Judging a Black bear

[Ntuttle15]

Well, went back up to look for him this weekend. Didmt see him but found this decent sized old sow. Super excited about my first bear! Video of the hunt to come!

 

[idahohikker]

Well, went back up to look for him this weekend. Didmt see him but found this decent sized old sow. Super excited about my first bear! Video of the hunt to come!

Stoked for you! Bears are hitting the ground right now.

 

[Ntuttle15]

Stoked for you! Bears are hitting the ground right now.

Thanks! It was an experience, that's for sure!

 

[roosiebull]

Good job man! Congrats!

 

[Ntuttle15]

Just had fish and game check it. The bear bio gave me a preliminary age of 20+ years! Pretty crazy. Biologist had 3 people come and check it out to try and figure out what to do. They teeth they needed to pull were completely worn down and had gummed over completely. They promised to give me a phone call to let me know the age whenever they find out down the road. But they all said it was the coolest bear they've had all year because of the age. Pretty sweet! It makes this story all the better!

 

[lang]

Congrats that's awesome.

 

[John Jason]

Congratulations on the bear. In my limited experience aside from all the normal visual cues, the boars were square in the chest and tapered back like a gorilla. The sows were like women that had kids. Round up front and round in the back. At distance not sure how much that will help you. But mature boars have no caution when they walk around, they own the place. Sows were cautious.

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[Ntuttle15]

Congratulations on the bear. In my limited experience aside from all the normal visual cues, the boars were square in the chest and tapered back like a gorilla. The sows were like women that had kids. Round up front and round in the back. At distance not sure how much that will help you. But mature boars have no caution when they walk around, they own the place. Sows were cautious.

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Interesting take. I'll look at applying that as I see more! Thanks!

 

[Shrek]

Congratulations ! Cool to get a really old bear. I hope you find that boar and cut the second tag ! Good hunting !

 

[idahohikker]

So cool! A potentially once in a lifetime type experience.

 

[Ntuttle15]

So cool! A potentially once in a lifetime type experience.

Thank you! It really was!

 

[UP NORTH]

Nice bear and even a better story! A friend and I are headed to Idaho at the end of the month. Hopefully we can turn up a couple.

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[lukerville]

following

 

[roosiebull]

Just had fish and game check it. The bear bio gave me a preliminary age of 20+ years! Pretty crazy. Biologist had 3 people come and check it out to try and figure out what to do. They teeth they needed to pull were completely worn down and had gummed over completely. They promised to give me a phone call to let me know the age whenever they find out down the road. But they all said it was the coolest bear they've had all year because of the age. Pretty sweet! It makes this story all the better!

that's pretty crazy! I know of a sow killed a few years ago that was aged at 28yrs old, and a couple more over 20yrs, I had no idea they could live that long. I think (of the top of my head) that 13yrs is the oldest boar I have heard age on. my oldest boar was 11 and he was the smallest bear I have killed. bear are interesting critters for sure

 

[roosiebull]

But mature boars have no caution when they walk around, they own the place. Sows were cautious.

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very accurate assessment, you are spot on from my experience, big boars walk around with a lot different attitude than a sow or young boar.

if a bear busts you at 100yds when you're being careful, and it's not by wind, it wasn't big you can get away with a lot when sneaking on a big bear, small bear are always on edge and will bail if anything doesn't feel right.

I remember stalking in on a big black faced boar a few years ago, was on him that morning but didn't want to kill him, but my sis in law got off work early to come try to kill that bear... we went in there and there was 2 boars feeding towards each other in a big skunk cabbage bottom. I didn't want her to shoot the smaller boar, he was still a good bear, but knew he was young and he had a light muzzle, I knew he would likely get big and be a really good bear in a couple years.

they ended up feeding close to each other and the big black faced boar chased him off, and they ran through our shooting lane, so now we would have to get close, because he was further up the swamp where it was thick brush.

we started working down there, my sis in law was pretty rattled, especially after watching what we had, and she couldn't be quiet to save her life, kept stepping on branches.

now I can see glimpses of him below us, we are probably 60ish yds, and he is ignoring the noise. we get almost into shooting position and she steps on a big branch, and we were kinda stuck in the open, now 45ish yds on a calm night.

he looks up at us, and I know we're busted, too loud to close. he looked up for a few seconds, then went back to pouncing on frogs without a care.... it was crazy. she ended up shooting that big bear right through the back straps at about 40yds with her 270...oops. he started showing back up regularly about 10 days later on my t cams in there.

that would have not worked with any mature animal besides a big boar, they just aren't nervous animals.... a sow or small boar would have been gone before we closed within 100yds.

my first bear (almost a 20" bear) i shot with my bow, and snuck in on him and shot him at 31yds, i was stalking through 30yr old hemlock, which is just a mess of loud crunchy branches, and it was bone dry Sept weather. i was being as quiet as i could, but i had to move fast to get ahead of him.... he never even glanced up.

you are spot on with big boars, they walk around fearlessly, and you can see that from a distance if you know what you're looking for. big tom lions are similar with a fearless swagger.

 

[Ntuttle15]

that's pretty crazy! I know of a sow killed a few years ago that was aged at 28yrs old, and a couple more over 20yrs, I had no idea they could live that long. I think (of the top of my head) that 13yrs is the oldest boar I have heard age on. my oldest boar was 11 and he was the smallest bear I have killed. bear are interesting critters for sure

Yeah the guys that came and checked it out were amazed by the teeth on this thing. I'm super excited to get an official age. She tested great, that's the craziest part. I will have a completely video of the hunt finished sometime next week!

 

[roosiebull]

look forward to it!

 

[Ntuttle15]

Here you all go! Enjoy!

 

[Mikewdn10]

Nicely done! Congratulations! Definitely a good year for bears!

 

[Cb750]

Awesome bear!

I am new to bear hunting. Went last fall for 4 days and saw 0 bear. I am always amazed at how people can be so confident judging bears. I have trouble figuring out sex of the bear. I have no business judging size.

The pics in this post were a good challenge for me.