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

 

[sshhh]

Good sized head on this guy

 

[Jake Larsen]

Got it done! First saw this bear last Saturday. Named him “Hershy’s Special Dark” because he looked almost black on the hill. The darkest chocolate colored bear I’ve seen, especially through the digiscope. Got some great video footage of him and decided he was one to take. Not a super long bear, but thick and heavy. 5 days of working for him finally paid off.


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