Spring Bear Hunting Oregon

[ICEMAN3]

I was wondering if anyone had any good information on spring bear hunting in the Wilson/Trask units? My buddy and I drew the tag as our second choice. I am new to hunting bears, always wanted to get serious about hunting them and now I am finally getting to. Just would love some good advice on how to hunt and find these bruins? Also I want to take it with my bow but it doesn't matter if I get it with a rifle. Thanks

ICEMAN

 

[Umpqua Hunter]

In our area (Roseburg) the best spring bear hunting is done by glassing south facing grassy slopes since those slopes get the most sunlight and are the first to green up. The bears will feed on the new grassy shoots. I do not know specific areas in the units you are hunting so can't help you there.

 

[ICEMAN3]

Thanks Umpqua Hunter,

Any information is great information. I had heard that previously from some people about the south facing slopes. I plan on glassing as much as I can. So all I can do is hunt hard and go for it. Thanks again man. If you have any other tips send them my way please.

thanks

 

[fingershooter23]

When you think you've glassed for long enough and there is no way that there is anything out there....keep glassing. Bears have a way of magically showing up in the middle of a meadow or clearing. Also carry a predator call, sometimes they like to disappear after you spot them and are pretty easy to persuade to come back out in the open. I actually just use a lost cow call and hit it pretty hard.
Trick is - and you can see this all over youtube - once you start calling, keep calling for at least 15 minutes. they come in when you call, and will stop as soon as you stop calling.
good luck!

 

[pre 64 model 70 .270]

Sunday morning I will be on a ridge top looking for one of these spring bears.

 

[ICEMAN3]

Good luck on the opener tomorrow April 1st! Post photos if you bag a bear!!!

 

[MakinTracks]

I would probably focus on west end of the Trask unit where the country is a little bigger, and you can spend more time glassing up a bear rather than trying to bushwack your way through it.

 

[ICEMAN3]

Thanks Makin Tracks. We went up hunting this last weekend to the very north west corner of the Trask unit. Tried a bit of calling and ended up calling in 4 coyotes in 6 different clear cuts. We did end up seeing a nice bear but he was to far out of range and moving quickly.

 

[Joe Hulburt]

I called in a coyote today that found his way to the pearly gates via my old 30-30.

Only one bear spotted so far but I am seeing tracks almost every time out now so at least they are up and about some finally.

 

[Joe Hulburt]

Spotted this guy out grazing last evening....

He was too good of bear to let walk even though I really wanted to keep hunting. I stalked within 65 yards and made a perfect shot after taking the photo above. One shot and he died running and ended up in this small creek...

The old 30-30 doesn't mess around.

 

[Full Draw]

Nice job Joe! Great looking bear! Congrats!

 

[Muleys 24/7]

Spotted this guy out grazing last evening....

He was too good of bear to let walk even though I really wanted to keep hunting. I stalked within 65 yards and made a perfect shot after taking the photo above. One shot and he died running and ended up in this small creek...

The old 30-30 doesn't mess around.

Very nice and congrats on a great black bear!

 

[Bob]

Darn fine Bear! beautiful looking coat on him and he looks like an older Bear, has some nice spread tween the ears, did he have a white patch on the chest?
Iceman,
I have been hunting both the Wilson and Trask units a long time, At the risk of some ribbing here on the forum, I'll offer a tip you may find useful for Spring Bears. When hunting along older unused haul roads you might run across what I call chip patties. There are some areas of the North Coast in these units where Bears during the Spring girdle around the bases of younger cedar trees as the sap has come up and later defacating sawdust/chip patties. Why they go for it and why it tastes so good to them and not the grass to push their plug I can't say, Maybe it's something in the cambium layer that appeals to them, but it's been very helpful for me in locating areas with more activity than others.
Patties have a bleached liquidy whitish/yellow color of chips about the same size as a cows. Hard to miss once you have seen a few.
Hope this helps you,
Bob

 

[Joe Hulburt]

Thanks for the kind words guys.

That is interesting Bob. I have seen some cedars that were partially stripped but it is usually doug fir that is girdled all the way around. I will have to keep an eye out for those "chip patties", so far all I have seen is green grass with some skunk cabbage chunks and not much of that. They are just getting active from my observations.

 

[Bob]

Joe, Did your bear have a patch on its chest? I see your location as Oregon coast, Not to be to personal but are you up North , or South or somewhere in between? I have a Wilson/Trask unit tag in my pocket right now but, haven't been able to get away from work long enough to punch it. From what I've gathered over the years talking to Foresters and other Bear hunters, the trees and what type of tree that they may strip or girdle can be isolated to pocket areas. A couple of drainages south of the area I like to hunt, there seems to be more young Fir trees that get girdled than cedars. I know some Forest managers can get a bit uptight over some of the damage to young commercial stands of reprod. Our family owned a logging company for many years down there, I used to cut timber down through there for a long time, saw a lot of interesting things the animals did that helped my hunting.
Best,
Bob

 

[Joe Hulburt]

Sorry Bob, I missed that question the first time. Yes he did have a small white patch which is a first for me! I had the same tag you have...mainly just because that is where I live and it's convenient to hunt. One of these years I will have to head east and try for a cinnamon colored bear.

What was your logging company? My Dad fell timber for many years around here.

 

[Bob]

Great to hear it had a white patch!!! You don't see too many of them with it but, it's sure nice you did get one that does!! to answer your question, Nehalem Bay Logging, the business was sold quite a few years ago. My Great Uncle had taken it over for a little while, but he was getting on in years and it was a bit much for him. I'm new around here on the forum, so out of courtesy to the OP, I'm concerned about hijacking a thread BS'ing, if you would like to, we could PM each other off thread.
Best Regards,
Bob

 

[Joe Hulburt]

Well, how did everybody elses' season end up? I only heard of a handful killed in the Trask/Wilson hunt.

 

[ICEMAN3]

Well can't say I didn't see a few bruisers. I spotted a bear we estimated to be around 300 maybe 350lbs. He was a very large bear and was easily seen from over 1500 yards away. Wish we could have blazed a path through all of the reprod so I could get a shot at him. I will definitely be going again next year but equipped with a fox pro. thanks for the tips Joe and I agree with the fox pro use, we hunted some really good cuts that had a lot of bear sign and fresh droppings but we knew the bear was just inside the thick reprod and couldn't coax him out.