Be sure of your target!!

[BromBones]

Just today on my way home from town, I noticed two bear cubs on the side of the road. I stopped the truck and watched for a few minutes, as there was no sow anywhere to be seen. The two cubs were tugging at the grass clumps on the shoulder. Both were barely 10'' high, couple o' little spuds.

I watched for a while longer as it's pretty odd to see a sow leave her cubs on the side of the road like that. Eventually I hopped out and had a quick look around - definitely no sow around, and I hadn't seen any marks to suggest she had been hit by a vehicle, so I started to get the feeling someone had whacked the sow and left the two little ones. Happens that there is an old logging road/trail just up from where the cubs were, so I drove up and had a look. Didn't have to go far to find where a bear had been shot and gutted out, drug to the old road, and probably thrown in a pickup, all within 300 meters of where I had watched the cubs.

Called and left a message for the CO's to have a look. Doubtful anything will come of it, but it serves as a good reminder to be damn sure of your target! Whether the guy who shot it didn't see the cubs or just didn't give a rats arse I can't say, and I'd like to think it was just a mistake and not done with bad intentions, as a couple runty cubs like that could have been hard to notice. Still kinda pisses me off to see a couple orphaned cubs like that. Small town so there's a good chance I'll hear about someone getting a bear near my house when I go to work tomorrow. Would be nice as I wouldn't mind having a quick chat with the person:wink:

Also, before anyone chimes in and says that I can't be sure this is what happened, you'd be correct. It's just my opinion based on what I saw, but I'd still take it to the bank.

[Lillypuff]

Sad to here about that, never have seen 2 cubs by themselves, no chance at surviving, hope it wasn't intentional. If they have any morels they will feel bad enough about and have some trouble sleeping, I would leave it up to the warden and not confront them as mistakes happen. Just my 2 cents as I would be thinking about that mistake for a long time. I would be pretty defensive if some guy I didn't know confronted me on it, and feel bad enough.

[Jelvis]

They won't suffer long without mom around, a coyote or cougar will eat them soon maybe the first night or two.
Jel -- no milk, even another bear will kill them soon

[Shooter]

3 times in the last week I have had my son on bears. We watched them all and they were alone. Until a few minutes later when we saw the cubs :shock:.... You really need to watch close sometimes those little cubs disappear very easily behind a stump, log, hill clump of grass, lol. Its a shame that those cubs you saw were abandoned, hopefully they survive, but if they were only 10' high then doubtful.

[Mik]

Well, if it only took you.... Say 15 minutes to deduct that, thenya I would say someone messed up! But then again, you can't win them all! In the end something will come out and all will be known.

[elkdom]

They won't suffer long without mom around, a coyote or cougar will eat them soon maybe the first night or two.
Jel -- no milk, even another bear will kill them soon

or possibly another BEAR will eat them!, be it Black Bear or a Grizzly,,,in the "real world" not likly the 2 cubs will be adopted by another bear like stories on Disney Channel,,,:?

one spring years ago I came upon a large sow black bear, that had been killed most likely by a logging truck, her mangled carcass near the ditch of a forestry road, 2 cubs(yearlings) hanging around the dead sow, a couple of days later her 2 cubs were eating her carcass, they remained there for about 2 weeks feeding on her remains and trying to chase the Ravens and Yoties away , eventually they disappeared in a few weeks, I reported the 2 orphaned cubs to the MOE, but I never received a call to confirm they had been placed in a wildlife re-hab shelter or destroyed,,,

[Jelvis]

They don't put orphaned cubs in shelters anymore, I tink$ too too expensive
Jordon Tootoo
jElvi$ .. no more orphaned black bears in shelters

[elkdom]

They don't put orphaned cubs in shelters anymore, I tink$ too too expensive
Jordon Tootoo
jElvi$ .. no more orphaned black bears in shelters

actually there was privatly operated re-hab wildlife shelter here for many years and with MOE encouragement fostered all types of wildlife, orphaned and injured, I havent heard this year if this woman is still doing her good work ?, I sure hope so,,,

many times I have donated outdated freezer meat, ,many hundreds of pounds domestic and wild game to her cause,,,

[Jelvis]

Well it's a long story around the Spring time, many people bring baby animals in to the town thinking the mother abandoned them when really the mother left them there while she was eating ..
Jel .. overly concerned people with no knowledge about animal bahaviour makes for a lot of broken animal families .. leave baby animals in the forests.

[elkdom]

Well it's a long story around the Spring time, many people bring baby animals in to the town thinking the mother abandoned them when really the mother left them there while she was eating ..
Jel .. overly concerned people with no knowledge about animal bahaviour makes for a lot of broken animal families .. leave baby animals in the forests.

X2!, so often "ignorance" overwhelms people! and the "DISNEY GENE" comes alive,,:?

and some wild critter is DOOMED!:icon_frow, killed by kindness,,,

[Marc]

It's sad but sometimes it happens, it can happen so easy without even knowing it's happened.

I can recall a time where I had a bear leaning up against a big stump an it wasn't moving. I made my way about 50 yards into the clearing, loaded up the rifle and was using a stump to get a solid rest as the bear was about 150 yards further in a clear cut. I had another hunter glassing with me, and my buddy with the video camera. I said are you sure it's a bear it's not moving, they said yes it's a big bear.

About 10 minutes had passed and now being satisfied it was a bear I lined the bear up in the scope and took the safety off. Taking my time adjusting my breathing, I'm looking through the scope when a little black thing pops up on top of the stump, then another. My buddies holler out "Don't shoot! It's a sow with cubs!"

I felt so relieved that I hadn't fired and felt pretty bad for almost orphaning two little cubs even though I never took the shot.

I have it all on Video, I'll try and upload it when I get the chance. Man where they small cubs as well.

In this case the cubs were seen and if I had shot the bear chances are the cubs would have been around to see.

Depending on how thick the woods was and when the sow was shot the cubs ran to hide, the hunter may have never known that there were any cubs around. Again this goes back to watch the animal and make certain that there is no sign of cubs or the bear looking back to see where possible cubs are.

Learn to tell the difference between a sow and a boar by the shape of their muzzle and head. It's not fool proof but we all need to make a valid effort to try and prevent this sort of thing from happening. Lord knows we have no shortage of bears around but it's sad to see an animal suffer because of a careless mistake on our part.

[todbartell]

watched a bear the other night, 10-15 minutes later I spot 2 cubs about 15 yards to her right. :-|

[Shooter]

Just tonight we spotted a bear in the middle of the road on a lower switchback. It was feeding away on the grass and appeared to be completely out in the open. Me and the boy got ready to make the stalk in closer for a shot when up popped 2 cubs as well. Didn't really think there was anywhere for them to be hiding but there was.... Its a tough fact of bear hunting and hopefully we all take the steps to ensure we don't orphan cubs. Unfortunately mistakes do and will happen.

Last year I was out in the early spring season with 5-spike and we were trying to find a bear for him. We spotted one on opening day and we watched it for a long while as it went back and forth between the high side slash and the low side slash. It was definitely a boar and was all alone. It wasn't huge tho and we hummed and hawed for awhile. Then we decided not to and moved on. Well later that night 5-spike was kicking himself and figured he should have taken it so the next morning we went back to the same place and low and behold about 30 yards from where it was last night was the bear in some thick trees. 5-spike got on it but didn't pull the trigger. After a minute he said he thinks it looks a little different. So we circled around and came from the other side of the stand of trees and about 50 yards away a small cub went running up the road with the sow following. It wasn't the same bear! Good eyes on 5-spike cus that could have easily been a mistake. The cub was a LONG ways away from mom and mom was in almost the exact same place the boar was the night before.

[betteroffishing]

just last friday i had a bear in my sights for a couple of minuites i watched and wasnt sure on the size , but in the end i decided to take her {my freezer is just about empty of last years fall bear} and just as i let the safety off , her cub came running along beside her , lucky little guy wasnt far from being an orphan.

[Big Lew]

As the years have gone by, my Wife and I, usually in the early fall, have come across several kill sites where someone has shot a mature bear along a forestry or logging road, leaving a cub mourning it's mother's disappearance. Naturally they won't leave the area, and it's a pretty sad situation to observe, especially when you realize that they don't have much of a chance to survive. Almost all of these situations have been in areas with ample roadside coverage that a wandering cub or two could stay completely out of sight for long periods of time. Understanding this, we both would like to believe that the hunter didn't callously and intentionally shoot the sow, leaving the cub an orphan. As numerous fellow forum members have said, they scanned for cubs for lengthy periods before deciding to shoot and were fortunate to have cubs finally appear just before taking the shot. My heart goes out to those that have diligently checked for cubs only to have them show up after the shot.

[hunter1947]

You did the right thing reporting this to the CO you did your job now its up to the CO to do there job..

[Bow Walker]

Let us know if you hear anything about a "bear being shot close to your house". It'd put some closure on the story. Hope the CO's can do something with those little guys - maybe relocate them? Would that do any good for them? Probably not. Hope they make it.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

This is one of the reasons why I like to only shoot bigger bears. Sure you get the odd BIG sow but the odds of a big bear being a boar are tipped in your favor.

SSS

[SteadyGirl]

This is one of the reasons why I like to only shoot bigger bears. Sure you get the odd BIG sow but the odds of a big bear being a boar are tipped in your favor.

SSS

alot of stinky work would be another reason. i only shoot bigger bears too, so often I don't have to shoot one at all:mrgreen:



sure its emotional when its young cubs, nobody likes to see an animal suffer. i'm pretty torn on the whole mercy kill thing. discuss?

[Shooter]

No mercy kill. Let nature run its course.

[yamadirt 426]

Good thread !! Thanks