wouldya

[boneaddict]

Yep, they were little ones.  Mom was doing a good job for being such a young gal.  There will be some big ones showing up soon, so I am glad she is getting her belly full now. 

[KillBilly]

I still can't see the cub in the first picture.  Without a cub, I'd shoot, with a cub I'll pass.

looking at the build on her, and the face/head says sow to me. if i just saw that bear standing there without the cub i would be 90% sure it is a sow, by the way she looks standing there. as far as weight i can guess then pretty close, if i can see a side shot of them. the hardest andgle to judge weight is a frontal view for me and most hunters. bears are very heavy in the backend and that shows me the size of the bear as well. she looks pretty sleek in the brisket. but i would say your guess is not to far off of what i would think she would way.

Although I used the term picture, my initial thought process was the same as carpsniperg2. It looked like a sow and I would have definately waited to see if cubs appeared. In addition, knowing Doug, I assumed that there was a lesson attached to his question and there was only one correct answer. Thanks for the pictures and the lesson

Al

[Galpster]

WOW, Great lesson for us new bear hunters. I have to admit, I probably would have shot her. Not seeing cubs for 10 minutes, I bet most do not wait 10 minutes to take a shot. I have never waited 10 minutes but have never hunted bear before until last year.

I learned alot, thanks.

Great photos by the way.

[KillBilly]

My buddy Jesse just told me that he had walked a closed road the other evening and sat down for a long wait. But not so long after sitting, a bear appeared on the road and began acting strangely. It crossed the road several times and after this,  a cub came out of the brush. Whew...it's strange actions saved 2 lives that evening. It certainly wasn't obvious she had a cub but strange actions were a clue to their continued existence.

Enjoy your hunting experiences.

[DOUBLELUNG]

Knowing it is a small bear, and likely a sow, I'd have tried like heck to make sure there were no cubs.  IF I was "sure", though, I'd have shot her.  Would probably let her walk and risk losing her, to try and determine if she had cubs.  However, with the behavior, probably not shooting even after 10 minutes.  So far I'm 3/3 passing on sows with cubs, really want to go 4/4 rather than 3/4.

If I do kill a sow with cubs, I will feel bad, but at least know I genuinely tried to make sure she didn't have any.  I do have an advantage in having worked quite a bit around nuisance bears, so have a better idea than the average unsuccessful hunter wanting their first bear.  I have registed dozens of bears in WY, and received teeth from dozens of successful WA hunters, so I've had the opportunity to talk with several inadvertent cub orphaners.  I have never talked to a successful hunter who admitted they deliberately orphaned cubs; of the guys who killed sows with cubs, I'd say 90% felt really bad, a few are like "oh, well, stuff happens" (some of the latter I suspect knew the bear had cubs, but I am not sure).