Idaho Elk, Mule Deer and Black Bear Blog

Idaho’s Hunting Season 2025 is Wrapping Up, Time to Get Serious About Predator Hunting

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 21:25:32 GMT

The image above is of the first Idaho mountain lion of the 2025/2026 winter season.

Finally! We got all this deer and elk hunting out of the way and now it is time to get serious about what really matters…Predator Hunting!

As much as we truly love to pursue big elk and big deer, it seems our interests have morphed over the years to truly enjoying the pursuit of large predators: Mountain lions, Wolves, Bears and Bobcats. Throw in a few foxes and coyotes during your winter hunting and now it feels like you have really done something to actually help deer and elk populations prosper.

It is my opinion, and may be contrary to others, that Central Idaho is truly an anomaly in what actually affects ungulate populations the most. In most states, it is verifiably auto/wildlife conflicts that affect the population. It is sincerely my opinion that weather and predators are what negatively affect the wildlife populations in Central Idaho, therefore it is incumbent upon all sportsman to do there best to contribute to controlling predators. Weather is literally out of our control, but we can pursue predators!

So, if you find yourself with some spare time and desire this winter, contact us about the idea of pursuing predators in Central Idaho.

Happy Hunting!

Idaho’s 2025 Spring Black Bear Season is Officially Open

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 21:22:02 GMT

It’s officially official; Idaho’s 2025 Spring Bear Hunting season is finally open…just in time for a spring snowstorm of course, but hopes are still high for an amazing season this year. It has been a fairly mild winter, and the hills are showing more dirt every day. We are already heading out to get the baits set and camps ready.

If you haven’t made plans for your spring bear season yet, or you simply have a bad case of cabin fever, why don’t you give an Idaho spring hunt a try this year? We are offering fully guided over bait, behind hounds or spring bear hunt drop camps this year. There should be an option for anyone interested in getting out and chasing these Idaho bruins.

Happy hunting! Get out and enjoy YOUR public lands! And, as always, take a kid along!

Spring Bear Hunt Drop Camp

Wed, 05 Mar 2025 12:00:00 GMT

If I haven’t made it clear that I think Idaho is THE best place to hunt, then I suppose you haven’t read enough of our blogs. Predator hunting in Idaho tops them all!

In Idaho, you can hunt wolves, bears, mountain lions, coyotes and foxes all at the same time by either spot and stalk or electronic calls method clear up until June 30 each year. To increase your odds for bear, you can even hunt them over bait. Idaho is becoming one of the last places left where you can legally hunt bears over bait. It has been proven repeatedly that it is the best way to hunt bears AND protect their young. Spring sows almost always, when showing up at a bait, have this year’s cubs in such close contact with them that it is very hard to mistake her for a dry sow.

All that to say, that if you are an avid predator hunter or simply want your chance at a wolf, maybe an Idaho spring bear hunt drop camp may be your best option. You can hunt at your own pace during the day then sit a preset bear bait in the evening to increase your odds of success.

Our Idaho spring bear hunt drop camps consist of us packing you and your gear into a preset backcountry wall tent camp. It has cots with pads, woodburning stove and all cooking and eating utensils. We will preset some bear bait sites that we have used for years and show them to you before we ride back to the trailhead. We pick you, your gear and your game up on a predetermined date and take you back to the trailhead.

All this is available in the months of May and June. For the truly adventurous, you may consider a late April approach. It is up to you. All tags are over the counter (OTC) so obtaining a tag is no problem. If this sounds like the perfect adventure for curing that cabin fever brought on by winter turning to spring, contact us for your back country Idaho spring bear drop camp today!

With Idaho’s large percentage of color phase black bears, open wolf and mountain lion season, ability to hunt spot and stalk, using electronic calls and bait for bears, what are you waiting for? Get out and enjoy YOUR public lands and remember to take a kid with you!

Idaho’s 2025 Spring Black Bear Season is Just Around the Corner

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 10:00:00 GMT

I know, I know, the holidays just got over and it is still cold and white outside, but what a perfect time to begin thinking about what is truly important, where are you going to hunt spring bear this season?

Idaho’s 2025 spring bear season, I predict, is going to be one for the record books. Why? I am so glad you asked.

1. First, last fall’s berry crop was non-existent. Bears were out late scrounging for whatever they could find to eat and probably even cheering on would be deer and elk hunters, so that they could take a turn at a gut pile for some pre-winter calories.

2. Because of such a lackluster berry crop last fall, I predict that the bears will exit their dens far earlier than “normal” this year seeking to pick up on some lost calories from last fall.

3. This winter has started slow and continued so far to be very mild. What does that have to do with bears you ask? Now I am no biologist, but without heavy snow, big game survival (deer, elk, and antelope) will hopefully be much greater than usual leaving not that many carcasses for bears exiting their winter slumber hideouts to eat, so they head out on a journey for food that they will certainly find in abundance at our bait sites.

4. We will have lots of those bait sites loaded heavily with some of the best tasting (yes, of course we taste our bear bait) icings and sugar laden goodies you can imagine. A hungry bear will not be able to resist them, and we will keep the baits full, so the bears always have goodies to come back to!

5. If, on the off chance we get one of those sneaky nocturnal type bears, we will have dogs on hand as back up in case the need arises to get the job done.

6. Oftentimes, bear baiting gets a bad rap from the nonhunting world, but studies have proven that bear baiting is the best way to protect females with their young as new babies are almost always right at their momma’s side as she fills her belly at our bait sites. These females with cubs are protected and add an additional level of enjoyment in just enjoying watching “the show” as the cubs learn to navigate the woods with their mothers.

So, as you find yourself getting back to “normal” life after the holidays, why don’t you break up the daily doldrums by asking one of your coworkers, friends, relatives or best of all one of your own kids, nieces or nephews if they would like to join you out in Idaho for an opportunity at one of Idaho’s famous color phase black bears and Contact Us to book your hunt.

Hope to see you in the woods! And, as always, remember to take a kid hunting!

Cure Cabin Fever with an Idaho Spring Bear Hunt

Mon, 20 Mar 2023 22:49:22 GMT

The first day of spring is officially here! It has been a long time coming and it can mean only 1 thing: Idaho Spring bear hunting season 2023 is literally only days away!

With this winter feeling like it has been the longest winter in the history of all mankind…at least here in Challis, Idaho, cabin fever is running rampant, and we are ready to get out, start setting bear baits, shoeing horses and mules, riding colts, setting camps and simply enjoying watching mother nature come back to life after a long winter’s siesta.

If you haven’t made plans for your Idaho spring bear hunt yet, you are in luck! We still have a few openings for this spring, and they are indeed a sure cure for cabin fever. We offer hunts from Sunday through Friday beginning early May and can accommodate groups up to 4, 6 if it is all in one party. We love seeing kids and women in camp and can reserve a full camp for your family outing. Non hunting observers are always welcome with hunters in our camps as well.

If you have already made plans and find yourself in need of quality affordable bear bait, check out our inventory of affordable bulk bear bait. If you are simply heading out to the woods to hunt bears spot and stalk or have already engaged the services of another outfitter, then best of luck to you! Take lots of pictures, take time to soak it all in and most of all, take a kid hunting with you if you can! Remember, someone once took you hunting for the first time!

Contact us today about scheduling you for your 2023 Idaho spring bear hunt with Castle Creek Outfitters or Wild Idaho Outfitters, your bulk bear bait needs, bear baiting tactics or to simply talk Idaho hunting. It is certainly one of our favorite subjects!

Happy Hunting,

George

Working for Idaho Wildlife

Tue, 01 Mar 2022 11:00:00 GMT

Heath’s Triple Crown

What we hoped to accomplish in 1 week took almost 13 months and 3 trips to Idaho, but it finally happened. Heath F. is an avid hunter and wanted to pursue predators and wanted to get what we would deem the “Triple Crown” of lower 48 predators in the form of a wolf, black bear, and mountain lion.

He sought us out and in early January 2021 he came out on a predator hunt for all three and we were successful in getting him a wolf. Fast forward to August 2021. He calls up and says he has some vacation to burn, and do we have room for a bear hunter in fall bear camp? Well, of course we did, and he wanted to take advantage of the fact that he already had his hunting license from earlier in the year and this time he was successful on a respectable color phase black bear.

After the bear, we knew we had to have him back to try for the third leg of the “Triple Crown” and after a few scheduling challenges, we finally connected in late January 2022, and he scored on a nice specimen of a Mountain Lion completing his goal.

In Idaho, central Idaho specifically, where the landscape lends itself very well to wildlife and predation is a true threat to healthy ungulate populations, hunting these predators is a true benefit and much needed management tool to grow healthy populations of elk, deer, mountain goats, and sheep in our little slice of heaven!

Heath did his part to help with the population and we thank him and congratulate him on 3 very well-placed shots and some very serious effort!

Maybe it’s time for you to get out and enjoy your public lands and do a little predator hunting while you are there?

Happy hunting!

Spring Bear Drop Camps

Wed, 31 Mar 2021 22:34:39 GMT

With Idaho’s 2021 spring bear season beginning this week, we are grateful that we are pretty much booked up on our guided hunts, but new for 2021, we are offering spring bear drop camps for those DIY hunters who to prefer the challenge of hunting on their own and more of the spot and stalk element of bear hunting.

This is a more affordable option over guiding, puts you in charge of your own schedule and may just be the ticket for that pent up wintertime cabin fever!

We will pack you into a back country camp, drop you off, show you a couple of pre-baited sites you can sit in the evenings and leave you to your own hunting experience. We will then come pick you up at a predetermined time and hope to hear tall tales of faraway places and hopefully be able to congratulate on a well-placed shot on an Idaho bear!

For more info on this new option from Wild Idaho outfitters and Castle Creek Outfitters this year, contact us!

Best of luck with spring bear hunts this year and remember to get out and enjoy YOUR public lands!

Post Season Trail Cam Pics Still Plenty of Bears Left for Next Year

Mon, 27 Jul 2020 10:00:00 GMT

We had a successful spring bear season this year, taking several nice bears, half of which were color phase. Game cameras show there are still plenty of bears left in our area to hunt this fall or next spring. For example, bear season closes on the June 30^th and on the evening of June 26^th a hunter sat on a bait until approximately 9:45 pm, by 10:37 pm a nice sized cinnamon bear was chowing down on the bait. The bear had us figured out and was only coming out at night, you say? Presumably, the same cinnamon bear was back for more chow by 7:43 the next morning. After that, the bait was quiet for a while, then presumably the same bear came back again on July 5^th at 1:30 in the afternoon with another adult cinnamon, and a cub appears on a few frames. A client had shot a cinnamon on this same bait early in June, which was the only bear we took off it this spring

Another camera showed 4-5 black bears and 1 cinnamon visited a bait site during the same time frame; only one bear was taken off this bait this spring. Nearly all our baits were literally licked clean by July 7^th, after being rebaited the last week of June. I can’t imagine how many bears inhabit the mountains of Central Idaho, and I don’t believe for a second that anyone knows. Though, I speculate that sport hunting isn’t putting the slightest dent in the population.

Good hunting,

Joe Cavanaugh

Positive Attitudes and Hunting Success

Mon, 20 Jul 2020 10:00:00 GMT

When I met my bear-hunting client a few of weeks ago, one of the first things he told me is that he usually has “pretty good luck on hunting trips like this”. As we all know, luck is a good thing to have on one’s side, but it’s difficult to obtain on-demand. Later the hunter informed me that what he really wanted was a nice cinnamon-phase bear, as he had already taken several other color phases of black bear. I told him he had chosen the right area, which he had because Unit 28 produces a high percentage of color-phase bears; though I what I was thinking is, he better pray for a dose of exceptionally good luck. The first evening on bait he shot an absolutely beautiful cinnamon bear with chocolate feet. Positive attitude or just plain luck—you decide which one was the winning factor. Having either one can’t hurt your odds of success and having both is better yet.

Good hunting,

Joe Cavanaugh