2026 Bear Success Thread

[Blacktip]

Nice bear but wtf is up with that username

The "OG"?

 

[Lateonsethntr]

Here’s my first black bear and a Montana spring bear at that. Small but very thankful for the opportunity. View attachment 1059547

Beautiful trophy

 

[Idaho4x4Bronco]

Here’s my first black bear and a Montana spring bear at that. Small but very thankful for the opportunity. View attachment 1059547

Ground shrinkage is real on bears Awesome harvest

 

[Blind Squirrel]

Nice bear but wtf is up with that username

Have you never hunted orangutan? Meat has a mild citrus tang. Hence the name.

 

[TheOrangutanGuide]

Have you never hunted orangutan? Meat has a mild citrus tang. Hence the name.

I can’t say I have. Some Neanderthal said I have long fingers while I was guiding him on a hunt so the name stuck.

 

[TheOrangutanGuide]

Ground shrinkage is real on bears Awesome harvest

Yeah, I definitely need to do some more identification practice.

 

[Idaho4x4Bronco]

They're very difficult to judge for me, especially if you don't have a lot of time to make the shot. I've seen maybe 2 dozen bears since I started actively hunting them and they all look the same to me at 150+ yards. Huge in the scope

Edit-When I got mine checked in, the guy said "That's a cute little fella"

 

[TheOrangutanGuide]

They're very difficult to judge for me, especially if you don't have a lot of time to make the shot. I've seen maybe 2 dozen bears since I started actively hunting them and they all look the same to me at 150+ yards. Huge in the scope

Edit-When I got mine checked in, the guy said "That's a cute little fella"

Yeah our warden wasn’t real impressed

 

[graniteghost]

Idaho bear from earlier this week. Squared out last night at 6’1

 

[Idaho4x4Bronco]

Yeah our warden wasn’t real impressed

 

[WyoHunter999]

My first bear! Killed him solo off my bait site Thursday night and went back in with my buddies horses Friday to pack him out. So pumped!

 

[R boar]

Little late posting but I got this guy on April 12, my second weekend out. It was a miserable packout but that's what I love. First bear I saw this season.


This was the second day of a two day overnight trip in the woods. I was heading up a north slope to get to a good glassing position to look at the south slopes, which seemed excellent for bears though I had only been seeing deer and elk on them. Then I saw this bear walking 150 yards ahead on my ridge, where there was nothing to eat. This photo is the south side of the ridge I was on.


I'm really bad at judging bears so I watched as he walked out of sight instead of shooting him. Then I moved up to where he had gone around the corner and looked for him again but didn't see him until he started running, which he continued for 100+ yards until he was out of sight again.

I was heading the same direction anyway, so I kept going up the ridge and wound up spotting him crossing over from the north side to the south side a couple hours later, 200 yards ahead, where I deemed him big enough and shot him. Right about there. He ran downhill.


This was Sunday afternoon and I was supposed to work Monday, so I made an attempt to pack it all up in one go (and my overnight gear) but my pack was probably over 200 lbs and I only made it about half an hour before deciding I would have to take two trips. I stashed the head and hide and a couple pieces of gear like my tripod, but I should have left more because my first load was still excessively heavy and I made really poor time heading up the ridge.


It was only 1500' of elevation up to the road, and then 6 miles on the road to my truck, but the ridge was steep and tough going with a heavy pack in the dark. Once I decided there was no way I would be able to go to work the next day, I would have just made camp and continued in the morning, but I finished the last of my water right when I started packing. I knew there would be water once I got to the road, but not before, unless I took a detour off the ridge to a creek. I finally got to the road at 1:00 am, stashed the meat, got some water out of a nice creek and headed to the truck for the night.

It snowed a couple inches overnight, so I had a lazy morning while that melted off and then headed back down for the second load.


I was able to drive the 6 miles to where I hit the road, but had to do some clearing.


The cliffs I had gone up the night before were much easier to navigate in the daylight. I had to backtrack a couple times in the dark.


This was the upper portion of the ridge I went up, the road is at the top. It was already dark by this point the first day.


It wouldn't have been nearly as hard if I had been a little smarter about it and just accepted I was gonna be packing the next day, made camp when it got dark and headed to a creek to get water. Then I could have taken two equally loaded trips up in the daylight and probably been done sooner and less tired.

 

[coyoteman]

Little late posting but I got this guy on April 12, my second weekend out. It was a miserable packout but that's what I love. First bear I saw this season.
View attachment 1063991

This was the second day of a two day overnight trip in the woods. I was heading up a north slope to get to a good glassing position to look at the south slopes, which seemed excellent for bears though I had only been seeing deer and elk on them. Then I saw this bear walking 150 yards ahead on my ridge, where there was nothing to eat. This photo is the south side of the ridge I was on.
View attachment 1064104

I'm really bad at judging bears so I watched as he walked out of sight instead of shooting him. Then I moved up to where he had gone around the corner and looked for him again but didn't see him until he started running, which he continued for 100+ yards until he was out of sight again.

I was heading the same direction anyway, so I kept going up the ridge and wound up spotting him crossing over from the north side to the south side a couple hours later, 200 yards ahead, where I deemed him big enough and shot him. Right about there. He ran downhill.
View attachment 1064108

This was Sunday afternoon and I was supposed to work Monday, so I made an attempt to pack it all up in one go (and my overnight gear) but my pack was probably over 200 lbs and I only made it about half an hour before deciding I would have to take two trips. I stashed the head and hide and a couple pieces of gear like my tripod, but I should have left more because my first load was still excessively heavy and I made really poor time heading up the ridge.
View attachment 1064106

It was only 1500' of elevation up to the road, and then 6 miles on the road to my truck, but the ridge was steep and tough going with a heavy pack in the dark. Once I decided there was no way I would be able to go to work the next day, I would have just made camp and continued in the morning, but I finished the last of my water right when I started packing. I knew there would be water once I got to the road, but not before, unless I took a detour off the ridge to a creek. I finally got to the road at 1:00 am, stashed the meat, got some water out of a nice creek and headed to the truck for the night.

It snowed a couple inches overnight, so I had a lazy morning while that melted off and then headed back down for the second load.
View attachment 1064096

I was able to drive the 6 miles to where I hit the road, but had to do some clearing.
View attachment 1064115

The cliffs I had gone up the night before were much easier to navigate in the daylight. I had to backtrack a couple times in the dark.
View attachment 1064097

This was the upper portion of the ridge I went up, the road is at the top. It was already dark by this point the first day.
View attachment 1064098

It wouldn't have been nearly as hard if I had been a little smarter about it and just accepted I was gonna be packing the next day, made camp when it got dark and headed to a creek to get water. Then I could have taken two equally loaded trips up in the daylight and probably been done sooner and less tired.

Beautiful bear, great story, and a damn cool truck!

 

[BackcountryWanderer]

May 1 ID solo hunt. Old sow with a sick skullet