Spring Bear Hunt

[Nugget]

Can't wait to get out and look for my first Spring Bear. Got a 7 day hunt planned from April 24th-May1st in the 100 mile region. Hopefully bag a couple meat bears and get some meat in the freezer! Hopefully the marjority will be awake and moving around by then!

Anyone else have any Spring Bear hunts planned?

Exciting time of year!

Cheers,

Nug

[The_Bear_Man]

I will also be joining nugget in his spring bear hunt. Ideally, we would like to butcher our own bear and not have to take it took a butcher. Any body have any ideals for keeping bears cool on an extended hunt? We were thinking of boning out the meat and keeping it in a cooler in ice with the plug out to let it drain. Thinking this would work for at least a few days if the weather is too warm out. Any other ideas?

[moosinaround]

Nice big cooler with ice would work! Get the hide off and meat off the bone and keep meat below 4*c and it should be ok! If you guys kill 4 bears, that is a good amount of meat, you may need more than 1 cooler! Moosin

[Ryo]

I aged my fall deer on ice. The first batch of ice melts quickly, since it's doing the work of getting the meat down to temperature. The second batch of ice lasted 4 days, at which point I butchered the meat, but there was still plenty of ice left. I opened the plug twice a day to drain, and turned the meat over a couple times. Worked fine! I wouldn't leave the drain open indefinitely if it were me.

[monasheemountainman]

ice will work fine but make sure you check the meat often to keep it as dry as you can. clear plastic bags around the meat, and obvs get the blocks of ice

[okas]

dry ice ...

[okas]

does not matter how wet it stays..
you only worry about wet after it is dry with a crust ...

[The_Bear_Man]

I was thinking you could just use crushed ice and bury all the meat with the ice in the cooler. Would keeping the meat in plastic bags be better? Also, how long would bear last this way before it gets processed?

[jtred]

Took the rifle and a buddy for a hike today, great day to be in the mountains it was sunny and beautiful. Spent most of our time slowly hiking the base of some south facing slopes glassing the whole way. The tally for wildlife was 7 elk(3 cows and a bull in one group, 3 bulls at the very top one of them bugled twice), 12 mule deer does and yearlings, and 3 turkeys(2 of them huge toms gobbling their heads off and 1 hen). No bear sign at all, I'm sure they are out or at least some of them just not where we happened to be. The best part about the hunt was we found a spot where the toms are really displaying(drag marks in the dust from their wings) with an ideal approach and place to set up. I know where I'll be on Saturday morning if my daughter doesn't want to sit in the blind on the property where we have permission. She really wants to shoot a turkey and the private farmland birds are way less wary when compared to a mountain bird.
The afternoon was spent kayaking and fishing for bass on a small private lake and a picnic lunch with the family. My girls had the canoe while my wife and I took out our kayaks. Three whitetail were on the road into the lake, an osprey was perched on her nest, and 2 tom turkeys where gobbling away before gliding over the lake just in front of us. It was a stellar spring day in the Kootenays that's for sure.
My hunting partner and I will be doing our annual backpack hunt up into a road closure looking for a bear. Lots of south facing open slopes and cutblocks to glass along with skidtrails and old logging roads that the bears just love. We'll spend 2-3 nights up there and hopefully connect on another bruin, I shot one last year on our way down. Good luck everyone.

[Sharpish]

Took the rifle and a buddy for a hike today, great day to be in the mountains it was sunny and beautiful. Spent most of our time slowly hiking the base of some south facing slopes glassing the whole way. The tally for wildlife was 7 elk(3 cows and a bull in one group, 3 bulls at the very top one of them bugled twice), 12 mule deer does and yearlings, and 3 turkeys(2 of them huge toms gobbling their heads off and 1 hen). No bear sign at all, I'm sure they are out or at least some of them just not where we happened to be. The best part about the hunt was we found a spot where the toms are really displaying(drag marks in the dust from their wings) with an ideal approach and place to set up. I know where I'll be on Saturday morning if my daughter doesn't want to sit in the blind on the property where we have permission. She really wants to shoot a turkey and the private farmland birds are way less wary when compared to a mountain bird.
The afternoon was spent kayaking and fishing for bass on a small private lake and a picnic lunch with the family. My girls had the canoe while my wife and I took out our kayaks. Three whitetail were on the road into the lake, an osprey was perched on her nest, and 2 tom turkeys where gobbling away before gliding over the lake just in front of us. It was a stellar spring day in the Kootenays that's for sure.
My hunting partner and I will be doing our annual backpack hunt up into a road closure looking for a bear. Lots of south facing open slopes and cutblocks to glass along with skidtrails and old logging roads that the bears just love. We'll spend 2-3 nights up there and hopefully connect on another bruin, I shot one last year on our way down. Good luck everyone.


Creston is incredible. What a great place. I could see myself retiring to there in a decade or two.

[ACB]

If you are lucky enough to bag a couple of BOO BOO's, look for a creek with a bridge over it and hang the bear quarters off of the bridge. The cool air going up and down the creek will keep meat cool. I'v done this myself and it works great,but make sure it's shaded as well. Good luck. Lots of colour fazed bear's around 100 mile. Oh ya keep the bear out of the water.

[rogerb]

were the bulls still carrying antlers?

[Pinewood]

Went out Saturday exploring from Harrison all the way to Boston Bar. Saw one little guy, probably about 50 lbs. Other than that, no bear sign at all. Lots of Skunk Cabbage and fresh grass with no signs of having been munched on...guess they're still snoozing.

[.264winmag]

does not matter how wet it stays..
you only worry about wet after it is dry with a crust ...
I find this true, getting meat cooled down is first priority. Tough to keep humidity down in a Coleman cooler regardless. I would recommend keeping drain open at all times however to keep meat from soaking in water. Works for fish and game in my experience. Sheep meat keeps fine for a few days just in cheesecloth, garbage bag and stuff sack. Would also recommend boning out meat to eliminate bone souring...

[MichelD]

Went out Saturday exploring from Harrison all the way to Boston Bar. Saw one little guy, probably about 50 lbs. Other than that, no bear sign at all. Lots of Skunk Cabbage and fresh grass with no signs of having been munched on...guess they're still snoozing.

Can you get over Kookipi to the Nahatlatch Road now?

[Rhyno]

were the bulls still carrying antlers?

The few I saw on the weekend were.

[jtred]

Creston is incredible. What a great place. I could see myself retiring to there in a decade or two.
I couldn't agree more, we moved here nine years with two small children, a great place to raise a family. For a bonus we're established where many want to retire so we won't have to leave when we get to retirement age.

[jtred]

were the bulls still carrying antlers?
One of the bulls we watched had antlers that were visible only because of how he was positioned, the others in that group may have but we couldn't see them. They were very far away and a lot higher then us.

[rogerb]

Saw our first west kootenay black bear five days ago - a yearling who was quick to vacate the old skid trail he was feeding along. Will be going out tomorrow scouting for turkeys & would expect to begin spotting older bears as the low elevation tracks have grass six inches high already. Will also check some cams to see if any bulls have dropped - had lots on cam two weeks ago all still packing but last week they all disappeared so no idea if they've dropped yet or not. Presumably heading higher. Ticks are wicked bad this spring.