The Gummer Bear

[Stone Sheep Steve]

My buddy Swampman called me up and wanted to throw together a last second out of region trip for bears. I didn't have much time to decide or get ready for the trip but in the end I knew I needed some time away....and we made it happen.
Neither of us had put any bears in the freezer in a few years so we were due.

We ended up going light with truck and quad trailer and used Swampman's MSR Lean to.


After rolling into camp just at dark on Friday eve we quickly set up and hit the fart sacs.


After some mourning scouting we finally found some good sign and spent our afternoon where the sign was the thickest.

COming around the corner we saw the ass end of a nicely colored bruin booking it for the safety of the timber. This bear took a bit of time to get up to speed so we knew it was a decent sized bruin. I was able to get him to stop about 50 yards back in the timber and was able to sneak a 168 gn TTSX from the new-to-me Tikka T3 Lite in .300 wizzum.

The bear didn't go far and the recovery was perfect with a 75 yard drag out to the meadow.

He's not a big bear by any stretch but I have yet to see teeth as badly worn as this poor fella had.
Almost every tooth was worn to the gumline and his molars were hollow almost right down to the jawbone....and not an ounce of fat on him.

https://i.imgur.com/nMaewvh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/LhtQkag.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/tiKLekk.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/PePFqP7.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/N2yhJEe.jpg

[Wild one]

Like you said not huge but wonder the age with those teeth

But honestly does not look super old either

[Stone Sheep Steve]

The afternoon was decently cool so we decided to continue hunting in the area and a couple hours later Swampman also had a pepperoni bruin on the ground.

Now, just before we left Swampman said that he should really pick up a second tag. I told him not to bother as it always seemed to be a curse.

Well, as you can guess, on the way back to camp we ran into a solid bear in a beautiful setting. After kicking ourselves in the ass, Swampman figured that we should throw a stalk on the bear for shits'n'giggles and to get some good footage. We had our bows with us but opted for the rifles to take our bears.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_I9R0sxqjk


Was a great trip regardless!!

SSS

[PressurePoint]

That’s a great management bear. Good lookin too!

[ncurrie]

Great job guys!!

[HarryToolips]

Way to get it done, and great story thanks for sharing!

[wrenchhead]

Looks like he skipped a dentist visit

[Steeleco]

Well done x2 sadly the video is dead too LOL

[boxhitch]

Vid works now
Good bears , good times, attago
Bear in vid seemed to have lots of food around, wonder what he was traveling and selecting for

[caddisguy]

Wow I too wonder the age of gummy.

Great story and excellent video too! What kind of camera were you using?

Thanks for posting that up

[bighornbob]

I wonder if the big brown is not the same bear that you used that predator call about 10 years ago. I have never seen a bear run the opposite way that fast before:):)

Looks like the same area.

BHB

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Vid works now
Good bears , good times, attago
Bear in vid seemed to have lots of food around, wonder what he was traveling and selecting for


No kiddin. He changed directions so many times it wasn't funny.


I wonder if the big brown is not the same bear that you used that predator call about 10 years ago. I have never seen a bear run the opposite way that fast before:):)

Looks like the same area.

BHB

you have a better memory than I do, Bob.


Wow I too wonder the age of gummy.

Great story and excellent video too! What kind of camera were you using?

Thanks for posting that up

It's a Sony Cybershot HX-DSC 200v.

https://m.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-cyber-shot-dsc-hx200v

Good all round camera. Great steady-shot.

Two downfalls...camera screen doesn't flip around for self filming .....and as you can hear the zoom motor is loud.

SSS

[huntcoop]

Nice bear, video not working though.

[ROY-alty33]

That a beaut!!!
Did that guy a favour....it was gonna be a long summer for him for sure!

[calvin L]

The boss at the house loves to boil out animal skulls , So Darcee and I picked it up from SSS . She cooked it up last night , to our shock and horror We found the tooth decay has gone completely through the lower jaw bone and the upper left rear molar also has rotted the some of the skull away . I will get SSS to post up for picks when finished . I have never seen any tooth or teeth worn / rotten to this point .

[Stone Sheep Steve]

The boss at the house loves to boil out animal skulls , So Darcee and I picked it up from SSS . She cooked it up last night , to our shock and horror We found the tooth decay has gone completely through the lower jaw bone and the upper left rear molar also has rotted the some of the skull away . I will get SSS to post up for picks when finished . I have never seen any tooth or teeth worn / rotten to this point .


Thanks Brother Calvin and Sister Darcee! Much appreciated!

Looking forward to the final results.

Hopefully I can salvage a tooth to send in for aging. Definitely curious.

SSS

[Timbow]

Wow, That’s cool to see. It would be interesting to know what was in his diet. If this guy was shot east of the Rockies, I would have said too many donuts.

Looks like time well spent, thanks for sharing.

[elch jager]

Must have been a real cranky troublemaker with a painful mouth full of rot like that.

[bighornbob]

The boss at the house loves to boil out animal skulls , So Darcee and I picked it up from SSS . She cooked it up last night , to our shock and horror We found the tooth decay has gone completely through the lower jaw bone and the upper left rear molar also has rotted the some of the skull away . I will get SSS to post up for picks when finished . I have never seen any tooth or teeth worn / rotten to this point .


You should hit the skull with a sledge hammer and give it back to SSS for payback:):):)

BHB

[calvin L]

BHB that would not be nice ! I have a new blade on the saws all . Cleaner that way .

[walks with deer]

i would bring that to your local biologist at the very least have a coffee with him and show him.

[Dash]

Wow.. you definitely did him a favor. He must have been an incredibly grumpy bear..

[MichelD]

I was on a hunt one time and a guy shot a bear so old the canines were worn down to nubs.

The hip sockets were worn out and wobbly like on an old truck too.

[huntcoop]

Am I the only one that the video is not working for....?

[Steve W]

I've seen bear that have spent a lot of time in a landfill have really bad teeth similar to that at a relatively young age. The diet and what they will chew through takes it's toll. Not sure if that's the case here, but that's an ugly set of teeth!

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Am I the only one that the video is not working for....?

Are your on your phone or computer?
Lots of videos don't work on my computer lately but work fine on my phone

[huntcoop]

Are your on your phone or computer?
Lots of videos don't work on my computer lately but work fine on my phone

I was on my PC at the office and it didn't work but just tried on my iPhone and it worked, weird.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

I've seen bear that have spent a lot of time in a landfill have really bad teeth similar to that at a relatively young age. The diet and what they will chew through takes it's toll. Not sure if that's the case here, but that's an ugly set of teeth!

Interesting info, Steve. Hadn't thought of that.

Got on Google Earth and he was about 15 kms from the nearest dump. Not that far of a stroll. I suspect that dump has a hot-wired perimeter fence it but I know bears dig under them.

SSS

[guest]

Way to Go SSS. Thanks for sharing.

yet again another nice BooBoo down.

Some me fine eats there, while helping with the Pred problem.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Took me a bit but wrapped up the bitchering on Sunday. Nice to have a friend nearby with a proper meat locker!

Haven't butchered a bear for a few years and every time I do it I'm reminded of two things....one-bears are big-boned and the yield of pure meat per pound of animal seems a lot lower than ungulates.....and, two-bears sure have muscular front ends on them, You'd be hard pressed to do anything with the front end other than grind it or slow cook a roast. The connective tissue on the outside of the meat is amazingly tough.

Just saved the hinds for hams and ground the rest into 10 lb packs for now. Will decided the grounds final destination once bear season wraps up.

Slippers anyone??

https://i.imgur.com/CfGlZlA.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/OfYT3UR.jpg

SSS

[HarryToolips]

^^^^^^i definitely agree with your two points....congrats again, you sure know how/where to hammer bears....

[boxhitch]

Any lard to donate to CL ?

stalking slippers

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Any lard to donate to CL ?

stalking slippers

Not an ounce of fat on the old bugger.

Hmmmm....bearfoot moccasins??

[Stone Sheep Steve]

So after going thru a separation back when I killed this bear and lots of renos last year right up until now, the meat sat in the bottom of my 65 year old deep freeze.

Recently a friend (a former butcher) offered to do up some hams and salami for me although the was skeptical about the meat quality as bear (like pork) usually doesn’t age well in the deep freeze.

I’m soooo glad that I went ahead and finally made use of the meat as the salami that he made up is downright awesome! Took it to work and let many people try it and it was a total hit!
Still have yet to try the hams but I’m sure they’ll be great.

Don’t be in rush to turn older meat into dog food or yote bait as you might be pleasantly surprised.

SSS