Idaho fall bear

[Geno67]

Where to start? I'm snakebit on bear so far. Hunted on three occasions over three years in east TN with hounds and a guide. No luck. Took a decade off to get a few things done and now I'm back in the saddle so to speak. I applied for a controlled hunt in Idaho and did not get drawn. Went ahead and purchased 2 over the counter tags for bear and 3 for wolf. Now to decide which unit.

One bear tag is regular so I can hunt any unit for it. I also have three wolf tags and can hunt any unit. Ecallers are legal for wolves statewide so I could use one as long as I have a wolf tag in my pocket. I am not tied to any unit to be honest, I would just like a pelt. Color phase would be great but not required. Any color would be fine for my first bear.

I will be hunting from a GMC Envoy, 2wd. I will be in state 5 days starting Monday, September 16 through Friday, September 20. I am 52 with a sort of bad knee and a sort of bad back. As little hiking as possible. I can hike long distances 2-5 miles, but carrying hide/meat out would be a real task.

Anyone had any luck with bear? Fall or spring makes no difference to me, I just would like a bear to add to the list. Any and all help is appreciated.

 

[model88_308]

Where to start? I'm snakebit on bear so far. Hunted on three occasions over three years in east TN with hounds and a guide. No luck. Took a decade off to get a few things done and now I'm back in the saddle so to speak. I applied for a controlled hunt in Idaho and did not get drawn. Went ahead and purchased 2 over the counter tags for bear and 3 for wolf. Now to decide which unit.

One bear tag is regular so I can hunt any unit for it. I also have three wolf tags and can hunt any unit. Ecallers are legal for wolves statewide so I could use one as long as I have a wolf tag in my pocket. I am not tied to any unit to be honest, I would just like a pelt. Color phase would be great but not required. Any color would be fine for my first bear.

I will be hunting from a GMC Envoy, 2wd. I will be in state 5 days starting Monday, September 16 through Friday, September 20. I am 52 with a sort of bad knee and a sort of bad back. As little hiking as possible. I can hike long distances 2-5 miles, but carrying hide/meat out would be a real task.

Anyone had any luck with bear? Fall or spring makes no difference to me, I just would like a bear to add to the list. Any and all help is appreciated.

I've hunted Idaho once for bear on a guided spring hunt, no luck. Idaho offers both baited hunts and S & S hunts, at least in the spring, so not sure if you're interested, at all in a hunt with bait. If you are open to that, I'd recommend also considering a Maine fall hunt. I've gone several times and have enjoyed most every one. My last two have been with a good Buddy from Georgia, matter of fact.

Best of luck with whatever you choose to do.

 

[ddd-shooter]

I know very little about Rocky Mountain bears, having hunted Colorado very little. I know nothing about Idaho.
I know it'll be beautiful and well worth the experience just going out there.

Having said that, are you against Georgia Mountain bears? We have plenty right here and they need killing...

 

[Geno67]

I am not in good enough shape to put boot leather on the mountains. If I could spot and stalk from the vehicle, uphill (so pack or drag downhill) I would be ok. Halfway bad knee and lower back. And old. 52 feels worse than I expected.

 

[ddd-shooter]

If you can walk 2-5 miles, you can kill many bears within a half mile of the road. Uphill, of course. Take it slow, hunt on your way up the mountain spot and stalk style, then just sit for a while and come back to the truck.

That's also what I'd do in Idaho...

 

[Geno67]

That's exactly what I'm going to do in ID. lol

 

[jbogg]

I feel your pain. I got a very late start on hunting the mountains of North GA. I turn 56 next week and have to wear braces on both knees and my back. Getting a critter out of the woods is the biggest hurdle. I have done a few hogs solo and I always pay for the effort for a few days after. There is some good hunting much closer to the main highways than many would expect, but you still have to be able to burn a little boot leather to find the food. Good luck wherever you go!

 

[Geno67]

Thanks jbogg! I will surely hunt them here at some point. I always wanted to hunt out west and see the rockies up close and personal. The way I'm heading physically means I do it soon or I probably won't be able to. Can't afford elk or mulies right now but maybe in a year or so - lol.

 

[model88_308]

jbogg and Geno67, I went to Alaska on an 8 day drop hunt just after I turned 56 and on my 2nd hunt in Idaho the next year. I certainly feel your "pain" and I experienced lots of huffing and puffing and sore muscles on both.

No way I could duplicate those hunts now, nearly a decade later, but I'm very glad I went then, tough as they were on this flatlander....lol. I wish you both great hunts and great memories this year and for many more to come.

I'll still be back sitting on my fat butt in a tree stand this season, but thinking about you guys roaming the big "hills" wishing I was there as well. Take pics!!! Lol.

 

[tree cutter 08]

As others have mentioned a North ya bear would be a easy shot. I've set and watched bears and see vehicles to by. Don't get much better than that. Most of my bear drags have been less than a quarter mile from the road. Every now and then I'll get a wild hair and shoot one way off.

 

[Professor]

Geno67,
Will you be hunting alone? My son and I did our first Idaho bear hunt this spring. Spot and stalk. We saw three. I learned the "shooting up and down hill" lesson when I shot over a a boars head at down the side of a mountain. Hunting in that wilderness alone (even from the vehicle) would be intimidating. That said. We were able to creep up on them walking the old logging roads.

 

[Geno67]

I will be hunting alone. Anyone like to go? After speaking to several people in Idaho, I've decided to hunt unit 12 and maybe some in 10. I requested a baiting permit and will be setting up at least one bait site. I can have things shipped to the place I'm staying so I'm going to have 4 bushels of popcorn sent up. Should be easy enough to carry and only required to be 200 feet from a roadway in the clearwater region.

A wonderful friend demanded I use his electronic caller so I will be doing some calling in the alpine areas up high where I can see. The remote works out past 150 yards so that makes me a lot more comfortable. Still be back against a rock and head on a swivel lol.

I have a week reserved at three rivers resort. It's right in the middle of where I'll be hunting. No fuel or cell phone coverage and very limited wifi in one spot.

 

[Professor]

That is some thick country. We were in an area that allowed a good bit of glassing. I think you will really need to put the bait out.

 

[Geno67]

The higher up you get, the more open, alpine areas there are. There are also some clear cuts here and there. The timber companies keep the roads in a little better shape when they're in there.

The berries will still be there but up high in the drainages. We would need to be pretty high to call for wolves as well - they prefer the high elevation ridgetops. For bait, elevation may not be as important but we still need to be where the bears are. Everyone I've spoken to said there are so many bears there, they will be hitting on bait in one or two days. May not get a big one but a small one is better than none.

 

[Geno67]

Official countdown has begun.

Both of the guys I had commit backed out right before I made this thread and after not finding anyone else able to, Mrs. Geno has gone ballistic about me going alone. Dang I love that woman. I had a three and a half hour phone conversation that was 1/2 video call that went from her crying and yelling and demanding that I put the trip off to her loving me, then hating me, then demanding that I go because I really want to. She loves me again for now - so that's a good thing.

She came into town last weekend even though she shouldn't have and I told her not to and went through every cabinet and all the freezers searching for things to use as bear bait. She unpacked and repacked all of my things in a better way to be packed. She cooked 10 pounds of bacon so I would have bacon grease and cleaned the fryers out at two of our places so I would have fryer grease. She put Gaia gps on my phone and figured out how to use it and taught me the same. She downloaded a map of the Nez Perce National Forest to it for me to use while I'm on radio silence. She cleaned all of my optics with something called a lens pen and she put new batteries in all of my gear.

48 hours. Barring catastrophe, I will be on the way this time day after tomorrow.

Thanks everyone for the help.

 

[NCMTNHunter]

Good luck! I’m heading out Sunday for Colorado myself.

 

[Geno67]

Good luck! I’m heading out Sunday for Colorado myself.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

 

[Geno67]

I am finally ok talking about it so here goes.

Idaho bear hunt update. Where to start? LOL

Car barfed on me for 9 hours in Missouri. No explanation for why it quit in the middle of the night and made me push it off the road, no explanation for why it started again the next morning right before the tow truck got there. Three days of driving up. Set up baits in a few likely spots. It got real interesting after that. I could not keep up with the baits once they were being hit (2 took 24 hours, 1 was hit the first night). One of them was dug out 6+ feet deep and 12' long in one night where I had poured some strawberry syrup down the stump hole.

I called for the rest of the day after setting out my baits. Called up half a dozen coyotes, a very nice mountain lion and 2 bobcats (they were together), I guess they could have been lynx as I was not close enough to tell the difference. No bear and no wolves. I had intended to get up before dawn and listen for wolves up near the peaks of the mountains but I was too tired and never did.

Went to check my baits again the following morning and all of them needed replenishing. After I replenished the last one I went back to the first one only to find the gate to the road locked. It was washed out about half a mile past my bait. I put on my pack and walked the mile in to it. Not paying any attention and not knowing exactly where it was, I walked up on and spooked two large black males. I sat down and watched it for about 20 minutes and a large male comes into it. I watch him for 10 minutes or so and he stretches up against a tree and I squeezed a shot off right between his shoulders. He went back to all fours just as a fired and I shot right over him. I walked the mile back out as it was getting dark and was at the ranger station the next morning. After explaining my dilemma to the ranger he gave me a visitor's permit and a key to the gate so I could retrieve my bait. I went back there and sat for a while but no bears. At lunch I went and checked my other baits. I gave up on one of them because I was unable to keep up with the demand and replenished the remaining one.

I had been carrying a .308 semi and a pistol but I was carrying more bait in so I opted for a bolt action and left the pistol in the truck. I went back to the truck, ate lunch and went to sit the bait for the afternoon. In the 15 minutes that I was at the truck, the largest bear I have ever seen in my life had moved in on the bait. I sat and watched for a while as the wind was right and here comes three little 35 pound fuzzballs. I was thinking there was no way that bear could be a sow but it was. I continued to watch them for 30 minutes. The wind shifted and I knew she was going to wind me and she did. The three bobble heads went up a tree and she went into a frenzy. I don't think she could see me but she was making a mess of the place huffing non-stop, running off for 80 yards or so and running back down the mountain to the bait area. I got tired of it and was going to move out to the truck and go to another bait. She had other ideas. the first charge started at 30 yards and ended when I fired a round into the ground between her front feet at about 10 feet. That stopped her but did not run her off. She proceeded to tear down and stomp into pieces every tree in a ten yard area less than 8". She and I had a yelling match, a calm conversation, a screaming match and then another calm conversation. I fired another round into the ground between her feet when she charged me the second time at about 8 yards. She went back to the bait and sat down on top of it. I tried easing out but she blocked me again and I had to be ready to shoot if needed. I could not back up the mountain to my truck with my chair in hand so I ended up leaving a perfectly good chair in the woods when she finally let me ease out after a two hour standoff in a thicket on the side of a godawful hill in Idaho.

When I got to the truck, I took off my hunting gear, put on some khakis and a knit shirt and drove home. I still wanted a bear rug but not bad enough to kill a bear and take it off of it. At that point in time, all I wanted to do was go home and hug my family. So that's exactly what I did. I left three days early - lol. All told I saw 11 bears including the three cubs.


Now - someone help me find an antelope hunt.

 

[splatek]

Whoa....
I read that out loud to my nine year old and he was on the edge of his seat.

 

[jbogg]

Sounds like it was worth the price of admission. That’s a hunt you won’t forget.