Anybody have some info on where to go for Black Bear on BLM lands in Regions 1 or 4. Has anyone ever hunted Plum Creek lands for bear? I would like some help in where to go and what topo maps to get or if any landowners are having problems with bear on there blm land and would like one less bear.

the scutlebutt amoungst us loggers is that Plum Creek has a bear problem down in The Swan Lake area . the bears are stripping the bark off of their Larch Regeneration , killing it . that would be in Hunting district ??? dang where the heck are my regs when i need em ? .... it the area with the later closing date ... 103 104 and 10? .dang sorry poor memory i will remember it at some ackward time . Plum Creek timber lands are usally pretty good bear hunting doo the increased forging opartunitys .

You might try both BLM and Forest Service in those areas and ask about receint timber harvests or burn areas, both very attractive to bears in the spring. Closed off logging roads are great for bear in the spring, easier to get the bears out if you get one too if you bring a game cart. Look for areas where you have to walk in a mile or two and hunt from noon till dark.

I would suggest that you try a couple of options. The Great Burn area west of Missoula and southwest of Superior is good country. As HunterMontana says, work the logging roads, use a game cart and get away from the traffic. Early morning is also very productive in the Spring since the previous day's disturbance has been forgotten. I'd go across the drainage divide from the Swan and hunt the headwaters area of the Clearwater//Blackfoot River that drains south and away from the Clearwater Game Range. There is quite a lot of grizzly around here and further north towards Holland Lake. Be very careful to identify what you're aiming at. The north fork of the Flathead drainage around Polebridge is excellent bear country as well. I saw more grizzly in there last May than I did blacks, but it is a huge valley and full of game. Most is F.S. of State land on the west side in the Whitefish Range. I think the area north of Libby and around Yak has been hit pretty hard by hunters from Washington and Idaho, but I've not hunted it personally. Plan your hunt for early to mid-May around Mothers Day, of course. You'll find more color phases in the central mountains like the Big Snowies or the Little Belts or the Gravelly/Snowcrest. Montana is blessed with lots of public land where the bears live, so keep studying and good luck.

Twilli: I will give you one big Hunting tip! I have Hunted the far NW corner of Montana for spring Bear for some time now.
I Hunt from Yaak to Eureka and all points south to Highway 2.
THE DATE that THE BEARS will be, FOR SURE, out of their dens and eating spring grass is May 8th!
Many areas close on May 15th. So be there and be Hunting on or before then through those dates!
I have been in on the kill of 5 Bears up in that neck of the woods and to tell the truth Montana does not grow real large Black Bears! I have had several occassions to review ALL the recent Bear kill data (they all must be brought to a game biologist for inspection prior to processing!) and a 250 pound (dressed) Blackie in the spring is a good one!
Also watch out for Cougar and Grizzly Bears in the spring as they are hungry then and if you are using a predator call they may respond!
Best of luck to you in your pursuits!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I am working in Havre right now so the High Line is only a few miles from me. Where abouts is Yaak and Eureka? Iv'e killed a few bears in my day and I am just looking to get out and enjoy some countryside and get abear on my own. Have you seen many color phases? Have you hunted any of the plum creek land?

Twilli;To get a license you will have to take the bear test.You can take it on line at MT FWP.It is pretty interesting and you will see the color variations there.w/regards

twili-good luck on your bruin hunting, I am a confirmed nut case of the chasin/watching and persuin of Mato or Kuma or bruin or whatever you choose to call him.

Most years I look at between 45-60 (different ones) so I have a bit of an idea of what is going on here with this critter.

Right now it is a bit over 3 months till the season gets going. And I can't wait I can't wait. Fact is last night my wife and I were talking about the hunts we're gonna take this spring. She's yet to of taken her first, she's passed up a ton load for sure. She's been with me each year when we see a couple of the big boys and she is holding off till she can get on one of those. Those would be in the 6 1/2 foot range, about 335 to 340 in the spring and noggins in the 19"-21" range. The upper crust of bruins for sure.

Are you gonna be in the Havre area this spring?

There is some very good hunting within a fairly short drive by Montana standards.

Plum Creek, nope can't say as I ever made a effort to hunt their lands but I am sure it would/could work. I am pretty sure there is a bit of land around here and the one piece has more than a few bruins on it I hear.

The deal is that there is so much good land that I just don't pay much attention to where there land is and I hunt the areas that I already know are producers.

As far as problem bruins, yeah you can try to chase them down but honestly I do not find it worth the time either. The greater majority of the time they are gonna be fairly young males and not worth hunting.

Mark D

twilli,

The Yack and Eureka are in the very north west corner of the state. The area I hunt for deer and elk is between Kalispell and Libby, which is mainly Plum Creek land. Last spring I went out to do some bear hunting. The plan was to drive into the areas I had seen bears during the fall, park at the gates and walk out to some clearings and glass around. However, the roads were gated at the main roads which meant hiking the 3-4 miles to the next gate only to hike another 1-2 miles to the area I wanted to hunt. I know this sounds lazy but, having never bear hunted before, and my only encounters being in the fall, which were very few, I just couldn't get motivated enough to make that hike. It's a whole different story chasing elk in the fall.

The signs posted said the road were closed to motorized travel from Feb/March-May. Then the you can drive to the upper gates.

Twilli: Yes I have Hunted on Plum Creek lands many times and for many species. They are pretty good folks all in all as they let people Hunt on their lands for free. And they have a LOT of land! Much of it is fenced and locked mandating walk in Hunting but thats right up my alley. Yes I do have one of the tug along game carts to help in this regard.
A little more on size of Bears in Montana if Mark Dobrenski has been seeing "a couple of 350 and 400 pound Black Bears each year" then cancel your previous plans and follow him around - at all costs!
One of my main Hunting partners took a beautifully furred brown phase Black Bear here in SW Montana 3 years ago. It turned out to be a dry female and weighed 180 pounds once cleaned. A tooth was taken by the Game biologist and my friend was informed by mail with the results of that tooth exam. That Bear was 16 1/2 years old!
This same partner killed a Bear that made the Montana records book last spring (2,005!) this huge headed male Blackie was also a brown phase. He is having it full life size mounted! I weighed this Bear when I took it to the Taxidermist! With its innards only removed this Bear weighed 280 pounds! We added some weight for the Bears innards and lost blood and came up with a live weight of 325 pounds! That was THE largest Bear I have ever seen in Montana, dead or alive! I have a picture of it in my all-time photo album and on my refrigerator!
On second thought steer clear of Mr. Dobrenski as "I" will be following him on his Bear Hunts this spring!
I took a beautiful brown phase Black Bear up in NW Montana a few years ago. It had an unusual yellow square patch of fur at its chest and throat area. We quickly skinned and fleshed it and it was in a muslin bag in a freezer in three hours! I took it to a taxidermist here in Dillon, Montana and it was mishandled either there or at the tannery (they both blamed each other - whatcha gonna do?) and the hair "slipped" in parts of that beautiful pelt! I was sick! And I get sick EVERY time I think about it!
This bear weighed around 200 pounds - we guesstimated as the Bear was way not weighed on an official scale. When I got the mailing from the Game Department they had aged it at 4 1/2 years old.
I and my two partners saw a number of Bears last spring and in one of the areas I Hunt them here in SW Montana the season was open until June 15th this past year. Now by this time the Bears have started to make a transition from grass eating only, to eating ants, grass and the calves and fawns of Deer, Elk, Antelope and Moose.
Yeah, on some of the high open ridges where I Hunt here in SW Montana I have seen Bears sneaking after Antelope and I am sure they are looking to come upon a fawn to gulp!
As an aside the Black Bear are not the only fawn and calf eaters out there then. We have lots of Cougar, some Grizzly Bears and a hoarde of Wolves that take fawns and calves. Let alone the ever present Coyotes! During my spring Bear ventures here in SW Montana I chased many a Coyote off of Mule Deer fawns hiding spots!
I saw 8 Bears total here in SW Montana last spring. I passed on a couple of 150 pounders. If I had seen a 200 pounder I would have harvested it.
I got literally ill last year during the last week of the spring season because EVERY cow Elk and calf Elk set of tracks I came across had Wolves following them! EVERY SET!
Use discretion in Wolf country.
Yaak and Eureka are straight west of you about 400 miles - as the Crow flies!
Again best of luck in this pursuit come spring. And be sure to stay out all day as the Bears move about all day and I tend to think they sleep in in the mornings on occassion.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

VG and the rest of the gang-I hit it pretty darn hard each and every year, have been doing so since 1982. If I have a bit of a grip on anything in life it is about bruins.

I'll see if I can find a way to get some pics posted one of these day.

I look at a lot of bruins each year, between 45-60 different ones each year. I say different as I do not count the sightings of the same bruin on different days as some may.

I've evolved to a place where I just love to watch them, hunt them etc.

I also have no interest in bruins that are anything but in the top 100 ever taken in the state. This will be bruins in the 19" plus range and they will go to 21". It is quite tough to find a 19" bruin and or better.

Of the 45-60 bruins I look at a year I will generally find 1 to 3 of the bruins that will make this kind of a mark. And then getting on them is another matter for sure. I know of a small handfull of critters like this and hunt them each year. One of them was taken by another gent a year back and this bruin went right at 21" I hear and went 6' 10".

For the spring it takes a very big bruin to hit 300 and we've taken quite a few that go in the 330-335 range. Tough to find much better than that. I've heard of them but have never witnessed them.

In the fall bruins a big old boy will go over 400, and it is once again very tough to find one of those fellas.

Brad and I saw one last fall that will easily go in the mid 4's and will go 20" plus and will score in the top 30 or so ever taken in the state. We watched him for about an hour as he fed on a recently killed brush bull. It was quite a sight for sure!

Obviously, I am talking about these weights with Montana in mind as there are several other locals that will push them a fair bit bigger.

I do long and pine to head to Hyde County and hunt the big coastal bruins there.

I personally care less and less about the kill anymore but I do love the hunt! Maybe it is that age thing...

Now it is a for sure fact that the greater majority of the bruins taken in this state probably average closer to 125 pounds. It is a sad thing to see but Mato is the toughest critter out there to judge size of for sure. And, it is extremely easy for people to get all cranked up about a bruin, feel it is Joe the Giant. And then they blow him up only to find out when they get over to him that it is his smaller cousin Ronnie the Rat!

People just don't take much time to think it thru and this happens all too often.

An old govt trapper once told me that you will see about as many 200 lb bruins as you will 200 lb men. After being a student of the bruin for a bit over 2 decades I've come to see the truth that went into that statement.

If God told me I could hunt 3 critters the rest of my life then Kuma would be one of them. The Coues of Sonora Old Mex the other and El Bun (yote) would not doubt be the last.

Make it your best day all

Mark D

Mark "B.B." (for Big Bear) Dobrenski: The 325 pound Bear, my friend "Brad", shot this past spring was 9 years old. I have another call in to him to find out the skull measurements for sure but I believe that it measured 20 3/8ths B&C.
By the way I just pulled down my 1993 Edition of the Boone & Crockett Records Of North American Big Game - 10th Edition, 1993.
The official listing shows 311 Black Bears as qualifying for the all time records listing. Bears were listed from about every state and province in North America!
Only one (1) Black Bear made the "book" from Montana! And that Bear was near the bottom of the rankings.
Gallatin County was the locale of its harvesting.
New York State for instance has about 9 Bear listed in the all-time records book of 1993.
Again I will gently point out that the Bears in Montana ARE smaller than Bears in other places I have Hunted and killed them - Washington, Alaska and Alberta.
Mark "B.B." Dobrenski heres wishing YOU the best ever Bear Hunting year of your life this year!
You have obviously put in the time and effort and I hope your rewards both in harvests and in enjoyment of the "chase" this year are bountiful to the max!
Good luck again to you Twilli, also.
Me, I LOVE to eat Bear meat!
I have recipes for Bear Stew and Bear Roast that will knock your socks off!
Long live the Black Bear (Ursus americanus americanus)!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

VG-20 and 4 is a big bruin, I always tell people whenever you can break 19 in this state that you've got yourself a serious bruin.

I've been around the demise of more than a couple of bruins in the 19-20 something range(both personally and professionaly when guiding). Never broke 21 although I feel I seen a couple that could make it. I believe 21 has only been broken something like 4 or so times in Montana's history!

For sure though trying to figure the size of a noggin on a bruin is no easy task nor is there any real science to it.

A lot of time and effort and a fair bit of SWAG goes into it. With time and diligence a person can start to get a pretty darn good feel though.

On a side note on the way back from the range yesterday I darn near put the Ford into the ditch. I thought I'd seen the first rodent of the year. So I tossed in reverse and backed up a ways and looked into the pasture and alas it wasn't a goph. I've always kind of thought it is Bad Karma not to toast the first goph I see in the year!.

Mark D

This discusion prompted me to do a word search and I found something I didnt know existed on MT FWP,s website, game records and here are MT,s by weight.
Elk 1,010 f,dressed 810
deer mule 453 340
whitetail375 275
moose 1,117 840
pronghorn 160 121
bison 1,555
Mt goat 310 212
BHSheep 302 222
A few surprises in there for me.w/regards

I forgot the bears.
black bear 505
grizzly 1,102
lion 176
w/regards

gooph-the heaviest one I've been around I took about 8 ago.

It went 7' 1" square

skull was right at 20

weight a portly 416 lbs

I took him in Sept

He was a big time Toad, the one I saw this last fall was every bit as big!

It take a ton load of bruin in the Rocky Mtn west to go over a true 400 lbs.

I do find it interesting that I've only broken 400 once in the fall and yet in the spring I've got several in the 330 to 335 range.

Mark D

Mark D

Gophershooter & Mark B.B. Dobrenski: Those are monster Bears at 416 pounds and 505 pounds from Montana!
The spring Bear though, I heard somewhere, have lost about 25% of their fall weight during hibernation.
Amazing creatures the Black Bear.
Yes Mark you did the right thing by stopping and backing up! It certainly would be a good omen to whack the first Gopher you see of the season!
If it gets any warmer here in Dillon we may just see the Gophers out this week!
During my first year living in Montana full time (1997) a local friend and I were out Hunting Ground Squirrels. We were changing ranches and driving down a county road when my friend says hey thats so and so - he's the county commisioner! Well, it was the county commisioner, and he was parked on the shoulder of the county road with his scoped 22 Rifle poked out the window and he was plinking away at a field full of Ground Squirrels!
Thats when I knew, FOR SURE, I was going to LOVE living full time in Montana!
Springs not far off.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

VG and the rest of you bruin hounds

I've got a bunch of pics on a disk, I looked last night but could not find it. I just love my good deal filing system.

When I find them Brad is gonna give me a hand in getting them posted.

So once I find it I'll start a new post referring to Big Sky Bruins

Mark D

91 more days till opener here by the way.

I know of 2 places in this state theat irregardless of weather or winter the buins are always out the first of April

Any bets as to where I'll be on the 15th of April.

Brad will know as he'll be with me. Hopefully we can get Jr. his first bruin this spring though.

His son really corked a nice lope this last fall using my Kimber SA 223 and a 53 TX.

Hopefully we can find a nice 19" plus bruin for the lad this spring....

Now you tell me, how could it get any better than that!?

Mark D

I have already taken the bear test

quote:

Originally posted by gophershooter:
Twilli;To get a license you will have to take the bear test.You can take it on line at MT FWP.It is pretty interesting and you will see the color variations there.w/regards