How to hunt Spring Bear in Oregon

Spring bear season is coming fast! At the writing of this article, we’ve only got 2 more days to put in for our Oregon Spring bear tags! Then, the tag draw process will be completed in a couple weeks. Choosing your 700 series tag is just the beginning, because now you need to learn as much as possible about hunting these big furry beasts to make the best of your opportunity! I was dreaming of some of my bear hunting spots and remembered back to a couple of great conversations I had with Nathan Endicott, and the Dunnavant brothers, both accomplished young outdoorsmen who have no problem finding awesome bears when season comes around. As a guy who has never successfully filled a black bear tag, the information I gleaned from these conversations gave me a huge leg up for when I finally get back out after a bruin! Here I am compiling everything I learned from those bear killers in this write up so that you too can see some of the best tips for hunting Spring bear in Oregon!

Oregon’s bear hunting opportunities are still fairly accessible compared to other places in the US especially if you consider our West coast neighbors, neither of which have open Spring bear seasons. Only 7 states in the whole US have Spring bear hunting opportunities, so we are blessed to be in one of the 14% of states with an awesome Springtime opportunity at these beautiful creatures. In the Spring, bears will often not have as much fat as a fall bear, but their coats will be much thicker and in better condition. If you successfully harvest your Spring bear, you can get another chance at a black bear in the Fall, then an additional bear if you happen to harvest another! A three bear year is rare, but it does happen.

Despite Oregon’s liberal bear tag opportunities, it warrants mention that in the 90’s we lost hound hunting and bear baiting at the hand of a ballot measure; Measure 18. Ending one of the most selective and efficient ways to get a quality bear. Now, you need to do your best to judge size, sex, and age in just moments, often from hundreds of yards away. And you better make darn sure that sow you found doesn’t have any cubs before you pull the trigger! The style of West Coast bear hunting today has evolved over 30 years since Measure 18 to involve long hikes in the mountains, and glassing in feeding areas to snipe them with a rifle. Even though the Spring bear tag is during the bear rut, feed is always going to be the number one motivating factor of how a bear uses habitat. The boars will be traveling around looking for sows who could be ready to breed, and those sows are going to live in relatively small daily ranges with specific feeding areas that become their favorite haunt.

Glassing up a bear is easy when they are out and about. Black bears have a pretty active feeding style that can involve tearing apart stumps, digging up bee hives, and gorging on berries. Most of the time, a bear is spotted with your naked eye when you first get out to a glassing spot. But for those long distance look outs, and overgrown clear cuts, a spotting scope becomes your best friend. Once you have drawn your tag in one of the 15 different Spring bear hunting areas, get ready to scout so you can be aware of snow levels and green up before you head out! Here are some tips to help get you going:

GENERAL BEAR FINDING TIPS

• Don’t just look for bears, look for the sign they leave behind. You won't always see the bears themselves, but you will want to see some evidence that says you are hunting in a bear area. Not all spots are created equal! Bear tracks are a good sign, but don’t get stuck on tracks alone, bears are messy. Look for stumps torn apart, rocks rolled over, and bee hives dug up.

  
  

• Bears poop in the woods. It can be pretty obvious what food source bears are hitting the most at any given week of the year based on the poop they leave behind. Once you start finding those fresh bear patties, take a closer look and take note. Acorns? Berries? Grass? Once you see what they are eating, key in on that food source.

  
  

• Follow the green up. In early Spring, bears eat grass. In higher elevation areas this helps you narrow down their location a lot. When the snow line melts up the mountain and reveals fresh green grass, the bears will be there following the green up the mountain!

  
  

• Watch your wind. Compared to other animals we hunt, bears can't see super well and can't hear very well, but they can smell better than anything else in the woods!

  
  

• Focus on timber lines. Trees are safety for a bear. When they smell a predator they zip up a tree, all black bears do, no matter how big. If the brush is thick, they can squeeze into impossibly small cracks and crevices too. (In my personal experience, they just run down the mountain, but Nathan swears by this tip.)

At the time of our podcast recording, Nathan was most experienced chasing bears in North East Oregon where his dad used to take him with the youth tag every year. They found lots of success following these techniques:

(North) EAST OREGON BEAR HUNTING TIPS

• Glass North East facing hills, they have the best mixture of timber patches and open spaces for a good combo of feed and safety.

  
  

• Follow very long ridge systems. Nathan’s favorite bear habitat is a descending finger into a main canyon with a big creek in the bottom. He walks the finger ridges and works his way down to the bottom. Target openings on these big long ridges.

  
  

• Hunt as early in the season as possible. Beginning of season the bears start at low elevation and eventually work their way up high. With more timber higher up, it gets harder and harder to see the bears as the season goes on. They will be as high as they can while still having good feed.

In my conversation with Malachi and Jake, it was clear they have spent most of their bear hunting days in the South Western side of our state, hunting the Coast Range and the Cascades.

WESTERN OREGON BEAR HUNTING TIPS

• Bear food grows in openings. We have lots of thick timber farms and some walkable timber tracts, but it is still best to target big long ridges with openings, cliffs, slides, and meadows. A bear only cares about safety and food, and the West side is full of feeding areas adjacent to thick hidey-holes.

  
  

• Focus on evening hunts. In Spring, they are not so active first thing in the morning. It is usually foggy, damp, and cold at first light but mid morning can be fine if it warms up. Just like blacktail, as soon as the rain stops after a storm get ready for movement in clear cuts and openings. All that said, evening is still the most productive time of day to hunt in Spring.

  
  

• Look for one consolidated small spot that the bears are using. Everything else is brushed in, thick, with no light and no food. There will be one little high calorie unit that the bears will want to be in, and they will spend almost all of their time in that one unit until it is eaten out and they have to find a new one.

  
  

• Change sides when it’s time. Malachi and Jake have seen better bear populations on the Coast side than in the Cascades, but there is more food so they are more spread out. Not to mention, it is brushier and easy for them to hide. If you get burnt out pushing through the mud and blackberries out West, start chasing the snow line on the other side of the valley, if your tag allows.

Hopefully that gets you off the ground and ready to start scouting for productive bear hunting areas. Remember, if you don’t scout you will start season behind the ball!

Here is a tip from my own experience: Where there’s berries, there’s bears! (But that only helps in August when everything ripens up.)

If you want more advice from guys who have actually killed bears like Nathan Endicott, listen to the full podcast to hear it straight from the horse's mouth! The episode with Malachi and Jake from Devoted Outdoors is definitely worth your time. Also check out their youtube account on the media network page on our website and see some of their cool hunts on video. Thanks for reading, and good luck in the bear woods!

-Bryant