Who has seen bears in N. ID? (Coeur d'Alene, Priest River: house, neighborhoods) - Idaho - City-Data Forum

Trace_Rinaldi · 01-31-2009, 03:00 PM

Just wondering how many of you folks have actually seen Bears in North Idaho.. Im just curious as to how common it is to see them and where..
Also if you have seen one how big was it roughly?
Not looking to get into any wildlife issues, just curious is all

DESERTRYDER · 01-31-2009, 03:13 PM

Saw a Beaver once.

mistyriver · 01-31-2009, 03:37 PM

We don't see many on our property any more, thanks to our great pyrenees, but before we got the dogs we saw a LOT of black bears...one big one. We had aone venture into our horse barn a couple of years ago and scare my old gelding badly enough to make him jump over teh stall wall.
We still see several every summer crossing the roads and closer to Priest Lake.
Here's a picture of a young grizzly who passed thru on our property a couple of years ago that I posted on another thread:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y4/..._3650_1_11.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y4/..._3663_2_11.jpg

Sage of Sagle · 01-31-2009, 03:46 PM

Saw on on Schweitzer Mountain Road (about halfway up). Young adult, but not big. Maybe 5' tall.

Saw a larger one on our property in Sagle. Maybe 5' tall, not that large.

The black bears in SoCal are pretty hefty compared to what saw here. They appear to be built smaller here. Much less broad. Then again, this was just two bears I saw, so others could be huge.

pimit2 · 01-31-2009, 08:02 PM

Hi Trace,

I have spent considerable time in the NID outdoors and I've seen two smallish black bears in my time. My 125 lb black Lab - who's name, by the way, was "Bear" and is no longer here - was maybe a third of the size of the two I have seen. My "Bear" was an amazing athlete, fast and determined. He was with me during one of the encounters. "Bear" gave it all he had, but the black bear easily sped away from him. I always felt it was best that way.

pimit2 (Bob)

mistyriver · 01-31-2009, 09:14 PM

I guess it depends on where you are in north Idaho. One year our neighbor had to get rubber bullets from the forest service to discourage the bears from her place. They can be very bold. We fired over one's head once to get him to leave. He had been standing his ground till we did that. The two grizzlies we've seen were much less bold.
I love it...how many people can say they had a grizzly bear in their front yard?

fearnofish · 02-01-2009, 01:18 PM

We see bears quite often in the N. Idaho area. That may because we are out bow hunting and some of the time targeting bears but all in all we have a decent bear population I would say. As for the size ranges I have seen everything from ones not to much bigger than a dog to the big 'bruins'. A bear is a thing that if you are not looking for it you may not see it. Most of the bears we have seen while hunting we have heard before we have seen them.
I am not sure if you are asking this for hunting info or just curious. If it for hunting info post that and I can try to give you some decent areas that will give you a shot at one this spring.

Trace_Rinaldi · 02-01-2009, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fearnofish

We see bears quite often in the N. Idaho area. That may because we are out bow hunting and some of the time targeting bears but all in all we have a decent bear population I would say. As for the size ranges I have seen everything from ones not to much bigger than a dog to the big 'bruins'. A bear is a thing that if you are not looking for it you may not see it. Most of the bears we have seen while hunting we have heard before we have seen them.
I am not sure if you are asking this for hunting info or just curious. If it for hunting info post that and I can try to give you some decent areas that will give you a shot at one this spring.

Thanks FNF! I may want to hunt a bear one of these days, but for now was just wondering how often they are seen. When I'm out exploring on the ATV I'll have a Stainless Marlin 45-70 Guide Gun, backed up by a Ruger Alaskan 454 revolver. I dont ever want to have to kill one unless Im setting out to do that, but I do want to caught with my pants down either..

I'll get some pepper spray too, I can see that being usefull when breaking out artillery isnt really called for..

Misty, was that Bear pic taken on the river by your home? Thats pretty cool!!! Wasnt it you that said a Grizz had a downed Elk in your front yard?

Bob, great story.. Dogs are like that.. Its like when they chase a car.. What are ya gonna do with it when you catch it?..HA!!

Sage, yeah I guess thats why we have a Bear on the flag.. They still have em show up in San Bern. and OC in neighborhoods every so often..
I'd prolly have a better chance seeing one here..

And DR, Lemme guess. You were at home in bed when you saw that beaver huh?..HAHAHA.. I keeeid I keeeid..

mistyriver · 02-01-2009, 07:40 PM

Yep, it was here on the Priest River. No.. we've never had a grizzly kill anythinghere in our yard but weirdly, we saw a griz take an elk calf in Yellowstone years ago and got it on videotape. The ranger we told about it didn't believe it till we showed him the tape on the viewfinder.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trace_Rinaldi

Thanks FNF! I may want to hunt a bear one of these days, but for now was just wondering how often they are seen. When I'm out exploring on the ATV I'll have a Stainless Marlin 45-70 Guide Gun, backed up by a Ruger Alaskan 454 revolver. I dont ever want to have to kill one unless Im setting out to do that, but I do want to caught with my pants down either..

I'll get some pepper spray too, I can see that being usefull when breaking out artillery isnt really called for..

Misty, was that Bear pic taken on the river by your home? Thats pretty cool!!! Wasnt it you that said a Grizz had a downed Elk in your front yard?

Bob, great story.. Dogs are like that.. Its like when they chase a car.. What are ya gonna do with it when you catch it?..HA!!

Sage, yeah I guess thats why we have a Bear on the flag.. They still have em show up in San Bern. and OC in neighborhoods every so often..
I'd prolly have a better chance seeing one here..

And DR, Lemme guess. You were at home in bed when you saw that beaver huh?..HAHAHA.. I keeeid I keeeid..

fearnofish · 02-01-2009, 08:36 PM

That is cool about the Griz. I have seen one about 10 minutes out from Coeur d'Alene. And yes it was a griz cause we saw it then the next day a friend of ours saw it by his house in the Wolf Lodge area. It was a big nice looking bear but being a Griz we couldn't take it. It was neat to see in the wild though.