When nothing goes right, g̶o̶ ̶l̶e̶f̶t̶ go bear hunting

[45freezer]

Went out for my first hunting season last fall and was instantly hooked. I'm generally a DIY kind of guy so no mentor, no partner, just picked a spot on Google maps, packed up the car and went out solo for 5 days in September. Didn't manage to bring anything home to fill the freezer for the winter but gained a ton of knowledge, managed to get some grouse with my bow for camp meat and set the goal of getting a black bear with it as well. Hunted weekends and day trips throughout the rest of the fall and found some good spots for the future, lots of sign but never connected with any bears. Spent the winter practicing archery as much as possible and increased my comfortable distance shooting with broadheads to 50 yards. Invested in a proper frame pack, boots and upgraded other gear that I had found to be a hindrance. Access had been an issue so I saved up and purchased a 4x4 with decent ground clearance to get me into the terrain my citymobile wouldn't take me the year prior. Experimented with different trail camera locations and found a fairly active predator travel corridor. Spent my evenings and weekends scouring bear threads, desk scouting via Google maps/earth and sending countless messages and texts back and forth with some of the generous members of this forum asking all the dumb questions I couldn't find the answers to on Google. South slopes, skunk cabbage, follow the green, play the wind, stalk in when they're preoccupied feeding, got it! My 8 year old son is excited to tag along and has his own goals, he's hopeful he'll get to see a cub this spring. April is quickly approaching but I feel ready and confident.

Fast forward a few months. I wake up to a beautiful morning and what do you know, finally enough daylight to go shoot some arrows before work! No better way to start the day. Leaving the range I felt confident, my truck would take me where I needed to be this time, my bow is shooting accurately, I can almost smell the cheese smokies...next thing I know all I can smell is smoke and pennies, some hoser had tried to blow a red light and totalled my truck. Wellllll shit, timing doesn't get much worse than this.

Time to call it quits? Give up until fall? Sit around watching the spring bear photos roll in from my couch while wishing I could enjoy the adventure and soak up the smell of the campfire myself? Or be thankful that I can still walk and post a thread in the off chance someone from the lower mainland had a partner cancel on them this season or has room in the truck to haul along a new hunter and his bow & possibly pass on some valuable knowledge...by no means looking for a guided hunt or anything, mostly just want to get away from the city and hit the reset button although I'll gladly try and punch my tag on any meat bear someone might decide to pass up. Certainly not looking for any sympathy or pity but thought some of you can probably relate and am interested to hear how many of you guys have stories of last minute wrenches thrown in your plans, hunts where nothing seemed to go right etc.

Good luck to everyone heading out over the next few weeks, hope to see some bruisers hitting the dirt soon!

[IronNoggin]

KeRist Man! :shock:
Sounds like you have put in your dues, and literally ran into a show-stopper not of your own making!

I'm too far away to offer any help, or I would.

Good possibility someone here will take mercy upon your situation and get you out for your first.
Best of Luck & fling that sharp stick straight eh! :wink:

Cheers,
Nog

[scoutlt1]

There are two things I know about hunting....

One (and most importantly) is to never call it quits!

Two, there will almost always be a wrench thrown into your plans.


You went out hunting last year and didn't connect. Don't worry about that one bit! It's hunting, not shopping. Keep doing what you are doing, and you will be "successful"!

Keep in mind that "successful" doesn't necessarily mean you will fill your tag.

Send me a PM if you like. I'm in the LM unfortunately but have hunted in, and travelled around BC a fair bit. If I can offer up any "advice" I'd be happy to do so. I'm all good with meeting up for a hunt to shoot the sh*t about where to go and when etc....

[45freezer]

Thanks nogz, I appreciate it! ScoutIt1 learned those same lessons last year and won't forget them any time soon, pm sent

[HarryToolips]

Keep up the good work, don't sweat it too much when a wrench is thrown in your gears, keep your head up....still lots of bear season left, and if you come to the interior spring is at least 3 weeks late, so bear season should be good right til the end of spring season.....hit areas of dandelion and clover too..

[walks with deer]

whats the timeframe on replacment?


still early for bears up here.. clover is just starting in my yard just below alpine..

[45freezer]

whats the timeframe on replacment?


still early for bears up here.. clover is just starting in my yard just below alpine..

Still waiting to hear back on that, hopefully sooner than later but I know they like to take their time with things whenever they can so just trying to plan for the worst case scenario. Maybe I'll be back in action for may long but we'll see how it goes, fingers crossed! Just have to keep reminding myself the rest of the province takes it's time waking up, all this green in the city + sunny days just has me feeling like it's prime time to at least get out and see what's starting to green up in the hills.

[j270wsm]

Im in the same boat. wrecked my truck feb 8 and it took them 1.5months to decide that it was written off. Trying to find a replacement truck before sledding is done.

[45freezer]

Im in the same boat. wrecked my truck feb 8 and it took them 1.5months to decide that it was written off. Trying to find a replacement truck before sledding is done.

Man, hope everything works out for you...finding a suitable replacement can almost be more of a headache than the accident itself :-|

[walks with deer]

payout took two weeks for my wifes car last november..

if it doesnt come through by may long weekend you and your son can come up to kamloops and i will take you in my truck....
if you dont get one in the mountains we can just shoot one out of the neighbours alfalfa feild with the rifle.

dead serious.

pm your phone number...

[FortBoy]

pack up the old car and get at er! quite a few spots you can get into the hunt for bears near LML that ive taken my 2002 civic into. just pack a tarp lol. if you still havent gotten out near the end of may, send me a pm, will take you up to a honey hole close to home if the timing works.

[45freezer]

payout took two weeks for my wifes car last november..

if it doesnt come through by may long weekend you and your son can come up to kamloops and i will take you in my truck....
if you dont get one in the mountains we can just shoot one out of the neighbours alfalfa feild with the rifle.

dead serious.

pm your phone number...

I was in an accident a few years back and remember experiencing a similar time frame, this time I involved lawyers and ICBC seems to be dragging their heels as much as possible because of it. Will hope for the best but can't hurt to plan for the worst, looks like your inbox is full but will send a pm once its cleared up.

Thanks FortBoy, really appreciate the offer...there are some spots I've taken my cavalier where I've seen decent amounts of bear sign but during the fall salmon run. Not sure how productive they'll be in the spring but will be trying to get up there for a poke around asap once I get it back on the road.

[walks with deer]

headed to van for family emergency accident that did not go aswell as yours buy i assure you soumds like your trying hard..and my offer is scencir..i will bring my 8 and 6 year old and sausage for lunch and have a cabin for you and boy.

[45freezer]

headed to van for family emergency accident that did not go aswell as yours buy i assure you soumds like your trying hard..and my offer is scencir..i will bring my 8 and 6 year old and sausage for lunch and have a cabin for you and boy.

Sorry to hear that, hope all goes well and watch out for the vancouver drivers. Shoot me a pm when your inbox is cleared up, have a message on ice for you.

[ducktoller]

Drivers get cars back all the way up most of the sea to sky logging roads you could get your old car up there for sure

[walks with deer]

Yes I have shot many bears hunting out of a car deer too..

than again I have shot them while wearing a suite too...

including in the tricitys with my bow after work. lol

[albravo2]

Squamish River FSR is easily navigated in a car. Park on the main road and walk up spurs or just cruise the main road and keep your eyes peeled for the terrain you want to hunt.

There is a decent number of bears and they are starting to move around.

[Wild one]

It’s a pain hunting from a car but many have done it. You are restricted to good FSRs. For hauling a bear home debone and put meat in Rubbermaid totes. Hide bring a good tarp with no holes

If you were up my way I would offer to take you out bear hunting

[45freezer]

Squamish River FSR is easily navigated in a car. Park on the main road and walk up spurs or just cruise the main road and keep your eyes peeled for the terrain you want to hunt.

There is a decent number of bears and they are starting to move around.

Ya I have a few spots up there the cav can make it close enough to, got a few on trail cam up there that I would love to seal the deal on. Anybody have any insight on whether or not glassing sections of the riverbanks themselves at last light could be productive? I know some that seem to be used as bear highways at some times of the year but not sure about early spring. Found a South facing cut block up there that I had a good feeling about but unfortunately its out of reach for the car, packing a bear down wouldn't be unreasonable under normal circumstances but could potentially turn into a real nightmare with my back not being 100% at the moment due to the accident.

Good call on the totes Wild One, have a bunch at work and will definitely bring some up just in case. Appreciate the tips nonetheless and am thankful to be a part of such a generous community, you guys are all MVPs in my books!

[45freezer]

Well, made it up this weekend, had to bring the kid along and definitely wasn't able to go quite as hard as I would by myself but he trooped it out and certainly keeps things interesting along the way, always great campfire company...yes, he's eating horsetail, seeing what all the fuss is about lol.

https://i.imgur.com/eEuWQjD.jpg?2

First thing Friday evening we went and changed the batteries on a trail cam that was dead last time I went up. Lesson learned to always keep a fresh set with me, pile of scat less than 20 yards from the cam, just a small one though. Found a few more piles of scat that looked to be 100% grass that evening and lots of horsetail and skunk cabbage but no fresh tracks around the river.

Next day we checked out an old spur road and found a pile of scat with logs as thick as a water bottle within half a km, game on. Quite a bit of grass and clover on the roads with dandelions here and there, wind in our face, things are looking good. Caddisguy had included a close up of some nipped grass in one of his videos a while back and with that visual aid I could see that they were taking bites here and there but not doing the "walking lawnmower" routine. Saw lots of green berries and the area should be on fire once they ripen up but not sure when exactly that would be, if anyone has any insight that would be great.

https://i.imgur.com/HpsPsoh.jpg?1
https://i.imgur.com/bAmHox9.jpg?2


Didn't see any bears at the end of the weekend but got some good scouting in, got to learn the thermals a bit better and saw a herd of about 8 cow elk at no more than 25 yards on our way out so that was a cool experience for the kid. Super impressed with his tenacity on the mountain, yesterday alone we hiked 13km in total up to 1200ft of elevation and although I did hear a few complaints about tired legs here and there I doubt I would have been capable of keeping up at his age. Some people don't agree with me taking him bear hunting at his age but seeing how most kids his age are turning out in this generation of instant gratification I think it's important to instill a brutal work ethic and the concept of working hard and earning what you really want in life.

https://i.imgur.com/yY9RcqJ.jpg?2
More than anything though I'm impressed with these bears and their ability to seemingly be everywhere and nowhere all at once and am even more dedicated now to putting one in the freezer before they ban black bear hunting as well. Would love to tag along and see how things are done first hand before I am faced with the task myself though so if anyone needs an extra set of hands out there please let me know. My back still isn't 100% but even on my worst day I can out-haul a good number of fellas.

Will definitely try and get back out there as soon as possible, just picked up a thermacell after a brutal weekend of mosquitoes and will do some research on when those berries should be ripening up, this weekend just ramped up my dedication x10.

[whitespringer]

You on the right track 45freezer. Kids can't get that kind of life experience playing video games, and your bush craft grows with every trip. Keep it up!

[caddisguy]

Awesome pics and write-up about your trip out. Hot weekend to be out hiking around in steep country like that. I'd be complaining and taking lots of breaks to cool off and hydrate lol ... good on you both.

I am interested to see what the grass looked like. Sometimes it's obvious but other times not so much. It doesn't necessarily look like a lawn mower but if you find lots of clumps of grass missing a lot of blades it is most certainly a bear. If there is a lot of tasty looking grass but only the odd nip, it could be a hare. Deer will occasionally hit grass but I have only observed that in very early season.

Regarding the berries, I usually don't start to see seeds turning up in scat until mid July to August.

Was the scat you found still moist looking, have a green tinge to it or mostly black? Wondering how fresh it was and if you found multiple piles close together (ie: within 100 yards)

Edit:

I just had a second look at the pictures on a real computer. I like that spot where your son is eating horsetail. Is the pic of him eating horsetail from the weekend? Is it where you saw the bear scat? It looks like a little creek running through there int he background as well? It seems to have decent cover, shade and a bit of a snack bar. If you did find sign around there, it's probably a spot a bear holds up at times while waiting to hit a major feeding area near by in which case you could be close to a major hot spot. What's on the other side of that timber where it's bright? Whenever I come across pockets like that, there is something good around. All speculation though... for all I know that picture is in Stanly Park lol

The grassy road and the place he is having a nap look decent too. They don't jump out at me as gold (though I don't have a 360 degree video of everything you are seeing so you never know) but it looks like a good starting point. At this point you could either hunt over the scat or keep scouting around to unlock the mysteries.

Another thing to look for now is stumps getting worked over, bark torn off and things like that. Not sure about your area but right now I know from experience the places I hunt as well as the lake I was at on the weekend, the carpenter ants are becoming very active and bears will be working over logs/stumps/etc to get at them.

I will probably be working on a bear video a little this weekend. It will have a lot of things that might help. More grass stuff, video of the bear eating the grass, torn up stumps old and new, more roughed up saplings... some with single hairs and one with pretty big pile of fur from at least 2 bears (like a handful for your son) ... it will also feature a variety of poop from practically steaming to a few days old to a week or two old, tracks in the timber. It will show hot feeding areas and near-by "hold up" spots in the adjacent timber then of course the shot, tracking, recovery, etc. the video probably wont be compiled/completed this weekend but I should have a bunch of little clips here and there that I can upload as private and link you to.

[walks with deer]

good job looks like a good weekend...

i love the pic of your boy sleeping on the pack...awesome.

[45freezer]

Ya it was a hot one, definitely burned through a lot of water. I did take a photo of the grass but must have had some serious glare on my phone screen, was going to include it but upon further review it was out of focus. Did look more like a few blades here and there than huge chunks but I've never seen any hare up there. My co-worker said they're Saskatoon berries and they'll be ripening up in the next month or two but I'm taking that with a grain of salt.

Yes, that's kind of a part time creek behind him, waiting to see if the water levels rise enough this year to become a legit body of water but usually it's more of a creek bed with a few puddles. My trail camera is to the right about 15 yards down the creek bed, one pile of scat was between my son and the camera and one was about 20 yards behind the spot I took that photo from. That creek bed seems to be somewhat of a predator travel corridor, have gotten multiple bears, one being the belly dragger I told you about, plenty of wolves and a bobcat as well as a few cow elk coming through there. On the other side (where it looks bright) is actually pretty dense woods with some horsetail in the undergrowth, that's where he picked it. We bushwhack it through there to the river and I've found quite a few elk trails and rubs as well as a small black bear skull in there. Think that place will be prime in the fall as the muddy spots leading up to that creek bed were covered in tracks in October, some huge ones too. The scat that was behind me was under a big old growth tree canopy that looked like a perfect bedding area for a bear but the weird part is this is all within 50 yards of a popular campsite that generally doesn't have the quietest campers set up there, however this doesn't seem to keep the bears away all the time. Campers or not the spot has all the perks you mentioned and is certainly a travel corridor for the bears but I think they hole up in the thick timber behind there and travel through there to get to their food.

I am very curious where the grass buffet is and want to dial in where exactly all that grass in the scat I found is coming from, the best source of grass I found was right where I parked and it was 100% untouched. Felt like a heard a bear crashing through the thick stuff before bed but also could have been an elk. Looking forward to the footage of the stumps, these things probably seem second nature when you've been doing it a while but these details are key for a noob learning things on his own.

The spot where he's napping was exactly 20 yards from a very grassy patch that was also right at a curve on the road about 140 yards from the biggest pile of scat we had found, seemed like a good ambush spot and we had perfect wind so we sat that spot Saturday evening but yogi never showed up. I know they can move very quietly, how much does that still apply on crunchy gravel logging roads?

Couple photos of the scat, first one I broke apart with a stick to see if I could make out anything other than grass. 2nd one looks older but had more moisture to it when I flipped it over, neither looked crazy fresh but fresher than what I was finding higher up, that could have been due to cooler temps and less sun exposure though. None had much green left, guess the first photo was the greenest I found, I've heard it oxidizes very quickly though.

https://I.imgur.com/yYazqLJ.jpg?1

https://I.imgur.com/qspD6Pf.jpg?2

Thanks walks with deer, that one earned a spot on my wall at work.

[Ohwildwon]

Excellent post and pics! Way to get your son out there, must be an awesome feeling to do that...

I believe those are Salmon Berries, this isn't Saskatoon...:wink:

[caddisguy]

If there are campers frequently in the area, any bears utilizing nearby resources within ear shot or line of sight likely knno how to play the game. It could be a first light / last light show. Hopefully the area is holding bears and these aren't just passing through. I would check everywhere in 2km radius. If there is a rich food source, bears will spend a lot of time feeding there and holding up near by.

Maybe google earth would help a little bit too. Look for brown spots anything 30 to several hundred yards. Sometimes they are cuts, burns and sometimes they are useless slides. Often these spots are not really brown wasteland like it would appear on the satellite, but rather rich and green. It will let you have a good look at the terrain too so you can make some good guesses about how bears are utilizing the area and what their movements might look like. I think you mentioned doing some satellite scouting before, but it's always worth staring at a little longer.

As for bears being quiet, they can be. On gravel roads they are very quiet. Their pads are surprisingly soft. On grass and even in some cut blocks they can be quiet too. In the timber and thick stuff as things dry out and become more brittle, you might think there is an elephant walking around. Bears will plow through stuff in there way and no matter how soft their pads are, they will step on sticks and crash right through them. It's actually quite exciting. More than a few times we have just been sitting in feeding area and sound alone gave us a moment or two notice. As you know last year after I had walked out of my spot I heard the snap from around 80 yards away as the crow flies and walked back in. The sow last year that was hanging around the area... I would hear her before I saw her as well. And FWIW my hearing is not very good. The pesky bear that charged me, we could hear him a few hundred yards away... it was also the reason I know exactly what was happening when he charged me from the timber and that gave me plenty of notice. It is also what woke me up when he came down from the reprod. I did hear his steps on the road that time between the reprod and the jeep. It sounded like human steps. I would consider that an exception though. I remember another bear surprised caddisgirl on the gravel while she was eating breakfast. She heard nothing. All of a sudden "**** a bear!" and I turned around to see them a couple yards away having a stare down. Another time she ran into one in a provincial park that "followed her" (in hind sight it was just doing a bug run in the same direction) all the way back into our camp sight. She opens the door and wakes me up "hey this bear followed me back to camp) ... it was walking around on gravel and I could hear nothing. In the same park last year we had (probably) the same bear and 2 cubs in our campsite around 4am. I could hear them in the timber just fine but not on the gravel. Anyway, I think you get the idea. Timber and dry, noisy... cutbocks/reprod depends what they are doing and what they are stepping on. Gravel, soft ground, stealth-mode.

You might very well have heard a bear. Another thought I have been having since yesterday is that I think there is a reasonable chance you could be on to a sow and maybe a cub. Often this time of year they will stay up a little higher. From the ones I see on my cameras they, seem to love old growth and when I do see them in person in a feeding area it's always around a tree line or other good cover. Keep your ears open for any clacking or popping sounds. You might think it's a drunk woodpecker but the sound and timing is different. You can find examples on Youtube. They do this to let you know they are there and that they would prefer you don't get closer. I had a sow doing this to me for almost an hour last year while I was working on the boar. I don't interpret it as aggression at all but rather a heads-up.

That's all I got for now. Me and caddisgirl are watching this thread and cheering for you and your boy.

[45freezer]

Ohwildwon looks like you're right, I've wondered about this guys credibility for a while which is why I was taking it with a grain of salt, thanks for filling in the blanks.

Caddisguy I think it may be a sow or younger bear hanging out by the creek, did find one fairly old track in the mud that was pretty small but really doubt it could be this years cub, maybe last years though. Was listening hard for tooth popping every time we were walking through the thick jungle up there after dark, good thing the drunk woodpeckers had already gone to bed. Will definitely take a closer look at Google maps/earth and get back up there to explore some more and see if any bruisers walked by the cam asap, this weekend though it looks like I'll be checking out a new area with someone who certainly knows what they're doing and made the very generous offer to take me and my son out so hopefully I can add some new pics to this thread sooner than later!

Appreciate all the help big time!

[caddisguy]

That is excellent news. Thank you to the generous HBC person for being awesome. We're looking forward to the trip report and pics!

I'll be spending the weekend hibernating, waking up once in a while to hydrate... much needed bed rest. I'm living through you and any others venturing out. Good luck!