# Possible Bear Signs



## HighNDry (Dec 26, 2007)

Was in a campground with my wife. The campground was totally empty the day after Labor Day. We were the only two humans around. We pitched a tent in a campsite about 150 yards from the camp dumpster. The dumpster was completely empty. It was one of those big, tall, open ones (about 6 foot high with metal ladders on the end). 

I caught 4 trout for dinner from a nearby stream. I cleaned them, cut the heads off, and then put the entrails and heads in a plastic bag with our other trash and threw it in the dumpster. We ate our dinner and as we sat at the picnic table I noticed that something had dug up the dirt around the table creating some pretty big holes. I suggested to my wife that maybe a bear had dug it up looking for pieces of food that had fallen from other campers. We took all of our trash from dinner to the dumpster and tossed it in. We put all food in our car trunk. We went to bed. At a little after two AM we were awakened by a loud thud on the dumpster. My wife and I woke and asked simultaneously, "What was that?" I again suggested that it might be a bear getting into the dumpster. We went back to sleep.

At sunrise, we got up and broke camp. As we were driving out of the camp on the dirt road about 200 yards from the dumpster, we noticed about 10 twigs with berries from a Juniper tree laying in the middle of the road. It just seemed odd. We planned to fish for an hour before leaving and my wife told me she thought she saw bear scat on the trail leading down to the river. I asked her what it looked like and she said a big pile with smaller piles on top of it. I didn't see it.

Anyway, long story short, we now wonder if a bear had jumped into the empty dumpster creating the thud, if it had pulled the juniper berries and twigs off the tree, left the scat, and had previously dug around the picnic table.

This all took place near the Idaho/Utah border in the Cache Forest.

What do you think?


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

It sounds exactly like what a bear or a raccoon would do. I'm betting it was a bear, depending how deep the dumpster was.


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## bigdaddyx4 (Jan 11, 2008)

Yeah, sounds like a bear to me too. Where was this at? I just got done hunting the Cache unit for bears a couple weeks ago


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

Just so that you know, a bear can open the trunk of your car just like a can if they want to. When camping in bear country it isn't suggested to leave any food inside of your vehicle unless you want it trashed by a break in.


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## HighNDry (Dec 26, 2007)

bigdaddyx4 said:


> Yeah, sounds like a bear to me too. Where was this at? I just got done hunting the Cache unit for bears a couple weeks ago


Willow Flats in Idaho. I know that area is usually loaded with campers, four wheelers, and there is even a Scout camp within 4 miles, but it was totally deserted after Labor day.

I was surprised that the Forest Service literature on their campground billboards didn't have the notice that it was bear country with the usual precautions. Maybe they have just not had any sightings or issues for a long time up there.

I think I have heard that a hunter chased a bear out of Franklin Basin recently (within the last few years) into the sinks area of Logan Canyon and killed it. Have you been seeing any bear sign where you have been hunting?


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## Caddis-n-Cutts (Sep 28, 2007)

HighNDry said:


> Willow Flats in Idaho. I know that area is usually loaded with campers, four wheelers, and there is even a Scout camp within 4 miles, but it was totally deserted after Labor day.
> 
> I was surprised that the Forest Service literature on their campground billboards didn't have the notice that it was bear country with the usual precautions. Maybe they have just not had any sightings or issues for a long time up there.
> 
> I think I have heard that a hunter chased a bear out of Franklin Basin recently (within the last few years) into the sinks area of Logan Canyon and killed it. Have you been seeing any bear sign where you have been hunting?


Sounds like a bear to me as well...

We had bears come into our scout camp at Camp Bartlet which is near Willow Flats; this was ~20 years ago.

As a matter of fact, he did see bear sign... 
http://utahwildlife.net/forum/29-other-kinds-animals/127561-got-my-cache-bear.html

There have been a lot of sightings all over the Cache area recently. I'm heading up there next week for the ML deer hunt and I will defiantly be on the lookout for bears/bear sign.

.


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## bigdaddyx4 (Jan 11, 2008)

HighNDry said:


> Willow Flats in Idaho. I know that area is usually loaded with campers, four wheelers, and there is even a Scout camp within 4 miles, but it was totally deserted after Labor day.
> 
> I was surprised that the Forest Service literature on their campground billboards didn't have the notice that it was bear country with the usual precautions. Maybe they have just not had any sightings or issues for a long time up there.
> 
> I think I have heard that a hunter chased a bear out of Franklin Basin recently (within the last few years) into the sinks area of Logan Canyon and killed it. Have you been seeing any bear sign where you have been hunting?


Yeah there are getting to be a few bears in the area. Looks like someone already posted a link to my thread about my Cache bear hunt. I still need to get around to posting some more pics and video of it!


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## ff468 (Oct 12, 2007)

I too have wondered about the signage at Willows. Further down the road at Albert Moser there is bear signage on their entrance board. Seems to me that if it warrants a sign down canyon then Willows too should have signs. Guess it should now be a good practice to always act as if we are in bear country and camp accordingly.
With the great wild berry crops up Hilyard Cyn and toward Franklin Basin I have been seeing bear sign weekly. In August I found tracks and overturned rocks/scrapes along the edge of Gibson Lakes.


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## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

HighNDry said:


> I think I have heard that a hunter chased a bear out of Franklin Basin recently (within the last few years) into the sinks area of Logan Canyon and killed it. Have you been seeing any bear sign where you have been hunting?


That could have been the spring bear killed by a Paradise hunter about 5 1/2 years ago. It crossed the highway between Franklin Basin and Beaver Mountain turn off heading south. The houndsmen turned the dogs loose there and ran the bear up through Stump Hollow and on top to Horse Lake, from there it doubled back into Brushy Hollow where the hunter caught up to it and killed it.

But nope, no more bears on the Cache unit. Come February when it is once again time to apply for bear permits, think other areas........//dog//


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## 30-06-hunter (Sep 22, 2013)

This time of year you will see a lot of berry seeds in bear scat, I saw some fresh poop the other day and it was 80-90% berry seeds.


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