Ep. 94: Locating Bears in Thick Country
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As a guide and hunter, I've spent thousands of days in the field. This show is about translating my hard-won experiences into tips and tactics that'll get you closer to your ultimate goal, success in the field. I'm Remy Warren. This is Cutting the Distance.

As the spring bear season progresses, I figured it'd be a great time to expand on some more bear hunting tactics. While spotting from a distance and stalking in is a great way to hunt, what about those areas where that's not possible? Those vast areas of bear country where having a look even maybe 100 yards away would be a tough feat.

My bear hunting is often split between hunting timber and glassing. This week, we're going to cover all things thick country bear hunting by breaking down food, terrain, sign, and effectively covering country. But before we do that, I want to share the story of my best Montana bear.

So I actually kind of told the story not that long ago, episode 90. I briefly mentioned the story of this bear. I kind of got into detail, but because the last story was predicated on a couple of clients that I had and getting her a bear, but yeah,

At the beginning of that story, I talked about a bear that I ended up shooting, which was my best Montana bear. And even though I kind of already told the story, I feel like it skipped out on a lot of details because I didn't want to make it too long. So I figured, well, today I might as well tell the actual like full, full length version because I think it's pretty good. So like I talked about earlier, I was guiding a father and a daughter, Jason Micah, and we'd been hunting for most of the week and got on some bears and

And that week is a little bit later in the season. So my tactic kind of switched from, you know, actually in the mornings we were going up some big canyons, glassing, doing that whole glassing thing. And it just, we spotted some bears, but by the time we got there and it just didn't work out, the bears had disappeared. And there's one of those where we're seeing bears, but we just aren't getting within range to get a shot. So

I decided, all right, we're going to switch our tactics. We're going to go hunt some more covered areas. We're going to, and actually kind of start targeting some places where fawns are dropping because it's calving time for elk and fawning for deer. So we would go into those kind of timbered pockets where I had hunted a lot in the past. I knew a lot of bears concentrated in. I'd had a lot of success there over the years.

And so just hunting these areas, doing various different tactics, cruising logging roads and other things, still hunting through timber, picking some good ridges and other things, and then just really kind of keying in on where some of the fawns and calves are dropping in as later in the season. So there's also kind of the rut where the bears start mating. So you kind of get that as well, where you get higher concentrations of bears and then you might get more movement throughout the day. So figured, all right, we're going to go hunt this a little bit thicker stuff.

And toward the end of the hunt, we're in one of my favorite areas. We'd seen some bears in a couple of different places, but just no shots, nothing close, nothing great. And so on the last podcast, I said, we were just sitting there BSing, which is true. We were just kind of talking, joking around. And normally like when I'm guiding, you know, I, I take the deposits, all the fees, everything's taken care of before the hunt.

But Jace had hunted with me a lot and good friend by this point. And he still had like some of his hunt deposit left and he had it in a check in his pocket. So we're sitting there just joking around. He's like, oh man, I say, he's like, this check has been burning a hole in my pocket this whole week. I've been meaning to give you the rest of the payment for the guiding services. And I was like, oh yeah, whatever, man. And so we're just joking back and forth. And so he reaches into his wallet and pulls out a check that he had for the remaining balance of the hunt.

and hands it to me. And the second it hits my hand, I look over, I'm like, there's a bear. And this bear is like 70 yards away. So Micah lines up, I kind of told this story already, shoots, misses, a bear gets away. And unfortunately they couldn't stay another day to hunt it. So I was like, all right. But I actually had, I had some plans. I had to be somewhere. I think that was like a Thursday. So the next day is a Friday. And

And I'm thinking to myself, I was like, man, that was a big bear. I got to get, I got to get back out there and just give it a look. I mean, but I'm thinking about it. I'm like, okay, I got, I got to be somewhere this weekend, man. And if I get a bear, I have to check it in. And sometimes it can be really hard to track someone down and I'm going to be gone. So I was like, I have to get it checked in before I leave. So I'm thinking to myself and I'm like, man, I really have to shoot this bear first thing in the morning. I got to stop hunting by like

mid morning because I have to pack it out. I have to take it in. I have to get checked and I have to drive back. So I'm like, man, I don't know if I'll be able to track someone down on the weekend. So I've got to drive about two hours to a regional fishing game office to get this bear checked in. So I'm like, okay, this is just before I even go out. So I'm just thinking all the, like all the planning in my head. I'm like, well, I'm just, I just can't not go look in worst case scenario. Okay. Maybe I'll just like change my flight and my trip. I think I was flying to the

That time of year it would have been, I can't remember where I was going. Probably Reno rodeo. Cause if it's that time of year, that's something I generally don't miss. So I go out and I just leave super early, like way before set up and I go and I'm like, Oh, what are the odds that I'm actually going to find this bear again? So I'm, I'm going through and I'm slowly going around the corner. It's like kind of like it's a logging road. And, uh,

there's been this like spot where it's kind of cleared out a little bit, like a more cleared area. And that's where I'd been seeing the bears because of the elk were just dropping their calves in these little bit more open areas. So I come around the corner and I'm like, just thinking like, Oh, this would be sweet. It's kind of foggy, kind of rainy this morning. And I look up, I see a bear. I'm like, Oh, bear. Cool. It's not the bear that we saw the day before, but I thought that doesn't really matter. It's a bear. So it's about 50 yards away.

and I put the gun up. I'm like, sweet. I want to get a good look at it first. You know, make sure there's no cubs around. I look at it. I'm like, ah, it's definitely a sow. It's got like a pretty small head on it. It's kind of a scrawnier, smaller sow, like not a big bear, not a real mature animal. I'm like, I'm like, I don't see any cubs, but I'm thinking to myself, not a bear I want to take. So I'm like, ah, man, bummer. Well, I was like, that was pretty cool. At least I saw a bear and it was pretty close to where that bear was the other day. Not right in the same place, but

So, I'm looking and just kind of like keep watching. And there's this, it's like in this little dip below me, this little dip and there's like this little ridge just past it, maybe 50 yards past it. So, the bear is just below me and I look up and this bear comes, just starts to walk over the rise. And I'm like, yep, that's the bear. There's a big chocolate colored boar.

And he gets on that ridge and the smaller bear is actually just right below me. I mean, probably at this point, 30 yards or less. I can actually even see it because it went on the ridge right below me. And that boar gets on the ridge and it must have been following the scent of that

that sow to either breed her or whatever. And he gets up on that Ridge and he just stands up. And I don't know if he saw me or if he's just now trying to like, he smells that other bear in there and he's like, where's, where'd the bear go? But I feel like he kind of like pinned on me, like, Ooh, what's that? And stands up on his two hind legs. And at this point I'm already ready. So I'm like, Oh, yep. That's the bear. It's sweet.

line up the crosshairs and he actually had like a perfect, I don't know, like white Chevron on his chest, just centered right there, squeeze the trigger less than a hundred yards away. I don't even, I think it was actually offhand maybe, or maybe resting on me. And I can't remember. I think I was standing. And, um, cause I was trying to look at the bear down below me when that bear popped up. And that's probably why he saw me and got a little hinky. So I threw the gun up, shot, squeeze the trigger. Boom. Looked good.

A bear disappeared. So I'm like, sweet. I walk over, give it a few seconds, kind of go over to the ridge, go down. And sure enough, there he is in the bottom. I was like, whoa, cool. Go up to him. And it was the biggest bear I'd taken in Montana. I ended up, you know, skinned him out, just actually case skinned him because I tanned the hide and then packed out all the meat. And I didn't have a super large pack on me.

I mean, I had like my normal pack, but it wasn't my big frame pack. I'm like, oh, you know, because normally spring bears aren't that big, even big spring bears. And in order to get everything into the pack, I was like, I got to get out one trip because I got to hustle. So I got the hide in there and then all the meat. I ended up having to bone out some of the meat and pack the bear back. And I can't do that. I'd have to, I was trying to look before I did this. I took a picture of the scale of the boned out meat. I think it was like 150.

160, 170 pounds of boned out meat, some 160 pounds, something like that of boned out meat on a spring bear. That's a pretty substantial size bear for Montana. I mean, it was, it was a pretty good size bear, a lot of meat. I ended up making mostly, I did have quite a few Polish's little bit of summer sausage. And then one of my favorites, like I like to do like slow cooker pulled bear stuff, do like brisket style, but yeah,

That was the story of my largest bear. And it was a, it was a kind of a rushed hunt, the end of another hunt and probably should have been someone else's bear. And it was one of those things where I'm like, all right, should I text the picture of this bear or not? And then I thought to myself, yep, should definitely text the picture of the bear, the see what you missed out on text. But that is the, that's the story there of my largest Montana spring black bear.

When it comes to hunting thicker country in terrain where you can't really see, I think that it comes down to four main things. So it comes down to food, the type of terrain, the ability to detect sign, and then the most important covering country. So let's start with the first one, food. I know in every bear podcast or anything I've talked about, I always say you got to key in on the food.

And it's no different whether you are hunting the fall, whether you're hunting the spring, whether you're hunting open country, or whether you're hunting the timber. Food is going to be the key. I actually got quite a few questions after the last bear podcast, which is what kind of inspired me to continue talking about bears.

A lot of them were, what do we do in the fall? And then quite a few like, I'm from Pennsylvania or areas where it's more thick, more timbered. How do I kind of go about locating bears on the regular? And you have to remember like bears, they need that food, especially in the fall. They're really starting to bulk up, but they're building that weight in the springtime as well. So I think that this is a good, like this podcast is not necessarily for spring bears, but this is a lot of my fall bear hunting tactics as well.

And that food is actually easier to hone in on in the fall because you've got different kinds of high protein food sources. So I always look for that food source that's at the top of the list.

If you're in an area like maybe further east or central part of the US, maybe not even out west, or like places like New Mexico where you've got mass crops of acorns, you know, you can look at the trees, look at the type of terrain and say like, what's producing right now? A thing in Montana or other like more mountain areas, berries are always good. You've got huckleberries, you've got blueberries. Some places have like good raspberry growth or blackberries.

Anything that has just a lot of sugar, a lot of protein, a lot of carbohydrates, bears are completely sucked in by. So in the springtime, there's a couple different food sources that I would say are primarily things you can focus on in that more timbered country. One of them is just that early grass. And that early grass, if you think about an area that's really forested,

You've got really good grass that actually grows on roads that aren't being used. So like abandoned logging roads, gated roads, maybe there's some areas that are a little bit thinner timber that actually have more grass. Most of the forest canopy blocks out a lot of that grass, but any of those open areas, it's not open where you could glass it from a distance, but it's open enough where the sun's going to get in, it's going to hit the ground, and you're going to get some of that green up that is what you're looking for in those more spot and stock areas.

type things. Some great stuff to look for. I mean, I look for clover, dandelions, those kinds of things. Those start to pop up. That's a really good favored food source of early spring bears. So walking those gated logging roads that can get a little bit of sun, you start seeing that green up in that green grass. That's a place to key on, start to look for. Other things that I look for in the springtime are elk calving areas, deer calving areas, areas where

You're like, okay, the animals are dropping. They might be closer together. It's like a safety in numbers thing. You can smell like where elk have calves. It's just like, it's this area that reeks. Think about how good a bear's nose is. It takes not very much for a bear to stroll in and munch on some elk calves, some deer calves, whatever. Every year I find multiple. I mean, I don't even know if I can count the number of chewed up carcasses from deer.

calves, fawns, even does that have tried to protect their young from bears that time of year. It's like,

taking candy from a baby. They're laying there, they're defenseless. And while their scent isn't as strong, and that's kind of part of their defense, a bear can easily detect a young deer, a young elk. So it's pretty much a pretty steady, easy to find food source. And me personally, in areas that I hunt elk a lot, it's like, hey, if I'm going to hunt the spring, I might as well hunt in areas that bears are targeting future crops of mule deer or elk.

kind of balance out the equation a little bit. But you got to kind of think of those food sources. And then the other thing to think about, like, well, even fall or springtime, winter kills areas where it's like, hey, this is a winter range. This is where the elk winter. But think about that. There's a lot of animals that aren't going to survive the winter, especially in harsher winters. I'll kind of go in those areas where it's like,

animals were wintering there because I know that there will be winter kill. A lot of that will freeze over. It might not have been eaten by coyotes or other things, but a lot of it will. And there are quite a few winter kills that actually happen later in the spring. They make it all the way through the winter. And then if you get a really wet spring and then cold nights, that kills probably more ungulants than just the winter itself. They've got kind of that prepared for winter, but it's those really wet, cold springs that do a lot of the killing. So

So those times of year, you can actually find where maybe some animals that die off from harshness, severity of weather, and the bears will hone in on that. And that'll be another good food source, especially in the fall as well. Anything where you've got a good protein source like salmon streams or those like some kind of kill, whether it's a wolf kill that a bear has moved in on, something maybe a hunter shot and couldn't find, you never know.

that's always a good food source for bears as well. Now, one thing to think about in this step is when you find the food, bears aren't like other animals where they need to move a lot. Once they've got their food, if they've got a good food source, they're going to keep hitting it till it's no longer a good food source. So depending on the type of food source you find, if you're finding some kind of sign,

Then you're going to know, oh, hey, this is a food source that they're hitting. And those are the kind of places that you want to keep going back to and keep keeping track of. And as you kind of look at it through a broader scope, you go, this is an area that's heavily timbered. There's not a lot of food here. Where is the food? So it might be in more creek bottom areas with more water later in the year. And it may be it will be in areas that are just like the first places to get some sun and get some green up earlier in the year.

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So that brings us to our next point, kind of looking for that sign. So one thing I think about, you know, bears are very solitary. Their population densities are probably a little higher than you think, but also it's not like there isn't a herd of bears walking through the woods generally. I mean, I think the most I've seen in one like little group is probably three or four.

And that's not like not cubs. That was just a couple breeding. It was actually a sow had walked across a meadow. Then a boar walked across a meadow behind her and then another boar and then a third boar. And then the second boar turned around and actually ran toward the first boar and they started fighting. It was pretty cool. Back up on our hind legs, hair flying everywhere. It's like claws and teeth and hair. It's a pretty sweet thing to witness. But

One thing I try to hone in on, especially in more timbered areas, is starting to look for that sign. So sign can be very difficult to find. What I'm talking about is either scat

Tree markings, like sometimes bears will, like especially later in the spring, they'll kind of mark their territory just like any other animal. Rubbing, where they kind of like rub some of that, maybe they've got, they're growing out, they're losing some of their winter coat for the summer, they're preparing for summertime, so they're rubbing on the trees to try to get some of that hair off, they get a little bit itchy, seeing that hair in places, and then tracks.

One thing that I do like to do is you go, okay, there's this huge forest. Now I got to see if a bear actually shits in it. And that can be hard to do. So what I like to do is I like to target places where it's easier to find sign. For me, generally, that is some kind of like,

non-driving logging road or areas that hold good dirt where I can find tracks. Other places that I look for sign around watering areas, places where it's like maybe something that's limiting that they need. So maybe there's a limiting food source. Then I'm going to really kind of scan those areas where the food sources are. Maybe there's a good calving area where it's like really reeks of elk in here. Now I'm going to kind of treat it like I'm looking for shed antlers. And

i'll kind of grid that area out on foot and say okay look here's some bear sign i know bears are using it i know it's fresh this is an area that i need to keep checking because once you've found that sign you go okay i'm checking things off the list i've got the food source i've got the sign i know there's bears here now i just have to intersect that i have to intersect when the animals are going to be in this spot

And that's what you're doing when you're, as opposed to like glassing, where you're sitting and letting your eyes do the walking. In the timber, you really have to let your feet do the walking. And that's what comes to our third kind of main thing here. And that is going to be covering country. And the way that I cover country in thick terrain is what I like to call cruise. The more ground that I'm covering physically, the more effective I'm going to be. So I cover ground in various different ways.

It could be walking, riding, driving. I've done a combination of all of them. Some of the more effective ones are ones where you're going to be able to, you got to think about like it's thick cover. And so the bear is probably going to be in very close proximity when you are like able to even actually physically see the animal.

So I think that the two most effective ways would be like the walking or riding, but sometimes it's like really good to just cover country and understand like, okay, where's bear sign? Maybe by driving an area that doesn't really get a lot of traffic. You could drive that road. You could look for tracks just kind of like you would if you were,

hunting with hounds. You're just the hound. You can drive, you can look for tracks, you can look for sign, you can cover country and look at areas where it's like, oh, here, this is a good hillside. This might have a good orientation to the sun. There's maybe not as much snow right here. Let's go walk out this way. Let's go check this out. I think one of the probably best additions I've added to my spring bear setup is an e-bike. I guess I got it last year. I

And what I'll do is I'll, so I'll have my truck, I'll cover ground, like in the timber, in a vehicle to get to a different logging road. That's like a gated logging road. And these were, now I will preface this because I think one of the things with e-bikes is people think that it's like, oh, you're using a motorized vehicle in an unmotorized area, but no.

What I do is I use them on motorized like areas where you can use a four wheeler, a UTV, whatever, but I just don't have to bring a trailer. So I can have the bike in the back of my truck. I can drive my truck on a logging road to a logging road that really gets zero traffic, vehicular traffic, unless somebody wants to bring a four wheeler there, but it's way easier because it's not like I can get a trailer there and it's super quiet. So I'll get on my e-bike on a road that I could drive any other kind of motorcycle, whatever. Um,

it's a lot more silent so I can cruise that logging road out. And I just pick, when I go to pick a road that I'm going to walk or an area that I'm going to cover, I always base it off of the wind. I want to be walking into the wind.

Bears have such a good sense of smell. I don't want them to smell me two miles away and be that extra. I mean, even if they run off 50 to a hundred yards from where I'm cruising through and checking areas, that's going to be enough for me to not see them. So I pick an area. I'll use my truck to drive to the other side of the mountain to get to a, like a old gated logging road, a road that's not used.

by like regular traffic. And then I'll get out, I'll get my e-bike, I'll jump on that trail, whatever that I'm allowed to drive. And then I cruise that into the wind. And sometimes I'll go 10 plus miles. And what I'm doing is I'm just looking for those spots that I think have that food source. And then I'm also obviously looking for bears. One thing that I've liked about that e-bike or just like walking is instead of like, if you're cruising it on the four wheel or something, you're scaring everything.

Whereas if you're a little bit more stealthy, I'm not blowing out deer. I'm not blowing out elk. So I kind of get a good picture of this is where something's calving. This is where these animals are. Then I go and I cover that ground. And then if I see something like, let's say I see some sign, let's see, maybe I see it, get lucky and see a bear, whatever.

Then I kind of make note of that area. And those are the areas that I then start to still hunt on foot. So I'll pick an area, I'll focus on it, stocking into the wind, and then just glassing and moving, glassing and moving, and really honing in on those areas. There's places that I hunt like consistently. And I find that, let's say it's a 10 mile long route.

I probably only see bears in three spots every time. And it's like those same three spots. So there's something about those particular areas that the bears like, whether it's food, whether it's, it's something else, but there's something about those areas that they like. So every time after, then I can kind of hone in on, okay, I get to that spot. And instead of just going past that spot, I effectively hunt that small area or that area by still hunting.

One thing that I think gets overlooked when it comes to hunting covered country is analyzing the terrain. So I've found that in covered country, and it's very similar for other animal movements, other animal patterns, but they like the ridges and then they like the valleys. Like they like to be in those creek bottoms and they also like to be kind of on those ridges. And what I've found is it's actually more or less, they like...

more level terrain. Bears, yes, they will absolutely be in some steep, gnarly, nasty stuff.

But they're also trying to pack on a lot of weight. If they've got food and they don't have to like strenuously walk up something all the time, they're going to do it. They like those easy, like long, wide, long, wide ridges. I mean, elk do the same thing. A lot of animals do. And maybe it's because that time of year I'm focusing on an elk and those are the places that elk like to calve. So that's something to think about. But when I'm looking at terrain, I generally find most bears, like if I'll go into an area where,

I'll pick a nice, good grassy Ridge in, in the timber. It's a little bit higher. It sometimes grows that, that gets that good green up because the sun can hit it a little bit. And I'll, I'll like walk that Ridge down and then walk the next Ridge up.

or in that valley, like a little bit wider valley areas where it kind of flattens out. Maybe you get some wallows or some other things, some areas where water sits. That's always good too, because you get that water. If it gets hotter later in the season, they're going to be hitting that water. Also, it's kind of that area where you might get some more flat areas where the sun can get in, you can get that grass and it's easy for the bears. Yeah. Bears can be in some like the

the most crazy steep cliffs imaginable. But when I'm hunting the timber, it's really hard to effectively kind of like target those areas you're covering ground. And yeah, you got to walk up and down them, but it seems to be that I find the majority of, I would say maybe 85% of the bears that I spot in timber are

are probably like just up off a small Creek in a more gradual like area or up on a Ridge as I'm like going up. So you've got like steep on both sides, but they're on that easier to travel Ridge. And that seems to be kind of universal in places that I've hunted bears across the country. With all that in mind, I would say that one thing to think about over the years is bears in many ways can be very patternable and it's because of

ability of, you know, they aren't going to get far from that food source. If you find that good food source, once you find that sign and you find that type of topography and terrain that they like, then you can keep focusing in and hunting that. And the way that I hunted is through still hunting. It's getting the wind, right? It's going quiet. It's moving slow and just constantly head on a swivel, looking, taking a few steps, looking all

I'll even throw my binoculars up and when I'm in that timber and I will like scan with my binoculars and then I'll actually even just roll the focus. What that's doing is it's saying like, okay, it's changing that depth that that focus is. So I'm looking at everything from 50 yards and then I'm zooming in out to a hundred yards or as far as I can see. And then I'm moving again.

You know, you got to cover a lot of country when you're chasing bears. So if you're doing it by glassing, you're covering a lot of country with your eyes. If you can't glass it, you got to cover a lot of that country with your feet or some other way. If you're mobility impaired, maybe that way is in a vehicle or maybe that way is on a horse. I've actually done quite a bit of

spring bear hunting on horseback. It's actually pretty fun or on a mule or whatever going up canyons. And then, you know, I've seen quite a few just like cruising up the trail on a horse, especially in the summertime after the season's closed. That happens a lot more. But, you know, being able to cover country effectively is going to be the best way that you can

be successful in that thicker timber, but also covering country that's the most efficient. So figuring out where the bears are, what food they're hitting, and then still hunting through that is going to be a really good way to find consistent success in the timber.

I hope you guys enjoyed this week's podcast and I hope that it kind of answered a few questions. I did get a lot of questions after the last bear podcast. I think that bear hunting is one of the things that people ask a lot about because it is very difficult and there's so many different tactics and ways to hunt different times of year and different types of terrain. But I think a lot of the things are universal. So I hope that this helps.

answer some of the questions for the people talking about or wondering about fall bear hunting, as well as a lot of people saying, Hey, I don't live in an area where glassing is possible. What can I do and how can I be consistently successful? So by focusing in on these key things, I think that you'll find a lot more success next week.

Anytime I talk about bears, this question also comes up and like I always, I say it every time, but I'm like, I always kind of want to tailor a lot of the, what the podcast topics are based on the kind of feedback I'm getting. Um,

So if you're like, this is not the feed, this is not things I want to hear, then start sending me more messages, mostly via Instagram at Remy Warren. Or you can also email Remy at the meteor.com. But to be 100% honest, I don't check email that often. So next week, it's going to be I think it'd be cool because I got a lot of questions on this as well.

To talk a little bit about large predator awareness and defense. There's a recent story, probably most of you heard of a lady in Colorado getting killed by a black bear. That's a horrible, I mean, I hate to hear any kind of bear attacks. You know, one in Montana this year from a grizzly bear. I think he was actually a guide. I don't know, a hunting guide or just a mountain guide. But of course, I'm not actually sure, but

God, man, that sucks. And my heart goes out to their families. And I know that that's something that people that maybe aren't familiar with hunting the West or even people that are, it's, it can be a real concern. What, what should I expect out there? Or it's a fear of a lot of people. It's something that holds a lot of people back. So I think we did talk about, I think it was even an episode two of the podcast, bear defense, bear best practices for large bears, mostly grizzly bears. But what about those other things? Mountain lions, black bears, um,

I mean, I've actually, I've been charged by a coyote. I've been like, when I was a kid, a bobcat actually stalked me. No, I'm just saying like, there are other things out there. I wouldn't say it's something that you need to be afraid of, but I also think it's something that, you know, maybe you should, you should think about. So I'll give you kind of a whole rundown of

of what to look out for, things to think about, and then possible ways to just keep yourself a little bit safer out there in this country where you're just recreating, you're doing something else, but there are other large predators out there that, who knows, things can happen. So until next week, keep, I don't know, we got to find, that's like we're at almost episode podcast 100. We still haven't even come up with a sign off yet. I need help. No. So until next week, keep stalking that timber.

Catch you guys later.

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