Leupold BX-4 Rangefinding Binoculars

Spring 2017 Montana bear hunt

IABoilermaker

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Iowa
Over the last few years I have caught the western hunting bug bad, mostly for elk and most of my research and prep has been centered around fall seasons. I am looking to expand my opportunities to get out west and when watching an episode of OYOA on YouTube the OTC bear seasons in Montana came up. After watching that episode my curiosity has gotten the best of me and I am hoping to try my luck in Montana next spring. I haven't done a lot of research but it seems the population of bears is centered on the western half of the state which I am assuming means it is also grizzly country. I am currently in China on a work assignment so my access to all my normal research avenues is more limited than normal, so I was hoping I could get some help from those more experienced bear hunters here. I have a few questions and am open for suggestions any help would be appreciated.

My general plan would be to dedicate a week of vacation so with the drive to and from Iowa it would probably give me 4-5 days to hunt. For dates I was thinking early may but may have to go early in the season due to work commitments. I would plan to be rifle hunting, and have a good set of gear as far optics and general hunting equipment. The questions I have are:

1. Is there a better time of season to be in the woods or is that variable year to year dependent on weather?
2. What should I be expecting for weather that time of year or is it even less stable than fall hunting?
3. Could I reasonably expect to find success if I was staying in a hotel and driving to a trail head, or am i better off getting in and camping in the back country? ( i have never camped in grizzly country, so maybe i am over concerned here)
4. Anything special I should be thinking about relative to bear hunting that I wouldn't be prepared for from elk hunting?
5. Hunting strategy, for bear should I be racing to beat sunrise or glassing in afternoons, very little research done thus far so looking for suggestions.
6. Any advice that you feel would be relevant.

Lastly, as with all trips my sole concern is not bagging a bear that would just be a big bonus. So my real goal is to just be prepared and have properly set expectations. Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
1. Last two weeks of May into the first week of June.

2.weather is similar to fall. Need to be prepared for 100 degree days and 40 degree nights.

3. Strictly personal choice. The days seem to last forever this time of year so I would camp out. You need to be on the mountain till dark which is about 9:30pm that time of year. You are looking at getting to a hotel around midnight. Daybreak is about 5:30 am. Not alot of time to sleep in between. For this reason camp as close as you can - it gets tiring with those hours. Adding travel time to hotel is bad idea imo. To each there own.

4. Ticks. And lots of them. Real similar to elk hunting. Tough to find but persistence is your best friend. A large boar is about as hard to bone out as a bull elk. A little less weight but be prepared to work a few days getting one out solo.

5. Daybreak is good but late afternoon till dark is better in my travels. Mid day sun is usually bad hunting but you just never know so I hunt all day with nap around noon.

6. You will have a blast! Finding sheds and seeing all the unpressured game with zero other hunters makes this a first rate hunt in my book.
 
Steve

Thanks for the information. The wife is showing some interest on this hunt and we may make it a vacation so I may choose to do the hotel and afternoon hunt so she can enjoy herself. Of course if we are finding sheds she will probably be beating me to the trailhead anyways.
 
A good compromise might be a developed campground with showers, close to where you'll be hunting. With only 4/5 days, I'd try to be in bear country all day long.
 
Try to figure out where you want to go first. Then check on seasonal road closures. In the area I hunted only part of the road was open until May 15th so we were limited the first couple days of the hunt.

Afternoons/Evenings were all we hunted. As mentioned the days are long and your out late but we had 2+ weeks so I didn't mind sleeping in a bit :D.

Its nice to camp close to you hunting location. Depending where you are going to and from, it might take over an hour to drive to a hotel.
 
I'm pretty much in the same boat as Boilermaker here, spring 2017 may be my first western bear hunt.

What are the tricks to finding them? I'll apply the things I've learned elk hunting like looking in remote areas away from roads and trails but what about spring food. Bears coming out of hibernation are hungry so finding a good food supply is key I imagine. I know to glass new growth on logging roads and slides but what about berries? Do berries favor a particular side of the mountain, do they favor a particular elevation? Do bears prefer the eastern facing slops of the morning sun or the western facing slops of the evening? Is there a directional slope that just rarely holds bears?

I was talking to a guy last year when elk/deer hunting the breaks and he said he rarely sees Mulies on southern facing slopes so don't even waste time looking for them there.

As you can see I have a lot of questions on bear behavior and the ecology of food sources in the mountains. Can anyone suggest a good book(s) on the subjects?

BoilerMaker, I posted some spring bear population and harvest data here. It may help you in your hunt planning/strategy.
 
I was talking to a guy last year when elk/deer hunting the breaks and he said he rarely sees Mulies on southern facing slopes so don't even waste time looking for them there.

It depends on the time of year, I suspect that that guy was just trying to keep you away from his hunting grounds. I live in southwest Montana and I see quite a lot of elk/deer/moose on the southern aspects of the hills/mountains by my house during the hunting season - of course it's usually within a few minutes of sunset and an hour or two after sunrise.
11 elk on Bear Mtn.jpg

Notice the angle of the sun, that's at late afternoon (about an hour or so before sunset) so the sun is in the west and that makes this the southern aspect of that hilltop.

South and west aspects are going to have less trees and more grass - when a grazing animal needs to eat (like just after the rut) they will go to those places as long as they are safe. They usually walk the edges until the sun sets.
 
Maybe he said northern facing slopes...dang memory.

I don't think he was leading me on as they turned us on to a Elk honey hole.
 
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There are lots of bears in MT, the trick is finding sign by walking logging roads or driving, getting on the side of a mtn or a ridge and glassing, a lot. Find an area where the snow melts quicker than others and glass. Some of our places snow will stay till June sometimes, and the season is closed even before bears are out and about.
 
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