Should ya, Would ya, Could ya - Bear Den

[The Hedgehog]

Reminds me of an encounter I had many springs ago while I was out looking for elk sheds. I was hiking around with my dog when I spotted this sow out feeding in a big open south facing bowl. I sat down about 100 yards away and watched her for awhile. Eventually she spotted my dog and ran off behind a small little rocky protrusion and disappeared. I guessed that there might be a cave or den in the rock so I went down to investigate. Sure enough she was tucked into a small cave that she had filled with dried grass. Definitely not the smartest thing I have ever done, but I have spent a lot of time around bears and she was acting very submissive so I thought I could get away with being there for a minute or two.

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She looks like she’s deciding if to bite you, or not.

 

[theat]

Looks like she was sizing you up in that last picture. mtmuley

Thankfully I'm big, ugly and mean looking!

 

[MTGomer]

I glassed this up in the Beartooth this year. Would this be a den?

 

[MarvB]

It left me with mixed feelings.

I snuck in and out of a cougar den at 4am once in my late 20’s…same

 

[MTLabrador]

I glassed this up in the Beartooth this year. Would this be a den?

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I would say a bear with long claws and a large shoulder hump was doing the digging there.

 

[Irrelevant]

I would say a bear with long claws and a large shoulder hump was doing the digging there.

Or a small bus... jeez that's a huge hole

 

[The Hedgehog]

I glassed this up in the Beartooth this year. Would this be a den?

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I think you should have crawled in for a few pics.

 

[MTGomer]

I think you should have crawled in for a few pics.

We camped about 500 yards from it for a week and never saw anybody come or go. There were a lot of black bears in the area climbing trees and eating pine nuts but the only g bear we saw was through the BTX several miles away across a major drainage

 

[LopeHunter]

Can’t say I’ve ever felt bad about killing a coyote.

I know I have the advantage as an armed hunter. Shooting at a great distance or at a sleeping critter does not give them much play for the game as sound/smell/sight are all but negated. Just brings in mixed feelings for some of us as weigh the nuances of hunting vs killing.

 

[bayoublaster7527]

I know the question is about morals/ethics and not laws. But it is illegal in Colorado.

"No person shall hunt, take or harass a bear in its den."

The regulation was adopted after Richard Kendall's infamous hunt.

Not surprising at all, this is from a state that also vilified spring bear hunting in a state wide ballot initiative.

 

[bayoublaster7527]

The resource impact/harvest would be almost ZERO. The Colorado law is 100% to make idiots feel like they did a good deed.

Denver metro urbanites have ruled that Kendall is a terrible person…. and they rule over all in Colorado.

 

[The Hedgehog]

I put 4 trail cameras around the den in April and knew then it was unlikely the bear was in there as there wasn’t any vent in the snow coming through. I grabbed the cameras a week ago and the only thing I got was a squirrel. Had I crossed paths with that big bear in or around that den, sleeping or awake, I’m pretty sure I would have killed him and not felt a damn bit bad about it.