{"id":2688,"date":"2010-05-26T23:34:00","date_gmt":"2010-05-27T06:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pursuetheoutdoors.com\/field-journals\/2010\/05\/26\/bear-peels\/"},"modified":"2011-04-13T12:00:05","modified_gmt":"2011-04-13T19:00:05","slug":"bear-peels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outdoorblog.net\/pnwbowhunting\/2010\/05\/26\/bear-peels\/","title":{"rendered":"Bear Peels"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It’s springtime<\/strong> and a great time to get outside!\u00a0 Aside from chasing turkeys and shed hunting, spring is when I tune up my trailcams and\u00a0begin the process of locating bucks for the coming season.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s also a great time to locate bears.\u00a0 Here in Washington you must apply for and draw a spring bear tag.\u00a0 Spring tag or not, April and May\u00a0are prime time for scouting bears for the general fall season which begins in August.<\/span><\/p>\n

I spend time in creek bottoms where skunk cabbage thrives – a key food source.\u00a0 Bears love to eat the succulent white\u00a0roots and feed on the other grasses that flourish in the damp bottoms.\u00a0 And they leave plenty of tracks in the muddy soil.\u00a0 In my experience a front pad that measures 5 1\/2″ across\u00a0equates to\u00a0a Pope & Young-class bear (18″ minimum after 60 days drying time).<\/span><\/p>\n

Click to enlarge photos.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Another tell-tale sign of spring bear activity is droppings and bear peels<\/strong>.\u00a0 Bears peel bark of various tree species to get at and eat\u00a0the soft cambium layer.\u00a0 I located this recent peel last Sunday; ironically 10 yards from a tree that is normally wearing a trailcam<\/span>.\u00a0 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Many hunters have difficulty distinguishing the difference between a bear peel and porcupine damage.\u00a0 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).<\/span><\/div>\n
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Another clue is the marks on the tree itself.\u00a0 As bears scrape the cambium layer from the trunk, then use their front teeth only.\u00a0 This creates a series of\u00a0 small bite-like markings where individual teeth can be discerned.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This activity obviously kills trees and this leads to another key scouting tactic – glassing hillsides for dead standing trees.\u00a0 Some hu<\/span>nters<\/span>\u00a0call these “blaze” trees.\u00a0 Here’s one in progress.\u00a0 You can see how the needles quickly turn reddish brown as the tree dies.\u00a0 By mid-summer this tree will be quite visible standing alone amidst the Douglas Fir covered ridge.<\/span><\/p>\n

These dead\u00a0trees won’t lead you to a bear necessarily, but they will help get you focused on key areas.<\/span><\/div>\n

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(c) Tom Ryle 2010<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s springtime and a great time to get outside!\u00a0 Aside from chasing turkeys and shed hunting, spring is when I tune up my trailcams and\u00a0begin the process of locating bucks for the coming season. It’s also a great time to locate bears.\u00a0 Here in Washington you must apply for and draw a spring bear tag.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[210,15,18,22],"tags":[212,211],"class_list":["post-2688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bear","category-hunting","category-outdoor-education","category-wildlife","tag-bear-peels","tag-spring-bear"],"yoast_head":"\nBear Peels - Pacific Northwest Bowhunting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.outdoorblog.net\/pnwbowhunting\/2010\/05\/26\/bear-peels\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bear Peels - Pacific Northwest Bowhunting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It’s springtime and a great time to get outside!\u00a0 Aside from chasing turkeys and shed hunting, spring is when I tune up my trailcams and\u00a0begin the process of locating bucks for the coming season. 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