Watched this bear a couple hours, 2 consecutive evenings. Guesses why it's a no go?

[caddisguy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyYNRM51S90

[RiverOtter]

I had a hard time with the camera motion and lighting, but I thought I could make out a shoulder hump a few times in that vid.

[caddisguy]

I had a hard time with the camera motion and lighting, but I thought I could make out a shoulder hump a few times in that vid.

Lol ya sorry about the shakey vid. I was jacked up on caffeine and adrenaline... that's what it looks like when caddisguy sees bears at 15 yards solo and I'm twitchy to begin with. Would have needed a shooting stick for sure.

No grizz though, just a regular black bear hump (particularly visible when they have their head down munching grass) very good guess but black bear for sure though

[caddisguy]

It was a sow and there were two cubs that I was lucky enough to see. The cubs were about 15 yards into the timber and I only saw them for a couple half-seconds through binos when I was sitting further back watching her

[whitlers]

Good eyes! I commend you for taking your time.

[RiverOtter]

Good on ya Caddis. I actually spent half of the first round trying to pick up spots in the background, before looking for "another" reason you would pass. Second viewing I focused on cues to indicate size and/or species. Haha.

[caddisguy]

Good eyes! I commend you for taking your time.

Thanks! I thought I would post as it is educational. Rare to see a sow leave her cubs that far back so early in the Spring (early May) but it happens ... but seeing a bear feeding cautiously close to the treeline while there is way better grass out in the open 5-10 yards away says a lot. Behavior is the best indicator.

The morning after the second night watching her, I noticed a freshly broken sapling telling me a boar moved in. I found him (older boar) and shot him that morning. I think the sow and cubs were still ok. I could hear her right in the same spot clacking her jaws at me while I did up the boar. Kept yelling over to hear that I did her a solid as if she could understand English lol

From the story I posted in the Spring Bear thread a few weeks back... was just going through some video tonight:

http://i1318.photobucket.com/albums/t644/vaporeyes/P5140450_zpsa7cuodib.jpg

http://i1318.photobucket.com/albums/t644/vaporeyes/P5140431_zpslov8lhnn.jpg

[caddisguy]

Good on ya Caddis. I actually spent half of the first round trying to pick up spots in the background, before looking for "another" reason you would pass. Second viewing I focused on cues to indicate size and/or species. Haha.

TBH, I didn't see the cubs until the second night. The first night my gut was just telling me something was wrong.

[srupp]

Hmm good call..i look at the ass end of a bear first..big ass..wide assed" bears usually aare female. .this bear had no neck unless when her head was down feeding..another indication female..sometimes the Cubs are treed, or stashed..it does happen..good lesson.be patient..
Cheers
Steven

[caddisguy]

Hmm good call..i look at the ass end of a bear first..big ass..wide assed" bears usually aare female. .this bear had no neck unless when her head was down feeding..another indication female..sometimes the Cubs are treed, or stashed..it does happen..good lesson.be patient..
Cheers
Steven

At one point she was just staring at me all hunched up, grass hanging out of her mouth, no neck at all... looked just little a blob. Noteworthy tip. Thanks for that.

Second night as I was walking away to go back to camp, she bolted a few yards towards me then off in the timber. I was confused and 99% sure it wasn't about me at all. I think that was the boar moving in.

[S.W.A.T.]

Props for the patience and the class to wait it out. True outdoorsman and hunter. Education and experience is priceless and you proved it. Hopefully others take note, congrats on getting the other bear

[HarryToolips]

good eyes! I commend you for taking your time.
x2................

[Stillhunt]

I watched a sow for over an hour last year before her cubs appeared from a hole in the grass behind her. Good job making sure the sure the situation was proper. It wouldn't feel good knowing you killed 3 or 4 bears for impatience...

[Linksman313]

Excellent lesson in patience and being sure of what you are shooting. I was going to guess that she had the wrong species of ticks on her for you to harvest and continue the experiment lols. Question, what about a broken sapling would indicate a boar and not any other bear or large ungulate in the area, or do you just know the area that well?
Very educational Caddis
Thanks for posting

[caddisguy]

Excellent lesson in patience and being sure of what you are shooting. I was going to guess that she had the wrong species of ticks on her for you to harvest and continue the experiment lols. Question, what about a broken sapling would indicate a boar and not any other bear or large ungulate in the area, or do you just know the area that well?
Very educational Caddis
Thanks for posting

Lol @ the tick species! Haha that is gold.

The sapling... very cool moment. I actually smelled it before I saw it... very potent like a crate of car fresheners. I looked over and saw the poor sapling and it was oozing moisture and had a few black hairs on it.

Boars typically do this in the spring to announce their presence to potential mates and competitors. Sows will snap the top off of saplings and claw up trees as well, but that generally happens in the fall and I believe it is related to denning.

I know that in my area when the sapling start to get snapped in the spring, there is a boar who is saying it's his spot and there will be other boars saying no-no it's my spot... that's when I know my services as a mediator are about to be needed.

Seeing this sapling oozing fresh, all the discouragement about my weekend with the sow went away. I knew it was boar time it was game on. That said, I sat for two hours in a feeding area, then nothing (I guess he was waiting for me to leave) ... then I stop to take a picture of the sapling and hear him snap a stick. Walked back in and watched up for a good 40 mins laying prone with the shooting stick (making sure its a boar, then procrastinating about being solo and having to be back for mothers day dinner, doing the sow a favor and taking the boar home) ... couldn't shake the temptation.

Goes to show though... more times than not, I bust bears by smell or hearing. 60% smell first, 30% hear first and 10% see first (sow I smelled first then heard then saw the first night and heard first the second night) with the boar, I smelled the sapling first then heard him. Keeping the nose and ears open are huge.

[Xenomorph]

At one point she was just staring at me all hunched up, grass hanging out of her mouth, no neck at all... looked just little a blob. Noteworthy tip. Thanks for that.

Second night as I was walking away to go back to camp, she bolted a few yards towards me then off in the timber. I was confused and 99% sure it wasn't about me at all. I think that was the boar moving in.


Had a moment like that where something didn't feel right. The bear had me pegged and it didn't leave the treeline but a few feet and walk back and forth, back and forth. I was pretty far away to be a danger but once winded it seemed like odd behaviour, almost like making its mind if I was a danger or not, or if the cubs should be called in or not.

Never seen the cubs, but I was 100% sure they were right in the treeline. My gut was telling me so, and I trust my gut, it knows better.

[Deer_Slayer]

On a kill?