What were these bears up to?

[Slinky Pickle]

I went out after work today to a spot that I had seen lots of bear sign in recently. As I walked down the road, I suddenly saw a chocolate brown bear off to one side. I crouched down and watched for a few minutes trying to judge its size. It went out of sight for a moment and then I saw its muzzle poke out for a second and then it walked across the road.... but now it was black. A couple of seconds later the brown one popped out and onto the road. The two kept feeding along the road side as I watched. I was trying to figure out what I was looking at. A sow and a boar having a romantic walk? A sow and a two year old cub? Or, maybe siblings that had been punted out of the family unit recently. Neither was huge but both were certainly full grown.

After watching for quite a while I finally decided that I didn't need either of these bears in my freezer so I just let them do their thing and watched. At that point the wind changed and they picked me up. The black one took off first and then the chocolate one buggered off as well.

No bear in the truck tonight but it was a very nice walk and I made it home in time to watch the hockey game.

[BromBones]

This time of year, good chance it's a boar and a sow.

A good rule of thumb is if the bigger bear is in front and smaller one behind, it's a sow and cub. Smaller bear leading/bigger bear following = boar and a sow.

Not always the case, but something to look for.

[Tikka270wsm]

I found that this time of the year, if you see a boar with a sow and the sow spooks, the boar will almost always follow her. If the smaller of the two is the follower then it's a sow with a cub.

[Fullcurled4point]

chances are litter mates