Ok so the season for bears starts April 15th in Idaho and I want to be ready.

When would you guys suggest that I begin setting up my barrels and building ground blinds/hanging tree stands? SA

Thanks,
Idaho

You can start as soon as the snow is off, but the bigger boars will start showing up more regular around mid to end of may, and even into june.

hmmm... really? So there is no real point in going to crazy now then, huh? Perhaps I'll drag my arse out into the mountains over the next few weekends and build some ground blinds then drop the barrels in april...

The biggest bears I know of being killed, have been killed over baits that weren't set until the end of may. This would equate to a deer or elks rut time. The big dogs will be raoming then. If you can get into an area now, my guess is that you will be dealing with unwanted traffic come season. Most of the areas that I like to bait are under heavy snows. The farther you get off the beaten path, the less likely you are of having your bait disturbed and worse yet, hound hunters using your bait to strike off of!!!

I have a hard time getting into my bear area in N.I.until late April or early May, theres simply too much snow in that back country. Ihunt natural glades when the snow burns off, I usually shed hunt the mornings and bear hunt the evenings... I'm considering a bait in my glade area this year as well. Good luck.