kidso

I heard Reed give such a seminar about 16 years ago at a meeting of the Mesa Varmint Callers, which introduced me into the world of predator caling bears. I highly recommend it. He is a great story teller and excellent orator and has TONS of experience.

Nice shot! Great color. Seems to be more color phase bears being taken than block ones this year.

Nice color, good size, and great story! If you were driving that far, what unit did you tag in? It is always a bear hunting alone, but sometimes those hunts turn out to be the best! ...especially the impromptu ones! A six-pack of Mountian Dew and a package of hotdogs! I still do that, but with a half-dpzen Gatorade bottles!

A lot of us have probably been there. Mr. Jonathan's photos remind me of a cliff I nearly died on in the Sierra Anchas during a rain storum while pursuing a bear. Good story Mr. Jonathan and I liked your hunting success, even without tagging a bear! ...waiting for Coosfan's story now....

Great job! What time of day did you shoot him at?

Thanks for the preaching, but the sermon ended a month ago with the last minister and my confession that I wished my bear was larger, but it wasn't. Yes, the Fish and Game have sow quotas for people like me who choose to tag a sow, sometimes regardless of size. That protects the species and ensures reproductive survival for future hunting generations. I knew there could be negative responses on this site, but did not expect them to be so draconian in their content amongst fellow hunters. In spite of that, I posted the pictures and my story due to the personal enjoyment and odyssey I experienced on this hunt, which I wanted to share with others, in the hopes that they would enjoy it too. Most individuals appreciated my story, fewer did not. "Size" and "respectable" are all subjective to each and every individual. I do not trophy hunt, thus I could care less about size. I've tagged a near 21" inch bear and another 17+" bear, and now this 13-14" bear. Yet, this last bear means the most to me and is my most respectable trophy. And when it comes to ETHICS, the individual subjective nature of this beast is far greater than that of anything else. So please, don't espouse your own personal ethics to impinge on the personal choices and freedom of others. And don't expect every hunter to share the same goals and dreams. And yes, I take no offense and enjoy all the opinions stated on this community forum, for I am Goldilocks, and I approve this message...and here are my three bears!

Beautiful color! Looks like that guy was really low in elevation! Did you glass him up in prickly pears? By the way, it wasn't luck...40 days of scouting in the field simply paid off!

Nice bear. Is his back a lighter shade of brown, or is it just the angle of the photo? What unit did you tag the bear in?

I have eaten both lions that I called in and am still finishing off the last one. It is one of our favorite meats. Absolutely nothing bad about it! I called a bobcat in last February and have eaten about half of that so far. It tastes almost as good as lion. I usually cook it in the crock pot and turn it into a barbeque. It is a light pink meat that turns out quite well. I usually bring in wild meat treats for my students, and they have loved everything thus far: bear, lion. buffalo, elk, and javelina! (I haven't shared any bobcat with them yet.) But, I have not eaten coyote nor fox, and don't think I ever would try them knowingly.

I'm going to start bagging and packing out the next lion scats I come across for future use. I'll have to hide them behind something in the back of my freezer, as I don't think my wife would be too happy finding a bag of scats next to our steaks or shrimp! As, for the last picture, the black tips on the ears of the little beast remind me of bobcat. Do lions have the black tipped ears from behind as well?

You get some of the neatest bear video footage with your setup! Has old Kong shown up yet this year on your cams?

Weird and dumb. I wonder if the growers ever pondered what their "pets" might do to them if their dog food ran out? I hope the Fish and Game called in 14 hunters with depradation tags to fill their freezers.

Don't they get caught and busted for lying, as they still have to bring the bear in for proof of sex, don't they?

I use a plastic bag for the heart and liver, as they can be real bloody or slimy, but I use the regular cotton game bags for the rest of the meat and a separate cotton game bag for the hide. I like to use presdator calls for bear, so I would call from a spot with a decent vantage point if you know there are bears present nearby and draw them out into the open for a shot. I scream constantly like I'm being torn apart for at least 45 minutes before changing locations when calling for bear. Check around manzanita thickets and wild berry thickets for scat, especailly if there is water nearby. You might even have some bears feeding on prickly pears, depending upon where you are going. Good luck and I hope you see one!

Hi, This is a machaca I made out of some of my spring bear meat. First, I made the salsa. I hand chop all ingredients with a knife, no blenders, as they weaken the flavor of the salsa. I diced a bunch of tomatoes (about 40 medium sized), three *** *****, eight **************, four ********, and six packets of ******* seasoning. Next, I prepared the bear meat. I had two roasts, completely lean with hardly any fat, that I boiled and simmered on the stove for three to four hours with a half brown onion in each pot. I then placed the roasts in crockpots overnight on low. In the morning, I shreaded the roasts by hand into tiny long strips. Finally, I mixed some of the bear meat with the homemade salsa and simmered over medium heat for about an hour. Cook up some tortillas, and bingo! Machaca de Oso!!! So sorry, my wife caught me typing this out and refused to let me divulge her secret family recipie for homemade salsa, hence the presence of the ********. But there is a nice salsa recipie already listed in this forum!

Yup! My wife rules me! Yet, she is sweet enough to support my hunting habit and will cook and eat any game that I bring home. Lion is her favorite, which just might get me out into the field this weekend, as our lion supply is running low and 24A is opening up!

I think very few hunters would agree with your logic that one has to kill something in order to have a successful hunt. I've been bear hunting for 13 years or so in Arizona, and to me, all of my hunts have been successful, eventhough I have only tagged three bears in that time span. I believe that success is measured more by the personal enjoyment one receives while doing something that they love. For me, its hunting bear (or any big game for that matter); and not necessarily tagging one. I'm only 2 for 3 in harvesting cow elk, but have viewed the time spent in the field on all three of my elk hunts as a success. I already conceded in my original post that the bear was small, AND that it had a beautiful color. I since stated that I have tagged larger bears and I have had them in my sights every year since I began hunting bear. Thus, I tagged this particular bear, not to simply achieve a kill, but to fulfill my personal objective of harvesting my first spring bear with a bow that was color phase. Size was not an issue to me, nor was sex an issue. The only pertinent issue was whether or not it was a sow with cubs. And after observing the bear long enough to make sure it wasn't a reddish coyote with cubs, I knew I could tag it legally, which I chose to do. My choice, my success, my trophy. Your choices, your successes, and your trophies can be different. That's how it should be...America.

Great job! So, did you actually miss the bear in the evening twice, or just once? Do you think you got the same bear in the morning that you missed at night, or was it a different bear? Were all threeof the bear so saw in black in color, or were there any phase bears?

Hi, I could care less about negative reponses, as it simply is a maturity thing and some of us have more of that to do than others. I too, years ago, once ripped a hunter for having what I deemed to be a "small" bear in his camp, but over the years have become less judgemental about things of that nature. Although this was my first "archery" bear, I have called in by hand and harvested two other Arizona bears by "rifle" that had skull measurements of 20 9/16 and 17 1/4 inches. This 30 pound toilet seat cover has a current skull measurement of 14 inches and is still drying, but it is a sweeter trophy to me than any other bear I've taken thus far. Its not the size of the kill, but the thrill and enjoyment of the hunt that matters. Keith

Nice shot! Did you use your backpack or a boulder for a rest? Were you laying down or kneeling? I ask only since my longest shot has been 260 yards. I have tried nothing further than that! Beautiful bear! Are you going to have a rug made or a full body mount? I hope you had a buddy to help you pach him out. How far was your downed boar from your vehicle? Thanks.

I'd be out there now if I didn't fill my spring archery tag! There always is a magic about opening weekend for OTC fall bear. I miss it.

Copy that! My wife loves lion meat more than elk and bear! It is a beautiful lighter meat than bear or elk and looks like pork roast. I too have pulled it apart and barbequed it and brought it in for both my school staff and my students. They have also had elk and bear, but lion is truly the class favorite!

Nice little bear. It must have been exciting to find that on your cam!

About five years ago in the white mountains during a fall bear season, I called in what I thought was a wolf. It was an extremely large canine, however, it looked weird and sickly, but had a huge tracking collar around its neck. I stood up and waved my arms at it and it went back into the brush. I thought afterwards that it might have been a bear or lion dog with its tracking collar, but it was not a bluetick, redbone, or any hound doug that I had ever seen before. It looked like a mangy wolf to me! I have also called in an immature bald eagle that was spotted white and brown on its feathers and head last year at Four Peaks. I figured it must have been passing by to Roosevelt Lake or something. I've called in more elk than I have deer, but never a javelina nor an illegal. Keith

Sweet Jaguar! That makes four photos of jaguars I've seen from this southwest area. This one, Macho B, one off of the San Carlos Reservation, which was I think the last jaguar harvested in Arizona, and one I got a copy of about a decade ago. I used to play soccer in a Hispanic league, and a large percentage of its players were undocumented from Mexico, Central, and even South American countries. I used to bring a soccer clipboard out to the games and had some of my hunting pictures on it along with various plays I wanted to try. One of the players saw a mountain lion photo I harvested and mentioned that his uncle had shot one like that down in Mexico on the ranch he lives on, but that it had spots on its body. I immediately thought of a young lion in my mind and asked if he had any pictures it. He siad he had two pictures and brought them out to one of our next games; and low and behold it was indeed a small jaguar! So much for the Endangered Species Act! We can obey the laws in our country to protect certain species, but we really have no control over what other people do in their own boarding countries. I don't even know if Mexico has game laws or if they signed on to protect jaguars or not. However, I'm sure that the common poor rancher down south has no idea of any such legislation and even if he did..would it matter to him? He would do whatever it takes to protect his livelihood and eliminate threats to his family economy. This post is meant in no way to criticize our neighbors, its just a simple comment to point out the reality of legislation versus survival in a rugged world.