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

 

Ken,

I keep coming back to this thread. What a great bear!      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.      

That is what we call a hog molly!  

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


2009


2008


2007

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.        

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,

    Holy Smokes!     I knew you were holding out on me!     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.  

Ken, Great looking bears. Yes you are a blessed man. Good shooting. I like eleven feet would be very cool. Really pumping.