Idaho Spot and Stalk Bear

schoolhousegrizz

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I will be hunting bears in Idaho this year unless I draw a limited entry tag in my home state, which is a long shot. I usually hunt around the island park area. It can be thick and I have encounters with grizzlies which is fun and nerve-racking at the same time. I know there are some units in other places in Idaho that are good for spot and stalk. I've been watching hunts on YouTube in Idaho where the country is wide open and people are seeing plenty of bears. Sometimes they're hunting as early as early May and getting into bears and there's not much snow. If anybody would like to reach out and maybe give me some advice on units where you can backpack in or hunt from four wheelers, really just wide open country with lots of glassing opportunity is what I'm looking for. PM me if you would like, thanks.
 
SE Idaho tends to be very brushy in the trees, and makes for difficult glassing but can be easy stalking if you find one. Better luck up around Leadore/Tendoy/Salmon. I gave up and switched to calling them with diaphragms and cow elk calls around the elk calving areas. Gets exciting sometimes if they come in hot!!
 
SE Idaho tends to be very brushy in the trees, and makes for difficult glassing but can be easy stalking if you find one. Better luck up around Leadore/Tendoy/Salmon. I gave up and switched to calling them with diaphragms and cow elk calls around the elk calving areas. Gets exciting sometimes if they come in hot!!
Does baiting and hounds make it harder for spot and stalk in those areas?
 
The way to have good spot and stalk hunting is stay away from the roads. On-line travel maps and restrictions help a lot. Onyx maps and various satellite views of areas show roads really well. Baiters want to be able to haul in large amounts of bait, so roads help them and they pack it downhill to their baits. Hound hunters want to cover the most country they can, and strike off the crossings when they find them. They're not lazy, cause they'll run forever behind the dogs - they just need a place to turn them out. Closed logging roads are your best friend. They lead up into large open areas, lots of moisture and sunshine grows grass and edible forbs, the winds are generally steadier than in canyons, you can find bear tracks in the mud so you get to judge size of paws. The other thing is lots of people are using mountain bikes now on the roads. Handy for coming back to the truck.
 
glass,glass,glass. did i say make sure you glass? i thought i replied already on one of these but ive done a lot of bear hunting and i don't move much once i know i have an area theirs bears. one i killed in September i was glassing for 9 hours. ive sat for 13 before.

you got to remember these are not big animals. a 200 pound bear only stands a couple feet off the ground. late summer early fall your looking at hill sides with 8' or taller buck brush on them. or even higher choke Cherry there eating then. i cant tell you how many times ive been glassing a hill or basin for hours just to have a bear pop up in the middle of it. it was there the whole time.
 
The way to have good spot and stalk hunting is stay away from the roads. On-line travel maps and restrictions help a lot. Onyx maps and various satellite views of areas show roads really well. Baiters want to be able to haul in large amounts of bait, so roads help them and they pack it downhill to their baits. Hound hunters want to cover the most country they can, and strike off the crossings when they find them. They're not lazy, cause they'll run forever behind the dogs - they just need a place to turn them out. Closed logging roads are your best friend. They lead up into large open areas, lots of moisture and sunshine grows grass and edible forbs, the winds are generally steadier than in canyons, you can find bear tracks in the mud so you get to judge size of paws. The other thing is lots of people are using mountain bikes now on the roads. Handy for coming back to the truck.
A couple hound hunters I know always bait above the road. That way they can rig along the roads in the morning as the thermals are coming down. The guys I went with could tell you where every other none hounds man had their bait above the road. ?if you bait above the road the hound hunters are running off of your bait for free.
 
Interesting I always bait off and above road so I can get the bear out whole by myself. If i shoot one before dark, drive to cell service, wait for help, pack it out it’s 1am before I get home. I go up a closed road and across a creek. Not sure if hound hunters have ever been across my site? Would I see tracks at the barrel?
 
don't get me started on hound hunters. i know those guys are some of the most committed ones on the mountain but some of them can be real D bags. they find your bait they will hammer it. im lucky that i have private property to bait on and they cant get any where near it for a strike. but when I was baiting on public they were a problem. actually had one guy come in, check my camera, erase the pictures and then hunt the chit out of the drainage. he saw my truck there while i was on my bait, ran the dogs right above me and i heard him tree a bear and shoot it. all legal but what a douche. i love my spot now. all to myself, nice and quite.

there should be separate seasons for hounds and bait.
 
there should be separate seasons for hounds and bait.
I agree on needing separate dates. I'm 100% for the hound hunters being able to hunt and enjoy their passion, but it causes a lot of conflicts with spot and stalk, bait and especially archery elk hunters. Archery deer/elk hunters really get their panties in a bunch over hounds.

I'd bet the hound guys I know would also be in favor of different dates if it meant less crowding during each season and no loss of overall hunting days.
 
Yes, I've had the hound hunters use my bait sites as strike baits. Very frustrating experience. I had 2 groups of hound hunters literally set up camp where I parked to bring baits in, which was about a quarter mile from the bait. They spent 4 days in there running every bear that I had coming regularly in.
 
don't get me started on hound hunters. i know those guys are some of the most committed ones on the mountain but some of them can be real D bags. they find your bait they will hammer it. im lucky that i have private property to bait on and they cant get any where near it for a strike. but when I was baiting on public they were a problem. actually had one guy come in, check my camera, erase the pictures and then hunt the chit out of the drainage. he saw my truck there while i was on my bait, ran the dogs right above me and i heard him tree a bear and shoot it. all legal but what a douche. i love my spot now. all to myself, nice and quite.

there should be separate seasons for hounds and bait.
It actually isn't legal to run off of someone else's bait. Though I don't know how you'd ever prove they are intentionally doing it.
 

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