Montana Spring Bear 2026

This year before I got to Montana, my wife and I spent a few days in Yellowstone.  As usual, Yellowstone never disappoints. We saw a black wolf eating on an elk carcass, we saw a grizzly bear, a black bear, many bison, my first time seeing ewe and lamb bighorn sheep in Yellowstone and a couple of curious coyotes.  We had the pleasure and excitement of staying in a presidential suite at the old faithful lodge overlooking the old faithful geyser. It was a once-in-lifetime experience. After our Yellowstone adventures we headed back toward Boise.  On our way we checked out Sun Valley and Craters of the Moon National Park. 

Sunday 5.10.26

I flew over to Kalispell Montana from Idaho.  My hunting partner Sam was finishing up fish guiding so I had a ½ day to explore and get me final gear.  Of course with the time opportunity I got my firestarter, lighter and Peax meals (dehydrated meals) from Bass Pro Shop, a quick meal then headed up to Glacier National Park. Although the “highway to the sun” road wasn’t fully opened, I had the pleasure of viewing a mountain goat feeding on a flat on a granite face. It was breathtaking.  I checked the snow melt and river conditions in preparation for The Bob.  Eventually Sam met me at the hotel and we got our last good night's sleep for a couple days without ticks or damp clothes and socks.

Monday 5.11.26

We drove over to the trailhead.  As we got in 30-45 minutes on a gravel forest service road we ran into two retired gentlemen that told us that the road is out due to trees across it and you can’t get to the trailhead from here, that we would have to go around on the other road. So we turned around and back tracked to get to where we wanted to be.  Finally after our 1 hour detour we made it the trailhead.  The smell of ponderosa pine filled the air.  We are back.  God's beauty of the cliffs and the flathead river are amazing.  We packed our packs with our living quarters, safety gear, meals, guns, etc. and headed out.  It was hot in the 80’s with a 70lb pack.  Needless to say after 3.5 miles of hiking we were sweating and stunk.  Sam and I unpacked and set up camp. After that we headed up a mile and a half to a place we glassed the previous year and saw a bear, some mountain goats and elk.  It was roasty and the mosquitos were getting their fill.  We had to put our lightweight jackets on to keep the mosquitos from biting us. Not fun after sweating and hiking.  We glassed till dark.  We saw five mountain goats, a hummingbird, and two elk.  It was a 10 mile day.  Needless to say we slept hard.

Tuesday 5.12.26

After sleeping in, the hummingbird visited us at camp as we woke.  We repeated our glassing spot again to see if anything was moving. We didn’t see any bears with another 80+ degree day.  But we enjoyed watching twenty mountain goats , six elk (cows/calves), a bull elk in velvet, and a bald eagle. Same experience of hot and mosquitoes.  Too open and not enough water. So we made the decision to move further back to our second campsite the next day. It was a 4.2 mile day.

Wednesday 5.13.26

I woke up and Sam slept in.  I decided to climb up to a flat above our camp to look around and let Sam sleep.  I took just my rifle, garmin, water, bear spray, my 9mm, and butt pad.  I had to cross some timber blow down to get up to a flat spot where I could see up the mountain. I sat for an hour, watched the morning sun rise and meditated.  It was peaceful.  On my way back down the mountain, I slipped while walking on a log and fell into a hole in between a bunch of logs.  I landed on my shoulder and side with my feet above my head.  I did the post traumatic syndrome disorder assessment.  It was in slowmo.  “Am I hurt? What did I break, am I ok?”  After realizing I was fine. I got up and thought that would be a bad place to break a bone, four miles from the truck and 3-4hrs from town.  I headed back to camp.  Sam was awake, eating and backing up gear.  I realized that my pistol fell off somewhere along my travels.  I thought “there was no way to find it.  It could be anywhere.”  We talked and Sam said we should look for it.  So we went back up the hill.  We located the spot where I fell and sure enough my pistol was laying on its side.  A sigh of relief.  I just saved $700.  Finally, we packed up and headed four miles to our next camp spot.  We saw two grouse on the way.  When we got to our destination there were, regrowth, pine trees everywhere, that were four feet tall.  We searched and finally found a spot that was open enough for our tee pee tent.   We hung our food up in a dead tree and Sam got water from the river.  He went to use the facilities and he said start up to that flat , I will catch up and we will glass close to camp.  So I went out on the trail.  As I was going away from our campsite I kept looking for Sam.  He got his gear and I waited for him to follow.  He didn’t know where I was.  I slowly hiked up a steep mountain hoping he would see me.  Finally after a long time of waving and looking back, I realized he didn’t know where I was.  I finally made the decision to get up to the flat.  He stayed at camp.  I saw two whitetail deer as I crested the top of the hill.  A grouse spooked me as I got to a cliff edge with an open view of the hillside to my east.  Then the rain started up so I got my rain jacket on. I sat till sunset until the fog rolled in. I didn’t see anything and wanted to get off the cliff area before dark, so I walked back to camp. It was an 8 mile hiking day.

Lost Pistol

Creek Crossing

Thursday 5.15.26

We woke to the sound of rain and sleet on the tent.  We waited until the rain slowed down.  We ate breakfast then hiked two miles to climb up on a ridge that overlooked a bowl with good habitat.  The rain stopped midday and there were bolsoms in full bloom.  This looked like a great bear spot.  We got out of the wind and glassed for hours.  It was a typical bear glassing session. Snack, nap, walk around, sit and glass, stand, and repeat.  Finally in the sunsetting hour we spotted a large bear a mile and a half away.  It was a huge grizzly boar.  He was on a mission to get somewhere.  He walked a mile in 10 minutes across the whole mountain.  You could see his claws from our spotter.  Very impressive. Finally before he crested the ridge, he stood up and used a pine as a scratching post.  Rubbing his back and shaking the 8-9 tall ponderosa.  It was cool to see.  We knew if there was a grizzly then the bears would be somewhere else.  So we still hunted around the ridge we were on as we made our way to camp.  We saw a large bull elk in some blow down about 50 yds away.  He was in velvet and was gonna be a specimen in the fall.  Only a 3.3 mile day.

Friday 5.16.26

The morning started out with rain.  We did a hail mary and went five miles back on the trail from camp.   This was our last chance at finding any black bears.  Sam spotted good terrain and a cliffy spot on On-x maps and we didn’t feel like making another creek crossing.  So we committed to the cliffs 13 miles from our truck.  Along the trail we saw three hummingbirds, big grizzly tracks, fresh griz scat and places where the grizzly was digging up bolsom roots.  A little concerning when looking for black bears.  But we made our way up the creek bottom and then went up the mountain.  We saw three grouse during our travels.  Of course more blow down to cross then sidehilling to a good visibility spot. The wind was up so we tucked around the nose to have less wind as we got cold after sweating then sitting.  The view was bear paradise.  Heavy timber patches, with avalanche shoots, waterfalls, cliffs, blow down, etc.  We sat for a couple hours and finally Sam spotted a chocolate color phase bear.  It was 860 yds away on top of the adjacent ridge with a cliff below it.  Standard operating procedure for a Montana spring bear hunt.  Sam glassed and watched in the spotter while I set up his 300 win Mag.  We were hoping this bear would feed down the mountain and get closer to us for a better shot.  After an hour, it feeds and disappears into the timber.   Then I see a bear lower on the mountain above the cliffs where we were hoping this one would show up.  Rushing to get setup and get a new range, this bear heads up a clearing, sticks its nose up in the air and takes off running up to the meadow where we saw the first sighting.  “That was weird, our wind isn’t blowing over there.”  After a while we see a bear feeding in the same meadow near the ridge.  After a closer look it was a different color bear, blonde instead of chocolate.  Not sure we watched and waited.  There were two different bears on that mountain.  We figured it was a sow and a boar being romantic.  We had a ball and were mesmerized for an hour or more, watching these bears.  I decided that it was too far of a shot and not worth the chance of missing, wounding or not finding a bear that late in the day and the last hunting night.  Humbled by the vast distance, steep, and vigorous physical terrain, we finally headed back the five miles to camp.  We did an 11 mile hike day.

Bear Location - 860 yds (1/2 mile)

Chocolate Sow

Blonde Boar

Saturday 5.16.26

We slept like babies that night and slept in knowing we had a 8 mile hike out.  We packed up camp in the rain.  We checked the weather on my Garmin inreach and it was calling for snow.  So we packed up and headed out.  We got a few hundred yards from camp and there was a huge bear butt that was running in front of us on the trail.  If it was a black bear it was going down.  We ripped off our packs and went for our rifles.  Except it was a grizzly.  When we saw and spooked it, it was 20-25 yds from us on the trail we were on.  Luckily for us it was facing the other way and ran away from us.  It got out to 50-60 yds and sat down.  Once we realized it was a grizzly then your thoughts shift gears to safety.  “Which way is it going” , maybe we should get to a better vantage point off and above the trail.  After a couple minutes the young boar griz made his way up the mountain.  Good thing because the trail to the truck went between the river and the cliff.  After that episode we hiked in the snow to the creek crossing.  The first time we walked in the creek with our crocs.  It was very sketchy and it was 80 degrees.  This time it was snowing, slick, and the creek was up from the rain and snow from the last couple of days.  We found a log to cross.  We made it safely and headed up to the stash pile where we kept our gear that we didn't need.  We were gonna stop and rest with lunch but the snow was cold, wet and we wanted to get to the truck.  We snacked as we hiked.  Finally that last one or two miles it stopped snowing and the sun came out.   We saw four whitetail deer that day hiking out.  It was an 11 mile hike day.

Young Grizzly Bear on Trail

We drove back to Kalispell and got pizza for dinner. A hot shower, tons of food and a quiet bed was perfect.  I had a 6am flight the next morning so we spread out our wet gear, tarps, and tent to dry it out before flying home.  What an adventure.  I am glad we saw some bears and didn’t get skunked.  All in all we saw 20 mountain goats, 8 elk (6 cows/calves, 2 bulls) , multiple grouse, some hummingbirds, a bald eagle, two grizzlies and two color phase black bears (1 chocolate sow, 1 blonde boar).  We had the gamut of weather: 80+ degree days, 50-60 degree days, rain, snow, sleet.  Ticks here, ticks there, everywhere ticks; sleeping bag, clothes, neck, back, etc.  The mosquitos were new for us this year.  We hiked 47.5 miles in 6 days. Just another spring bear week in Montana.

Glassing spot - Not a bad view