Bear Peels

It’s springtime and a great time to get outside! Aside from chasing turkeys and shed hunting, spring is when I tune up my trailcams and begin the process of locating bucks for the coming season.

It’s also a great time to locate bears. Here in Washington you must apply for and draw a spring bear tag. Spring tag or not, April and May are prime time for scouting bears for the general fall season which begins in August.

I spend time in creek bottoms where skunk cabbage thrives – a key food source. Bears love to eat the succulent white roots and feed on the other grasses that flourish in the damp bottoms. And they leave plenty of tracks in the muddy soil. In my experience a front pad that measures 5 1/2″ across equates to a Pope & Young-class bear (18″ minimum after 60 days drying time).

Click to enlarge photos.

Another tell-tale sign of spring bear activity is droppings and bear peels. Bears peel bark of various tree species to get at and eat the soft cambium layer. I located this recent peel last Sunday; ironically 10 yards from a tree that is normally wearing a trailcam. They tend to favor Douglas Fir and Big Leaf Maple, and due to the linear fiberous make-up of Maple bark they sometimes peel long vertical strips 10-12 feet up the trees.

Many hunters have difficulty distinguishing the difference between a bear peel and porcupine damage. Bears will peel off large strips of bark while porkies bite off small pieces, resulting in a littering of potato chip-like chunks and teeth marks that are very concentrated (below).

Another clue is the marks on the tree itself. As bears scrape the cambium layer from the trunk, then use their front teeth only. This creates a series of small bite-like markings where individual teeth can be discerned.

This activity obviously kills trees and this leads to another key scouting tactic – glassing hillsides for dead standing trees. Some hunters call these “blaze” trees. Here’s one in progress. You can see how the needles quickly turn reddish brown as the tree dies. By mid-summer this tree will be quite visible standing alone amidst the Douglas Fir covered ridge.

These dead trees won’t lead you to a bear necessarily, but they will help get you focused on key areas.

3 Comments

carlee on October 31, 2010 at 8:29 pm

Thanks for providing this information, Tom. I ran across several Douglas Firs up in the Wyoming Range that fit your description of porcupine damage except that the missing bark only appeared at or above four feet. Winter snow depths in this area easily exceed 4 ft, which probably explains the level of missing bark.Happy Trails, Carlee http://www.panoramio.com/user/2430934

Brenda Ross on May 23, 2011 at 1:49 pm

If I send you a bunch of pictures that my girlfriend and i took while out bear hunting this spring, can you tell me if they were caused by a bear or what?

Tom Ryle on May 23, 2011 at 3:50 pm

Brenda – Glad to take a look, please send to tmryle@gmail.com. Thanks for the comment.
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