diverc18
Lil-Rokslider
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2023
- Messages
- 211
This will be my third consecutive year attempting fall bear in Washington and it’s time to get started e-scouting and getting some tips from the pros. I’ve tried to stay up to date on all the bear threads the last two years about the PNW and have learned a ton but have found little success in the field. Since I live in Maui now, I am unable to fly back and scout so I have to rely on e-scouting. I planned on taking the last two weeks in August to try and fill my tag but my brother decided to have his wedding on the 1st. So instead I will have until 15th of August to get it done. Based on the snow pack it seems like it might be okay but hot. Gonna give a quick summary of the last two trips.
Trip 1: Middle of August, decided to send it 7 miles in from the trailhead and spend a week glassing the surrounding basins. Only found a handful of ripe berries as most of them were dried out, even in the shaded timber pockets. Super dry summer so I wasn’t surprised. Managed to find quite a bit of bear sign though. Even managed to get snowed on lol. But could not turn up a bear, saw plenty of mule dear though. Elevation was 6,800-7,600. To me, it looked like I was a couple days behind following them from basin to basin in search of food. Ended up getting into an absolute hellhole with unlimited blowdowns and took a so called trail 8 miles back to the truck.
Trip 2: Almost the exact opposite of trip one. Spent 5 days from the opener 4 miles from a more active trail head. Plenty of huckleberries everywhere I looked but absolutely zero bear sign or any animal sign for that matter. Glassed three basins with small “lakes” on Southish facing slopes and avalanche shoots that had bushels of huckleberries at the bottom and nothing. Elevation was 5,500-7,300. Ended up taking multiple day trips checking some lower elevation clear cuts and logging roads 2,500-3,600 and same story. Every type of berry was ripe but still no bears or bear sign. Only managed to find wolves tracks
Sorry about the lengthy post. I know a lot of us like details, so I tried to include anything I thought was relevant/helpful aside from actual locations. Any tips or criticism is welcome and encouraged.
Trip 1: Middle of August, decided to send it 7 miles in from the trailhead and spend a week glassing the surrounding basins. Only found a handful of ripe berries as most of them were dried out, even in the shaded timber pockets. Super dry summer so I wasn’t surprised. Managed to find quite a bit of bear sign though. Even managed to get snowed on lol. But could not turn up a bear, saw plenty of mule dear though. Elevation was 6,800-7,600. To me, it looked like I was a couple days behind following them from basin to basin in search of food. Ended up getting into an absolute hellhole with unlimited blowdowns and took a so called trail 8 miles back to the truck.
Trip 2: Almost the exact opposite of trip one. Spent 5 days from the opener 4 miles from a more active trail head. Plenty of huckleberries everywhere I looked but absolutely zero bear sign or any animal sign for that matter. Glassed three basins with small “lakes” on Southish facing slopes and avalanche shoots that had bushels of huckleberries at the bottom and nothing. Elevation was 5,500-7,300. Ended up taking multiple day trips checking some lower elevation clear cuts and logging roads 2,500-3,600 and same story. Every type of berry was ripe but still no bears or bear sign. Only managed to find wolves tracks
Sorry about the lengthy post. I know a lot of us like details, so I tried to include anything I thought was relevant/helpful aside from actual locations. Any tips or criticism is welcome and encouraged.
