A little NW Montana weather education needed

[Ulysseys]

Hey gang,
  So I posted here about a spring bear hunt in MT and received some good responses, I'm looking to head west of the divide the first wk. of May (season only runs to the 2nd wk).  From what I've heard so far the area is getting pounded with snow this year.  Is the snowfall more than typical and is it looking like May will be snowed out? or do I just have to wait and see?  Makes it hard to plan...

[tim roberts]

The weather, always makes it hard to plan.  The area could still be under snow, or there could be an early warm up and rain, melting the snow.  Its is hard to tell, best you can do is just keep an eye on whats happening, and keep your plans flexible.

[JimB]

Sorry to say,it is impossible to predict Montana weather much more than a couple days ahead and that often is a crapshoot.

I don't know anything about where you will be hunting but here,there is very little bear movement until May 9th or 10th and it gets better with each passing week.I would pick that 2nd week over the first if possible but would really rather hunt a unit that stayed open at least till the end of May.The unit that I hunt stays open till June 15th and hunting is great till the end.

Good luck.

[JimB]

This picture was taken last April 17th.A big boar came down through this snow patch a couple days earlier.The only bears out this early are a couple big,old boars and they come out infrequently.it isn't worth hunting them till later.At this time,there is no new grass yet,at least at that elevation and that is what the feed on after coming out of the den.

Elevation will have a big effect on whether you have snow and whether you have grass.The grass is everything in early Spring bear hunting.It will vary from area to area.