Bears-What condition were they in???

[Stone Sheep Steve]

For those of you who have taken bears this spring, what condition were they in fat-wise?? What region??
Of the three bears that I've been in on this year...one blackie was very fat, one was decent ....but the grizz had zero fat on him. All were from the same general area in the W Koots.

Heard the berry crop last yr was poor overall across the province and have also heard that tough long winters following a poor berry yr can be tough on bears.

SSS

[greenhorn]

Both mine had little to no fat. A little fat buildup on the hind quarters, but not as much as previous years.

Coats have been pretty hit and miss too, some rubbed badly, others ok.

I'm in region 1 - south island.

[warnniklz]

Pretty much no fat on mine at all... region 5.

However my spring bear a couple years ago was really fat. Took him right at ice off. Region 5 as well but on the other side of the fraser river

[~T-BONE~]

All the bears we took while guiding in region 3 were mature and lean. Nothing compared to a bear i took down in region 2 10 years ago that 3 in of fat on him. Shot april 8th

[digger dogger]

I took a 6' boar in reg 3, he had a couple inches of fat. My buddy's wife took a smaller boar in the same reg and he was lean, with no fat on his ass

[pse&remington]

the bears I seen that were harvested were very lean, no fat at all which was a big part of the huge snow pack. The snow was not melting and the little greens which they feed on just were not sprouting early due to the colder weather. Their coats on the other hand were beautiful, full and quite thick. I didnt see any harvested bears with rub spots either which leads to tell me that they stayed in bed a little longer than usual and were so damn hungry that when the sprout did start to grow they were so content on filling their bellys nothing else mattered.

[~T-BONE~]

It all comes down to location or elevation of where bears are taken

[NaStY]

The 6' bear I shot this year in region 8 had lots of fat on him....

[mark]

Ive seen a few in region 8 this year that all looked reasonably plump!
Just spent a week in the chilcotin country, seen tons of bears, all looked on the skinny side to me!
I helped skin the bear that Tred Barta arrowed......it was a big, mature boar without a lick of fat on him!

[The Dawg]

Next to no fat, perfect coat too. About an hour from my doorstep.

[Elkhound]

Last sunday.....fat *******......not lean at all....lots of fat........and the coat was perfect

[keoke]

Reg 2 bear I took on Saturday was fat and had a good coat too.

[ROEBUCK]

region 2 bear I shot was skinny with a rubbed coat in 3rd week of may

[Walking Buffalo]

Helped skin and butcher a large boar blackie in Alberta killed on April 03.

We saved almost a hundred pounds of fat off of him for Bear Grease. The fat was over 4" thick on his ass.

The bear was hibernating in a Grain silo full of oats..... :mrgreen:

http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy10/keetspics/DSC00718-1.jpg

[jetboat jim]

I arrowed one in region 2-5 and it had very little fat on it , the meat was in very good condition......full of berries and grass.
pelt was nice and full.

[BromBones]

The black I got a few days ago was like a gunny-sack full of coat hangers.

One grizz we got in north reg. 6 had 2 inches along his back, very healthy bear. The other grizz from the same trip was starting to get a bit of a layer but not much.

Have seen more skinny bears than normal this year, but still the fair share of big fat ones as well.

[Barracuda]

my region 7 grizz boar was very healthy and had thickest fur i have ever seen . it was longer then my hand is wide . The two blackies i saw on tues were thick and full fur and the one i saw this morning was thick and full furred also.

[mungojeerie]

3-13 on May 29th. A small black bear - decent coat, no rubs almost zero fat on it, bear looked healthy and meat looked and tastes good... was still lots of snow where I got it, devouring grass when I snuck up on it.

[Marc]

I shot two bears this spring, the first was a poor sow that was emaciated, might have weighed 50 lbs soaken wet with hardly any teeth left and eyes sunk into it's head. When I touched her chest my fingers actually sunk in between the ribs and when I passed my hand down her spine you couldn't feel any back straps just bone. There was just enough muscle to keep the bones together and that was it. I could put my hand around the back leg of the bear that's how skinny she was. It cost me a tag but it was worth ending the suffering she must have been enduring. Ended up tossing the whole thing as there wasn't anything edible on it to save just fur and bones.

Second Bear was around 300 lbs and had 2 inches of fat in some areas on it's body. Both bears were taken probably within 20 km of each other. One extreme to the other.

[SimilkameenSlayer]

Helped skin and butcher a large boar blackie in Alberta killed on April 03.

We saved almost a hundred pounds of fat off of him for Bear Grease. The fat was over 4" thick on his ass.

The bear was hibernating in a Grain silo full of oats..... :mrgreen:

http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy10/keetspics/DSC00718-1.jpg


great picture

[Tikka270wsm]

The boar I got this spring had zero fat on him and his claws were still really long. Shot June 3rd on South Western Vancouver Island. Hide was in great shape.

[IronNoggin]

All three of the ones we took around Port Alberni this spring were in fine shape. All were carrying a good amount of fat, 2 of 3 with very glossy hides, and all appeared to be in very fine shape. While there is some possibility that these were "Salmon Bears" methinks that possibility is somewhat remote as they were located well away from the fish bearing rivers. More likely due to being taken fairly late in the season, and having had the luxury of mowing down a lot of this spring's greenery.

Cheers,
Nog

[buck nash]

The bear I got from around lilloette lk area was still packing lots of fat but had a pretty baddly rubbed undercarriage. He was a fairly young 5 1/2 footer shot mid may.

My buddy got an older cinamon sow that was under 5 foot from the boston bar area June 12. I helped him skin it. She had a perfect coat but not a lick of fat on her. Not much meat really either.

[Surrey Boy]

Both bears I got had next to no fat, thick unrubbed hides, and one had alot of bugs on it.

[SyntheticHero]

A buddy and myself got our spring black bear a couple of weeks ago. It was a very healthy looking bear, with almost no fat, very, very lean. Looking forward to eating sausages! We got him in Region 2. On the Sunshine Coast.

[springpin]

My bear was in great shape, with hardly no fat at all. Great Coat, strong teeth, nice claws. Region 4.