Bear steals meat!

[shoot2kill]

My hunting partner and me had a good trip to 4-22 however the only elk we saw was a nice bull 1 km from camp on the drive out last thursday at 6am.:(
We did get a 3x2 white tail that my buddy got through right front thigh bone and out through the other shoulder socket with his 30-30 at 170 yards up a 20 deg slope.
I boned out all the good meat from the front 1/4's and put it in the fridge. the rear 1/4's and head went 15 feet up on meat pole strung between 2 trees. Well 2 days later we got back to camp around lunch time and the meat pole and tarp were on the ground and the meat and head was gone!:evil:. All that was left was the game bags and rope. The bear had climbed one of the trees and climbed onto the meat pole which was 8 inches in diameter and the pole broke under its weight!
We had set up the pole about 100 yards from camp in a good shady location, we had checked the meat the night before but it was gone the next day.
We think it happend during the night but were not sure. My suspicion is that it was a black bear.
We tried to track it but the tracks disapeared pretty quick. We did not find the head or bones either.
It sure sucks to have the meat taken but the trip was a good one.
Any one else had a similar experiance:confused:

[Jordo]

I had a doe stolen in the night by a black bear last november in 4-24. I know how it feels. It sucks, It was the deer we worked the hardest for too. At least it didnt take my buck.

[trigger]

ive had a grizzly steal the carcass of the grizzly bear my dad shot, while we took the hide and skull to the cabin. Then the grizz tried to get a moose we had tied up in camp 20 feet high

[Martin_Hunter]

I once read it's a good idea to cover the game with a blanket that has human scent to it.

I shot a buck one evening,gutted it and put the buck next to my truck,and covered it with a blanket that I had in the truck.

There were lots of coyotes and some foxes about 30 yard from my truck that night (I could see them a few times,cause I was sleeping in the truck) but none of them got near the buck.

[Chuck]

Welll, similar.....sortof.
My younger brother did up an eighteen pound turkey at Thanksgiving some years ago. He spent a considerable effort at this arrangement, hoping the auspicious occasion would be enjoyed by his fellow bachelor workmates and beer buddies.
Having completed the task ahead of schedule, he set the entire bird in its hot roasting pan out on a stool at the back door. Five minutes later, he heard the roaster lid clang on the cement. Dashing out, as he suspected that something was up, he caught the rear end of a black bear disappearing into the bush. All he was left with was the lid.
Guests enjoyed Chinese take-out instead and he did discover the roaster pan some years later up the mountain and all chewed up.
Bears are capable of solving problems for sure!

[tomahawk]

Last yr we had a wolverine chewin on the hinds (elevated like your deer) and packed away the hide and head.

[Farmer]

When we hunted the White River in 4-24 in the 80s we lost a 2pt in camp one year, half an elk calf up in the mountains another year and my dad had a calf raked and most of the meat gone another year. On the 2 pt, the bear came back the next night and took the head and hide. We put the rest of the meat on top of the trailer or in the truck. We were camped right along the main road by the river. From what we heard later, it was fairly common in the area. It does put a downer on the trip.

[Jordo]

Those damn bears in 4-24 eat pretty good!

[Dad and son]

I lost a black bear to a bear a few years ago. I blame it on letting a lot of blood stay on my quad overnight from driving the bear out of the woods. I think the blood on my quad acted as a magnet drawing the bear to my camp overnight. I shot the bear around 4 and then hunted some more and returned to camp with a very bloody quad after dark. the next morning a rather large black bear was gone and no trace of anything. The bear was only gutted. I imagine it had to be a Grizzly that did the stealing as I cannot imagine a black bear having that much strength. We were in an islolated area so I know another hunter did not take it.

[urbanhermit]

heard about a trick an old guy used, he took about six or eight pieces of 5/8" plywood 18" x 36" and pounded hundreds of 2" finish nails through them from one side. he sprinkled them around the meat pole trees and underneath the hanging meat. he used for years and apparently worked well as a deterant..

[Jagermeister]

Storing your game in a truck, camper or trailer is not a good idea. Reason, bears don't know where the door is and will rip big holes in whatever to get in.

[Gun Dog]

A few years ago I shot & gutted a mulie & left it propped open for later pickup. Later that night while skinning and cleaning the tenderloins were missing. Some teeth marks but I have no idea what scampered away with my loins.

[urbanhermit]

A few years ago I shot & gutted a mulie & left it propped open for later pickup. Later that night while skinning and cleaning the tenderloins were missing. Some teeth marks but I have no idea what scampered away with my loins.
Jelvis maybe

[coquitlam]

Go to Princess auto and buy one of the alarmed cable locks approx $8. wrap the 18" cable around the leg and turn on alarm. If anything moves it , the alarm is crazy load. scare the crap out of anything. I also use it on my quad.

[bridger]

a few years ago my wife shot a bull elk on the tuchodi that rolled down into a narrow brushy creek. took us about 20 minutes to get down to it only to find a grizz on it already.

[2SHALLOW]

Buddy of mine tied his cow elk 14 feet up a tree last weekend, long story short a sow grizz and her cub got the hind quarters down and brought them home(not a myth grizz can climb trees lol), Buddy has a sore spot for the grizz now!!! That suks, he didnt remove the back straps so they had a real nice meal!!!! Poor guy!!!

[.330 Dakota]

I lost 90% of my 9-1/4" Billy this fall the same way

[shoot2kill]

holy crap! I expected a few stories but not this many. Keep em coming!
In a book I just read about dealing with bears they recommend an electric fencer like the ones used on dairy farms. I grew up on a dairy farm and that sounds like a simple solution to keeping bears and critters out of camp and away from hanging meat. Any one tried it?

[xtremearchery]

I had a nice buck stolen by hunters during the night before. Yip they backed right up to the game poles and cut my straps and made off with it.

[bearhunter338-06]

My buddy lost his once in a life time goat to a grizzly.

[pearljam]

Just lost 1/2 our moose meat to a grizzly a week ago. We had sheet metal around the trees so nothing could climb up. The bottom of the meat was 7 feet off the ground and he was still able to reach it and pull it down, what a bummer...... First time in 15 years of hunting ive lost meat.

[ELKOHOLICBC]

Sounds familiar shoot2kill. We had the same thing last year in 4-22, half our whitey got ripped off the meatpole. The bear became a problem though it charged me at night ( 8 feet is a little close for my liking). A great big 300lb black bear.

[BlacktailStalker]

Had a black bear sink his claws into a buck in camp one year but we must have spooked him coming in, he partially tore the front quarter off but the damage was minimal.
This year I hung bells off my elk (whole) the first night and the second night the quarters etc were hoisted to about 20'.

[Big Lew]

During the sixty's, many hunting partys would stop in Hope, either at the pub, or nearby restaurant. In those days, most hunters would display their game in the box, or on the roof of their vehicles. Some of the locals would wait until the parties had gone inside, and then relieve them of their trophies. Never heard of anyone getting caught....seems most living there that were aware thought it was great sport.

[bowhunterbruce]

some 10 years ago i lost a whole moose to a grizz.the moose had run across a river to expire. in the time it took me to come back with a boat the bear was well under way with his newly claimed meal.another time just 3 years ago while out with the wife she had taken a 2 pt muley during any buck month on a saturday.as we had the quad with us in the truck we had tided the buck up to the tailgate. we decided to stay in a motel near our hunting grounds so i could connect the next day and when i went to warm up the truck and take her dog out for its morning piss, i had it on one of those retractable leashes,as i was about to put the key in the door of the truck her dog came flying from the back of the truck and did a lap around my feet.just then the truck shoot a little and from the corner of my eye i could see the black bears ass tugging on the buck not 10 feet from me.i had to undo her mutt from around my ankles before i could move.once undun i walk backwards to the halfway point back to our ground floor room and brought out the hounds and the gun.
the dogs put that little blacky up the first tree it could run to which was only about 20 yards from the truck.i started up the truck and turned it around to light up the dogs and bear and that when i saw that it was just a little one.
needless to say we ended up wakeing a few of the guests however they thought it was pretty cool.
the bear had only gotten a few steaks worth of meat and thankfully we had tied it as all but the head was on the ground.
as it turned out this blacky was getting pretty brave about his stealing ways and accully walked right into a shop later that day while another successful hunter was skinning his hanging deer in his shop.the bear didnt make it to far after that guy took him out

[Bow Walker]

Years ago I was up in the Koots (Bull River) hunting with three other guys. There was another party sharing the campsite on the river and they were lucky enough to have an elk hanging in quarters about 30 feet from their wall tent, down by the river to keep cool.

About 3am one morning there was a hellova racket and everybody bailed outta their sleeping bags to see 'what the hell?' Turns out that a grizz had come down the mountain from across the river, smelling the meat. He crossed the river, ripped down a front quarter, grabbed it up in his mouth and was spotted wading back across the river with it - just like a dog with a stick. One strong bear!

Nobody had a gun handy so the bear got his dinner and one of the guys had to sit up the rest of the night guarding their meat. Next day they loaded the other quarters into a truck and one guy (short straw) took it the to town.

Close encounter that I'd rather not repeat. A bit scary when it's dark and you can't see anything - just hear the growls of the bear and the smashing of the meat poles.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Never had a bear steal any meat.....so far. Closest encouter over meat was on a fly-in trip for caribou where we had two bulls hanging in camp(no where else to hang them) and we found a fresh set of grizz tracks about 80 yrds downwind from camp. Obviously, the bear came looking for the meat but either heard us in camp or smelled the smoke from the wood stove and decided it was not a good idea to hang around.
I like well-behaved bears:).

SSS

[Sundance1972]

Storing your game in a truck, camper or trailer is not a good idea. Reason, bears don't know where the door is and will rip big holes in whatever to get in.

Have to agree with you there. I was in the ferry lineup a couple years ago, coming home from a hunt myself, when a truck/camper pulled up beside me. Looked like they were rigged up for hunting so i figured i'd go talk to the guys. Walked around the back of the camper, and half of it was gone!! You could see huge claw marks in the tin and the door was torn right off, along with the ladder.
Never had it happen to me personally (knock on wood), but have heard a lot of stories. A rifle shot must sound like a dinner bell to bears, especially grizz.