2026 Bears

[7mmfan]

Just got back from my annual Washington state backcountry bear hunt. Each year 5-6 of us head to an undisclosed backcountry location for 3-4 days at the end of August to hunt bears in the alpine. This year we went a little steeper and deeper than in the past, and were richly rewarded.

This year the crew was me, my Dad, a non-hunting relative, and two buddies. Only 2 of us were hunting this year, the others were just along for the ride.

Thursday afternoon my Dad, friend #1, and I left the trailhead at 4:00 and started the 7 mile hike in.6.9 miles and 3500' later we rounded a corner into a massive blueberry patch right at dusk and found a solid bear feeding at about 100 yards. 1 well placed shot and the ancient old sow was down. We got her broken down and found a great campsite nearby for the night. This wasn't our ultimate destination but it ended up being where we stayed for the duration.

The next morning after getting some water, buddy #1 walked down to where I'd shot my bear the night before while I boned my meat out and happened upon a boar feeding in the same spot. One shot and he was down. Now we had a dilemma. Hang this meat and be done, or pack it and come back for round 2. We had 2 more people coming in shortly so we opted to do a 14 mile down and back to get the meat to the coolers in the truck and come back for round 2. We passed our comrades on our way down and gave them the scoop.

The total round trip took about 7 hours. We walked into camp, pretty beat from our ascent, but it was short lived and the crew had a big bear glassed up on the opposing ridge a mile away. We quickly geared up and headed out. This stalk failed as the bear disappeared before we got to him, but we spotted another large boar and made a great stalk that ended with a 150 yard shot and a 3rd bear down in 24 hours. Friend #1 and I broke him down by Headlamp in the fog and made it back to camp at midnight.

It rained all day Saturday and because of the large size of this bear we decided to cap it at 3 bears. We divided the load and packed everything out Sunday morning. 4 hours of grinding down the mountain with heavy packs ended with a beer and a burger at the local diner before heading home.

This will go down as one of the best, albeit physically demanding hunts I've ever been on. Friday we did 60000 steps, roughly 20 miles and 6000' of gain. We spotted over 30 bears in a day and a half and got eat our bodyweight in alpine blueberries. Can't wait for next year!

[7mmfan]

.

[WapitiTalk1]

Congrats mister, what a great hunt!

[Elkhunttoo]

Sounds like it was a heck of a trip!!! Congrats on the bears and the berries

And 60,000 steps in the mountains is crazy!

[Deanmac]

Huge Bear and beautiful picture.

A great trip.

[Lefty]

Treasure those trips!!!!