Idaho Bear hunting

[huntfish8]

Its been a tuff year so far for Bear. I drive and drive trying to rig one. baits I have barley get touched and when they do they only get picked through. I have had the same bait spots for years and every year seems to be less and less bears. is there any body noticing this or is it just me?? Its very frustrating and discouraging.

[lepcur]

If you're not seeing much sign it's probably best to move the baits.
Good luck. Mike

[beardogger]

That sucks you dont have the bear #s that you had several years ago down south I have too many bears on my baits and cant barely keep them filled but i have them in less then friendly areas and have to pay for it alot of the times. I wonder if you are in an area that sells houndsmen tags over the counter to out of staters

[huntfish8]

Ya no kidding I wish the Bear numbers where like they were. i'm up in Cour d Alane so there is no over the counter tags. I think so many hound guys packed in a little area?? But all I know its getting old to spend this much money and time to try to run a Bear. But I guess thats what it is...

[ferjr]

Yep, bears have been few and far between this year arround here too. They have been declineing arround here for the last couple of years, less bears and alot more hound hunters arround here. Striking off the roads hasnt been sucsessful, we have had better luck striking off the 4 wheelers behind gates where trucks cant get.

[Lance Bell]

We have had a ruff go went back to usual spot found one pile o crap that was old nothing seemed to be going on figured it was just to dry. Went to a new venue above featherville saw a ton of wolf sign tracks on every road we rigged. third new area does not justify the drive not much there either. kinda glad the wife is about due and i'm on my 30 mile limit, hopefully fall goes better or i'll have to try and combat hunt the park.

[beardogger]

Dont waste your time in the park the only thing you will catch there is alot of shit from other guys not sure why but i have hunted there a ton and not even had any strikes and if its runnable my old girl will tell me and in previous years we have had 3 bear days regularly. I dont have a clue whats changed I know tag amounts havent changed lately

[Glen]

I have been finding a lot of bears in roadless areas. They all seem to be big this year. I haven't seen anything under 250 lbs.

[ferjr]

I heard that the last few years wolves have been going in the dens and killing bears during the winter hybernation. I dont know how true this is but it would explain the drop in bear population over the last few years. I would immagine a sleeping bear is a easier dinner than a scared deer or elk.

[huntfish8]

Ya have been hearing the same thing about that about wolves and bear. Went out today and was unreal on how many guys hound hunting. In this spot I have seen only a few people over the years and now this year is crazy saw over 15 hound trucks ya 15... Time to move spots.

[Brianshounds]

Up north its a two bear area now and more guys are shooting two... i never ran a bear up north that was over 60 pounds this July. I did find a track of a nice boar about 6 1/2 foot. but it was to old to run. last year i ran and treed 15 bears up there.. went threw the video and looked at them all and i only caught a couple twice. most of them where 150+ pounds. the one big bear was almost 7 ft. he was to big for me to turn loose, kind of wish i wouldn't of shot him now. but i figured what the hell hadn't killed a bear sense 2006, he was the second bear that day and the dogs did good had to work hard to get him in a tree. But you cant be mad at a guy who buys a legal tag and puts it on a legal bear, even if they shoot 2 in that area now..... but i can be mad at F&G for making it a two bear area. that's a joke.

pic of the big bear i killed last year

[Bayemup34]

I'm sorry bout y'all's bear problems out west. Here, our bear #s are up, but so is the number of bear hunters. More bear hunters than it is white people anymore. Freakin rediculous. You can go somewhere that you're sure nobody's there and what'd ya know, somebody there. And if it ain't that, it's some jerk packin dogs in with yours so his trashy dogs can tree a bear for once.