Wasatch front bears?

mathewsman · Jun 3, 2009

Just wondering. Are there bears on the wasatch front in salt lake county? I deer hunt the crap out of the front and have never seen a bear or bear sign. I know they're on the front in utah county. Has anyone SEEN a bear in the cottonwood canyons, mill creek, parleys, immigration, city creek, corner? What about lone peak, twin, and olympus wilderness areas?

foundation · Jun 3, 2009

There is a few roaming around in the areas you described . I work in those canyons from Upper Corner Canyon , Little Cottonwood over to Emigration . Two years ago on Memorial day I saw a decent size bear at the chain up area in Parleys Canyon . He was eating trash and trucker bombs . It was pretty nasty . That same year there was one hanging around in the town of Alta . There was pictures of that bear on the town of Alta's web page for a while , haven't checked they might still be there . Saw another bear in Alexander basin across from Mt.Dell also a couple of years ago . I have seen some sign by Lambs Canyon . I have talked with a few people who swore there was one between Millcreek and Big up by Dog lake . I wish I could say that I have seen as many bears as I have mountain lions in those canyons .

blazingsaddle · Jun 4, 2009

I believe somebody on here said they saw one right at dog lake last year.

swbuckmaster · Jun 5, 2009

LAST EDITED ON Jun-05-09 AT 08:25AM (MST)[p]I have seen one huge bear alive at about 5 feet on the side of the road. As I approached closer I tried to pull out my cell phone and get some video of it as it walked by my drivers? side front tire along the side of the road. The bear?s back was taller than my cars hood.

We also had a bear tear a part one of our tree stands last year. He smelled our food cash 25 feet up in a tree and it was in a closed 5 gallon bucket.

I have also seen quite a few trees with claw marks on them in different canyons.

The bears are defiantly there you just don't see them!

Now cougars and coyotes, that's another story,

Does anyone know if you can hunt cougars without having to go through the draw process? I think I would get a tag every year if I could.

Silentstalker · Jun 5, 2009

Scott your right about the bears! I have seen scratch marks all over the wasatch front.

As for cougars, In Utah I think you could see if the area your in is under a harvest objective area. Otherwise you definitely have to draw.

Broomer · Jun 8, 2009

There is a big bear roaming around the Dog Lake/Bear Trap area. I cut his tracks in 07' after a snow storm while hunting Elk. I measured the pad and it was just over 5". Up until this time I had never crossed any bear sign or anything to indicate bear activity up the Cottonwoods, it really took me by surprise. However, this was the following year after they had all that bear problems in Park City. I wonder if these bears are just finding their way across the county line.

buglinbilly · Jun 23, 2009

This one showed up on my trail camera three different times last summer not far above the city. I have a friend who had a camera up Millcreek and he too had a bear show up on his. I also know a guy in our archery club that a couple years ago had a photo on his trail camera that was red and ita was west of the Lambs Canyon exit. So yes there are a few bears around the front, but not many.

As a side note when I this bear showed up I also had three different mountian lions on the same camera during the time this bear photo was taken. So there's other hunters out there stalking around be side the ones in camo.

Have a good one BB

LuckyShot · Jun 25, 2009

I have hunted quite a bit up the canyons Easto of Salt Lake and have never actually seen a bear. However, there was one hit by a car up Parley's Canyon last year and I did find a good sized pile of fresh scat last winter while hunting elk up near Parleys. We all know there are bears up AF canyon (south of Salt Lake County) so it seems pretty clear from what has already been posted by other mm'rs that there are bears roaming around up there. Personally I dont think there are too many up those canyons (BC, LC, MillCreek), but they are there. Cougars are a different story. I've seen their sign all over the place up there. Here's a pic I got off a trail cam just last summer.

OwnMoreBone · Sep 19, 2022

What an incredible year Bear hunting in Utah, the unit we hunted on had 9 tags and we drew 4 of them, it started out one of my best friends (Dustin) wife's took a awesome bear August 21st. Then next up my son Jed took another great bear on August 27th. Then it was my turn and on September 1st I let the air out of another nice bear. Then last but not least my buddy Dustin took a fantastic bear. What are the odds we would draw 4 of the 9 tags then everyone of us harvested a nice bear and all of them were Boars....all with Archery equipment...

OwnMoreBone · Sep 23, 2022

mathewsman said:
Just wondering. Are there bears on the wasatch front in salt lake county? I deer hunt the crap out of the front and have never seen a bear or bear sign. I know they're on the front in utah county. Has anyone SEEN a bear in the cottonwood canyons, mill creek, parleys, immigration, city creek, corner? What about lone peak, twin, and olympus wilderness areas?

mathewsman none of these bears were in SL county, all of them in White River area.

wstrntines · Sep 23, 2022

I’ve called in a bear up there in 2011

Zeke · Oct 5, 2022

mathewsman said:
Just wondering. Are there bears on the wasatch front in salt lake county? I deer hunt the crap out of the front and have never seen a bear or bear sign. I know they're on the front in utah county. Has anyone SEEN a bear in the cottonwood canyons, mill creek, parleys, immigration, city creek, corner? What about lone peak, twin, and olympus wilderness areas?

Yes there are but not right on the busy trails. I was shocked with all the bear sign I saw right above some houses in Alpine (I know, Utah Co but I don't hike in SL CO). ...and I mean LOTS of bear sign.

I'm sure the dog food has been disappearing from around those homes for a long time now and the residents would be stunned by what I saw!

Zeke