Three black bears, one colored like a grizzly

[Okanagan]

Our family group tagged three black bears on a backpack hunt above timberline.  They got into the most bears we've ever seen up there on one trip, and the most blond and brown shades. 



They hiked in six miles, climbing about 5,500 vertical feet to their camp.  A couple of young men from Oklahoma joined them, friends of a grandson.  They had conditioned a lot but the hike up nearly killed the OK boys. They saw no bears that evening in the usual places, but after sundown spotted several bears in a basin four miles farther. 

The second day they headed to the basin with bears, and killed three in a span of 2 hours and 20 minutes that evening. The first looked so much like a grizzly that they really studied it before shooting. One of the OK men shot it with his .300 Win mag at 211 yards.  One shot.  It is mahogany dark brown with a blond blanket over the back and sides.  It measured 6' 5", a boar, not very fat but estimated weight of just over 300 lbs.  Big bear. 



Then grandson Ben killed a bear.  He and his partner had spotted the bear and stalked it, though lost sight of it as they got nearer.  They were in an amoeba shaped clearing, looking for the bear on slopes above when Ben saw the bear looking at him from 15 yards away.  He shot it with his .308, 185 grain Berger bullet. One shot.  (Recovered bullet weighed 32 grains).  Black colored boar, skull looked the largest of the three they killed.  Hide squared 5' 6".  Estimated weight 250 lbs.  Very good bear for WA state. 

Then the other young man from OK killed a boar, mature but younger.  Can't recall exactly but think it was 220 yards, using a 6.5 PRC, not sure what bullet.  Estimated weight 210-220 lbs.

They skinned and boned out in the dark and and by 1:00 AM got all three bears to a point 5.5 miles from the road.  Farthest bear started over ten miles from the road, closest was about 9.5.  They needed the morning to recover some and about noon got started down with massively loaded packs.  Each one who talked about it said that it was the hardest physical effort they have ever experienced.  The OK boys and my older son were all but crawling the last mile. 

Pic repeated below shows hides from the biggest and the smallest bear. Pic is foreshortened and there is not as much difference in hide size as it appears.  Grizz colored one is 6' 5", didn't measure the smallest one and the middle sized 5' 6" bear is not in the pic. 



The skull sizes of these two bears were close to identical, as shows in the photo below, though the blond backed one was much older with worn and chipped teeth. 



The older bear had a weird cut into the front of his upper jaw, cutting off some teeth at the roots, which stayed with the flopping piece of upper gum.  Old wound, healed up.



Claw from the smallest of the three bears, below.  Gonna make a cool necklace.

 

[FinsnFur]

Very cool.

[pitw]

I love your write ups.

[Okanagan]

I love your write ups.

Thank you.

I don't have photos of the kill sites and the boys are wary of posting anything online that could give away where they were.  It is beautiful country but with a million people not far away in Seattle, even a small percentage of that population who backpack hunt could overrun the area.

Re the claws:  my grandson Zay has an impressive necklace made of black bear claws from a bear he got.  The OK fellow who got the smallest bear on this trip decided to make a necklace from the claws and tan just the main body portion rather than tan or rug the whole hide.  Good hair and an even full coat on this bear.

[Hawks Feather]

Thanks for the write up and pics. I really enjoy hearing about the hunts that you and relatives have.

[Okanagan]

Grandson Ben cleaned the skull on his bear.  It measured a smidge under 17 1/2 inches  after boiling, pressure washing and bleaching for 48 hours.  That process shrinks it a bit, not sure how much.

[Hawks Feather]

That looks really good and was quick. I don't know much about them, but most of the places around here use Dermestid beetles to clean them.

[Tikaani]

That "two toned" bear will be a fine and unusual rug.

[Okanagan]

That looks really good and was quick. I don't know much about them, but most of the places around here use Dermestid beetles to clean them.

I prefer beetles and have had several skulls cleaned with them.  We don't know anyone around here who has beetles anymore.  One of my grandsons kept beetles for most of a year but they require a lot of care when not actively cleaning skulls, and are kind of hard to keep alive. These are not record book skulls so the boys were not concerned to keep them from any shrinkage, and the boiling/bleach process is fast, just a day or two.

 

[FinsnFur]

The skull turned out sweet.
I'm not a fan of the bleach method knowing what it does to the bone but I cant argue it does look nice.

[Coulter]

Very cool rugs and skulls. I bet that older one had a bit of a lisp.

[coyote101]

Very cool story and pictures; thanks for sharing.  There may have been a time when I could have made that trek, but that was long ago. Five miles on level ground would be a stretch now. 

Pat

[bambam]

that bear will make a cool rug .