Post by sideswipe on Mar 29, 2020 15:43:48 GMT -4
Lucky You! Since I lost this thread last night I will try to condense the information. I'm writing this confident that a lot of the readers have had as much or more experience than I have. All I have to offer are my experiences in the woods (not the library). Particularly for those of you who may be in the same situation as WA bear hunters are; specifically, a state where the misled voters made it illegal to hunt bear by bait or by hounds. That leaves us w/spot & stalk, still hunting, & stand hunting over natural food sources/various kills...if you're blessed w/being able to use bait or hounds (not that its any easier) you may not want to bother to read further.
If you've been a reader of earlier posts on this forum you have seen my WA Spring Season posts already so I won't go into some topics very deep. First let me describe our Spring Black Bear season. It is a "special hunt" meaning a "damage control" hunt. Our WDFW gets tired putting out hundred of thousands of dollars to ranchers & farmers due to "depredation" by such as Elk, Black Bear, Geese, & Cougars. Wherever possible they put out special tags or have special hunts so that hunters can practice recommended wildlife conservation where needed. For example, I have harvested antlerless Whitetail in special "population control" hunts in mid-winter in areas traditionally habitat of the Mule deer but the hardy Whitetail are pushing them out as they move in.
This year the hunt is in 20 selected areas throughout the state where timber companies & our DNR are experiencing damage in their replanted fir trees by hungry bears peeling the bark of the cash crop. If you don't understand peeling, look at earlier post, some are illustrated (w/Tuk's help). Suffice to say, a bear can girdle/kill more than 40 trees/day...trees that have been replanted as early as 40 yrs ago. In these 20 areas tags were available from 5 to 100 per area for a total of approximately 670 tags in total. Applications had to be put in from 1 Jan to 28 Feb. Applicants could list 3 choices in order of preference. The season runs from 1 Apr to May 31 or as late as June 15. Also, it is the hunter's responsibility to keep informed as successful hunters have so many days to report. When a quota is filled in an area it may be closed early. For the last few wks hunters posting on the Hunt Washington Forum/Black Bears have been posting such as; "I got Huckleberry", "I got North Skagit", "finally...8 years & I got drawn". There are also posts from the unlucky but I'm keeping it positive. Those who were skunked can still get a tag over the counter for the Gen season from 1 Aug to sometime in Nov. West (wetside) side is a two bear area & eastside is 1 bear only.
OK, types of hunting. Spot & Stalk is popular on the east side of the state & in some higher elevations on the Wetside. Most of the west at lower elevations is typial PNW rainforest (spell that Jungle). Food sources are limited in the spring so you go where the bears are. Higher elevations (in the thousands of feet) have huckleberry meadows that draw some hunter tough enough or lucky enough to have an in w/pvt property or extremely lucky to find a road w/o a gate. The extreme that I can relate to are the low areas that are wetland habitat. Even I can identify bear tracks freshly made in mud as they get to digging out skunk cabbage roots. I took some pics yesterday & will try to post them in the photo section so as to not screw up this post again. Food sources vary obviously during the season so you have to pretend you are a bear & know where to go next. In my area blackberries is a biggie. Also are wild plums & cherries. Whether you are still hunting or sitting over these food sources, looking for signs of recent activity (fresh scat, busted branches, freshly peeled bark) is paramount. I once had the thrill of watching (from 20 yds) the last few minutes of a cougar finishing a meal of Whitetail heart & watched it cover up its kill (but that's another old post). A few days later & about the time the kill was becoming fragrant a bear came & hijacked it. The takeaway for me was the all seeing & all smelling ravens. When I was out & about I could catch glimpses of the ravens circling above the kill & talking to each other. When they all flew back into the air & stated a ruckus I found that the bear had come back for another meal. My partner came close but somehow only grazed its skull w/a .308 before it ran away (only to return that evening!). Of course other early food sources are grass (south facing meadows & edges of logging roads) & stump/log peeling. Hunting logged areas where there are 2d or 3d generation of trees means lotsa old stumps. Very common in early spring bears will go from stump to stump & rip off a shingle-sized piece of bark looking for bugs. Sometimes ancient stumps will show both fresh & previous bare patches. It isn't unusual to be able to glance up ahead & spot the trail of fresh shingles left by a hungry bear a few days previous. Unless it looks really fresh (like that log beside the trail wasn't rolled over yesterday) I wouldn't spend hours sitting over a bunch of stumps...just something to be aware of while moving from point A to B.
Being a scatologist (turd inspector) is also of great value...but I think I'm running out of room so I will close & try to post a pics of skunk cabbage in the photo thread. Hope this helps.
If you've been a reader of earlier posts on this forum you have seen my WA Spring Season posts already so I won't go into some topics very deep. First let me describe our Spring Black Bear season. It is a "special hunt" meaning a "damage control" hunt. Our WDFW gets tired putting out hundred of thousands of dollars to ranchers & farmers due to "depredation" by such as Elk, Black Bear, Geese, & Cougars. Wherever possible they put out special tags or have special hunts so that hunters can practice recommended wildlife conservation where needed. For example, I have harvested antlerless Whitetail in special "population control" hunts in mid-winter in areas traditionally habitat of the Mule deer but the hardy Whitetail are pushing them out as they move in.
This year the hunt is in 20 selected areas throughout the state where timber companies & our DNR are experiencing damage in their replanted fir trees by hungry bears peeling the bark of the cash crop. If you don't understand peeling, look at earlier post, some are illustrated (w/Tuk's help). Suffice to say, a bear can girdle/kill more than 40 trees/day...trees that have been replanted as early as 40 yrs ago. In these 20 areas tags were available from 5 to 100 per area for a total of approximately 670 tags in total. Applications had to be put in from 1 Jan to 28 Feb. Applicants could list 3 choices in order of preference. The season runs from 1 Apr to May 31 or as late as June 15. Also, it is the hunter's responsibility to keep informed as successful hunters have so many days to report. When a quota is filled in an area it may be closed early. For the last few wks hunters posting on the Hunt Washington Forum/Black Bears have been posting such as; "I got Huckleberry", "I got North Skagit", "finally...8 years & I got drawn". There are also posts from the unlucky but I'm keeping it positive. Those who were skunked can still get a tag over the counter for the Gen season from 1 Aug to sometime in Nov. West (wetside) side is a two bear area & eastside is 1 bear only.
OK, types of hunting. Spot & Stalk is popular on the east side of the state & in some higher elevations on the Wetside. Most of the west at lower elevations is typial PNW rainforest (spell that Jungle). Food sources are limited in the spring so you go where the bears are. Higher elevations (in the thousands of feet) have huckleberry meadows that draw some hunter tough enough or lucky enough to have an in w/pvt property or extremely lucky to find a road w/o a gate. The extreme that I can relate to are the low areas that are wetland habitat. Even I can identify bear tracks freshly made in mud as they get to digging out skunk cabbage roots. I took some pics yesterday & will try to post them in the photo section so as to not screw up this post again. Food sources vary obviously during the season so you have to pretend you are a bear & know where to go next. In my area blackberries is a biggie. Also are wild plums & cherries. Whether you are still hunting or sitting over these food sources, looking for signs of recent activity (fresh scat, busted branches, freshly peeled bark) is paramount. I once had the thrill of watching (from 20 yds) the last few minutes of a cougar finishing a meal of Whitetail heart & watched it cover up its kill (but that's another old post). A few days later & about the time the kill was becoming fragrant a bear came & hijacked it. The takeaway for me was the all seeing & all smelling ravens. When I was out & about I could catch glimpses of the ravens circling above the kill & talking to each other. When they all flew back into the air & stated a ruckus I found that the bear had come back for another meal. My partner came close but somehow only grazed its skull w/a .308 before it ran away (only to return that evening!). Of course other early food sources are grass (south facing meadows & edges of logging roads) & stump/log peeling. Hunting logged areas where there are 2d or 3d generation of trees means lotsa old stumps. Very common in early spring bears will go from stump to stump & rip off a shingle-sized piece of bark looking for bugs. Sometimes ancient stumps will show both fresh & previous bare patches. It isn't unusual to be able to glance up ahead & spot the trail of fresh shingles left by a hungry bear a few days previous. Unless it looks really fresh (like that log beside the trail wasn't rolled over yesterday) I wouldn't spend hours sitting over a bunch of stumps...just something to be aware of while moving from point A to B.
Being a scatologist (turd inspector) is also of great value...but I think I'm running out of room so I will close & try to post a pics of skunk cabbage in the photo thread. Hope this helps.
