Question on bear and cubs

[snow]

Really, no such thing as a stupid question? So here it goes:

Suppose you are hunting for bears, you find one who appears to be on its own, you observe it for a while and there are no cubs around, you make the assumption it's a male bear and you take it down. Meanwhile, the cubs climbing in the tree that you have not seen previously appear on the scene. What are you supposed to do? If the cubs are too small, with little/no chance to survive, and you are relatively close to your car, would you actually try to transport them somewhere in an attempt to save them? Or you just leave them there, and report your mistake?

[snareman1234]

Leave and report. Hands down.

[TheProvider]

Its up to the shooter to determine if its a boar, sow or sow with cubs. Mistakes will always happen for various reasons.

Contact a CO. Dont try to transport them. They will stay close to the dead sow for quite awhile. Enough time for a CO to arrive. Would be an illegal harvest if you took the sow. Call it in and report the mistake and save the cubs.

[monasheemountainman]

^ what they said

[HarryToolips]

Its up to the shooter to determine if its a boar, sow or sow with cubs. Mistakes will always happen for various reasons.

Contact a CO. Dont try to transport them. They will stay close to the dead sow for quite awhile. Enough time for a CO to arrive. Would be an illegal harvest if you took the sow. Call it in and report the mistake and save the cubs.
A good question and a good answer...

[coach]

Definitely NOT a stupid question. Snareman and TheProvider has given you the correct answer. By asking the question you've brought up one of the most important fundamentals of bear hunting - make sure you take the time to completely assess any bear before choosing to pull the trigger. Accidents like the hypothetical you described really suck - but happen every year.

[ru rancher]

they wont save the cubs they just shoot them when they get on sight but yes deffinatly report it and leave the sow there even if you didnt see the cubs its still classed as an illegal harvest and you dont get to keep the bear in some cases they do let you keep the meat though

[russm86]

I just recently started bear hunting, myself, a couple years back now. I am not yet knowledgeable enough in any way to be able to positively ID sex just by looking at the bear, unless close enough to see it's junk ;), lol. There are 2 basic things I do to try to prevent this scenario. 1) Is to actually avoid shooting at any bears in or around any areas with much growth, ground cover, or large covered trees and instead will wait till I find something more out in the open like a cut block or field where there's less places for the little ones to hide. 2) I take as much time as possible to, not only make sure there isn't any of the little ones visible or popping out from a hidden spot around anywhere, but also to watch the bears actions/reactions as they may sometimes give other indications they aren't alone. If you can sit and watch a bear feed it's way across an entire nice open fresh cut block without any followers or any signs of it looking around constantly as if trying to keep track of someone, other than you, then you are most likely looking at a boar or dry sow. Other than walking up to one into an arm's reach and checking for it's junk I don't know of any 100% fool proof way but again I'm no master at it, yet anyways...

[Stone Sheep Steve]

This is one of the reasons that I try to hold out for a bigger bear. Younger/smaller bears are moe difficult to sex...at least for me.

We witnessed a case like this last year. Cubs stayed with the dead sow for at least a couple of days.
They didn't self-report but, eventually, they came forth as there were witnesses with enough details.

Mistakes can happen to anyone but always take the high road and self report immediately....if you like hunting and sleeping well at night.

SSS

[ru rancher]

i agree with holding out for the real big bears because then they are alot easyer to sex look for the big blocky head is what i do sows dont ever seam to get the big wide square heads that the boars do

[Ron.C]

great question.

Pg 15 of the regs:


What should you do if you harvest an animal in error?Mistakes happen. Either through poor judgement, inexperience or at times through a series of unavoidable circumstances, each year animals are mistakenly killed. Many are self reported but many more are left in the bush to rot. The Conservation Officer Service wants to encourage those who make such a mistake to come forward. In circumstances here such animals are recovered by the COS the meat will be distributed and utilized
by those in need.Hunters who self report such kills will be
viewed in a different light than those who intentionally kill an illegal animal or fail to report the matter. The Conservation Officer Service believes that the true test of a hunter is not whether or not a mistake is made, but how he/she deals with that mistake. All self reported unlawful kills will be investigated and the appropriate action will be assessed by the officer.
What should you do?
Immediately cancel your species licence and mark in ink on the species licence page that our intention is to self report.
● If you have telephone service, call the
RAPP number and seek direction from a
Conservation Officer.
● If you are within close proximity of a
phone but it will require some traveling,
field dress that animal to prevent spoilage,
leave the carcass at the scene and go
to a location where a call to the RAPP
number can be made.
● If you are in a remote location and
telephone contact is not possible, field
dress that animal to prevent spoilage,
care for the carcass until
you enter a location where
a phone call to the RAPP
number can be made.
RAPP 1- 877-952-7277

[coach]

We watched this bear for quite some time before her cub popped out of the long grass:

http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy154/coach108/IMG_0230.jpg

http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy154/coach108/IMG_0233.jpg

http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy154/coach108/IMG_0237.jpg

[ru rancher]

^^ looks like a great bear spot all those dandie lions popping up! but ya deffinatly a sow or small boar can be determined real fast with that bear

[TheProvider]

Good pics Coach.

You can see in the second pic. Sows eyes seem small and close together compared to a boar. Narrow muzzle, they also tend to look more curvier than boars.

My opinion a lot of people mistake old sows for boars. They see a monster bear and immediately thinks its shooter. Take your time. The more time you spend watching bears the more you'll learn. Even if theres no cubs present. Sex the bear before shooting. Great way to learn. Dont simply think no cubs its a shooter.. boom. Take the time to learn. There are plenty of old fat sows out there.

[russm86]

You sure that was a sow and cub? Not a breeding pair? From that last pic the one on the left actually looks like a bigger head (look at the size of the nose too) than the one the right which appears to be the same sow from the first two pics (based on nose coloring). Or maybe it's just the picture angle and an illusion, hard to tell without seeing the whol body... Or maybe I just shouldn't be bear hunting anymore...?

[ru rancher]

haha from the picture i asumed those where her two two year old cubs. so i didnt look at it at all but with that compairison it does look rather boar ish but still a small bear so wouldnt shoot anyway

[TheProvider]

My guess is yearling cub. Definately not a cub from that winter/spring.

[TheProvider]

Another good tool though to have is taking pics and vids of them then using them to learn afterwards

[coach]

Excuse the crappy video and my partner yelling.. :-D Here's when we first noticed the cub with the sow. We were very close to her - and TBH, she wasn't really all that small. Round head, ears to the side.. certainly not big, but a shooter sized bear for anyone just looking for meat.

http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy154/coach108/th_MVI_0234.jpg (http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy154/coach108/MVI_0234.mp4)

[ru rancher]

ya id say those are the people that really got to be careful is the meat hunters for bears! just because a trophie hunter ushually watches longer to make sure they are not wasteing a tag. when a meat hunter might just pull the trigger to soon. but good on you guys for makeing sure you waited long enough

[coach]

Pretty sure this one was a shooter - but my partner took a little too long making that determination. Because it wandered in and out of the thick foliage a couple times, it took us a while to make sure it was only one bear and not two. I think we'd have been happy to take it, but erred on the side of caution.

(Click to play video)

http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg633/coach1000/th_MVI_5954_zps2f89a5b6.jpg (http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg633/coach1000/MVI_5954_zps2f89a5b6.mp4)

[ru rancher]

thats quiet a small bear narrow between the ears and long legs id guess a 3 year old maybe 4

[coach]

I've only got pics of small ones, Rancher. Can you post up some brutes for us to compare with?

[coach]

http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy154/coach108/IMG_0225.jpg

[bigredchev]

im pretty sure you should transport the cubs in your newer SUV like duck dynasty, I mean it is reality television.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Here's a couple of video clips of two good bears. One of the key things I look for is thickness(side to side) in the front end.
http://s67.photobucket.com/user/StoneSheep/media/Cap0011.mp4.html?sort=3&o=16

http://s67.photobucket.com/user/StoneSheep/media/Cap0024.mp4.html?sort=3&o=23

http://s67.photobucket.com/user/StoneSheep/media/May520082.mp4.html?sort=3&o=4

[snow]

From my backyard. It was amazing seeing them move from one tree to another. They would quickly climb up, and once the tree was too thin to climb any further, they moved to another tree.
http://i1031.photobucket.com/albums/y373/snowbc/6372_124698766874_5056309_n_zps2732f01b.jpg (http://s1031.photobucket.com/user/snowbc/media/6372_124698766874_5056309_n_zps2732f01b.jpg.html)
http://i1031.photobucket.com/albums/y373/snowbc/6372_124700006874_1784887_n_zpse0044ed1.jpg (http://s1031.photobucket.com/user/snowbc/media/6372_124700006874_1784887_n_zpse0044ed1.jpg.html)