2020 Bear Success Thread

[Pathfinder27]

My first bear. Taken Saturday afternoon in southeast Alaska

 

[comitted]

Harvested my best bear. 240lbs dressed. Did not have time to take pictures in the field which is a bummer.

 

[KyleSS]

My Alberta Spring bear shot May 26 2020
Officially scored 20 6/16" B&C

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

 

[7718Sallee]

Got a nice fall bear here in the smoke filled cascade mountains of Oregon. Find the groceries find the bears.

 

[Gnatboy911]

2020 fall bear in CO. I wish we could hunt them in the spring also!

 

[CREillY]

MN Black Bear, Shot with my bow.

 

[kaku3428]

I'll kick it off. After 4 days of missed opportunities early in May, I made a run back to Idaho with @JJBuck for a 2 day trip. 2 days, 2 bears and a bunch of Chorizo!


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Wow amazing

 

[jdmaxwell]

2020 Colorado color phase i got on our Elk hunt on Elk carcass.

 

[Runningwater]

Helped out with some bear hunts in the past - but this is my first black bear. Kenai Refuge, Tustumena glacier in background. Very steep final ascent (and especially ticklish descent) - felt like I was goat hunting!

 

[wannabemountainman]

I figure somebody needs to post an Appalachian bear in this thread and it might as well be me. Taken off the ground with a bow, still hunting, National Forest land in Virginia.

 

[Felix40]

I finally got lucky and found a NM bear, just barely before the season closes.

 

[Felix40]

I figure somebody needs to post an Appalachian bear in this thread and it might as well be me. Taken off the ground with a bow, still hunting, National Forest land in Virginia.

Looks like a lot of leaf litter for still hunting. Bet that’s tough.

 

[wannabemountainman]

Looks like a lot of leaf litter for still hunting. Bet that’s tough.

The leaves had just started dropping for the year so it was pretty crunchy. I got lucky in that it was fairly windy which helped a ton with the noise.

 

[couesaddict13]

2020 AZ Bear

 

[slatty]

I was hunting elk in the mountains close to home and was seeing lots of berries and lots of bear sign mid-september. Decided to sit for a while and after a couple hours out popped a big old bear about 500 yards away feeding on berries. The wind was just right and I was able to stalk in to just above where I had seen him. I couldn't see him for a while and I thought I might have spooked him away but I could hear him eating close by. His head popped up and he was under 25 yards. I could just see his head and I had my scope fixed on him for a minute or two while he was eating huckleberries. He fed out and I shot him at 20 yards with my .308 through the lungs. He ran 10 yards and whirled and lay down. I shot him again but didn't have to he was dead. I was by myself and had my work cut out for me as I had several km's to pack him out. I struggle with how deceptive the size and weight of bears can be. I packed out the four quarters in one load and came back and got the hide and head and "small parts" meat in another load by headlamp. I really should have done it over three loads, that packout messed me up a bit for a couple weeks. To my surprise the hide alone weighed over 50lbs. But you live and learn! So happy to have such great berry-fed meat from a high mountain bear. I had over 90lbs deboned meat off him so I think he weighed about 300lbs. He sure was impressive when standing and when down I couldn't roll him over. The layers of fat on him were unbelievable. Hunting bears is so great, and the meat is the best.

 

[Jahvette20]

Last Monday I got my first bear in NE Pa while covering ground in state forest.

 

[chadcharb]

I got my first archery black bear this year. Nice boar, measured out at 18 7/8. 10 yard shot

 

[Gremcat]

Archery opener I took a average bear for NE PA. The next time sitting had the neighborhood monster under my stand 20 mins with no tag left. Bio estimates he’s 550-600. Neighbors nicknamed him Fat Albert. Crazy part is a 660 lbs bear was found shot and left one road down from me. In the Estates we live in each road only has 4-6 houses on .5-2 acre lots. That’s a lot of big bears in a small area.

Later moved the stand since all I have is a doe tag left and after a first morning bear and prior arrowing the neighborhood big buck folks started looking for my stand. Clanging the climber I turned to see what I thought was a person but was a Mama with 3 grown cubs. I’m sure glad she ran as my back was turned, I had an in-line not primed, and her cubs weren’t little.

 

[Dadnstuff]

I shot my first bear this past week while elk hunting in the Bitterroots of Montana. Temps were warm, and kept the elk from moving much. However, was able to spot this boar on the second to the last day of the hunt. He's no giant, but was certainly a trophy to me.

 

[Dadnstuff]

Helped out with some bear hunts in the past - but this is my first black bear. Kenai Refuge, Tustumena glacier in background. Very steep final ascent (and especially ticklish descent) - felt like I was goat hunting!

That is a beautiful photo, esp with the background.