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Thread: Help with getting 1st big game animal

  1. #21
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    Aug 2020
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    Re: Help with getting 1st big game animal

    Quote Originally Posted by mike31154 View Post
    My stomping grounds, among others like region 3 & 4 bordering the North/East Okanagan. Extensive web of FSRs to explore all of which potentially hold bruins. I've personally spotted them up on the Aberdeen Plateau cruising King Ed FSR, closer to Oyama but that was years ago. That road gets busy on weekends. If you care to venture a little further, head past Cherryville on Hwy 6 up to the Monashee Pass area. I've spotted a couple young ones scampering across a cut-block above Keefer Lake. Again that was some years ago. Typically less pressure there than plateaus around Vernon. There will still be snow at that altitude, especially North facing slopes. Keefer FSR is ploughed year 'round so you'll make it up there no problem. Lots of spurs off that to explore. I had to change my plans for launching my newly built canoe last year 'cause I was stopped by snow. Had to launch in creek & paddle up to my favourite alpine lake. Photo 7 June 2022. Melting faster this year I reckon with this early heat wave.

    Thanks for the information, i might have a poke around there aswell, I'm always up for trying some new areas.

  2. #22
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    Re: Help with getting 1st big game animal

    Quote Originally Posted by mike31154 View Post
    My stomping grounds, among others like region 3 & 4 bordering the North/East Okanagan. Extensive web of FSRs to explore all of which potentially hold bruins. I've personally spotted them up on the Aberdeen Plateau cruising King Ed FSR, closer to Oyama but that was years ago. That road gets busy on weekends. If you care to venture a little further, head past Cherryville on Hwy 6 up to the Monashee Pass area. I've spotted a couple young ones scampering across a cut-block above Keefer Lake. Again that was some years ago. Typically less pressure there than plateaus around Vernon. There will still be snow at that altitude, especially North facing slopes. Keefer FSR is ploughed year 'round so you'll make it up there no problem. Lots of spurs off that to explore. I had to change my plans for launching my newly built canoe last year 'cause I was stopped by snow. Had to launch in creek & paddle up to my favourite alpine lake. Photo 7 June 2022. Melting faster this year I reckon with this early heat wave.

    Thanks for that information, I'll most likely check those areas out. You never know right.
    Last spring season i went upto Elkhart, looks like a nice area but we ran into quite a bit of snow

  3. #23
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    Oct 2015
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    Vernon
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    1,573

    Re: Help with getting 1st big game animal

    Quote Originally Posted by Lukebc86 View Post
    Thanks for that information, I'll most likely check those areas out. You never know right.
    Last spring season i went upto Elkhart, looks like a nice area but we ran into quite a bit of snow
    Vernon to turn off on Keefer Lake FSR is just under an hour. There is a resort at Keefer Lake, around Km13. I generally turn left just before the resort & explore from there. If you don't want to drive quite that far there's another major FSR on the right at a lower altitude, don't recall the name but it's quite obvious when you pass it.

  4. #24
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    Re: Help with getting 1st big game animal

    Quote Originally Posted by mike31154 View Post
    Vernon to turn off on Keefer Lake FSR is just under an hour. There is a resort at Keefer Lake, around Km13. I generally turn left just before the resort & explore from there. If you don't want to drive quite that far there's another major FSR on the right at a lower altitude, don't recall the name but it's quite obvious when you pass it.
    Yeah i had a quick look on google earth, doesn't seem that far to go. Be nice to explore some new country that i haven't been to yet.
    Thanks

  5. #25
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    Oct 2012
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    Re: Help with getting 1st big game animal

    Hey OP I'll send ya a PM.....

    Oh and, when your heart is racing a 100 miles an hour when ya see one, take a deep breath, watch it for a bit and confirm there's no cubs: not only is shooting one with cubs illegal, it would be a terrible feeling... I've passed on quite a few bears because I couldn't confirm they didn't have cubs, or I waited long enough watching that the wind shifted or whatever and they took off - still better than shooting one with cubs.. the boars typically have wider craniums and bigger stovepipe front legs, the sows typically have wider back end in proportion to their body size.. but it can still be hard to judge sometimes... everybody feel free to add further tips to differentiate between the sexes..

  6. #26
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    Re: Help with getting 1st big game animal

    Quote Originally Posted by HarryToolips View Post
    Hey OP I'll send ya a PM.....

    Oh and, when your heart is racing a 100 miles an hour when ya see one, take a deep breath, watch it for a bit and confirm there's no cubs: not only is shooting one with cubs illegal, it would be a terrible feeling... I've passed on quite a few bears because I couldn't confirm they didn't have cubs, or I waited long enough watching that the wind shifted or whatever and they took off - still better than shooting one with cubs.. the boars typically have wider craniums and bigger stovepipe front legs, the sows typically have wider back end in proportion to their body size.. but it can still be hard to judge sometimes... everybody feel free to add further tips to differentiate between the sexes..
    Yeah good call on that. I found sows move differently too. With the larger rear and smaller front side while feeding, it often looks like watching a lopsided slinky at play. Mature boars often move with purpose and just walk in like they own the joint... crash crash snap crash snap, right out into the open, munch munch munch.

    Much as I don't like saying it, your gut will tell you quite a bit as well. I watched a bear feed for 2 consecutive evenings, probably 4-5 hours total. I was confident it was a sow... but is it alone? I eventually did catch some glimpses of a couple football sized black fur balls messing about, probably 15-20 yards deep into the brush. It was only a few glimpses here and there after 4-5 hours of staring. Would it have been legal if I had taken the sow? Given the wording "accompanied by", maybe? But would I have felt like trash and considered giving up hunting? Probably. Definitely take your time and there is something about listening to your gut much as I don't like indefinitive things like that.

    If I would define it, a bear that feeds in less optimal places it could be feeding, sticking closer to cover (20-30 yards) starts getting suspicious. Dang another 10-15 yards out is a way better bounty of feed? Like HT said, one can potentially pass up boars by being cautious... I probably pass on 80% for one reason or another (not the ideal shot, too hot out and too much uphill retrieval, etc) and it can be hard to tell... but 8 out of 8 bears I have harvested have all been boars, so there must be methods to my madness. I just wish I could articulate it better.

    Just tracked down the video of that sow... here it is. Shaky video, sorry for that. I'd been watching for a couple hours about 100 yards away through the binos, but it was getting dark, had to walk passed the momma there and figured I'd film. No zoom here. I'm about 10-15 yards from her and I know there are a couple cubs 15 yards or so back in the brush there and my hands were covered in mosquitos. Not many people are dumb enough to stop to film in such scenarios but I am



    It was actually the next day after I filmed that, boar snapped the sapling in the picture a few posts ago. Harvested that boar and it was a fine one. No doubt would have killed those cubs. Funny enough half way through processing said boar she was clacking her jaws at me maybe 40 yards away. I was just shouting stuff like "hey there calm down little lady, did ya a solid, happy mothers day". I think that's the only time "telling" a female being to "calm down" worked out well for anybody It's bad mojo in most cases, but jaw clacking is just "your too close, making me nervous", hollaring back anything just says "yeah i hear you. im doing my thing, dont care about you, get used to me eh, we'll keep this distance"
    Last edited by caddisguy; 05-15-2023 at 10:57 PM.

  7. #27
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    Apr 2009
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    Re: Help with getting 1st big game animal

    My advice to you is to get the bear if possible as early in the day if possible. And if not to have a base camp set up so that you can skin and process the bear in a timely manner. With temperatures being abnormally warm in BC, getting the game skinned and cooled will be a priority. Also here is a decent article on how to field dress a black bear after it has been harvested.

    https://www.drnordbergondeerhunting....ss_a_Bear.html

  8. #28
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    Aug 2020
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    Langley
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    Re: Help with getting 1st big game animal

    Thanks for the pm Harry, appreciate that.
    I've had a couple of encounters with deer, that your adrenaline just spikes and want to shoot as they we're bucks. But one i bumped and was running so didn't want to take that shot! And the other was in any whitetail buck season, but 4 point muley season in September. That one i watched for about 10 minutes as it stood facing me in some thick bush was a 2 point, but my gut was telling me it was a muley so not legal. Finally it bolted, put glass on it when it finally stopped.... was a whitetail! But i was happy with myself that i didn't pull the trigger.
    So i pretty much like to go with the gut feeling, even though you might not want to right.

    I would honestly hate myself if i shot a sow, then cubs popped out. Can imagine that would be a terrible feeling!

    I joined a live webinar couple of weeks ago, that hunters for B.C put on. Was a 2 hour slideshow and discussion on field judging the sexes on Black bears. Most likely watch some of that again tonight.
    Ive read numerous books, listened to countless hours of podcasts on the subject. Obviously I'm not going to be a bear field judging pro, but i feel it's give me a good idea of what to look for when trying to determine the sex of a bear.

    From all that info that I've digested, boars walk like they own the place, ears are smaller and appear more button like on the side of there heads. Can have a crease in there forehead and there chest hair seems to hang further down to the ground. Plus what you guys mentioned, and obviously more.

    As for sows, they seem to walk a little more cautious, looking around more and there ears appear on top of there head and also bigger.
    There butt seems to be more rounded, like they resemble a pear shape ��
    An interesting point i heard was sows can have a ruffled patch of hair on the top of there neck where the shoulders meet almost looks like feathers, they described it as if they have had a bad haircut! If that makes any sense.

    Pretty cool video there, and yeah i don't i would be recording in that situation haha!
    A couple of years ago i was driving down an FSR up by Williams lake and had a bear run out in front of the truck across the road and upto in the verge.
    I stopped to just get a look at it, turns out it was a sow with 2 cubs up in a tree behind her, she huffed a little bit at me which was interesting to see. But i left pretty quickly after that, i didn't want to piss her off anymore!

  9. #29
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    Re: Help with getting 1st big game animal

    Quote Originally Posted by britman101 View Post
    My advice to you is to get the bear if possible as early in the day if possible. And if not to have a base camp set up so that you can skin and process the bear in a timely manner. With temperatures being abnormally warm in BC, getting the game skinned and cooled will be a priority. Also here is a decent article on how to field dress a black bear after it has been harvested.

    https://www.drnordbergondeerhunting....ss_a_Bear.html
    Thanks for posting that article, I'll check that out later today.
    I've watched a few videos on how to field dress a bear, but more the info the better right.
    I have some coolers that I'm going to start pre cooling tomorrow, when I'm out there I'll have to remind myself of the current temperatures as to either take the shot ot wait

  10. #30
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    Aug 2020
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    Re: Help with getting 1st big game animal

    So little update, 1st area on the way to Vernon.
    Found some sign, but not enough to warrant me sticking around for to long.
    2nd area i found some very old scat, but nothing real fresh.

    3rd area this morning, found a nice series of medium ish size cutblocks. Road is de activated at top, with the road winding round the cut block.
    Road from top to bottom has plenty of clover and the cut block some nice patches of green.
    Found 7 fresh green scat piles about the size of dinner plates along the top of the road.
    Question is.... should i set up tonight just outside but in view of that cutblock and wait for yogi to pop out?
    This is the only real idea i can think of

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