July 14, 2025 • 37 mins
The secret to successful bear hunting isn't just understanding where bears live—it's knowing how they move through their habitat as seasons change. In this revealing conversation with experienced bear hunter Heather Aldrich, we dive deep into how black bears shift their patterns throughout the year and how savvy hunters can capitalize on these predictable changes.
Aldrich shares her hard-earned knowledge about spring versus fall bear behavior, explaining how boars transition from ridgeline-running during breeding season to creek-bottom feeding during hyperphagia. "Hyperphagia is the gift to the bear hunter," she explains, detailing how bears consume 20,000+ calories daily while active for up to 22 hours during their pre-hibernation feeding frenzy. This biological imperative creates predictable patterns hunters can exploit.
The discussion takes fascinating turns through bear bedding habits, revealing unexpected locations where bears choose to rest—sometimes surprisingly close to human activity in areas consistently overlooked by people. "An old boar is really smart," Aldrich notes. "He has made his living by avoiding people and outfoxing them on his own turf."
We explore how bears use topography differently throughout the year, from spring ridgelines to fall creek bottoms, and how weather conditions impact movement patterns. While conventional wisdom suggests bears avoid rain and extreme heat, Aldrich shares stories of harvesting bears during downpours and spotting feeding bears on scorching days, reminding us that individual bears often break established patterns.
Whether you're planning your first bear hunt or looking to improve your success on mature boars, this episode provides actionable insights into bear behavior that will transform your approach. Ready to see more bears on your next hunt? Subscribe now and let us know your biggest bear hunting challenge in the comments.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to the Blacktail Coach Podcast.
I'm Aaron.
This week part three of bearhunting with Heather Aldrich.
Okay, so now let's talk aboutthe habitat for bears.
Sure, so primarily do theychange habitat for seasons and
how topography affects wherethey'll be.
So spring bear, fall bear huntsOkay, so you've said food
(00:21):
drives them.
Yeah, so they're changing,they're moving around.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yes, they are.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Is there anything as far as the change in habitat
from season to season in, Iwould say, in the context of
hunting, yes, Okay.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
So let's put a box on it.
Let's say we're hunting aspecific boar and we know that
this guy can be upwards of 50square miles, right?
So I'm going to start markingwhere I'm picking him up on
camera or sign, and let's say so.
When we measure a bear, we lookat their front pad and we can
(00:58):
get a general idea of the size.
So we measure across the frontpad, only not the back.
If it's like a four inch pad,you know the rule of thumb it's
about a five foot bear.
So generally the bears I'mlooking at, I'm looking for that
five, five and a half inchfront pad to get me into the
size of bear I would prefer totake.
So I can monitor him throughthat as well as my, my game
(01:19):
cameras.
So I'm looking for thatspecific track in the area.
I'm going to start to use thosemarkers using my GPS, placing
markers on it to get an idea ofwhere he's operating at that
time in his habitat and try toget the boundaries as best I can
.
So again, I'm going to go onthe large side a lot of times
(01:39):
and put them in a pretty big boxand you may think you're in
like the best part of hishabitat.
Right, you've got all this sign, all this stuff.
You might be more in a prettybig box and you may think you're
in like the best part of hishabitat.
Right, you've got all this sign, all this stuff.
You might be more on the moremarginal stuff.
So this goes back to scoutingand the boots on the ground of
make sure that you've coveredenough ground, don't just settle
.
And and this is where some ofthe mistakes were that I made
early on hunting was I wouldcome across something and I'd be
(02:02):
getting consistent bears oncamera.
There's poop there and all thethings, but I did not study the
whole habitat, so I only had aportion of the chessboard.
Well, that's not good.
We need to have all of theinformation that we can get.
There is no perfect world.
Okay, we're not going to haveeverything, but we can certainly
eliminate stupid things.
(02:23):
So when I run a camera set, Ilike to have my control group
where I expect there to be nobear.
If there's no bear, then I'veestablished his habitat, his
range, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Okay, so that's one of my playing pieces Now.
Within that specific habitatthat he's roaming in his
topography, there's going to beareas that he prefers over
others, and it'll be based onfood.
It could be based on the timeof year, meaning if it's spring
and there's sows in season, hemight be moving more in
(02:58):
different areas, like wediscussed earlier, and then in
the fall, how he moves throughthere is going to be a little
bit different.
So a lot of times at that pointright, all the south-facing
slopes that were so good in thespring are now done.
They're burnt because that'swhere all the sun's hitting.
So there's no food there forhim, or if it is, it's, you know
, shriveled up raisin stuff.
(03:18):
It's no good.
So he's going to move into someareas that provide that food
for him but also provide himcover, because remember, now
he's no longer brains fallingout following the sow, now he's
fully back online.
An old boar is really smart.
They're incredibly smart, whichis why I take so much immense
satisfaction when I fill the tagon that particular animal.
(03:40):
He has made his living byavoiding people and outfoxing
them on his own turf.
So some of the things that I'mlooking for in the fall
specifically now are going to beany kind of creeks, rivers,
swamps, anything that's wet, anykind of dampness.
(04:02):
So as the bear moves on throughthe year, he goes into what's
called hyperphagia, andhyperphagia is right before they
go into denning and they're thewalking stomach that people
know so much about.
So he is going to be stuffinghis face nonstop and the studies
have been done, documentedproof where that bear is up 20
(04:22):
hours to 22 hours out of a24-hour day and you're talking
about 20,000 calories plus orminus that he's ingesting.
Oh wow, I wish I could get awaywith that.
If I could, I would be stuffingTwinkies all day long, man.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
I'm going into hyperphagia, that's my excuse.
So he needs a lot more water.
Okay, so hyperphagia is thegift to the bear hunter.
He needs a lot more water.
Okay, so hyperphagia is thegift to the bear hunter.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
We know he's going to be up.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Okay, we know he's going to be up and he's going to
be moving because he is hungryand we know he's going to need a
lot more water to process thatfood.
They're not, like you know,deer or goats, you know goats
they just don't need much waterto get their food through.
The bears need a lot more foodthrough.
The bears need a lot more.
And I have questions becausethere's been studies done on the
(05:07):
output of urine for bears andhyperphagia and somebody
measured it and I'm like I'm notsure how they collected that.
There are questions involved.
So they are going to need thosewater sources.
Not only do they need the water, but if you've ever noticed, in
the fall when everything elseis burnt, there'll be a lot of
food along those creeks.
The grass is still green right.
Lot of food along those creeks.
Oh yeah, the grass is stillgreen right.
(05:28):
There's shadowed areas andthere's hot spots in it and and
then you'll see lots of berriesof different kinds in that, in
that habitat.
So I kind of look at it as bearroads.
The bears will travel in thecricks feeding, turning rocks
over, and I've set up where Iexpected the crick to be his
(05:50):
travel route, if that makessense, because I know he's going
to come cruising through therefeeding his face and he's
heading to another spot, so itwas just a good area to pick the
bear up.
Now I'm not saying like they're,you know, walking down the
Columbia, we're talking crickshere.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah, yeah Right.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
So that's good topography to be looking at.
In the fall they just change alittle bit about how they're
going.
I again I'm hunting reallythick stands and so I kind of
reverse engineer it.
Maybe I cannot hunt where he'sfeeding because it's just too
darn thick.
There's no shot opportunitythere.
So I will try to figure outwhere he's coming from.
(06:31):
If I can establish where he'scoming from, usually there'll be
somewhere along that means oftravel that I can set up a place
to try to get that particularbear.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
So that's kind of how that works in the fall.
Okay, so, and when they'removing, as they're looking for
more food, are they trying toconserve energy while they're
moving, not necessarily movingfast, or because them moving
would burn calories?
So, thinking of topography?
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yeah, it's not interesting.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
And, granted, if they're following a creek, maybe
downstream that's going to use,would they?
And maybe you know, maybe not,but are they more likely to walk
upstream to downstream, becauseit's downhill and useless?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
See, this is the things that I ask myself and
drop my husband crazy with andhe goes back to the crazy bear
hunter thing.
But to me it's like, why dothey do it this way?
Wouldn't they do it that way?
It makes more sense, but itgoes back to them being just
very individualistic.
So they will expend crazyamounts of energy to get a
specific food item because theylike it.
(07:41):
To get a specific food item,okay, because they like it.
It just is amazing to me,because it doesn't make sense,
that you would, you know, dig upa mountain to go get this
particular food item, but theywill because they like that food
item.
Having said that, there's goingto be things that are higher,
more dense in calories, yeahRight, and those will be
(08:02):
preferred food sources.
So if you have an area with abunch of nuts of some kind,
right, those are going to be apreferred food source because
they're high in calories, butnot necessarily on a math scale.
It's like the math doesn'tsquare.
They did all this to get thatlittle morsel, so no, Okay, and
that goes back.
no anthropomorphism it doesn'thave to make human sense, to
(08:24):
make animal sense, I know, andit doesn't to make animal sense.
Yes, yes okay.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
So thinking about through different seasons.
Now topography let's talk aboutthe topography, because I know
with black tail there's, youknow they'll behave differently
at different elevations.
Or we talk about how they likebeing on benches because of like
wind tunnels and being able tosmell everything.
Is there?
(08:49):
What are the bears doing inlight of topography?
And you've mentioned hangingaround swamps or creeks or
things like that, but you knowwe're not in flat country here,
no At all.
No, and so, and they're inthere, are they avoiding any
type of topography?
Or let's let's talk about thatbig picture, because there's
(09:11):
probably a lot here there's.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
There's a lot, so I will give you some of this is
we'll call it science and someof the just observation based on
on what I've seen over theyears.
So one of my favorite places todeploy cameras in the spring is
ridgelines.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Because you'll see the big boars running the
ridgelines trying to catch thethermals right, and he's trying
to find a sow in heat.
That's what he's trying to do,so he's trying to pick up the
scent of anything blowing up tohim.
So those might be great.
Now you come back there inAugust and there won't be a bear
on there, he's just.
There's no food for him,there's no lure of a sow right,
there's no reason for him to bethere Year round.
(09:49):
I've noticed them using thecreeks and the rivers like
little roads, spring and fall,so they'll use that and it's not
perfect.
They might be within a hundredyards as they follow a spring,
and it might be, you know, acouple hundred yards.
But basically you can.
You can look at the topographyand say, yeah, this area is
being used by bears, and morethan one, and it's just a travel
(10:12):
route that they're they'reusing and and again that spring
and fall and then avalancheshoots.
Those are great places.
I've seen a lot of sows in theavalanche shoots, so they'll
have their cubs up in there.
And I'm wondering again, thisis just conjecture, but I often
wonder if it's because they feelit's a more defensible type
spot for them to keep their cubsin, or it could be because of
(10:34):
the time of year which isfactoring in of maybe they're
just now getting out of the denand so they're coming down the
avalanche shoots to go get intoother areas.
So these are all considerations.
You know swamps are interestingplaces.
Bears have no problem gettingsoaking wet.
Like I don't like my wet feetat all, like if my boots are
(10:57):
leaking I am whining okay, andI'm probably going to mutiny.
So my husband's always boughtme good boots because he's like
nope, she's out and I am out,I'm done going to mutiny.
So my husband's always boughtme good boots because he's like
nope, she's out and I am out,I'm done.
So big bad bear hunter, right,Feet are wet Done.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
That's most people, because I've had this
conversation wet feet, cold feet, don't bother me at all.
It's so funny and I've realizedI am the outlier in that.
Yeah, yeah, feet are wet orcold, yeah, whatever.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
I can do cold feet, but wet one, that's just gross.
They squelch in your boots,it's gross.
So, anyways, they don't have aproblem with that, and we should
talk for just a few minutesabout trails.
So trails are reallyinteresting for our bears.
There are places where thereare bear specific trails,
meaning it's bears that use itall the time.
No-transcript.
(12:00):
What I like about trails and Imark them when I'm scouting or
once I learn an area is I usethose to access the places I
want to go hunt.
You're like, well, duh, yeah,but it's for a different reason.
So one it could be based on thewind, like we talked about.
I know at a certain time of daythe wind's blowing such and
such a way, so I'm going totravel such and such a way to
(12:21):
avoid my stank going to the bearthat I'm trying to get to.
The other thing that is reallygood about our trails, as we're
going through the topography, isthis understanding If you've
ever walked through the woodsjust brush busting?
and you listen?
The woods are silent.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
There's no squirrels, there's no birds, right?
Everything's.
Just because it's obviously anabnormal sound, you're brushing
through it and crushing thingsand making all the noises and
cracking, and when animals dothat, a lot of times they're
running from a predator, right?
So you've just sent out theseshockwave sounds going
throughout the forest sayingpredator, predator.
(12:59):
So I like to get on the trailsand travel in them, because the
animals expect movement on themand it's more accepted the sound
of movement on them.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Do you try to mimic the sound of how animals move?
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Not necessarily.
I try to limit sounds that areabnormal.
Any kind of a plastic scratchynoise, kind of a plastic
scratchy noise.
Any of my calls I've madefleece covers for if they have
any kind of plasticky to them orif the lanyard is, you know,
got that plastic sound.
Anything that's weird sounding.
(13:40):
I avoid, you know, brushing mybackpack on a brush or a limb or
something.
I try to.
You know my stock is syntheticso I make sure that I'm not
brushing it on anything becauseit makes a very loud, very loud,
plasticky, abnormal sound.
So all of those are no-nos.
Another one that is a big no-nois and it doesn't matter
whether you're scouting oryou're going into your place,
you're going to go hunt handsoff the brush man.
(14:00):
I don't know why people got todo that.
Like their hands are down withtheir side and they're grabbing
brushes.
They're going.
A lot of them don't realizethey're doing it till.
I'm like, hey, not with metoday.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
No touchy Because you're leaving your stank
everywhere, right at the heightof animals to smell.
So I'm very careful aboutthings like that.
So the trails I'm using them inthe topography to access areas
that I to that are probablypretty dense.
Another thing that is reallygood is we're going through
topography and it goes back tothe roads and the bears is major
(14:29):
hiking trails.
So there's lots of trails inWashington state, lots of trails
you can hike on and you can goin the national forest you can
walk off of to go hunt.
I will use those to go access ahabitat.
So the bear's used to peoplegoing by and this has worked
really well for me.
He's used to the hikers and allthe moms and dads and the dogs
and the horses and the whatnotsyou know the pack goats going by
(14:51):
him on this trail.
He accepts that movement so Iknow I can get closer to him
because he's already acceptingof that going by.
I just got to make sure hedoesn't realize that I just took
a left.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Right.
So these are ways we're goingto use topography to our
advantage to access places forhim.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Will they also?
Does that cause them to accepta certain level of human scent?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, they're used to it, okay.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
That's true for bucks .
Yeah, in fact, when we go inbefore season, we actually do
try to leave a little bit ofextra scent in there so that,
okay, this thing has come in, ithasn't attacked me, so I don't
need to be as worried about it.
Right, potentially?
Yeah, that's our thought, forthat.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
No, I think that's legit.
So you know the bears, they getused to it.
That's why you have bears incampgrounds, right?
They're not afraid of the humanscent.
They've accepted it and they'velearned it's a food source,
which is a really bad thing.
Habituated bears not a goodthing, but I'm using those
things that he accepts right toget access to him.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Okay, do they when they're traveling?
Will they thinking again abouttopography?
Are they more likely to travelat the bottom, like in the
bottom of the valley, or top ofthe ridgeline, or maybe parallel
along the ridgeline?
Or they'll start out in thebottom, the valley portion,
(16:23):
we'll say, and then they'll moveup to the top of the ridgeline.
Or they'll start out in thebottom, the valley portion,
we'll say, and then they'll moveup to the top of the ridgeline,
then they'll move back down.
Are they following food inthose?
Speaker 2 (16:31):
situations.
They're following food, they'refollowing wind, they're
following temperatures.
What's happening?
At that time of year we had abear.
So this spring we had a bear.
He's in the bottom of a creekand it was, I mean, just lush
grass, beautiful floodplain, solots and lots of grass for him
(16:53):
to eat, and he started out there.
And then he, off of that creek,was another one that was coming
down the mountain feeding it,and so he took a right and he
went up the hill and we saw thatbear in the afternoon up on an
old spur road that is you know,a couple thousand feet probably
(17:14):
elevation change there betweenwhere the bottom was and where
he ended up and he was stillgoing up the mountain.
He was going to cross thatlogging road and keep going up.
And he was still going up themountain.
He was going to cross thatlogging road and keep going up.
So it's based on their food.
It could be, too, sometimesbased on pressure.
So back to that chess game.
And you're not just trying tolocate the bear and pick him up.
(17:38):
The environment.
Sometimes you have others thatyou're playing with, so there
might be other hunters out there.
If you're during a loggingseason you could have them
rolling up and down the roadsand pushing bears out of places
that they would traditionally be.
But now they're logging right.
So you got to adapt and move on.
So that bear might be.
You know, he woke up in thespring.
He's like oh crap, half theforest is missing, so he's got
(18:00):
to move and it could be one ofthose deals.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
So he's got to move and it could be one of those
deals.
So, and another thing so forhabitat that I was just thinking
about is okay.
So you said five square milesup or 50.
Five to 50.
Yeah, big range.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Big yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
They're not always coming back to sleep in the same
spot.
They definitely are not.
So what are they looking forwhen they're for if they're
going to bed down?
Speaker 2 (18:25):
So that's really interesting.
I have seen bear's bed in someof the strangest places.
One of the places I tookpictures of a bear bed and it
was obviously well used.
I mean rounded, smooth as glass.
The whole rim was covered withpoop, I mean all over Well used
bed.
This darn bed was probably 15yards off a road, okay, I was
(18:47):
like what?
I did not expect that.
That was such a strange thingto me.
I guess I always pictured them,you know, somewhere in the
middle of nowhere, as far awayfrom humans as they could get,
uh-huh.
But this guy had learned aplace where literally no one
ever looked, and it wasconsistent.
Had learned a place whereliterally no one ever looked,
and it was consistent.
And it goes back to that thingyou were talking about earlier
(19:08):
of being close to gates andpeople bypassing it.
It's one of those.
They will find areas like thatthat people consistently bypass
because it's too close to thisor maybe it's too far from that
kind of a thing, and they'll usethem.
So that particular bear, that'swhere he was at.
Other ones I've seen they'reusually not I don't want to give
an exact distance, but a littlebit down from the ridge top
(19:30):
right.
Okay, just like a deer wouldBenches.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
So they're going to come down a little bit and
they'll bed in places like that.
Some other places that havebeen pretty consistent are where
there's a tremendous amount ofblowdown and it's cool.
So there's some standing treeswith very little brush, we'll
call it, but a lot of blowdown,and it's just one of those areas
you walk in and you caninstantly feel the temperature
(19:55):
change and you'll find bare bedsin that and because they have
no problem like what would takeme hours to get through that
darn blowdown, they just walkthe tops of it right.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Real easy for them.
I wish I could do that, but Iwould fall and die.
You know I can't walk intobubblegum, so I'm not going to,
it's just terrible.
So places like that, realconsistent.
And you know, sometimes theylike to just cool their jets.
It's a hot day, so not it's ahot day, so not necessarily a
bed, but they'll hang out inponds and swim and just kind of
(20:26):
sit back there in just like ahot tub, Like just hanging out
getting cool.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
So those are very interesting.
Now, when we talk about beds,it's important to remember
they're always moving throughthe environment so they might
come back to a particular bed,but maybe it's once a week or
once a month.
It's not necessarily everynight they're going to be in
that bed.
And then when we remember ourfall hunting, I don't put as
(20:57):
much stock on the beds because Iknow he's up 20 hours plus
foraging, so the likelihood ofcatching him in the bed when
it's already like once a week,we'll call it right For that
short period of time that he'sgoing to use it.
Your probability is not as high.
It just doesn't logisticallymake sense to me to spend as
(21:19):
much time there.
And then you know the sows andboars will bed together too
during the, the mating season,during the rut.
It's just I.
I like the springtime beds morebecause he is more likely to
spend more time in that bed, andso then it makes sense to camp
out on it and and wait for him.
(21:39):
A lot of things I have seen isthat most of the time where
they're bedding it's not a placeyou can necessarily sit on and
do well because of your winds orthe topography, meaning it's so
dense a habitat.
It's just you can't.
But sometimes it's in a place,like I said, below the ridgeline
(22:01):
, that maybe you're on anotherridge and you can look into it
and hope to catch him travelingon his travel route out of it.
So that's how I would use thebeds.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
And a lot of that just makes sense as far as
they're going to sleep orthey're going to feel safe to
sleep.
Either nothing can get into me,or I'm going to hear it trying
to get into me, or I'm going tosmell it before it gets to me.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
So yeah, that makes sense for just any type of.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
I think, if you remember the wind always they
live primarily off their nose,so they do care about hearing
other things coming in, but Iguarantee you they probably
smelled you long before theyheard you?
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Yeah, exactly so thinking about wind and this was
me kind of thinking about this,as I'm questions to ask or
curiosities as far as them as ananimal.
So thinking about how do bearsmove in relation to the wind and
how do they adjust theirbehavior according to the wind
(22:59):
or the wind speed, but so deerin a lot of what you're
explaining.
Well, the black tail are theexact same behaviors, but
they're prey.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
And whereas a bear can be predator, and so
wondering if that is, if it'sthe same instincts driving that
it's interesting to think of,okay, a prey and predator acting
the same because of wind orscent or To a degree they do,
but the reason they use it isdifferent.
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
So the mentality of a prey species is different than
that of a predator species.
The predator is using the windto try to smell an animal to eat
, whereas the prey species istrying to smell to see if
there's a predator coming so hedoesn't get ate.
A little bit different thinkingin how they use the topography.
So a bear might feel safer insome areas that our undulates
(23:55):
don't, not just because he has agreater sense of smell, but
because he's armed right.
He's got claws and teeth to dothe deal.
How they interact with eachother can determine some of how
they will go through.
So if you have a really youngbear right, he's going to be way
more cautious because hedoesn't want to get ate or have
his butt handed to him.
So he's got to really becareful because the older bears
(24:17):
will kill and predate on theyounger bears and I'm not
talking just cubs here, I'msaying you know a maturing
three-year-old, four-year-oldbear.
He's got to watch himself, asopposed to the old daddy of the
mountain.
He owns it and he knows he ownsit.
So he might be more carefulabout how he uses the topography
(24:38):
to avoid what he sees as danger, which would be hunters right.
He's lived that long so he knowspeople are no good for him.
But he's not worried about theother bears.
So when he walks out onto afood source he owns the food
source and the other bears aresmelling and watching for him to
come so that they can beat feetbefore he gets there.
So they can get, because theywill.
In the fall They'll congregate.
(24:59):
So let's say huckleberriesagain, you know it's people,
it's a standard.
They picture the huckleberrybear for fall.
So there'll be a whole bunch ofbears on that one food source.
But you'll notice there's ahierarchy to it and so the older
sows and whatnot that haveestablished their dominance.
They're going to get firstchoice, but you'll have sows
(25:22):
come in and they might have cubsget first choice, but you'll
have sows come in and and theymight have cubs.
So they're going to move off ifthey see any kind of a threat,
smell a threat coming towardstheir kids, but they're.
They're teaching them how to bea bear and where to find the
food sources and this is ontheir, their list of food
sources.
But yeah, that borough, walkout and he owns it, it's, it's
his.
So everybody kind of movestiptoes around dad, yeah, yeah.
(25:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Okay, and we talked a little bit off air about this,
about adjusting their behaviorfor wind speed.
So, like black-tailed deer, ifthere's no wind they don't
necessarily want to move,because they don't.
That's not providing anadvantage to them.
There's no wind to carry thescent.
That's not providing anadvantage to them.
(26:05):
There's no wind to carry thescent.
But then there's a certain 5 to15 miles an hour.
That's kind of the sweet spotas far as that'll get them
really active because they cansmell threats coming in.
But then there's a point wherethey just don't want to be out
in it anymore because it's toomuch wind and you know, it's
basically eliminating not onlytheir sense of smell, because
they might, might catch a whiffof something, but it's swirling
(26:28):
going all over the place, andthen it eliminates their sense
of hearing as well, because it'sjust a bunch of noise.
Now for bear black bear.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Are they playing the wind the same way in that
regards, or is there somethingwhere they just don't like wind?
Speaker 2 (26:48):
So I have noticed that when the winds start
picking up because we get somewhompers, you know, when the
winds start really roaring, youjust don't see as many bears,
right, I think they don't likethat.
On steadiness, again, it goesback to they can't smell, they
can't hear, and you know treesare falling kind of thing, and
they might be laying low untilthat kind of blows over.
(27:10):
I have not noticed a specificwind speed where, okay, they're
out at this particular windspeed or nothing like that.
I have noticed the high windsthat they disappear, and on
steady winds, so that time ofday sometimes where it just
starts, you just don't knowwhich way it's going to be right
(27:30):
, it can't make up its mind,they don't necessarily like that
.
And so I have seen where thebare numbers or sightings, we'll
call it, drop down a little bitwith those kinds of things.
And the same is true of weatherchanges.
So your barometer's changing,temperature's changing, etc.
How does that affect them inthe sense of are they going to
(27:53):
still move, are they not?
There's a lot of argument outthere that if it's raining
you're not going to see a bear.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Okay, raining, you're not going to see a bear.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Okay, and I always giggle a little bit because I've
shot many bears in the rain.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
I've shot many bears in the rain.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
So it's back to that food or rut cycle and they might
do things that are out of theordinary for their normal
behavior, because of the rut orbecause they're in hyperphagia
and they just got to stuff theirface.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
And if you look at like a coastal bear, if he
waited for a dry day he'd starveto death.
Yes, you know what I mean.
Yeah, so all those things playan effect on them.
But again, that's observable.
It's not a scientific.
I can narrow it down and say,at this time, at this wind speed
, whatever you can consistentlyget this result.
I can narrow it down and say,at this time, at this wind speed
, whatever you can consistentlyget this result, I can't do that
(28:45):
.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
And we don't have so thinking about rain.
There are times where it can beraining really hard here, but
usually it's that steady, prettysteady rain Is there, like when
it's just a downpour.
Will that cause them to justhunker down for a while, or will
they just come out?
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I think that's back to your topography question.
Okay, I have noticed that eastside bears in this state, if it
starts to get really wet they'rea little more reticent to come
out right.
But then you get to a coastalrange bear and he's like I said,
he'd starve to death if hewaited for a dry day.
Yeah, so he's less reticent,it's his norm, it's normal life
(29:24):
to him, and so he's going to beout and feeding.
I had a situation let's see,not this year, last year, last
spring and this is how somehunts go it just was monsoon
rain, it was horrendous, likejust horrendous downpours and
high winds, and then we had aday where it was going to be a
little bit lighter rain.
I went okay, I'm going for it,I'm going out.
(29:45):
I mean, am I going to sit inthe tent all the time?
No, I'm going to go hunt.
So I went and sat on stand andthat's when I discovered my rain
gear was leaking.
So, it's a whole nother story inand of itself.
So I was a little bit annoyed.
And I'm sitting on stand andit's starting to drizzle a
little bit less, a little bitless still raining, and it's
(30:07):
that liquid sunshine.
So the sun's kind of startingto come out a little bit and the
rain's coming down and I hear anoise and I can't quite
quantify what it is.
It almost sounded like a littlerock slide.
I thought, oh no, part of thehillside's getting loose because
of the rain and I'm trying topay attention to what it is.
(30:27):
So I pull the hood off my raingear and try to listen.
You know what is coming in.
And, my goodness, it's no rockslide, it is a cow elk and she
is hauling the mail.
I mean, ears slicked back, eyesbugged out, and she goes
roaring right by me.
She's slamming into trees andI'm like that's not right.
And there's not a predatorhunter on the planet who doesn't
(30:49):
know what that means.
There's something behind herright.
So I take my scope covers off,and I was in Idaho, so I fully
expected it to be wolves.
You know, I'm like whatever itis, they're not eating me.
Today.
I'm not a happy meal and whatstepped out was not what I
expected.
So drenching, soaking, wet.
This massive bear steps out andmy first thought is he has no
(31:13):
neck.
Aren't they supposed to havenecks?
My second thought was oh crap,that's a grizzly bear.
So in this monsoon rain, thisgrizzly bear had come down the
mountain and he was chasing thisfully grown cow elk with ill
intent.
So she went roaring by me andnow I've got a grizzly bear in
my lap at very close range andit's not a good thing and I'm
(31:34):
like doggone it.
This is wrong bear, which mademe mad.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Right, but.
And then he was trying to pickon an elk, which made me mad,
and so I stood up and he looksat me and I thought here we go.
This is either going to bereally good or really bad.
And he had that look on hisface.
If you've studied bears longenough, they make different
faces for different things,right?
And his was the.
What the heck is that?
(31:59):
Yeah, you know it wasn'tpredatory.
It was the.
What the heck is that.
You know it wasn't predatory.
It was the.
I had lunch.
Lunch is gone and now there'ssome weird thing in my way and
he looked at me and I looked athim and I thought, golly.
And his ears kind of came up alittle bit and I recognized okay
, he's going to turn.
And so in order to do that,because they are so wide, he has
(32:20):
to kind of take a step forwardto be, able to turn his masks
around.
So he did that and you know heleft.
It was a very grudging, verygrudging turn, but he did it Now
.
If that had been a younggrizzly bear then we'd have been
in trouble.
That would have been bad, buthe had nothing to prove.
He's established everything.
(32:40):
He wasn't worried about it.
Everything he wasn't worriedabout it, he'd go find something
else to eat.
But those situations are verydangerous.
But my point of all of that wasthis is.
it was monsoon rain, right, andyes, it's a grizzly bear, but
I've had the same things withblack bears, where they come out
in the rain.
It's not necessarily the norm,right, you're not going to see a
hundred bears that day, but youmight find the bear that you
(33:03):
wanted the bear.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Yeah, yeah, okay, something.
Oh I was thinking about you'retalking about blow down, how
they just kind of walk over thetop.
I had a set and I went in andpulled my stuff from the set.
I decided I wasn't going tohunt that.
And I came back in to yourpoint of they just walk over it,
where it would take us forever,and I realized I left something
(33:25):
screwed into the tree, myozonics mount screwed into the
tree.
Okay, I'll go back out there.
And it took me a couple ofweeks before I finally was able
to get back out there and we'dhad a big windstorm and there
were five trees that had blowndown around my particular set.
Like if I'd been sitting thereduring that windstorm, I would
have been crushed.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
And it took me to go 30, 40 yards to get in and out
to look for that piece I'd leftin the tree.
It took me an hour to climbover and under and through all
these trees just to get that onepart that I completely forgot.
But yeah, it gets to the pointwhere, yeah, we give up, but you
(34:10):
know animals completely.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Oh, it's easy for them.
They're very strong and theycan use the topography in ways
that we are not designed to do.
Yeah, I can't do what they do.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
So thinking about weather.
So there's rain, yep.
What about the other extreme,where it gets really hot?
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
You know, because you know we have both here in
Washington, where we can have100-degree days and we can have
monsoons, Yep.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Sometimes the same day no.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
But in what part of the state?
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Yes, so, yes, heat does affect them.
They.
They are going to be going intothe areas that are cooler, so,
especially in the fall, and theystart to fatten up.
Right, they're in hyperphagia.
That's their whole point is toget the fat on board and and so
you have a bear that's got fur,that's getting longer, his
underwool should start to growand he's putting on the pounds.
(35:03):
He's going to want to be inthose cooler places.
So, and specifically coolerplaces that also have food
sources.
So that's the places that I'mgoing to.
You know, kind of look at formy fall because he's hot.
Now, having said that, again,this goes back to the bears that
are outside the norm.
I have seen in September, onprobably an 80-degree day, this
(35:29):
bear.
I was on a ridgetop and I'mlooking across glassing a big
canyon and there was a kind ofan old spur road with a dead end
at it and it was all full ofgrasses, tall grasses, and I'm
looking at it like, is that ablack blob on that landing?
No, it's too hot.
He couldn't no, and so I toldmy husband.
(35:49):
I said I need the spottingscope.
I it's a crazy thing, but Ithink, and so I put the spotting
scope on it and, oh yeah,there's a black bear laying
there in the hot sun justchilling, no reason whatsoever.
That made sense to me and I'vehad more than one, so there's
that one.
And then there was a bear on aspring hunt.
(36:09):
It was a really hot day.
I mean miserable hot.
You're just sweating andwhining and you're looking for a
shade tree yourself and it'sjust terrible.
And I look over in a clear cutand there's a stinking big boar
just stuffing his face in theheat and and it made zero sense
to me, but there he was.
So they will do things out ofthe norm, but when it gets real
hot like that, I'm going tostart looking for for cooler
(36:31):
areas cooler areas now.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Would they use, like those cool thermals, to hang out
in as well?
Speaker 2 (36:38):
yeah, sure, sure, they're all about the nose yeah,
because, yeah, that would be.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Hey, I'm gonna stay cool and exactly, I can smell
everything coming from below, orexactly one particular area.
Thank you for joining us forpart three of bear hunting with
heather aldrich.
Welcome back to the Blacktail Coach Podcast.
I'm Aaron.
This week part three of bearhunting with Heather Aldrich.
Okay, so now let's talk aboutthe habitat for bears.
Sure, so primarily do theychange habitat for seasons and
how topography affects wherethey'll be.
So spring bear, fall bear huntsOkay, so you've said food
(00:21):
drives them.
Yeah, so they're changing,they're moving around.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yes, they are.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Is there anything as far as the change in habitat
from season to season in, Iwould say, in the context of
hunting, yes, Okay.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
So let's put a box on it.
Let's say we're hunting aspecific boar and we know that
this guy can be upwards of 50square miles, right?
So I'm going to start markingwhere I'm picking him up on
camera or sign, and let's say so.
When we measure a bear, we lookat their front pad and we can
(00:58):
get a general idea of the size.
So we measure across the frontpad, only not the back.
If it's like a four inch pad,you know the rule of thumb it's
about a five foot bear.
So generally the bears I'mlooking at, I'm looking for that
five, five and a half inchfront pad to get me into the
size of bear I would prefer totake.
So I can monitor him throughthat as well as my, my game
(01:19):
cameras.
So I'm looking for thatspecific track in the area.
I'm going to start to use thosemarkers using my GPS, placing
markers on it to get an idea ofwhere he's operating at that
time in his habitat and try toget the boundaries as best I can
.
So again, I'm going to go onthe large side a lot of times
(01:39):
and put them in a pretty big boxand you may think you're in
like the best part of hishabitat.
Right, you've got all this sign, all this stuff.
You might be more in a prettybig box and you may think you're
in like the best part of hishabitat.
Right, you've got all this sign, all this stuff.
You might be more on the moremarginal stuff.
So this goes back to scoutingand the boots on the ground of
make sure that you've coveredenough ground, don't just settle
.
And and this is where some ofthe mistakes were that I made
early on hunting was I wouldcome across something and I'd be
(02:02):
getting consistent bears oncamera.
There's poop there and all thethings, but I did not study the
whole habitat, so I only had aportion of the chessboard.
Well, that's not good.
We need to have all of theinformation that we can get.
There is no perfect world.
Okay, we're not going to haveeverything, but we can certainly
eliminate stupid things.
(02:23):
So when I run a camera set, Ilike to have my control group
where I expect there to be nobear.
If there's no bear, then I'veestablished his habitat, his
range, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Okay, so that's one of my playing pieces Now.
Within that specific habitatthat he's roaming in his
topography, there's going to beareas that he prefers over
others, and it'll be based onfood.
It could be based on the timeof year, meaning if it's spring
and there's sows in season, hemight be moving more in
(02:58):
different areas, like wediscussed earlier, and then in
the fall, how he moves throughthere is going to be a little
bit different.
So a lot of times at that pointright, all the south-facing
slopes that were so good in thespring are now done.
They're burnt because that'swhere all the sun's hitting.
So there's no food there forhim, or if it is, it's, you know
, shriveled up raisin stuff.
(03:18):
It's no good.
So he's going to move into someareas that provide that food
for him but also provide himcover, because remember, now
he's no longer brains fallingout following the sow, now he's
fully back online.
An old boar is really smart.
They're incredibly smart, whichis why I take so much immense
satisfaction when I fill the tagon that particular animal.
(03:40):
He has made his living byavoiding people and outfoxing
them on his own turf.
So some of the things that I'mlooking for in the fall
specifically now are going to beany kind of creeks, rivers,
swamps, anything that's wet, anykind of dampness.
(04:02):
So as the bear moves on throughthe year, he goes into what's
called hyperphagia, andhyperphagia is right before they
go into denning and they're thewalking stomach that people
know so much about.
So he is going to be stuffinghis face nonstop and the studies
have been done, documentedproof where that bear is up 20
(04:22):
hours to 22 hours out of a24-hour day and you're talking
about 20,000 calories plus orminus that he's ingesting.
Oh wow, I wish I could get awaywith that.
If I could, I would be stuffingTwinkies all day long, man.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
I'm going into hyperphagia, that's my excuse.
So he needs a lot more water.
Okay, so hyperphagia is thegift to the bear hunter.
He needs a lot more water.
Okay, so hyperphagia is thegift to the bear hunter.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
We know he's going to be up.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Okay, we know he's going to be up and he's going to
be moving because he is hungryand we know he's going to need a
lot more water to process thatfood.
They're not, like you know,deer or goats, you know goats
they just don't need much waterto get their food through.
The bears need a lot more foodthrough.
The bears need a lot more.
And I have questions becausethere's been studies done on the
(05:07):
output of urine for bears andhyperphagia and somebody
measured it and I'm like I'm notsure how they collected that.
There are questions involved.
So they are going to need thosewater sources.
Not only do they need the water, but if you've ever noticed, in
the fall when everything elseis burnt, there'll be a lot of
food along those creeks.
The grass is still green right.
Lot of food along those creeks.
Oh yeah, the grass is stillgreen right.
(05:28):
There's shadowed areas andthere's hot spots in it and and
then you'll see lots of berriesof different kinds in that, in
that habitat.
So I kind of look at it as bearroads.
The bears will travel in thecricks feeding, turning rocks
over, and I've set up where Iexpected the crick to be his
(05:50):
travel route, if that makessense, because I know he's going
to come cruising through therefeeding his face and he's
heading to another spot, so itwas just a good area to pick the
bear up.
Now I'm not saying like they're,you know, walking down the
Columbia, we're talking crickshere.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah, yeah Right.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
So that's good topography to be looking at.
In the fall they just change alittle bit about how they're
going.
I again I'm hunting reallythick stands and so I kind of
reverse engineer it.
Maybe I cannot hunt where he'sfeeding because it's just too
darn thick.
There's no shot opportunitythere.
So I will try to figure outwhere he's coming from.
(06:31):
If I can establish where he'scoming from, usually there'll be
somewhere along that means oftravel that I can set up a place
to try to get that particularbear.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
So that's kind of how that works in the fall.
Okay, so, and when they'removing, as they're looking for
more food, are they trying toconserve energy while they're
moving, not necessarily movingfast, or because them moving
would burn calories?
So, thinking of topography?
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yeah, it's not interesting.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
And, granted, if they're following a creek, maybe
downstream that's going to use,would they?
And maybe you know, maybe not,but are they more likely to walk
upstream to downstream, becauseit's downhill and useless?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
See, this is the things that I ask myself and
drop my husband crazy with andhe goes back to the crazy bear
hunter thing.
But to me it's like, why dothey do it this way?
Wouldn't they do it that way?
It makes more sense, but itgoes back to them being just
very individualistic.
So they will expend crazyamounts of energy to get a
specific food item because theylike it.
(07:41):
To get a specific food item,okay, because they like it.
It just is amazing to me,because it doesn't make sense,
that you would, you know, dig upa mountain to go get this
particular food item, but theywill because they like that food
item.
Having said that, there's goingto be things that are higher,
more dense in calories, yeahRight, and those will be
(08:02):
preferred food sources.
So if you have an area with abunch of nuts of some kind,
right, those are going to be apreferred food source because
they're high in calories, butnot necessarily on a math scale.
It's like the math doesn'tsquare.
They did all this to get thatlittle morsel, so no, Okay, and
that goes back.
no anthropomorphism it doesn'thave to make human sense, to
(08:24):
make animal sense, I know, andit doesn't to make animal sense.
Yes, yes okay.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
So thinking about through different seasons.
Now topography let's talk aboutthe topography, because I know
with black tail there's, youknow they'll behave differently
at different elevations.
Or we talk about how they likebeing on benches because of like
wind tunnels and being able tosmell everything.
Is there?
(08:49):
What are the bears doing inlight of topography?
And you've mentioned hangingaround swamps or creeks or
things like that, but you knowwe're not in flat country here,
no At all.
No, and so, and they're inthere, are they avoiding any
type of topography?
Or let's let's talk about thatbig picture, because there's
(09:11):
probably a lot here there's.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
There's a lot, so I will give you some of this is
we'll call it science and someof the just observation based on
on what I've seen over theyears.
So one of my favorite places todeploy cameras in the spring is
ridgelines.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Because you'll see the big boars running the
ridgelines trying to catch thethermals right, and he's trying
to find a sow in heat.
That's what he's trying to do,so he's trying to pick up the
scent of anything blowing up tohim.
So those might be great.
Now you come back there inAugust and there won't be a bear
on there, he's just.
There's no food for him,there's no lure of a sow right,
there's no reason for him to bethere Year round.
(09:49):
I've noticed them using thecreeks and the rivers like
little roads, spring and fall,so they'll use that and it's not
perfect.
They might be within a hundredyards as they follow a spring,
and it might be, you know, acouple hundred yards.
But basically you can.
You can look at the topographyand say, yeah, this area is
being used by bears, and morethan one, and it's just a travel
(10:12):
route that they're they'reusing and and again that spring
and fall and then avalancheshoots.
Those are great places.
I've seen a lot of sows in theavalanche shoots, so they'll
have their cubs up in there.
And I'm wondering again, thisis just conjecture, but I often
wonder if it's because they feelit's a more defensible type
spot for them to keep their cubsin, or it could be because of
(10:34):
the time of year which isfactoring in of maybe they're
just now getting out of the denand so they're coming down the
avalanche shoots to go get intoother areas.
So these are all considerations.
You know swamps are interestingplaces.
Bears have no problem gettingsoaking wet.
Like I don't like my wet feetat all, like if my boots are
(10:57):
leaking I am whining okay, andI'm probably going to mutiny.
So my husband's always boughtme good boots because he's like
nope, she's out and I am out,I'm done going to mutiny.
So my husband's always boughtme good boots because he's like
nope, she's out and I am out,I'm done.
So big bad bear hunter, right,Feet are wet Done.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
That's most people, because I've had this
conversation wet feet, cold feet, don't bother me at all.
It's so funny and I've realizedI am the outlier in that.
Yeah, yeah, feet are wet orcold, yeah, whatever.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
I can do cold feet, but wet one, that's just gross.
They squelch in your boots,it's gross.
So, anyways, they don't have aproblem with that, and we should
talk for just a few minutesabout trails.
So trails are reallyinteresting for our bears.
There are places where thereare bear specific trails,
meaning it's bears that use itall the time.
No-transcript.
(12:00):
What I like about trails and Imark them when I'm scouting or
once I learn an area is I usethose to access the places I
want to go hunt.
You're like, well, duh, yeah,but it's for a different reason.
So one it could be based on thewind, like we talked about.
I know at a certain time of daythe wind's blowing such and
such a way, so I'm going totravel such and such a way to
(12:21):
avoid my stank going to the bearthat I'm trying to get to.
The other thing that is reallygood about our trails, as we're
going through the topography, isthis understanding If you've
ever walked through the woodsjust brush busting?
and you listen?
The woods are silent.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
There's no squirrels, there's no birds, right?
Everything's.
Just because it's obviously anabnormal sound, you're brushing
through it and crushing thingsand making all the noises and
cracking, and when animals dothat, a lot of times they're
running from a predator, right?
So you've just sent out theseshockwave sounds going
throughout the forest sayingpredator, predator.
(12:59):
So I like to get on the trailsand travel in them, because the
animals expect movement on themand it's more accepted the sound
of movement on them.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Do you try to mimic the sound of how animals move?
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Not necessarily.
I try to limit sounds that areabnormal.
Any kind of a plastic scratchynoise, kind of a plastic
scratchy noise.
Any of my calls I've madefleece covers for if they have
any kind of plasticky to them orif the lanyard is, you know,
got that plastic sound.
Anything that's weird sounding.
(13:40):
I avoid, you know, brushing mybackpack on a brush or a limb or
something.
I try to.
You know my stock is syntheticso I make sure that I'm not
brushing it on anything becauseit makes a very loud, very loud,
plasticky, abnormal sound.
So all of those are no-nos.
Another one that is a big no-nois and it doesn't matter
whether you're scouting oryou're going into your place,
you're going to go hunt handsoff the brush man.
(14:00):
I don't know why people got todo that.
Like their hands are down withtheir side and they're grabbing
brushes.
They're going.
A lot of them don't realizethey're doing it till.
I'm like, hey, not with metoday.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
No touchy Because you're leaving your stank
everywhere, right at the heightof animals to smell.
So I'm very careful aboutthings like that.
So the trails I'm using them inthe topography to access areas
that I to that are probablypretty dense.
Another thing that is reallygood is we're going through
topography and it goes back tothe roads and the bears is major
(14:29):
hiking trails.
So there's lots of trails inWashington state, lots of trails
you can hike on and you can goin the national forest you can
walk off of to go hunt.
I will use those to go access ahabitat.
So the bear's used to peoplegoing by and this has worked
really well for me.
He's used to the hikers and allthe moms and dads and the dogs
and the horses and the whatnotsyou know the pack goats going by
(14:51):
him on this trail.
He accepts that movement so Iknow I can get closer to him
because he's already acceptingof that going by.
I just got to make sure hedoesn't realize that I just took
a left.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Right.
So these are ways we're goingto use topography to our
advantage to access places forhim.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Will they also?
Does that cause them to accepta certain level of human scent?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, they're used to it, okay.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
That's true for bucks .
Yeah, in fact, when we go inbefore season, we actually do
try to leave a little bit ofextra scent in there so that,
okay, this thing has come in, ithasn't attacked me, so I don't
need to be as worried about it.
Right, potentially?
Yeah, that's our thought, forthat.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
No, I think that's legit.
So you know the bears, they getused to it.
That's why you have bears incampgrounds, right?
They're not afraid of the humanscent.
They've accepted it and they'velearned it's a food source,
which is a really bad thing.
Habituated bears not a goodthing, but I'm using those
things that he accepts right toget access to him.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Okay, do they when they're traveling?
Will they thinking again abouttopography?
Are they more likely to travelat the bottom, like in the
bottom of the valley, or top ofthe ridgeline, or maybe parallel
along the ridgeline?
Or they'll start out in thebottom, the valley portion,
(16:23):
we'll say, and then they'll moveup to the top of the ridgeline.
Or they'll start out in thebottom, the valley portion,
we'll say, and then they'll moveup to the top of the ridgeline,
then they'll move back down.
Are they following food inthose?
Speaker 2 (16:31):
situations.
They're following food, they'refollowing wind, they're
following temperatures.
What's happening?
At that time of year we had abear.
So this spring we had a bear.
He's in the bottom of a creekand it was, I mean, just lush
grass, beautiful floodplain, solots and lots of grass for him
(16:53):
to eat, and he started out there.
And then he, off of that creek,was another one that was coming
down the mountain feeding it,and so he took a right and he
went up the hill and we saw thatbear in the afternoon up on an
old spur road that is you know,a couple thousand feet probably
(17:14):
elevation change there betweenwhere the bottom was and where
he ended up and he was stillgoing up the mountain.
He was going to cross thatlogging road and keep going up.
And he was still going up themountain.
He was going to cross thatlogging road and keep going up.
So it's based on their food.
It could be, too, sometimesbased on pressure.
So back to that chess game.
And you're not just trying tolocate the bear and pick him up.
(17:38):
The environment.
Sometimes you have others thatyou're playing with, so there
might be other hunters out there.
If you're during a loggingseason you could have them
rolling up and down the roadsand pushing bears out of places
that they would traditionally be.
But now they're logging right.
So you got to adapt and move on.
So that bear might be.
You know, he woke up in thespring.
He's like oh crap, half theforest is missing, so he's got
(18:00):
to move and it could be one ofthose deals.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
So he's got to move and it could be one of those
deals.
So, and another thing so forhabitat that I was just thinking
about is okay.
So you said five square milesup or 50.
Five to 50.
Yeah, big range.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Big yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
They're not always coming back to sleep in the same
spot.
They definitely are not.
So what are they looking forwhen they're for if they're
going to bed down?
Speaker 2 (18:25):
So that's really interesting.
I have seen bear's bed in someof the strangest places.
One of the places I tookpictures of a bear bed and it
was obviously well used.
I mean rounded, smooth as glass.
The whole rim was covered withpoop, I mean all over Well used
bed.
This darn bed was probably 15yards off a road, okay, I was
(18:47):
like what?
I did not expect that.
That was such a strange thingto me.
I guess I always pictured them,you know, somewhere in the
middle of nowhere, as far awayfrom humans as they could get,
uh-huh.
But this guy had learned aplace where literally no one
ever looked, and it wasconsistent.
Had learned a place whereliterally no one ever looked,
and it was consistent.
And it goes back to that thingyou were talking about earlier
(19:08):
of being close to gates andpeople bypassing it.
It's one of those.
They will find areas like thatthat people consistently bypass
because it's too close to thisor maybe it's too far from that
kind of a thing, and they'll usethem.
So that particular bear, that'swhere he was at.
Other ones I've seen they'reusually not I don't want to give
an exact distance, but a littlebit down from the ridge top
(19:30):
right.
Okay, just like a deer wouldBenches.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
So they're going to come down a little bit and
they'll bed in places like that.
Some other places that havebeen pretty consistent are where
there's a tremendous amount ofblowdown and it's cool.
So there's some standing treeswith very little brush, we'll
call it, but a lot of blowdown,and it's just one of those areas
you walk in and you caninstantly feel the temperature
(19:55):
change and you'll find bare bedsin that and because they have
no problem like what would takeme hours to get through that
darn blowdown, they just walkthe tops of it right.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Real easy for them.
I wish I could do that, but Iwould fall and die.
You know I can't walk intobubblegum, so I'm not going to,
it's just terrible.
So places like that, realconsistent.
And you know, sometimes theylike to just cool their jets.
It's a hot day, so not it's ahot day, so not necessarily a
bed, but they'll hang out inponds and swim and just kind of
(20:26):
sit back there in just like ahot tub, Like just hanging out
getting cool.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
So those are very interesting.
Now, when we talk about beds,it's important to remember
they're always moving throughthe environment so they might
come back to a particular bed,but maybe it's once a week or
once a month.
It's not necessarily everynight they're going to be in
that bed.
And then when we remember ourfall hunting, I don't put as
(20:57):
much stock on the beds because Iknow he's up 20 hours plus
foraging, so the likelihood ofcatching him in the bed when
it's already like once a week,we'll call it right For that
short period of time that he'sgoing to use it.
Your probability is not as high.
It just doesn't logisticallymake sense to me to spend as
(21:19):
much time there.
And then you know the sows andboars will bed together too
during the, the mating season,during the rut.
It's just I.
I like the springtime beds morebecause he is more likely to
spend more time in that bed, andso then it makes sense to camp
out on it and and wait for him.
(21:39):
A lot of things I have seen isthat most of the time where
they're bedding it's not a placeyou can necessarily sit on and
do well because of your winds orthe topography, meaning it's so
dense a habitat.
It's just you can't.
But sometimes it's in a place,like I said, below the ridgeline
(22:01):
, that maybe you're on anotherridge and you can look into it
and hope to catch him travelingon his travel route out of it.
So that's how I would use thebeds.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
And a lot of that just makes sense as far as
they're going to sleep orthey're going to feel safe to
sleep.
Either nothing can get into me,or I'm going to hear it trying
to get into me, or I'm going tosmell it before it gets to me.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
So yeah, that makes sense for just any type of.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
I think, if you remember the wind always they
live primarily off their nose,so they do care about hearing
other things coming in, but Iguarantee you they probably
smelled you long before theyheard you?
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Yeah, exactly so thinking about wind and this was
me kind of thinking about this,as I'm questions to ask or
curiosities as far as them as ananimal.
So thinking about how do bearsmove in relation to the wind and
how do they adjust theirbehavior according to the wind
(22:59):
or the wind speed, but so deerin a lot of what you're
explaining.
Well, the black tail are theexact same behaviors, but
they're prey.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
And whereas a bear can be predator, and so
wondering if that is, if it'sthe same instincts driving that
it's interesting to think of,okay, a prey and predator acting
the same because of wind orscent or To a degree they do,
but the reason they use it isdifferent.
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
So the mentality of a prey species is different than
that of a predator species.
The predator is using the windto try to smell an animal to eat
, whereas the prey species istrying to smell to see if
there's a predator coming so hedoesn't get ate.
A little bit different thinkingin how they use the topography.
So a bear might feel safer insome areas that our undulates
(23:55):
don't, not just because he has agreater sense of smell, but
because he's armed right.
He's got claws and teeth to dothe deal.
How they interact with eachother can determine some of how
they will go through.
So if you have a really youngbear right, he's going to be way
more cautious because hedoesn't want to get ate or have
his butt handed to him.
So he's got to really becareful because the older bears
(24:17):
will kill and predate on theyounger bears and I'm not
talking just cubs here, I'msaying you know a maturing
three-year-old, four-year-oldbear.
He's got to watch himself, asopposed to the old daddy of the
mountain.
He owns it and he knows he ownsit.
So he might be more carefulabout how he uses the topography
(24:38):
to avoid what he sees as danger, which would be hunters right.
He's lived that long so he knowspeople are no good for him.
But he's not worried about theother bears.
So when he walks out onto afood source he owns the food
source and the other bears aresmelling and watching for him to
come so that they can beat feetbefore he gets there.
So they can get, because theywill.
In the fall They'll congregate.
(24:59):
So let's say huckleberriesagain, you know it's people,
it's a standard.
They picture the huckleberrybear for fall.
So there'll be a whole bunch ofbears on that one food source.
But you'll notice there's ahierarchy to it and so the older
sows and whatnot that haveestablished their dominance.
They're going to get firstchoice, but you'll have sows
(25:22):
come in and they might have cubsget first choice, but you'll
have sows come in and and theymight have cubs.
So they're going to move off ifthey see any kind of a threat,
smell a threat coming towardstheir kids, but they're.
They're teaching them how to bea bear and where to find the
food sources and this is ontheir, their list of food
sources.
But yeah, that borough, walkout and he owns it, it's, it's
his.
So everybody kind of movestiptoes around dad, yeah, yeah.
(25:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Okay, and we talked a little bit off air about this,
about adjusting their behaviorfor wind speed.
So, like black-tailed deer, ifthere's no wind they don't
necessarily want to move,because they don't.
That's not providing anadvantage to them.
There's no wind to carry thescent.
That's not providing anadvantage to them.
(26:05):
There's no wind to carry thescent.
But then there's a certain 5 to15 miles an hour.
That's kind of the sweet spotas far as that'll get them
really active because they cansmell threats coming in.
But then there's a point wherethey just don't want to be out
in it anymore because it's toomuch wind and you know, it's
basically eliminating not onlytheir sense of smell, because
they might, might catch a whiffof something, but it's swirling
(26:28):
going all over the place, andthen it eliminates their sense
of hearing as well, because it'sjust a bunch of noise.
Now for bear black bear.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Are they playing the wind the same way in that
regards, or is there somethingwhere they just don't like wind?
Speaker 2 (26:48):
So I have noticed that when the winds start
picking up because we get somewhompers, you know, when the
winds start really roaring, youjust don't see as many bears,
right, I think they don't likethat.
On steadiness, again, it goesback to they can't smell, they
can't hear, and you know treesare falling kind of thing, and
they might be laying low untilthat kind of blows over.
(27:10):
I have not noticed a specificwind speed where, okay, they're
out at this particular windspeed or nothing like that.
I have noticed the high windsthat they disappear, and on
steady winds, so that time ofday sometimes where it just
starts, you just don't knowwhich way it's going to be right
(27:30):
, it can't make up its mind,they don't necessarily like that
.
And so I have seen where thebare numbers or sightings, we'll
call it, drop down a little bitwith those kinds of things.
And the same is true of weatherchanges.
So your barometer's changing,temperature's changing, etc.
How does that affect them inthe sense of are they going to
(27:53):
still move, are they not?
There's a lot of argument outthere that if it's raining
you're not going to see a bear.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Okay, raining, you're not going to see a bear.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Okay, and I always giggle a little bit because I've
shot many bears in the rain.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
I've shot many bears in the rain.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
So it's back to that food or rut cycle and they might
do things that are out of theordinary for their normal
behavior, because of the rut orbecause they're in hyperphagia
and they just got to stuff theirface.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
And if you look at like a coastal bear, if he
waited for a dry day he'd starveto death.
Yes, you know what I mean.
Yeah, so all those things playan effect on them.
But again, that's observable.
It's not a scientific.
I can narrow it down and say,at this time, at this wind speed
, whatever you can consistentlyget this result.
I can narrow it down and say,at this time, at this wind speed
, whatever you can consistentlyget this result, I can't do that
(28:45):
.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
And we don't have so thinking about rain.
There are times where it can beraining really hard here, but
usually it's that steady, prettysteady rain Is there, like when
it's just a downpour.
Will that cause them to justhunker down for a while, or will
they just come out?
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I think that's back to your topography question.
Okay, I have noticed that eastside bears in this state, if it
starts to get really wet they'rea little more reticent to come
out right.
But then you get to a coastalrange bear and he's like I said,
he'd starve to death if hewaited for a dry day.
Yeah, so he's less reticent,it's his norm, it's normal life
(29:24):
to him, and so he's going to beout and feeding.
I had a situation let's see,not this year, last year, last
spring and this is how somehunts go it just was monsoon
rain, it was horrendous, likejust horrendous downpours and
high winds, and then we had aday where it was going to be a
little bit lighter rain.
I went okay, I'm going for it,I'm going out.
(29:45):
I mean, am I going to sit inthe tent all the time?
No, I'm going to go hunt.
So I went and sat on stand andthat's when I discovered my rain
gear was leaking.
So, it's a whole nother story inand of itself.
So I was a little bit annoyed.
And I'm sitting on stand andit's starting to drizzle a
little bit less, a little bitless still raining, and it's
(30:07):
that liquid sunshine.
So the sun's kind of startingto come out a little bit and the
rain's coming down and I hear anoise and I can't quite
quantify what it is.
It almost sounded like a littlerock slide.
I thought, oh no, part of thehillside's getting loose because
of the rain and I'm trying topay attention to what it is.
(30:27):
So I pull the hood off my raingear and try to listen.
You know what is coming in.
And, my goodness, it's no rockslide, it is a cow elk and she
is hauling the mail.
I mean, ears slicked back, eyesbugged out, and she goes
roaring right by me.
She's slamming into trees andI'm like that's not right.
And there's not a predatorhunter on the planet who doesn't
(30:49):
know what that means.
There's something behind herright.
So I take my scope covers off,and I was in Idaho, so I fully
expected it to be wolves.
You know, I'm like whatever itis, they're not eating me.
Today.
I'm not a happy meal and whatstepped out was not what I
expected.
So drenching, soaking, wet.
This massive bear steps out andmy first thought is he has no
(31:13):
neck.
Aren't they supposed to havenecks?
My second thought was oh crap,that's a grizzly bear.
So in this monsoon rain, thisgrizzly bear had come down the
mountain and he was chasing thisfully grown cow elk with ill
intent.
So she went roaring by me andnow I've got a grizzly bear in
my lap at very close range andit's not a good thing and I'm
(31:34):
like doggone it.
This is wrong bear, which mademe mad.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Right, but.
And then he was trying to pickon an elk, which made me mad,
and so I stood up and he looksat me and I thought here we go.
This is either going to bereally good or really bad.
And he had that look on hisface.
If you've studied bears longenough, they make different
faces for different things,right?
And his was the.
What the heck is that?
(31:59):
Yeah, you know it wasn'tpredatory.
It was the.
What the heck is that.
You know it wasn't predatory.
It was the.
I had lunch.
Lunch is gone and now there'ssome weird thing in my way and
he looked at me and I looked athim and I thought, golly.
And his ears kind of came up alittle bit and I recognized okay
, he's going to turn.
And so in order to do that,because they are so wide, he has
(32:20):
to kind of take a step forwardto be, able to turn his masks
around.
So he did that and you know heleft.
It was a very grudging, verygrudging turn, but he did it Now
.
If that had been a younggrizzly bear then we'd have been
in trouble.
That would have been bad, buthe had nothing to prove.
He's established everything.
(32:40):
He wasn't worried about it.
Everything he wasn't worriedabout it, he'd go find something
else to eat.
But those situations are verydangerous.
But my point of all of that wasthis is.
it was monsoon rain, right, andyes, it's a grizzly bear, but
I've had the same things withblack bears, where they come out
in the rain.
It's not necessarily the norm,right, you're not going to see a
hundred bears that day, but youmight find the bear that you
(33:03):
wanted the bear.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Yeah, yeah, okay, something.
Oh I was thinking about you'retalking about blow down, how
they just kind of walk over thetop.
I had a set and I went in andpulled my stuff from the set.
I decided I wasn't going tohunt that.
And I came back in to yourpoint of they just walk over it,
where it would take us forever,and I realized I left something
(33:25):
screwed into the tree, myozonics mount screwed into the
tree.
Okay, I'll go back out there.
And it took me a couple ofweeks before I finally was able
to get back out there and we'dhad a big windstorm and there
were five trees that had blowndown around my particular set.
Like if I'd been sitting thereduring that windstorm, I would
have been crushed.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
And it took me to go 30, 40 yards to get in and out
to look for that piece I'd leftin the tree.
It took me an hour to climbover and under and through all
these trees just to get that onepart that I completely forgot.
But yeah, it gets to the pointwhere, yeah, we give up, but you
(34:10):
know animals completely.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Oh, it's easy for them.
They're very strong and theycan use the topography in ways
that we are not designed to do.
Yeah, I can't do what they do.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
So thinking about weather.
So there's rain, yep.
What about the other extreme,where it gets really hot?
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
You know, because you know we have both here in
Washington, where we can have100-degree days and we can have
monsoons, Yep.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Sometimes the same day no.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
But in what part of the state?
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Yes, so, yes, heat does affect them.
They.
They are going to be going intothe areas that are cooler, so,
especially in the fall, and theystart to fatten up.
Right, they're in hyperphagia.
That's their whole point is toget the fat on board and and so
you have a bear that's got fur,that's getting longer, his
underwool should start to growand he's putting on the pounds.
(35:03):
He's going to want to be inthose cooler places.
So, and specifically coolerplaces that also have food
sources.
So that's the places that I'mgoing to.
You know, kind of look at formy fall because he's hot.
Now, having said that, again,this goes back to the bears that
are outside the norm.
I have seen in September, onprobably an 80-degree day, this
(35:29):
bear.
I was on a ridgetop and I'mlooking across glassing a big
canyon and there was a kind ofan old spur road with a dead end
at it and it was all full ofgrasses, tall grasses, and I'm
looking at it like, is that ablack blob on that landing?
No, it's too hot.
He couldn't no, and so I toldmy husband.
(35:49):
I said I need the spottingscope.
I it's a crazy thing, but Ithink, and so I put the spotting
scope on it and, oh yeah,there's a black bear laying
there in the hot sun justchilling, no reason whatsoever.
That made sense to me and I'vehad more than one, so there's
that one.
And then there was a bear on aspring hunt.
(36:09):
It was a really hot day.
I mean miserable hot.
You're just sweating andwhining and you're looking for a
shade tree yourself and it'sjust terrible.
And I look over in a clear cutand there's a stinking big boar
just stuffing his face in theheat and and it made zero sense
to me, but there he was.
So they will do things out ofthe norm, but when it gets real
hot like that, I'm going tostart looking for for cooler
(36:31):
areas cooler areas now.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Would they use, like those cool thermals, to hang out
in as well?
Speaker 2 (36:38):
yeah, sure, sure, they're all about the nose yeah,
because, yeah, that would be.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Hey, I'm gonna stay cool and exactly, I can smell
everything coming from below, orexactly one particular area.
Thank you for joining us forpart three of bear hunting with
heather aldrich.
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