This was my question while nearby fixing fence. In first photo, two horses are looking in the same direction, third horse is looking at another horse wondering what is going on and I don't know what the colt is looking at. Immediately, I saw a bear moving across the pasture, jumped on the ATV and took after it. Managed to get a couple of pictures about 100 yards away and this is the best one.


Two weeks ago my wife took a photo of a bear on her way home from town. They are not common in these parts.

Great pics, except fer no clouds, damnit.

Cool pics RO
Bears weren't common in my area 10 years ago, now they are everywhere.
Everywhere as in don't leave a bag of trash in truck bed overnite.

One thing I think new hunters tend to screw up on - paying attention to what the animals around you are paying attention to.

First thing I taught my son as a runt - when you have deer in front of you and they all stop and look somewhere - SOMETHINGS there. Get ready. Pay attention. They live there, better eyes, ears and noses - use them by proxy.

Neat pics tho and danged good for 100 yards on the fly via ATV. I rarely see bears in WI - occasionally in the Crivitz/near north area.

Free lard.

very cool. It looks they be more common there now !

Yep.

keep your eyes and ears on where their eyes and ears are pointed.

When on horseback and your horse stops with it's ears straight up pointed in the same direction it is looking, sight right down between them ears!

If your horse then starts to "blow" get ready and wish you were and a mule!

You can keep the bears Wayne, the coons here are bad enough.

Cool pictures!

When I'm out with my llamas, when 1 looks at something, the rest quickly lock on. When they do that, there's generally something to see.

NE PA out in the woods on a “leisurely” ride…. BTDT…

Great pics.

I was predator calling down in SW Idaho, Owyhee Desert, 6 feral horses [stud,4 mares,1 colt] 150-175 yards away and barely looked up when the calling started.

About 10 minutes in they all started staring to my right then the stallion & one big mare started running wild and crazy. Busting through sagebrush making loud vocal sounds, running out the direction they were staring. The colt went between the other mares, all acting very nervous.

I didn't see anything, turned around dead slow lowered the volume, nothing, went through other sounds still nothing. Turned the FoxPro off and sat quiet for about 15 more minutes. Nothing. Got up and headed over the hill to see if there was anything there, peeped over and glassed far and wide,, nothing.

Walked down to the flat desert floor and found fresh wolf tracks, canine tracks as big as softball.

I had just read an extensive article on tracking, the track was as fresh as could be. I got down close and looked as the article said to do, saw little pieces of dirt/sand falling apart as I watched.

I've seen jackrabbits running, birds acting up plus other things that let me know something was rousting them about.

I've killed several moose by watching another moose's body language. They don't have those ears for nothing, and are clued in to virtually every other moose within a quarter mile, I opine. They'll "point"others, as you stated.

Leading to another opinion, "The best bait for moose is another moose". "Solitary animal", my patootie! They just don't like their company up close, much.

Plus, I have read, and agree with, they are the most vocal of cervids. That means they communicate - which means they are not "solitary".

Years ago there was a nice picture on the front of the Anchorage paper of a dog-team ascending (Rainy?) Pass during the Iditirod. All the dogs had their heads up cocked to one side, looking at something, which made me look closer. I bet not 1 in 100 readers saw the dozens or hundreds of caribou in the distant background.

I passed it around the classroom I was visiting, and asked the kids and teacher to tell me what the dogs were doing. Not one of them clued in to the dog's posture or saw the caribou until I showed them. All they saw was dogs pulling a sled. (and not that well- being distracted)

Here in my woods squirrels will let you know if anything is on the move nearby.

I hate squirrels when hunting moose.

It's stuff like this you learn usually one of 2 ways.

1. Time in the woods, making mistakes
2. Mentors

Articles in Field and Stream don't cover it because no one's paying them for it.

Yes. Horses don't miss much. Takes a lot of stealth to sneak up on a truly wild bunch.

Yes it is, although cattle- not so much.

I was walking out a few miles back to the truck in the Owyhees well after dark, pitch dark new moon dark. Heard something start rustling, flipped on my headlight and a big dark colored bull was getting to his feet. I was no more than 15 feet from him and let him know I was just passing through. I don't think he ever took a step.

3. Read it on the Campfire ...

No bears in our neighborhood yet. We do have mountain lions and a $hit metric ton of coyotes. It has been years since I saw stray dogs. Anyway, I started carrying my Glock down to the farm just in case.

kwg

Ain't this the truth. My horses always alert us to something we haven't seen or heard before we notice it.

Why? We use squirrels for moose bait.

Old Mike's story reminded me of one mule deer hunt I did in AZ.

Sat to eat my lunch overlooking a cove type area in some scab rock. What the old movies would call a box canyon sort of deal.

Remembered I had a rattling bag in my pack still, probably from hunting whitetail in PA. I was just eating lunch, sitting and watching and figured what the heck, let's make a little noise like a couple of bucks fooling around. Even though it wasn't near the rut, I was hoping some curious buck would come for a look see.

Couple of rattles, couple of bites of lunch, a swig of water, couple more rattles. Maybe a half hour like that?

No deer, but after that little bit I hear a couple of ravens hassling something on the other rim of the canyon. Maybe 150 yards away? I watch and see, they're flying overhead squawking away.

I put the binocs to my eye and watch as a coyote makes its way through the brush to look over the edge of canyon to see what's up. As I was hunting deer with an iron sighted caplock I decided best to just let him turn and walk when I stopped rattling. Didn't want to announce my presence to any deer that might be in the area.

Jays are sometimes as good as crows, ravens, and squirrels at letting one know something is up.

Usually they just let the critters know I'm around though. Bastiges.

I had dozens of encounters with bears. My horses never got bent out of shape to the point of taking off when crossing paths with one. The minute the bear spotted us it bugged out in a hurry.

Squirrels, blue jays, wrens, cardinals are all good critter alarms. Listen up!

If they’re being relatively quiet and then sound off, something is there.

If they’re noisy and all of a sudden shut up, something is there.

Nice.


Has no relevance, however, I saw my first corn stubble bear this past Spring, also was the first from the freeway bear, in Wisconsin.


Always look to see what stuff is looking at. Grandpa and dad made sure to pass that along,

We’re they blowing, sounding like a jake brake, too? That makes me jump out of the tent in moose camp.

At 0-dark hundred.

Cool Pic, that's a big old bear. Big Blocky head, looks big even with summer coat.