Does anyone out there hunt bear in washington? i was wanting to shoot one with a bow this year and was wondering the best technique to get one. tree stand, stalk, etc. do any of you use any calls, or scent? any info would be great. thanks

For a bow shot bear I'd suggest talking to Tater. You can hunt the Quinault Reservation from a ground blind using bait, as they don't have to abide by the stupid "no bait" rule the frickin' Seattle liberal pukes pushed on the rest of the state when they stepped in line with the PETA folks.

Cost would be about $1500 for the guide fee and another $250 for the tag. We saw 4 or 5 bears on our final day, and all blinds are within 30 yards of the bait. They have bionic hearing, so be very quite. At 28 yards one bear heard my father-in-law cock his lever-gun, and scooted out of there.

That reservation is over-run by bears.

i would love to do that but i dont have the kind of money to do a hunt like that. i was planning on huntin around snoqualmie.

Sullie - Calling is the way to go. Here is a link to a Bear Calling article I wrote for another site.

Calling Black Bears

Good luck.

I recommend spot and stalk in the berry patches in clearcuts around Snoqualmie or the Duvall area.

We went out yesterday afternoon and didn't see anything except elk, deer, and rabbits. Got some great pics of the mountain and sunset though.
Riverswild, I read your article and I have a couple questions. Do you skyline yourself to make the bear wonder what is there? I had always tried to stay below the skyline, yet keep myself back to the sun so animals have a harder time seeing me with the sun shining in their eyes. Have you ever tried recorded calls to bring bears in? How many coyotes, cats, and other predators come in before the bears? And lastly do you use a sweet scent at all like Anise or Popcorn to help with the elk cover scent?

riverswild, thanks for that article. where can i find those calls you were talking about? and how much are they?

Depending on how often you want to do it, you could hunt out of a tree stand. Bears right now are keying in on berries, so if you found a berry patch you could get in a good location and get a bow shot. I haven't hunted around seattle lately, but I did two years ago and used this approach. I shot one from 20 or 30 yards after a few evenings of hunting. I did it with a rifle, but if I would have had a bow I easily could have gotten a shot. The bears will use the same locations every day, and if you find a good location there can be a lot of bears using a small area.

I am sure that any sweet scent could be considered and attractant which would against the law, so no. I have had too much luck with the cow call / cow scent combo to really change or try anything else.
The stump/skyline comment was kinda flip. I meant that you don't have to be concealed (as coyote hunting) especially with a rifle. I would rather be able to see a little more than be hidden so much that it is hard to see. My fav spot is a stump that has the sun setting right in my eyes. I have about 40 minutes of it before it gets behind some trees. So your spot doesnt have to be perfect in all aspects, it just has to produce.

I get quite a few coyotes coming in, but most hang up and bark at me because I am not too concealed. The bobcats have given me a few starts, especially when the come in hard. They are small and you can't see them very well. This spring I did call in two bobcats that I was able to photograph. Both were called between 10 am and noon.

PM sent.

The biggest tip I could give you is to be out in the woods. I prefer early mornings, but some prefer just before dark. I have also seen and killed alot of bears in the middle of the day. Remember that they have to eat for winter and sometimes they feed for 20 hours of any day. They can also be on the move. Last year my brother shot at and missed one, then he killed one, bought another tag and saw two more bears in two weeks. All while bow hunting bear/deer/elk, because he was in the woods. I have had some great luck hunting bears but I like to say that "ya can't kill em from the couch".

My brothers 2006 archery bear.



Look at the harvest reports for gmu's near where you want to hunt. I go back about 10 years and look for trends, but also the amount of hunters in the unit. A unit with 8-10% success rate with a low number of hunters gets me more excited than a 15% success rate and high hunter numbers.

well i went to the iron goat trail past mt index today and came back empty handed. my buddy and me did see one bear early this morning but couldnt get close enough for a shot. found alot of good spots but it didnt seem like the berries were in yet. i am goin to give it a try next weekend hoping to see more bears.

Some lower elevations are good too. Try areas with a lot of blackberries, it can be very good, especially earlier before the huckleberries get ripe.