Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Kupreanof Bear Hunt

Well stated

Bears can be hard to judge unless you spend time in the field in an area where you can see a lot of bears. I am fortunate that I live near areas now where I can see bears and observe them. I look at a bear's head/ears to judge it size. When I first started observing bears I would think now there's a nice one. After a few minutes in the spotting scope/binos I realized was a small bear. Now I can much quicker size up a bear when I see one.

In NJ when the opened bear season a few years ago, almost 80% of bears registered were well under 100 lbs. Many were 50-70 lbs

Black Bears can be deceiving when it comes to sizing them up. I've probably seen 30 something of them here in Pa. and two in Ak. Shot one in Pa. that went 235lbs dressed. Seen a few small ones here in Pa. and one huge one up close that had an ear tag. When tagged he went almost 600lbs the previous year. Guessing he was the same Bear, in that he stayed in the same area for around three years. He had a rear end that seemed as big as an F250.

The little ones look like bowling balls, the big ones immediately grab your eye with their bulk and the in between ones usually look bigger than they are.

One of the ones I saw in Ak, according to the guide I had on a Goat hunt was more than representative. He didn't impress me all that much, other than being a PIIA. He certainly was not as big as the ones Stick posted pics of.

As another poster mentioned we have much the same issue in Pa. when someone brings in a Bear of the year. The problem in Pa. is the pressure during the two week season can be heavy in an area where they currently have been spotted. Myself I wouldn't shoot the mother if the young ones were with her, but the pressure and Bear drives often get them separated. Then the mother gets killed and the GC says you might as well take the young because they probably will not survive anyway. Then again those who have never seen one, and have no experience in judging, shoot the first Bear they see. They take some static, but nothing illegal has occurred.

I understand the criticism from some of the Ak crew. I also give KC credit in that he posted the pics. If I had that much ground shrinkage they wouldn't have made it to the fire.

Addition: Group of guys I know had one of them shoot a small one. He was found of his specialty beers. He became known as the guy who got a micro-bruin.

Bears may be hard to judge at some point, but really, not at that point. Calling that a small bear is an insult to small bears everywhere.

haha!

5' is a small bear, those are cubs.

Exactly. Was I being too obtuse again?

And a game violation? They have to be at least one year of age, right?

Neither of the smaller ones is any less than the second year of life. I don't know what the regs say for blackies, but brown/griz regs require an animal that has gotten beyond the second year of life. I suspect both the smaller bears are in their second year. However, in KC's defense, he did nothing at all to bolster the size of his bear in the photo. And that's something that is frequently done, even with the big bears - in case anyone doesn't know that. The blocky head of the bigger bear makes it clear that that bear is a nice bear. If they were sealed by F&G and F&G didn't seize either animal, it seems obvious that there were no issues with legality. They aren't generally slow to do what they think they should if they believe a law has been violated. Lots of black bears have made these pages that weren't much to brag about, not just Alaskan bears. These guys look like they had a good time in their hunting. Good for them. I appreciate good hunts and hard-won trophies. But I'd much rather hear about good times and companionship than smarmy "mine was bigger than your's" stories.

Thanks for the clarification. Not ripping on KC, I just would have no interest in taking a bear of that small a size. Now a little pig I would not hesitate.

Again, NR having good times and shooting dinks will ensure that NR can't go to Alaska again without a guide and have a good time.

Not a difficult concept to follow.

Actually there is no move to require Guides for Black Bear and I doubt there ever will be .... the upcoming Draw for SE Black Bear for the non-resident (unguided) is the plan.

I don't see that changing any time soon.

Those are cubs, and there really is no excuse since they are from CO, and we have plenty of bears here...

They are not 'officially' Cubs ... by AK law definition.

By law a Cub is a Black Bear in it's first year ... so as it stands up after it's first denning (the wither after being born) it is a legal Bear @ 1 1/2.

wow....seeing this for the first time. Nice wolf.

I understand that reasoning and don't know Southeast at all, but also realize that F&G might look at those small bears as NR income ($85 license +$225 tag) vs. big bear snacks, which I'm sure those little ones frequently become.

So I take it you would be satisfied if a client of yours took one of these "non-cub" cubs.

Information that is correct doesn't condone the action.ymmv

This thread is akin to somebody being invited to a Hollywood party, and bragging about they slept with Rosie O'Donnel. They may have had one heck of a good time, but they did what they did, and not much to be bragging about.

toltecgriz .... why even say that to me ... WTF ... I mearly pointed out that these are not Ileagle Bears as some have said.

On the other hand if somebody wants to shoot a small Bear or a spike Buck who cares ... as Klikitarik pointed out only about 25% of those cubs survive Boar killing any way.

A bunch of Slopers can come to POW and kill a bunch spike and fork bucks and name it "the November to Remember" and everyone around here remarks on how cool that is ... but someone kills a small Bear and the next thing you know there is going to be 'a Guide only' requirement because of it ..... go figure !!!!

Come on now... I said there would be "Calls for guides..." not that there would be an actual new law. The point was the bears have value as trophies when they mature... But as dinks they have little value.

Your point about the survival rates of cubs applies to cubs, not yearlings (or do you really think these are cubs? ) but your point is still valid, the population has little vested in the bears at that age.

But the point is absolutely about perception... "trophy hunters" whacking dinks while the State is looking at limiting access to an over-utilized resource. Perception from virtually all angles is not good...