Free: Contests & Raffles.
Besides size and possible scarring on males, is there any way to tell male from female? My other question is about meat handling. Let's say the temperature is 80-90 degrees and I have a 1-2 hour drive to get home. I get a bear. Get it in coolers and on ice right away? Do you guys suggest putting meat bags inside plastic bags to keep the meat dry? Do I need to ice the hide as well? Right now I only have 2 of the cheap Coleman coolers for camping etc. How many for a bear? I was guessing 4. Thanks.[/quoteBring two coolers at least 120-150 qts in size. If you don't have any and are on a budget then check Craigslist for some used ones. BEST OF LUCK!
Quote from: Eric M on January 18, 2017, 01:18:31 PMBesides size and possible scarring on males, is there any way to tell male from female? My other question is about meat handling. Let's say the temperature is 80-90 degrees and I have a 1-2 hour drive to get home. I get a bear. Get it in coolers and on ice right away? Do you guys suggest putting meat bags inside plastic bags to keep the meat dry? Do I need to ice the hide as well? Right now I only have 2 of the cheap Coleman coolers for camping etc. How many for a bear? I was guessing 4. Thanks.[/quoteBring two coolers at least 120-150 qts in size. If you don't have any and are on a budget then check Craigslist for some used ones. BEST OF LUCK!Thanks! Found some!
Wdfw has a decent video on boar identification....it's small stuff like neck lenght, his size that separates them.I pack a pair of knives and a cammilus ceramic sharpener. You can flesh over a log, rock or your leg. Larry Bartlett of pristine ventures has a video series called "wilderness taxidermy" that will help you immensely.
Eric, looks like your having a lot of fun planning this hunt. I think the planning is just as exciting as the actual hunt. I really like the looks of the area closer to your home.
I put a week into this hunt so far. Thought I would pass along a few lessons learned if anyone's interested. #1 The frozen 1 gallon jugs worked great in my coolers! They are still partially frozen after 7 days. Since we don't drink a lot of milk, I bought gallons of water and froze them. I didn't drain some water out first to allow for expansion so they all split and leaked. #2 My first day I shot a couple of grouse. Grouse can become a huge distraction. #3 I took one of my wife's blackberry pies with me. If you eat 1/4 of a blackberry pie with coffee for lunch, be prepared for what's coming. Trust me on this, you can't get back to your rig fast enough for the required items. #4 My wife bought me a solar charger for my phone since I was using hers all the time. I should have brought hers also. Test and retest your gear! It wouldn't hold a large enough charge and I left the other one at home. I ended up going to the Midway Store near Lake Wenatchee and they let me charge my phone and the charger.(Thank you ladies). #5 If I try calling predators again it will be with an electronic call. I'm only good for about 20 minutes. I don't know how guys can call for 1/2 hour to an hour. Maybe more practice?After some driving, a lot of walking and trying a few sets calling, I decided to climb up out of the valley and look up high. I had only seen old bear scat down low, grouse, and a decent number of does and fawns. In 4 days the only bear I had seen was up high, but too far away for me to get to before it died of old age. I went up the mountain at night, with the plan being to be there to glass at first light. I was unprepared for it to snow and got too cold so my #6 is knowing your gear limitations. In frustration, and with chattering teeth I decided the best and safest thing for me to do was to go back down before I got hypothermic. So I got back to the trailhead at 3 or 4 in the morning and went home for a night to dry all my gear and have a beer. I decided to try a different area not known for bears but for its elk. A few bears get shot there every year and my thought was maybe the bears would be moving around eating the gut piles. Driving over 410 I narrowly avoided filling my roadkill tag. There was still quite a bit of smoke Thurs night-Fri morning. At first light I heard a lot of coyote activity. Between 7 and 9 I heard a few elk calls. I put quite a few miles on my boots. #7 Get some boots that don't squeak when walking downhill. I found one carcass from a harvested animal still pretty fresh. Lots of crows on it and some coyote sign but no bear sign. Glassed for a few hours up high and saw a couple of elk at a distance. Bumped a pretty decent buck on the way back down to my rig. I looked around down low where the acorns are (and some berries along the creek), but all I found was elk sign. I also drove the Bethel Ridge Road from 12 to Nile and was fooled a few times by black stumps.I have a lot to do this week but I'm hoping to get after it again the week after. I'll post a few pictures later.
