Five Bears

[bc7mm]

Just picked up a bear skull from its appointment with the dermestid beetles. A sausage bear we’d harvested this spring, having the skull cleaned happened more by coincidence than because I thought it was larger than average. In fact we never even green scored it as the bear was well under 6 feet. I’d largely forgotten about it in the freezer and if not for an unrelated trip to drop off supplies at the beetle cleaner I’d likely never have bothered with it. When i got it back, I pulled it out of the bag And was surprised at the size. No it’s not some massive record book animal, however, for an average sausage bear it seemed rather large. When I put a tape to it I got just over 12” by 6 3/4, not at all what I expected. I delivered the skull to its rightful owner who was equally surprised. Now with renewed interest, and a larger caliber it was checked again. 18 15/16, after months of drying. Turns out it’s his largest scoring bear.

I shot my first bear in 1992, and since that time have taken 15. We rarely miss a spring bear hunt, have taken over 30 bears and still we mis-judge them. My 2021 bear was another good example of my inability to judge their size. That meat bear, that I almost passed on, was also 18 15/16 after its trip to the beetles. The difference here was once on the ground it was very obvious this was a big mature bear. The classic wide forehead, smallish ears and a tough pull out of the alders. He was heavy and difficult to load, unlike the bear from this spring.

We have harvested three bears now that scored 18 15/16 ( we call these our glass ceiling bears as this is as big as we ever get’ ‘em ) The first was 6’5” nose to tail, the second 6’2”, and the “little” one from this spring 5’10”

With the snow barely on the ground and this years moose cut and tucked away we are already talking strategy for next years glass ceiling sausage bear hunt. Have a great winter folks.

[bc7mm]

Why 5 bears as a title, well we’ve taken 5 that were within 1/4 inch of 19”. But I type so slow the story ended at 3 ��

[srthomas75]

I'm assuming that it's [ length plus width ] for bear skull measuring? I'm not a bear hunter guy. But I did go on my first bear trip this spring when I joined up with a dad/kid trip.

[bc7mm]

Length plus width.

[Ghillie]

Wow 30 bears! I've been trying to get out for my first spring bear, but I always seem to have some ungulate meat of some type still in the spring so the drive isn't there.

That brings me to a question. This year, meat still in the freezer or not I'll be making an effort to get out in the spring, but I don't have the nearest clue what to do with all that meat!

Now you throw around the word sausage bear, could you maybe post your recipe to follow so a new bear hunter could enjoy the most out of bear meat?

[moosinaround]

Spring bear has turned into one of my favorite hunts of the year! We tend to travel up into the mountains the long weekend of May, set up the wall tent, and enjoy the fresh spring air, and the smells of the winter disappearing, and the summer approaching! Shake off the winter cob webs, and just enjoy beautiful weather. Low hunting pressure, and bountiful game numbers, lets folks be selective if they want to. We are usually low on sausage by spring, and have a need to restock the cheese smokies, pepperonies, and farmers sausage. I will be taking a week off of work again this year to head out into the mountains to find a worthy bear, one that will make a batch of each sausage I mentioned earlier. I may even try to pop my 9.3x62's cherry this year on a bear! Moosin

[Gateholio]

Who is doing the beetles?

I'm sort of over boiling skulls.

[Huntingtyler123]

Spring bear is the best time! Most favourite time of the year ! Biggest bear I shot was with Srupp , great trip. I have never learnt so much about bears and their behaviour then with actual boots on the ground learning from the master. The bear skull was 20 1/16

[ACE]

I'm sort of over boiling skulls.

Do not boil the skull. Remove bottom jaw and place teeth down in the pot, skull goes teeth down also. Bring water temp to below boil for a few minutes, turn off the heat, cover and let cool. Remove remaining tissue. Canines tend to break with teeth pointing upwards in the pot.

You being a chef . . . . perhaps you'll use the soup base that remains?

[Rotorwash]

I did mine up and it's soaking in acetone. Not a giant bear but has 9" wide front paws and skull is just 2 hairs under 20". Can't wait to try his hams