Montana Spring Bears.. the tally

Montana4Life · May 21, 2012

I ran into a cinnamon/chocolate boar yesterday and decided he was the color I was looking for. Not the biggest bear (5 1/2 ft.) but pretty. He was starting to rub out pretty good. He was also eating the roots of those yellow flowers.

1_pointer · May 21, 2012

Anyone got a pic of these yellow flowers? I'm a plant nerd and am curious as to what it might be. First thought would be arrowleaf balsamroot:

Big Fin · May 21, 2012

1_pointer said:
Anyone got a pic of these yellow flowers? I'm a plant nerd and am curious as to what it might be. First thought would be arrowleaf balsamroot:

That is the yellow flower, Pointer. They are soft and quiet right now, but come August, when you are trying to stalk that mule deer, it is like walking on rice paper, really loud rice paper.

I watched last night as two bears mowed through a hillside loaded with that plant, but could not tell for sure if they were feeding on that, or some other succulent morsel growing in the mix.

It is really green out there, from top to bottom, giving them a ton of places to be scatterred.

Jon Boy · May 21, 2012

Nice bear smw! Welcome to hunttalk.

THWAK1 · May 21, 2012

Congrats smw!

MontanaWild · May 21, 2012

Seen 11 bears over the course of 10 days in the field. Yesterday we saw 4 and my brother took his first bear ever which we'll be posting up as soon as we get back from packing camp back into town. On Saturday we were in a new area when we came upon some very fresh scat. We decided to head down the road a little further and set up and do some calling. We honestly didn't expect to call a bear in but after about 5 minutes we had a beautiful cinnamon black bear come in. I told myself I wanted to take one with a bow this year unless it was a real toad and of course my bow was in my backpack on my back, doh! Well this bear is at 30 yards and has such a beautiful coat on it I figure let's shoot this one. It will be a good bear, great footage, and make a great rug. Well right as I pull the gun up it trots off. A few calls later we see he's going to make it up on the road. I get my bow half way out of the backpack when it comes up on the logging road at 52 yards. Well I end up getting a shot but shot a bit high and the bear ducked just enough to where my arrow just flew over it's back. Dang it!

1_pointer · May 21, 2012

Big Fin said:
That is the yellow flower, Pointer. They are soft and quiet right now, but come August, when you are trying to stalk that mule deer, it is like walking on rice paper, really loud rice paper.

I watched last night as two bears mowed through a hillside loaded with that plant, but could not tell for sure if they were feeding on that, or some other succulent morsel growing in the mix.

It is really green out there, from top to bottom, giving them a ton of places to be scatterred.

Thanks for the info. Those things are definitely noisy in the fall... I wonder of they are feeding on the foliage or going for the roots? The native american's used the roots quite a bit as food. Same with camas and bicuitroot. However, the foliage does have a fairly high preference when green by domestic livestock and mule deer.

mdunc8 · May 21, 2012

Three more tonight. I big cinnamon boar sitting under a tree with a sow and cub in it.

Dinkshooter · May 21, 2012

mdunc8 said:
Three more tonight. I big cinnamon boar sitting under a tree with a sow and cub in it.

Sounds like a pedophile, why didn’t you shoot?

The Hedgehog · May 21, 2012

Carl, any good Bobcat action - let me know if you need any help with that.

I'm still at 9.. we were 7.8 miles (GPS) from the trailhed last night at dark, ziltch.

MontanaWild, I think that's a sow.

drahthaar · May 21, 2012

Greenhorn said:
.. we were 7.8 miles (GPS) from the trailhed last night at dark, ziltch.

Ouch!!

Did you just throw the sleeping bag on the ground and stay? Holy crap man. You're frickn crazy.

Drake4 · May 21, 2012

I'm probably in the +/- 18-20 range so far. It's been a weird year, sows and cubs in areas I haven't seen any in the past. Went on a 2 night pack trip this weekend with lamas into some new country. That is the way to travel. Great time and saw 6 bears.
Still looking.

thecrittergitter · May 21, 2012

Man this has been the crappiest year for time for me. I've been out a total of about 6 hours all year. I've seen 8 bears in that amount of time so at least that part has been good. I passed on a couple that i'm sure i shouldn't have but hopefully they will be around next year. The brown one, easy bowkill had I had the dang bow with me. Had him at 10 yards at one point.

the tiny black one would make a good pair of mittens don't you think

CabinFever · May 22, 2012

mdunc8 said:
Three more tonight. I big cinnamon boar sitting under a tree with a sow and cub in it.

Hey hey hey, I help you, you help me!

Anyway remember those 6+" tracks we found? Would it be dumb that I let someone talk me into hunting a different area the next day thinking I could come back to to those this week? Went back there yesterday to find that carcass nearly finished, and moved to a spot further in the woods where you can't see it till your within 30 yards. My legs are sore from kicking myself...

I'm not sure how or even why you guys keep track of your days in the field, I hope you estimate to about 20% of that when within earshot of your wives.

I suppose I'm 10-15 days and evenings in the field, laying eyes on 4. One set of massive tracks around a carcass..........................

CabinFever · May 22, 2012

Congrats SMW

Sweet pictures Critter, thats a decent ratio of hours to bears..

MontanaWild · May 22, 2012

Up to 12 now

GFHunter · May 22, 2012

Im up to 28 sighting. I got my brother on a Jet black last night and He laid the hammer down.

I saw my first sow with 3 cubs last night.

kad11 · May 22, 2012

I have been out about 10 times and have seen zero bears; this is my first season hunting anything so I'm not too surprised at my fortunes so far, but does anyone have any advice? I've been heading out in the evenings and setting up over open/ broken hillsides to glass. I've been hunting throughout the lower Gallatin and Madison ranges... drainages throughout the Storm Castle and Swan Creek areas, the Spanish Creek area near Ted Turner's ranch, and slopes around Mount Ellis and the Mystic Lake area.

I'm not asking for a handout or anything like that; I guess I'd just appreciate some feedback as to whether or not I'm on the right track. Does anyone bear hunt the west side of the Bridgers? I've never heard of anyone bear hunting that area but I'm thinking about giving it a try...

Thanks

MontanaWild · May 22, 2012

Look for food, water, and cover. Your best bet is to walk/bike logging roads and look for sign. I went from one side of the ridge to the other and went from seeing 3 scat piles to over 50 just by moving a quarter mile.

kad11 · May 22, 2012

Thanks for the advice. I haven't tried that tactic before so I'll have to give that a shot.

There's almost as much green up on the forested slopes as there is on the more exposed slopes in the areas I have been recently; will glassing slopes become less and less effective as spring/ summer progresses? Would searching for fresh sign on logging roads and then calling be a better approach for the last few weeks of the season?

Montana Spring Bears.. the tally

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