Sitka Gear Turkey Tool Belt

Idaho Spring Bear in Reduced Areas

J

jeffraines

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Nov 22, 2016
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So, its entirely possible I may do spring bear in ID instead of MT. I know I'm going to hit one or the other... its just a matter of funds and seeing how that pans out. Anyway - I know that reduced tags are available in a handful of ID units. How is the hunting in these areas? Would I be better off sticking with my idea of heading to MT instead? Any of these units I should be focusing on? From the regulations - "Units 4, 4A, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 16A, 17, 19, 20, 20A, 26, 27, that portion of Unit 16 north of the Selway River, and those portions of Units 21 and 28 within designated wilderness".

Thanks guys! In either case I'm stoked - hopefully I'll be able to put my first bear on the ground here in a few months.
 
A bunch of it has tough access due to lack of roads and being pretty backcountry in character. Also snow can be a concern early in the season and we are having a good snow year. If you have time to devote to it finding a bear in definitely possible. A large percent of the bears killed in some of the units are killed on baits for what its worth.
 
TheTone said:
A bunch of it has tough access due to lack of roads and being pretty backcountry in character. Also snow can be a concern early in the season and we are having a good snow year. If you have time to devote to it finding a bear in definitely possible. A large percent of the bears killed in some of the units are killed on baits for what its worth.
Click to expand...

This is why I like to ask before pulling out the harvest reports... I'm not interested in baiting and have no hounds, so its going to be purely spot and stalk. My original plan was for NW Montana, and I still may do it, but the tag costs in these areas sounds pretty awesome. I hear that unit 39 has a ton of bears as well, however it doesn't fall under the discounted tag.
 
I saw a monster boar in 26 this year on a sheep hunt. We saw it twice at close range but passed in favor of the sheep hunt. Lots of bear sign in the creek bottoms. If you buy a tag, I'll provide the X's on the map.
 
brymoore said:
I saw a monster boar in 26 this year on a sheep hunt. We saw it twice at close range but passed in favor of the sheep hunt. Lots of bear sign in the creek bottoms. If you buy a tag, I'll provide the X's on the map.
Click to expand...

If I end up grabbing a tag I may take you up on this offer. I can safely assume you were pretty high up most of the time since you were sheep hunting - do you think these areas would be accessible that early in the season?
 
The bears were in the river bottoms.

If I were going spot and stalk, I'd wait until mid-May or later
 
I spent a few years hunting bears in 10 and 12 about 8-10 years ago. We were baiting and with a lot of work we managed to get a handful of nice bears. There are lots of guys putting out baits in the areas that are accessible in the spring. I can't get very excited about hunting out of a stand, so I spent quite a bit of time trying to spot and stalk bears. Despite the high number of bears in that area, I had a very hard time finding bears in the type of places I normally see bears in Montana. I think a lot of the bears in heavily baited areas spend most of there time in heavy cover near bait sites. No reason to wander around eating grass when there are piles of donuts all over the place.
 
I am going to be chasing bears in ID and NW MT this spring myself. I'd be willing to chat about where and what.
 
Northcentral Idaho is mountainous, heavily forested terrain. This is especially true of 10, 10a and 12. Wandering around aimlessly searching for black bears is an exercise in futility doomed to failure. You must be familiar with the terrain. That means for all practical purposes areas that provide the food sources bears utilize. These are the only areas black bears will be found in the spring. You won't find them roaming around on open hillsides where they can easily be spotted. With the possible exception of the first several weeks after emerging from hibernation the foods they eat will generally be found in and around swamps, marshes, beaver dams, streams and other watercourses. Black bears in these units haven't been conditioned to rely exclusively on baiting sites for food in lieu of natural food sources even if they happen to be opportunistic in their feeding habits. Baiting requires a lot of time, effort, expense and may not guarantee success. Bears may not respond to your bait site. And if they do respond it may not be during daylight hours. A more effective spring bear hunting strategy would be to locate food sources and concentrate your efforts hunting these areas exclusively.
 
I am really interested in going bear hunting this year myself in ID. I've been waiting for the new book to hit my store. Excited for this year's hunting experiences.
 
How did you all do? I'm taking my daughter and her friend out next spring soon as college gets out looking at 3rd week of May. Both girls are adventurous and love back packing. They have mainly hunted whitetail in Michigan, this will be a great adventure before they head to Alaska to work at a big fishing lodge for the summer. Been researching a bunch, still trying to figure out the best area for spot and stalk. Any help would be appreciated, might be one of the last adventures with my little girl.
 
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