Bears are tough!

I just finished cleaning up the skull and jaw from my spring bear I killed at the end of April and wanted to share a few more pictures. In this "as he lay" shot if you look close you can see his lower jaw is slightly askew.
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...8/IMG_4461.jpg

Here is what it looks like now. It had been broken on both sides at some point in time!
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...8/IMG_4482.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...8/IMG_4478.jpg

In this shot you can see he had a big scar across his nose (right side) and I'm betting he got it and the broken jaw by a bite from a larger boar at some point in time.
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...8/IMG_4463.jpg

He was no worse for wear when I killed him though... Fat as happy as a spring bear could ever want to be. Bears are tough!!

That's amazing Joe, nice pics and story. I think all wild animals are tough hombres to live in the elements 24/7.

Nice story and pictures Joe. It's amazing he kept weight on with that broken jaw. That is a tough animal. Pretty adaptive too.

good job on the skull, what did it score.

Real cool pics. Thanx. I bet he lost a ton of weight when the injury first happen.

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Originally Posted by packer58

I think all wild animals are tough hombres to live in the elements 24/7.

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I was thinking the same thing while I posted this. Bears are tough but so are most of the critters we pursue. I can't imagine surviving that injury without surgery. Makes me respect them even more!

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Originally Posted by bigshot

good job on the skull, what did it score.

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Well that's a funny story. When I picked the skull up from my taxidermist I asked him if he scored it. He said he hadn't but it would easily go 20". When I got home with it frozen I measured it and it was right at 21". Once I cleaned it up it is only 19 10/16 so not a Booner but we get very few of them here in Oregon anyhow. I killed one in 2008 that scored 20 13/16 and it was the only one from Oregon for that recording period. I love big bears and I'm always happy to kill a big old mature boar!:)

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Originally Posted by Ikeepitcold

Real cool pics. Thanx. I bet he lost a ton of weight when the injury first happen.

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I bet he did!

Very cool ....

Cool pics and story, thanks for sharing.

That is very cool. I took a grizzly a few years back. When I skinned the skull I found half a bullet lodged in the forehead. Bear had been shot long enough ago that there was no mark on the skin at all.