Washington Fall Bear 2026 Help/Tips

[diverc18]

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.

 

[Brock A]

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.

Shoot me a PM. I can most likely help you.

 

[Kren]

My 10 yr old shot his first 2 bears in Alberta about 10 days ago. Was quite proud of him. When they came in dad's heart rate was red lining and sonny bit was as cool as a cucumber. Neither bear went far, maybe 20 years each. This was my first hunt in Alberta, will not be my last. Very fun! And the meat is fabulous.

 

[slowreflexes]

I have bear hunted in Washington for the last 3 years. I've only killed two here so my experience is limited.

I have had luck in eastern Washington in early September- I could find berries and I could find fresh bear sign but not in the same spot. After 5 days of hunting with my brother-in-law, we found a spot that had both. This was around 3500-4000 ft elevation. I killed my bear less than a mile from the truck but it wasn't on a maintained trail. Brother-in-law got his about .25 miles from the truck on a ridge top also not on a trail. the bears were about a mile apart as a crow flies.

In western Washington, I got lucky and dropped one on opening day walking a gated service road at around 1000 ft elevation. That was about 3 miles from the truck and felt pretty lucky, even though I had previously scouted that area a few days before and saw some fresh bear scat.

Last year I hunted a new area and wasn't able to get a bear but I walked up to within 15 yards of one without either of us knowing it! the wind swirled and he caught my sent and bolted out of there. It was in a thick area and I was way too slow on the draw to get a shot. That was exciting at least.

I was told to find the berries and find fresh sign in eastern Washington and that worked. My only other advice is to hunt an area with decent visibility. Chances are you wont get one sneaking around in thick stuff.