Boar or Sow

[drebo1212]

Never Bear hunted before. started seeing some bears on my trail camera. Is this a boar or sow? How big is it?

[kidso]

Young juvenile about 1-2 years old. Mother probably turned this one loose this year. Can not determine the sex from this angle.

[.270]

i think that's a good sized boar. big back foot on him. broad butt, long legs. broad nose. not a huge bear, but doesn't look at all like a sow or a youngen. Lark.

[elkaholic]

My first impression was 2- yr old not much older - upright pointy ears

[6ANut]

Kidso has bear in his blood so hard to go against what he says.

[.270]

never tried to post photos before. hopefully this works.

 

here's an object lesson. do with it what you want with it. i could have shot everyone of these bears in the past few years, but didn't. i look at and watch dozens of bears a year.

 

this is full grown adult sow. she has raised multiple cubs the last few years. had 2 last year. she weighs well over 200 lbs, maybe over 250. look at her nose and front feet. just lihe a woman, no matter how big they get, their feet and nose don't grow. she also has skinny legs. check out the ears.

 

 

this is a medium sized boar. probably less than 300lbs. big head. check out his ears. he also has really long fur. early spring. but look at his feet and legs. check out how thick they are. gonna be a helluva bear someday. he's bigger than the bear in the photo at the beginning of the post.

 

 

this is a big boar. he's wet so you can see how he's built, notice how much air is under his belly. big bears get tall. he's probably approaching 400 lbs, and not real fat. i call him the bruiser. look at his ears in this photo.

 

 

this is the bruiser dry. look at his ears close. they look fairly tall. some folks think that means a small bear. this ain't no small bear. he'll score real high. looks at the scars on his head. check out the claws and the size of his front legs. his ears are up because he heard something. the next photo i got a couple seconds later was of him biting the camera.

 

 

check out the head on that one! can you even see ears? this thing has a head like an big block chevy engine.

 

 

anyway, look these over. bear season will be upon you soon. everybody needs to shoot at least one but you need to try to shoot good ones. there are a lotta bears right now if you look in the right places. learn what a big one looks like. i don't care to shoot anymore myself, but you guys have fun. and no, i won't tell you where these ones live. Lark.

[GreyGhost85]

That's what big bears look like

[kidso]

Yes, these are nice bears. The head-on picture of the brownie is my favorite. Imagine his head shaking left to right with his tongue hanging out coming in to a predator call!

[coues4u]

is it considered baiting if you shoot a bear that comes into a salt lick?

[kidso]

One can not knowingly use any substance at anytime to attract bears. If you had an archery deer tag and were hunting deer over salt and a bear showed up, I think that would be a legal bear take (with a bear tag). In the past, if you put corn or apples out for deer and shot a bear over it, I think that would have been an illegal take.

 

These are interesting pics with the salt pellets and bears showing some curiosity with them. I have never used pellets, but have put out the 40 pound reddish mineral blocks for elk and have had bears walk past the blocks on a game trail while paying no heed at all to them. These bears seem to be sniffing something out here. Maybe deer or elk that were on the salt earlier ....or someone who came by wearing AXE cologne!

[AZLance]

Lark definitely wears AXE cologne...or some version of Calvin Klein cologne.

[.270]

the salt is there for livestock. it's easier to keep a pack saddle balanced with loose salt than with blocks. i think horse, cow, deer and elk smell was an attractant. that and the country where these bears are is loaded with bears. ever see that many big boars in one place? have a photo of one other bear that is actually heavier than any of these. usually big boars don't tolerate each other much and stay outta each others territory. the bruiser lives real close. see his bed all the time. his scent might have something to do with the other bears coming in.

i posted these to give folks something to use to judge bears, so they hopefuly don't shoot sows and weiners. that big ol' sow would make a real nice rug, but she is a reall good mama that raises lotsa cubs, be a shame for her to get popped. she contributes a bunch to the bear population. and the wieners, well they're just ain't much there. shoot the big ones. i think the bear in the photo that started this is real close to shooter size. probably be around 200 when the season starts. he ain't no 1-2 year old cub for sure. not all boney looking and skinny. he's figured out how to get some meat in his diet. have fun. season is close. Lark.