Bears are tough!

[Joe Hulburt]

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.


Here is what it looks like now. It had been broken on both sides at some point in time!



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.


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!!

[packer58]

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

[Kevin Root]

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

[bigshot]

good job on the skull, what did it score.

[Ikeepitcold]

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

[Joe Hulburt]

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

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!

good job on the skull, what did it score.

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!

[Joe Hulburt]

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

I bet he did!

[Montana]

Very cool ....

[RUTTIN]

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.