sleds spring bear thread

[sled]

  So The Story.  Not Alot To Tell.  I Sat In The Timber For A Couple Hours Where I Have Been Seeing Peels.  Not Seeing Any New Ones I Decided To Go To My Other Method.  I Started Walking Slowly, And Quietly On The Trails, And Roads.  About Three Quarters Of A Mile I started Up A Winding Hill.  As I Got To The Crest I Stopped For A Break, And To Listen.  I Heard Rustling And I Could See The Salmon Berry Bushes On The Side Of The Road Waiving Around.  I Figured It Was A Damn Deer Because TheRe Was No Way It Would Be An Actual Bear.  After I Stood Ready In the Road For About 10 Minutes I Could Tell It Was Moving Away From Me.  Every Time I Saw The Bushes Move I Would Take A Couple Steps Until I Closed The Distance To About 30Yards.  About 5 Min Later He Stuck His Head Out And Looked Right At Me.  I Took Him At The Base Of The Head And He Dropped Where He Stood.  I Approached Him And Kicked Rocks At Him.  He Blinked His Eyes!.  I finished Him With 2 Rds Of 10Mm.  Probably A Little Much, But I Didn't Want To Take A Chance.  Best Part Was I Drove Right To Him And Loaded Him Up.
  My Method Was To find Sign And Hunt Hunt.  I Really Liked Walking Then Stop To Listen, Then A Little More The Stop.  You Can Hear The Deer, And Bears In. The Area Before You See Them.
  He Was Definitely A Tree Peeler.  The Biologist Said The Sugars From The Trees Will Make Their Teeth Look Like Mines Did.
  Thanks To Everyone That Encouraged Me To Keep Hunting, And Everyone Who Helped, And Offered To Help Me Out.  It's Hard To Find People Willing To Help Someone They Don't Really know.

[johnnyaustin44]

Congratulations.  :tup:nice bear. And way to stay after it and put forth a solid effort.

[Shane54]

Awesome job! I've been reading this thread everyday! And got excited when I saw "bear down"

[Wea300mag]

Nice work Sled, congrats!!!

[crschralping]

Nice job man that's a great looking bear!

[Okanagan]

Congratulations!  That is a DANDY bear, a big one with an excellent coat on him.  Curiosity drew me into this thread a week or so ago and have been checking daily and pulling for you to connect.

The way you walked up on the bear, heard him, saw the bushes move and kept easing up makes for one of the most adrenaline drenched stalks you could possibly have.   

[h20hunter]

Love it. Redemption.

[D-Rock425]

I'm super stoked you got one sled.  You have had a tough go with bears.

[jason stevens]

Congradulations sled that is a beautiful bear and you earned it.

[Okanagan]

The feet could be the start of mange. I got these pictures last year, looks similar.

Congrats on a fantastic bear!

Good pics.  It could be some kind of mange and I'd be curious to hear a bear biologist comment. 

I suspect that is just a badly rubbed bear.  I took the pics below of a similar spring bear that a bear guide friend said was rubbed.  Some of them start rubbing winter hair off on their shoulders but I've seen a few with the old coat of hair gone from the back half of the body.  One black bear my family watched for awhile had a ruff or mane of big matted hair all around his neck like an African lion and a bunch of people in a nearby campground were excited about the "grizzly".  Nope, just a blondish brown black bear at the worst stage of shedding.  Watched the bear below wade and swim a few strokes across a river so he is wet.

[kevinlisa06]

Congratulations to ya Sled that's a great bear!


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[arees]

Congratulations Sled, way to get it done.

The Monroe bear I shot a couple of years ago had also rubbed the tops of his rear feet bald. I wonder if it id a Monroe thing.

Now I just need to find the time to get my bear.  You make me antsy to stop all this working and go hunting.

[stromdiddily]

Awesome job! I've been reading this thread everyday! And got excited when I saw "bear down"

 

Nice work

[stew pidasso]

Nice work

[Turner89]

Congrats i haven't been on for a couple days. Gad to see you nailed one . Looks like big one too. Awesome job Sled, you defiantly put in the time, and got your $$ worth.
 Moro will do a good job. Thats where i take my animals.