Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Alberta Spring Black Bear Hunt

Getting back to camp, Cody estimated the bear to be at least 15 or 16 years old, based on tooth wear, and well over 400 pounds. The scales we had in the skinning shed only went to 400, and he bottomed it out easily.






You can kind of get an idea of the shape of his skull, being kind of dished-out behind the eyes and between the ears. This is a sign of a truly mature old boar.


Next morning, the guides skinned him out for me. These guys are good with a skinning knife, I must say!



Once they had the ears and lips turned and the paws fleshed out, we laid him down flat and measured him. He squared out at and honest 6 feet 11 inches: 7 foot 4 inches paw-to-paw, and 6 foot 7 inches nose-to-tail. His skull measured 19 inches even, which when dry will probably come down to about 18 inches, they tell me. Beautiful big old teeth on this guy. Cody said this was the second biggest bear they've taken in their camp this season, the other boar squaring 7 foot 1 inch. They took a 7 foot 3 inch last year, but this bear of mine is still the 3rd biggest bear in their camp over the past 2 years. I'm pretty happy with that.

With a truly big black bear in the salt, I then started hunting for a color phase bear. I hunted a different stand for the next 2 nights, and on the second night I connected on a beautiful cinnamon color phase bear:



As with the first bear, I aimed halfway up the body. His leg was forward, so I aimed behind the shoulder. The bullet exited the off side. At the shot, the bear spun and dropped, biting at his sides, puffing and blowing and popping his teeth, then he took off at a dead run. I figured he was dead on his feet but didn't want to take a chance. I put the post on the front of his shoulder and the Savage roared a second time. The boar pitched forward and rolled, piling up between a couple of fallen lodgepole pines. He grunted and tried to roll, but he was done for. He lifted his muzzle and for the second time I heard the long, mournful death moan of a Northern bear.

This bear was MUCH smaller than the big black... Barry and I were (just barely) able to wrestle him up onto the quad without resorting to the winch. He tipped the scales at 275 pounds, and squared out to 6 feet 5 inches. I was impressed by doing the math, comparing the two bears: the big black was nearly 200 pounds heavier to gain another 6 inches of square measurement. No wonder 7 foot bears are such a prize! They must be truly enormous creatures!