or not.

Be advised that a lot of bears get culled on tree farms too.

 

[jfandel3]

Big game hunting harvest statistics | Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife

See the latest and historic data about big game hunting statistics for different hunts.

myodfw.com

Start here and look at some of the harvest stats. The NW tag is always easy to draw, partly because success rates are relatively low. There's a fair number of bears in the NW coast range, but not near as many as SW or NE Oregon. And they can be hard to hunt because of the terrain, it's just so thick and bears are often down low in the drainages. You could be 25 yards away and still not able to see it for a clear shot.

Time in the field will be your main factor. Hike spur roads and closed/decommed roads if possible, finger ridges, river bottoms, and look for bear sign. Even if it's from last fall. See if you can look up more specifics on their diet, but in general, springtime they're looking for greenup. Grasses in clearcuts and along exposed road edges. Skunk cabbage. Things like that.

Even if you're focused on glassing open areas, I would really suggest scouting hard to find areas that actually have some bears using them. Bears leave a lot of sign behind, it's usually not too difficult to tell if they're in the general area or not.

Be advised that a lot of bears get culled on tree farms too.

Thanks for your comment! I knew NW had lower harvest odds, but it's where I live and so I wanted to have a convenient reason to go out and get to know the territory ahead of OTC deer/elk season since I only moved to the area recently.

I'll definitely need to have a game plan for that thick rain forest biome that's so different than glassing thousands of acres of clear cuts from one spot. When e-scouting, it seems like even the taller peaks won't necessarily provide many views of bear. Hoping when I'm out there in person there will be some newer clear cuts or burns with fresh greenery.

 

[hibernation]

Thanks for your comment! I knew NW had lower harvest odds, but it's where I live and so I wanted to have a convenient reason to go out and get to know the territory ahead of OTC deer/elk season since I only moved to the area recently.

I'll definitely need to have a game plan for that thick rain forest biome that's so different than glassing thousands of acres of clear cuts from one spot. When e-scouting, it seems like even the taller peaks won't necessarily provide many views of bear. Hoping when I'm out there in person there will be some newer clear cuts or burns with fresh greenery.

Right on. There's a lot to be said for learning your home spots, hunting and scouting more often can make up for the lower success rates.

If you're new to the area, it can be a big learning curve. High points aren't all that useful for glassing, it's too heavily forested. Tree harvest is really what drives the whole ecosystem for the vast majority of the coast range. The National Forest logs less, usually just thinnings when they do, so you'll get a lot more fully intact forest out there. State and private forests are all driven by the clearcut rotation.

New clearcuts are pretty empty and barren, they often spray them with herbicide before replanting, then you get 5-10 years where there's enough growth to provide food while you still have enough visibility to hunt. Then another 10 years where it's just impenetrable reprod. Back to young forest, and eventually logged again. You'll have a better time hunting the coast range if you can get a feel for what habitat types provide what resources (food, cover), and how you can scout/hunt it effectively.