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Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 7,191
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 7,191 |
Yay, I get to work all damn weekend. Oh well, I still got that 3rd week of May off Too bad I have to take two hippies from Havre hunting. Sunday, I'll snoop around a bit in a hidey hole
I'm Irish...
Of course I know how to patch drywall
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 78,306 Likes: 2
Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 78,306 Likes: 2 |
Just get off work...?
Ingwe
"...the left considers you vermin, and they'll kill you given the chance..." Bristoe
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 2,263
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 2,263 |
Did anybody give it a try? At 2AM I had my rifles cleaned (from last fall), at 5PM, I fired one round to check my zero, and at 7PM, I was glassing. Didn't see squat and I'm sore today. It is still way too wintery in the Gallatin..
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Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 19,618 Likes: 15
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 19,618 Likes: 15 |
Hippies eh? I'm not sure Travis has enough hair on his head to qualify for that.
MAGA
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,878
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,878 |
I was planning on it, but the recent snow and a girl who wanted to make me dinner talked me out of it. Sunday will be my first day if the weather holds. I don't give myself high odds of seeing anything, but I need to get in shape for May.
Empirical results rule!
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 30,294 Likes: 2
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 30,294 Likes: 2 |
It is still way too wintery in the Gallatin.. Ya think?! (grin) Was in the Madison all week... 12" snow Monday evening. LOT's of snow above 6500'.
“Perfection is Achieved Not When There Is Nothing More to Add, But When There Is Nothing Left to Take Away” Antoine de Saint-Exupery
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 2,263
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 2,263 |
I figure by the time it gets ripe, I'll be tough enough to pack my better tripod. Was to wimpy to throw it in yesterday, I'm fat and out of shape. Even though the north-facing sides have 2-4 feet of base down low, there's grass facing south. Trouble is, there's a mountains worth of snow above a lot of the dens. Some of the local areas will be 2 weeks later than normal, at least.
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Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 3,984
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 3,984 |
It is still way too wintery in the Gallatin.. Ya think?! (grin) Was in the Madison all week... 12" snow Monday evening. LOT's of snow above 6500'. But man is has the fishing been good
"It's my main love for all things Ackley. Plus the dude was cool before cool was cool."
SH08
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Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 4,950
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 4,950 |
Saw some elk, lots of sheep deer and antelope yesterday, but no bear. I do feel sorry for anybody that has never seen spring hit the Rockies!
Royce
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 819
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 819 |
Good to see I'm not the only one dumb enough to go out early. No bears, but we found a few nice sheds, and got a good bead on where they should be.
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Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 4,950
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 4,950 |
Yea, we're real dumb for going out early, when we coulda been home watching reruns of Jerry Springer! LOL
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 2,263
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 2,263 |
I'd go again tonight if I could. I've had some great early days. Nothing beats being there.
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 819
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 819 |
That came off wrong, should've said I wasn't the only guy out there enjoying it. I'd be back out there tonight in a minute if I could be.
That second bear's the one you killed last year right? Bears definitely aren't built for going down hill through a snow drift.
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 2,263
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 2,263 |
nothing beats a wilderness area snowbank.. and being out before the ticks are thick. Yes, the 2nd bear is from last year, this one. It was 6'10" square and 10 years old. I think the one from the year before 08, was also 10 yrs old, but 6'5 square, but had a little better skull. He's also the bear in the photo by the aspen tree above..
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 15,864
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 15,864 |
Hey, not from Alaska here, and never took a bear in the lower 48 either, but I read something somewhere and was wondering if you guys could confirm it or not.
Spring bear meat tastes MUCH better than fall bear meat???
"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." - John Adams
Turdlike, by default.
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 819
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 819 |
In my experiences, you've got it backwards. Fall bears are way fatter and have a lot better meat.
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 15,864
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 15,864 |
Good to know! Thanks!
Someday.....someday I will get mine....
"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." - John Adams
Turdlike, by default.
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Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 5,197
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 5,197 |
I wont be heading west until about May 10th....about prime time. Most of the blackies I've killed in the spring have been between the 10th and 20th of May....although I did kill one of my better boars on April 15th, 1986. I first saw him on March 25th that year. It was a very low snow pack year.
Chomping at the bit....grin!
Luck....is the residue of design...
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 819
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 819 |
Greenhorn, I've never squared a bear, hows the square normally compare to the nose to tail measurement?
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 2,263
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 2,263 |
you lay them out flat like a pancake, skinned, and measure from nose to tip of tail, then (WITHOUT streching the hide) measure the front claw to claw. Guy's pulling the hide long, then again wide, will have a square measurement a foot longer than if they'd done it correctly.
Nose to tail before the animal is dressed is another way to get a good measurement to compare sizes. A 6ft nose to tail measurement before skinned is a really big bear (around 7' square). Where I hunt most BIG mature boars will be just under 6' long on the carcass. Biggest I've seen was 6'2" and it was a true 7 foot square bear and a B&C skull as well.
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