****OFFICIAL****2024 SPRING BEAR THREAD

Saw a couple smaller bears early this evening then nothing for a bit. A sow finally came out with a boar and after thinking about it for a few minutes I decided he was the one.

After I shot, the sow ran away from me to my left then pulled a 180° and decided to head right at me, full tilt. She ran no more than 3 feet from me. Let me tell you, they look a lot bigger coming full speed towards you when you're sitting on the ground! I've been pretty close to curious bears before, but never like that, it was pretty awesome!

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Nothing too exciting for me to report. Sat many times for that big black but he always seems to outsmart me. I think I sat close to 20 times this spring for him and about 14 last spring. Even early in the year he was very patternable but he seemed to know when I was in stand. A bunch of bears left my bait almost a week ago now and I’m stuck with these two and another smaller one. Hopefully my other bait without a cell cam has something good on it. About one more week and if nothing has changed it’s fishing time

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I went out hiking yesterday after work and came into a ton of bear sign. Multiple scat piles all over the two trials I hiked. I set up a game camera for the heck of it and am looking forward to going out next week to see some pics or better yet one in person thats a shooter.
 
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Drake4 said:
I had a few random teeth/ages pop up last year on my FWP page. Wish they had the 10 year gap filled in because I didn't think this was my oldest. I doubt it was aged by Matson's but they came back w/ 21 years old on my last boar. No clue if that's accurate.
You know the spot.


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Nearly certain we did age them, to my knowledge we age all the bear teeth for FWP. FWP has sent some of the deer teeth to a different lab I believe, so perhaps some bear do not come to us. FWP sends black bear teeth in regionally and some of the regions use those reference numbers for the tooth ID and some re-number them i.e. 1-100. I could not find any of these reference numbers so I am guessing the ID's we got were not those reference numbers if that makes sense.

Doesn't seem to be a pattern for hunters getting their ages uploaded to MyFWP as we often get calls for several years back. We are turning the data back to them within 2-5 months usually but they are not sending us the samples usually until months after the teeth are extracted and organized so there can be significant delay (10-12 months) from time of harvest until data is uploaded. Frustrating if you have bears between 2010 and 2021. I would call the regional bear biologist, they have all the data but my understanding talking with some of them they send it to someone else in IT and the IT person is the one who uploads the data. Or if you have the skulls you're always welcome to send or drop another tooth off here, but seems like you shouldn't have to pay for something that FWP has already paid for and received.
 
I am finally able to contribute a photo (rather than snarky comments) to a spring bear thread!!!

This was my first spring hunt in over 20 years. My brother, a friend, and I had lots of fun (including 2+ hours unsticking our truck from snow) and I got this bear on the second morning of a two day hunt. I used a predator call to bring him in for a 28 yard shot with my dad’s 300 WSM. As an aside, I called one in for my brother in almost the same spot about 30 years ago.

Because I know someone will ask — the blue tape is what Dad used to cover his muzzle (not sure why he didn’t use electrician tape) and the masking tape on the buttstock is what he wrote his drops on (drops I am pretty sure he never verified and that aren’t really legible now). I left both on after I inherited it.

Note to self — make sure my brother has a shovel in his truck on the next spring bear hunt. 😀

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Three more smaller bears this last weekend. I cannot seem to find a mature boar to save my life. I'm currently sitting at 18 bears for the spring, not including cubs. Only 1 bear that was clearly a boar over 4 years old. Taking a break this next weekend to get morels while they are still around before hitting the spring bear woods one last time before the end of season.
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BAKPAKR said:
I am finally able to contribute a photo (rather than snarky comments) to a spring bear thread!!!

This was my first spring hunt in over 20 years. My brother, a friend, and I had lots of fun (including 2+ hours unsticking our truck from snow) and I got this bear on the second morning of a two day hunt. I used a predator call to bring him in for a 28 yard shot with my dad’s 300 WSM. As an aside, I called one in for my brother in almost the same spot about 30 years ago.

Because I know someone will ask — the blue tape is what Dad used to cover his muzzle (not sure why he didn’t use electrician tape) and the masking tape on the buttstock is what he wrote his drops on (drops I am pretty sure he never verified and that aren’t really legible now). I left both on after I inherited it.

Note to self — make sure my brother has a shovel in his truck on the next spring bear hunt. 😀

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Click to expand...
Awesome!! Congrats
 
BAKPAKR said:
I am finally able to contribute a photo (rather than snarky comments) to a spring bear thread!!!

This was my first spring hunt in over 20 years. My brother, a friend, and I had lots of fun (including 2+ hours unsticking our truck from snow) and I got this bear on the second morning of a two day hunt. I used a predator call to bring him in for a 28 yard shot with my dad’s 300 WSM. As an aside, I called one in for my brother in almost the same spot about 30 years ago.

Because I know someone will ask — the blue tape is what Dad used to cover his muzzle (not sure why he didn’t use electrician tape) and the masking tape on the buttstock is what he wrote his drops on (drops I am pretty sure he never verified and that aren’t really legible now). I left both on after I inherited it.

Note to self — make sure my brother has a shovel in his truck on the next spring bear hunt. 😀

View attachment 328725
View attachment 328730
Click to expand...
Damn good lookin bruin partner congrats!
 
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