Post by: HUNTNORTHWEST on August 15, 2013, 10:46:51 AM
Im headed on a high country bear hunt next week for three nights. Ive been bear hunting before up high.
My question to all of you, who have some bears under your belt is do you believe that bears that hang out above 5000ft
are smaller then the ones that rummage around much lower?
All the bears ive come across lately seem young and small, ive only seen one bigger maybe 300 or over bear up high.
Maybe theres no difference at all about elevation but I just have been curious.
Thanks.
Post by: X-Force on August 15, 2013, 11:16:31 AM
I havent seen any big difference in size when it comes to elevation. :twocents:
Post by: mountainman on August 15, 2013, 11:20:52 AM
Post by: boneaddict on August 15, 2013, 11:24:38 AM
On a sidenote, a grizz I have been "following" for years, stays fairly high, but he travels A LOT!
Post by: HUNTNORTHWEST on August 15, 2013, 11:59:48 AM
I had the same thoughts in my head about living on a mountain has to be harder, I guess we will see if I find a monster next week
been looking forward to this for a year.
Post by: boneaddict on August 15, 2013, 03:56:14 PM
Post by: RadSav on August 15, 2013, 04:17:44 PM
Those high mountain bear will start to put on weight extremely quick as the sugar rises in the berries. A lot of those 150# bear you see will be 225# by October. The wife took one 450# up around 5,000' and the biggest swamp bear near sea level we've taken was 548# on the Bumble Bee cannery scale. I believe I have seen one even bigger here in Washington at a 5,300' elevation in early October. So I guess you can say the big ones are where you find them. Not sure high/low makes much of a difference.
Post by: deerslyr on August 15, 2013, 04:27:10 PM
On a sidenote, a grizz I have been "following" for years, stays fairly high, but he travels A LOT!
Any pics by chance?? I know you must have pics :chuckle:
Post by: Austrian Hunter on August 15, 2013, 05:08:58 PM
You can always shoot a 150 pounder and just tell everyone you guestimate his weight around 300#. Why should you be different than everyone else :chuckle:
Those high mountain bear will start to put on weight extremely quick as the sugar rises in the berries. A lot of those 150# bear you see will be 225# by October. The wife took one 450# up around 5,000' and the biggest swamp bear near sea level we've taken was 548# on the Bumble Bee cannery scale. I believe I have seen one even bigger here in Washington at a 5,300' elevation in early October. So I guess you can say the big ones are where you find them. Not sure high/low makes much of a difference.
Holly mother of jesus, 548# Black Bear :yike:
Post by: boneaddict on August 15, 2013, 05:32:01 PM
On a sidenote, a grizz I have been "following" for years, stays fairly high, but he travels A LOT!
Any pics by chance?? I know you must have pics :chuckle:
I don't. I have always been one step behind him. Thankfully he feeds in the particular berry patch I put my September digs in about August 31-Sept 2. This last year I was about 24 hours behind him. He has done some serious excavating in the area. Pretty cool to see.
Post by: 3nails on August 15, 2013, 05:56:21 PM
Post by: RadSav on August 15, 2013, 06:17:39 PM
All of my biggest bears have been up high. I believe all the bears follow the food source and when the berries are ripest in the high country, there they all are.
One thing that I find both in the high country of Washington and the high country of Canada is that there are very few sows and cubs in the high country. Mom tends to keep the kids away from those nasty old grumpy men! We have a spot here in Washington at 5,000' we've taken 15 or 20 bear out of since '88. I shot one small one eared sow out of there around '95. And I thought it was a boar...Ooops! So much for being an expert :bash: That is the only sow I know of that has ever been seen in there by our party. Never ever seen a cub in there. But there are still plenty more breaking 300# in there during October.
Post by: 3nails on August 15, 2013, 06:47:00 PM
Post by: RadSav on August 15, 2013, 07:48:29 PM
Yeah once the boars move in, that's the end of it. I shot a nice boar out of a large south facing berry field around 5500' a few years ago that had 6 boars in it. None of them would ever get closer than 80-100 yds of each other. It was a pretty comical dance.
:chuckle: Yeah when the wife got her big one there were three small boars in the berries. She missed one of the smaller ones and all three ran into the timber. The moment the three entered the timber the big boy ran out into the berries. As if he was making sure all the little guys were gone. Stood up on a big perch and just scanned the area for trespassers! One trespassers left was a little squaw with a big gun :chuckle: He was a BIG target! No way she was missing that guy ;)
Post by: mountainman on August 15, 2013, 08:20:21 PM
:tup:Yeah once the boars move in, that's the end of it. I shot a nice boar out of a large south facing berry field around 5500' a few years ago that had 6 boars in it. None of them would ever get closer than 80-100 yds of each other. It was a pretty comical dance.
:chuckle: Yeah when the wife got her big one there were three small boars in the berries. She missed one of the smaller ones and all three ran into the timber. The moment the three entered the timber the big boy ran out into the berries. As if he was making sure all the little guys were gone. Stood up on a big perch and just scanned the area for trespassers! One trespassers left was a little squaw with a big gun :chuckle: He was a BIG target! No way she was missing that guy ;)
Post by: deerslyr on August 16, 2013, 10:16:09 AM
On a sidenote, a grizz I have been "following" for years, stays fairly high, but he travels A LOT!
Any pics by chance?? I know you must have pics :chuckle:
I don't. I have always been one step behind him. Thankfully he feeds in the particular berry patch I put my September digs in about August 31-Sept 2. This last year I was about 24 hours behind him. He has done some serious excavating in the area. Pretty cool to see.
That sounds really cool bone, hope you get some pics of him this sept!
Post by: 180-GRAIN on August 16, 2013, 10:20:04 AM
Post by: seth30 on August 16, 2013, 10:32:36 AM
Post by: Houndhunter on August 16, 2013, 05:13:29 PM
Post by: ghostshell on August 17, 2013, 07:54:27 AM