Idaho hunter 58

In the clearwater of idaho we are supposed to have a large bear population. Enough of one that our season runs from April to well into june.

I would like to hunt them, and i was wondering what your tactics in doing so are? Spot n' stalk? Any type of calls/bait? I really have no idea.

[]HELP PLEASE![]

Idaho

RobinHood36

If you can find an area full of huckleberries, I have shot both my bears in such an area while actually elk hunting. While walking thru huckleberry patches I always see bear scat left behind as this is one of their favorite foods. Good Scouting and Hunting!!

BearGuy.

Well, the first thing I would do is get a good topo map of the area you are planning on hunting. For trying to bait them l look for low areas like swamps, and beaver dams. The large boars just love this kind of area. Look also for trails, they will look different than deer trails. Bears do not usually tear up the ground like whitetails do. Their paws are super soft and just bend the turf over. If you get into an area and see a tree all scratched up you have just found a little pot of gold. Set up a bait close to that tree, but not directly on top of it. You have just found a spot where at least two boars' territory overlaps. Whenever a bear comes by this spot he will stand up as tall as he can get ( or if he is really tricky he will climb the tree a little higher that he could reach while standing on the ground) and make a scratch. But anyway you have found a spot that is visited usally every few days or so by multiple bears. I find that using sweets for bait works the best for me. I take a mixture of sweet horse feed and mix in quite a bit of molasses or brown sugar. Set this out under a pail or whatever you can use and cover it with heavy logs so the little critters can't get into it. Now you need something with a powerfull smell to let the bears know there is something there for them to eat. You can take a burlap bag of old meat and hang it high in a tree, or sometimes I will take a can of honey out and heat it with a torch and just let it smoke. I also spray anise, or liquid smoke every time I bait. Which brings up another point,,,how often to bait. I start out baiting about every 4 days or so, but about two weeks before you plan to hunt I bait every other day. It is allot of work, but the payoff is worth it. Trail timers are also a great asset for telling you what times your baits are getting hit. I use the innexpensive string timers from gametracker. Try to wire them to a tree and them tie the timer string to the pail, bears will eventually find and try to eat them, but all you need is a few hits during shooting hours to let you know you have a huntable animal.
This is just a taste of what to look for and do for a good bear hunt, but it should give you a couple of ideas of what to look for, and how to do it.
The spring it is also a great time to stalk them. They will just be coming out of the dens and are looking for new shoots of grass to feed on (they need to eat grasses to get their digestive system working in the spring). Clear cut areas, or the south side of small hills are the best places to look.
Calling....I have never tried so maybe someone else will have some advise on this.
The best advise is to try to rent or get some good bear videos and study thiem. Many of them have some really good ideas.
Best of luck to you this spring.

RobinHood36

Idaho Hunter, Where I hunt it is illegal for baiting, but there are some units you can bait, I'm sure you probably know, but if you don't, just a reminder...

James B

Rub Bacon grease all over your body. Next add a layer of honey and lay down in a berry patch. Good Luck.

Joking of course.

RobinHood36

Hey, I bet it would work, but you would probably have greased shorts also!!

Big Lead

I am over here next to you in Oregon. I have been through your part of the country, and I imagine it would be similiar to hunting northeastern Oregon. Here is what you do. When the bears start feeding in the spring there most important thing is to start replenishing the fat they lost during the winter. As soon as the snow melts off there is not a lot of feed available to them. I would key in on South slopes early on. They will be out feeding on the green grass that is starting to shoot up. If you are near the Snake river, there is some excellent places down around Riggins over on the Salmon and Snake rivers. The other places the bears are going to be hitting is the river banks. They will be foraging for any fish that have spawned out and have washed up onto the sand bars. If you had an area with any winter kill they will be feeding on deer and elk carcasses down toward the river bottoms as well. Overall your best bet is South slopes with fresh green grass. Get up on a high point and glass those areas. You may have luck with baiting, but it takes some scouting, and I don't know how much time you have on your hands for checking baits and replenishing them. If I were in you shoes I would stick with spot and stalk.

Idaho hunter 58

Thanks for the great reply. I will probabley make the drive from n.idaho down to the clearwater to hunt them, I am not quite sure how far down, but a good ways at least.

I will try getting a video from Sportsmans Wharehouse, and see what i can find from that.

Once again thanks for the help.

Idaho

cherokee_outfitters

In colorado we also lost our rights to bait bear, which has made it alot tougher hunting. I do a bunch of scouting the week before I get my bear tag. I usually stay away from high public traffic areas and find hard to get to canyons with lots of chokecherry's and tube roots. When I start finding tracks and scat I look for where the bear is feeding the most and set up for what can be a long wait. Without bait bear hunting gets harder but if you scout enough you will increase your odds alot.

noway

Big lead gave you the good info for your area.

Some areas may still have snow when the season opens. Glass the South slopes right below the snow line.

Also old logging roads with lots of fresh green grass on them.

Glass, Glass, glass. They are pretty easy to spot because their color usually stands out and when they are up they are almost always moving. Just wandering around hoping to come across one is tough as they will smell or hear you before you smell or hear them.
Bears don't hang around usually. Once a while a bigger bear will not run off like the smaller ones do and then it can get interesting.