I thought that some of you might like to see an old bear I killed in early June.
It's face was scarred up, as you can see, but in addition it had previous bite and claw scars on it's body. It was also missing it's upper front small teeth and was skinny but relatively healthy.
The meat is very lean and tough.
From other bears I have had aged by biologists through the years, I know that it had to be over 20 years old.
I shot it from a natural ground blind at 11 feet (which is about twice the distance as last year LOL).
(http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab16/Mehikan/DSC_1556.jpg)
What a hoss
Nice Punkinhead
Big O'l Punkin head .. Good job
Great bear! Congrats :clapper: :clapper: :clapper:
:eek: WOW WHAT A BRUTE! :eek: Very very nice! Congratulations what a great looking bear. :campfire:
That's a true monster bear.11' must have been pretty exciting.
Congrats Ken! Eleven feet! you do like to get down and dirty and an experienced bear to boot. Good job. Maxx
Please post more pictures if you have them.
Ken, Congrats on a great bear. Big head! What does it score? Great harvest. He was just past his prime and going to start going down hill.
(still has a Big Head though!)
Wow!
thanks for sharing the picture.
I knew he was around.
I usually pick out (from reading sign... no cameras) one or two bears that I want to hunt and then proceed with the task.
I wait for conditions to feel right.
I had hunted a cousin of his the evening before but he was "away". The following evening my gut feeling told me to set up for this one so I did. I made up a small branch blind and got him a couple of hours later... and then with a hand in his fur I thanked the Lord.
It's a good thing that I had promised to take my son in law out after my hunt as well as a couple of friends to extend my season or I would only have hunted a total of two evenings. LOL
What a Bruiser! Congrats!! 11 feet sounds fun :)
That's a hog for sure! Can you imagine him in his prime?
Nice big yogi! I love see'in those big pumpkin headed bears.
If you find the meat too tough for hams & chops just get it made into some nice sausage!
Nice bruin man
i would love to see more pictures as well! congrats on such an old soul and warrior!
Now that is a big old bear. Good job. Your heart had to be pounding at 11 feet.
I thank you all for the nice comments. Few people can appreciate what we do.
I was alone at the site so the picture I posted I took with a tripod.
Gatekeeper, here are a couple more pictures you asked for. The first is not great with the bugs on the lens and all over the bear but it's like you were there, LOL.
The second my wife took at home the next morning.
How I got him out of the bush by hand and into the high bed of my 3/4 ton pickup is a story in itself. I spent a virtually sleepless night afterwards trying to massage and punch excruciating cramps out of my muscles, caused by exertion and dehydration.
The hide wasn't great on the underside and in the armpits... old is old! But I will still do something with it.
BowMike, as far as score, the black bears in Quebec are not super gifted for skull (muzzle) length... and remember that this guy had no upper front teeth to start the measurement. I've also noticed on some of the older specimens that arthritis seems to deteriorate the crest on the back end of the skull which further shortens the span. Nevertheless, once cleaned and dried he will probably score around 19 12/16". His skull was like the pit in a peach.
(http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab16/Mehikan/DSC_1546.jpg)
(http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab16/Mehikan/IMG_1609.jpg)
Excellent bear. After helping with Kip's 200#er, I can't imagine getting that brute out alone.
Congratulations!
:notworthy:
very nice!!
Nice Bear.
Thanks for sharing your success.
Big bears are definitely fun. How did you age him? Here's my biggest but I don't know his age...Doc
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/tippit/Quebec%20Quest%202010/BearQuest2010068.jpg)
Ken,
I keep coming back to this thread. What a great bear! :help: Hell just dragging it would be a feat!
Tom
Big old bear,congrats.
tippit, This bear's age I estimated but I should be pretty close based on the hundreds that I have seen aged.
I ran a bear camp in northern Quebec for many years and extracted bear teeth for the Quebec Ministry biologists as part of a bear aging project they were working on. In years that I did not remove and send in the teeth myself, I still kept the registration numbers at the check stations that did.
I kept notes of the bears we got and then matched the registration numbers with the figures that the biologists gave me in later months. An advantage I had was that I knew several of the people involved and they knew how interested I was in the results.
Age does not necessarily correspond with the size of skull. One of my bears that was officially aged at 21 1/2 years old scored "only" 18 7/16 in P&Y. I have seen 12 1/2 year old bears of the same size from the same area score an inch more. Skull size is only one way to categorize bears and big bears may be gifted in other ways... weight, square hide, length, age, etc.
Another was so old all they could say was "over 20"... his skull and teeth were in considerable worse shape and older looking than the 21 1/2 year old.
Rob Kaufhold, the owner of Tradtech/Lancaster Archery Supplies once killed a bear with us that was blind in one eye and had a thick cataract over the other. He only had a couple of claws remaining on each paw and was pathetically thin (about 180 lbs). If I remember correctly, it scored around 19". At one time that bear had to have weighed over four hundred pounds before hibernation. He had huge paws but his foot bones were loose in them... like a child wearing a father's slippers.
I love big or old bears and hunt them specifically. Each one is still very special to me even though I have killed many, many bears in my life. I don't mind ending the season without filling my tag though.
Those big ones are always boars and they may or may not be "old".
They are efficient predators that are hard on bear cubs and moose calves too.
Awesome animal sir. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
That is what we call a hog molly! :thumbsup:
Yeah Buddy.
I figured this post was about an old bear BOW! Nice one Ken!
adkmountainken and Gatekeeper, as per your requests I am including a picture of last years bear and a couple of others.
I hope no one takes this the wrong way... I usually keep a low profile. I am a simple bushman who hunts because it is who I am. I always say that God gave me gifts that don't pay (money wise)! LOL
I am a relative newcomer when it comes to computers so any pictures before these dates are in paper. It is a miracle to me to be able to communicate with you all from my home on a northern Indian reservation.
2010
(http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab16/Mehikan/DSC_0804.jpg)
2009
(http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab16/Mehikan/DSC_0088.jpg)
2008
(http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab16/Mehikan/img044.jpg)
2007
(http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab16/Mehikan/img008.jpg)
Great looking bears. It is hard to judge from the pictures, but the first looks to be good shape for a late spring bear. Thanks for the detail info. :clapper: :clapper:
WOW!
That is impressive. Thanks for the background information. Great info.
Chris
Thanks for the pics Ken. Great treat on a summer evening!
Nice bear. Thank you for sharing.
Danny
Ken,
Thanks for you explanation & experience on big old bears. I've had the pleasure of taking eleven with two being big old ones...nothing like your experiences though. Even with that, it is still sometimes hard to really judge large bears from the big old ones. Great post...tippit
Great bears.
Really nice bears! I had the oppertunity to take a young black bear up around carrot river Sas. area. Nothing like the size of these bears. But hunt was very exciting,one I would enjoy again someday.
Ken,
:scared:
Holy Smokes! :scared: I knew you were holding out on me! :thumbsup: Thanks for taking the time to share with us.
WOW!! QuoteOriginally posted by Ken Taylor:
It is a miracle to me to be able to communicate with you all from my home on a northern Indian reservation.
Very true, Ken. TG is a real blessing. :campfire:
Ken, Great looking bears. Yes you are a blessed man. Good shooting. I like eleven feet would be very cool. Really pumping.
WOW!!! Thank you for the information on the bears. Low profile or not, those are great old bears and you should be very proud. :campfire:
Ken, You might possibly be my new hero. Those are all awesome bears. Congrats on each one. Keep up the good work and keep on posting those awesome pics.
Wow!what a great bear.
I would love to go on a bear hunt one day.
My goodness!!!
Thanks for the great pictures! :campfire:
Nice bear! Great huntin'!
Impressive...VERY impressive! Congrats Ken on some very nice bears!
Awewsome bears everyone!
I like the way you operate Ken!
I am no bear expert by any means so correct me if my assumptions are wrong. Given a bunch of bears, only a few ever want to be "top" bear. The ones that want to be top bear show it at the end of their lives by having more scars than the usual of the same ages.
I have a friend that studies wolves and the alphas are alpha because they have to be, not because they are necessarily biggest even though that helps a lot. They just are not going to settle for anything but the top position.
Joshua
Nice Bear! :clapper:
Congrats, Nice Bear!
Wow! This is why I am on Tradgang. This is stuff I will probably never ever see. Thank you!
I thank you all sincerely. The response was more than I was expecting.
Excellent !! :thumbsup:
Holy cow! I've been bear hunting for quite a while now & consider myself to be fairly educated when it comes to bears & bear hunting.
What you have done here is truly amazing, to shoot a dominant boar in several consecutive years is pretty much unheard of.
Few people will realize what you have done here.......
My hat is off to you sir............... amazing!!!
Awesome looking bear Ken! Did you by happen to get it weighed?
Your previous bear sare also very impressive.
Nice bear!
Nice Bear !!
Congrats !!