unit 27

coueskiller · Aug 27, 2003

closed for bear 8/27/03 @ sundown

edhunter · Aug 27, 2003

Damn, that was fast but getting predictable. Four boars and 15 80 pound sows. Great going guys.

Ed

KattTraxx · Aug 27, 2003

Ed,
I am just a simple Utah Redneck, but I sure don't see how the way they are handling this whole Bear thing is helping the NMGF accomplish their management objectives. What are they trying to do? And, do they seem happy with the way it has gone the last 2 years?

We came down last Aug, and the party we hunted with caught 3 bears in 5 days and we didn't shoot any of them. Bears were dying everywhere though.

Up home here, we have an "extermination order" for the lions on the other side of the mountain above the house. Killing all the predators will make everything better I guess.

In the next life, we hound guys need to be in charge of everything. Then things will be better!!! Take Care, KattKrapp

bullwidgeon · Aug 27, 2003

It wasn't all sows. I agree that bear is going to go to draw soon if the current management plan keeps in place. It is just something they will have to do eventually. I saw some bears in places that won't get killed due to inacessibility but everyone near a road that poked it's head out got blasted, I am sure. I didn't see or hear any hounders at all, but then again I was looking in the pears and usually the dog guys don't get down there.

Bret M.

beardog · Aug 27, 2003

dang thats a nice bear, wish theyd let them all get that big.

edhunter · Aug 28, 2003

Kat, this unit 27 is in Arizona and closed due to our quota on sows. To be truthful, I only know of one 80 pound sow killed by hound guys. Waycool told me he was up riding around and they goofy suckers were happy with it.

New Mexico is going through some turmoil in their Game Department from top to bottom. The drought is bad enough but I think more game is lost from mis-management than any other single cause. Who knows how this mess will settle out.

Bull, that is a very nice bear. I can almost see him sitting over a big pear bush pulling each one off and munching it down. I'm surprised at how good his coat appears, same color as my dogs and women-- ha, ha.

Ed

RLH · Aug 28, 2003

ain't it the truth, ed? too bad they can't put a point limit on bears, like they do deer and elk in some places. folks that shoot babies oughta feel ashamed of it. like you say, they kill a buncha little sows in just a few days, fill the quota. then the season is over for folks that want to be a little selective and turn loose the sows and babies, too. these guides that let clients shoot the cubs really oughta be whipped. i'm sure they tell em that it's a 300 pounder, when it's more like 90. but no BS aside, that big black sob that bullwidgeon put down is a heck of a bear. that's what a guy needs to hold out for. good job Bret. was it a far pack outta there? did he have a lot of daylight under his belly? that's what i always look at when glassing bears at a distance, how much distance there is between there chest and the ground. big bears have long legs.

bullwidgeon · Aug 28, 2003

Mile and a half or so pack out. The bear looked long when I first glassed him. Not skinny, but long. I could see his ears in relation to his head and knew he was a good one, especially since I had seen quite a few little bears the couple days before and there is no mistaking when a nice one does show up. this is the second biggest bear I saw this hunt, but the first biggest bear was in one of those spots you would have to be crazy to go in and kill him at, a real leg breaker canyon. The chest measurments indicate he would have been around 360 pounds, but he was covered in fat and I think he would have weighed more;-). This bear had been in the pears for weeks and was going between them and the scrub oak acorns which had been in for a few weeks too. The skull looks like it might go 20, maybe a little over if I am lucky. I shot him at dark and did not find him till the next day at noon, he only bled for the first 300 yards and went another 350 or so with no blood at all before he piled up. It had sort of sprinkled during the night after I shot him and the only blood I was finding was on beargrass he rubbed against and rocks, the blood on the soil was not visible at all. I almost gave up on the trail 2 different times and both times found little dime sized splotches 10 yards further. Finally after I could not find any more I started making big circles out from the last blood and finally found him. I pulled the hide off him anyways with hair coming out like crazy the entire time but it is not salvageable. I am still sick about losing the hide and meat on him and I won't ever shoot another one unless it is bigger or it is a nice sized cinnamon that I am sure I can get the hide out and to the taxidermist the same day for a rug on. I would like to see bear management change but anytime G&F makes something go draw then it will never come back to over the counter. I am not really sure what the answer is, but according to G&F, bears in 27 are on the increase and I know I sure saw alot of them (7 different ones) in the last 5 days. I talked to the G&F bear report line lady a few minutes ago and she said as of right now 7 sows and 7 boars is the total reported harvest so far for 27 which is not as bad as I thought. I guess they have till Friday to report in any bears killed yesterday though. Anyways, thanks for the kind words, I am just glad that after 5 years I finally got one I can be happy with even though it was an ugly situation trying to find him.

Bret M.

Happyhunting · Aug 28, 2003

Bret,

Congratulations on a beautiful bear. I love hunting bears. Last year I killed a 7' 5" 450 pound chocolate/cinnamon bear out of unit 22. It should make Boone and Crocket. It is still in my taxidermists freezer. I get my lifesize rug back on September 18th.