majorminors bearcam

[majorminor]

Set up a game camera to catch a photo of the bear showing up on occasion and busting stuff up around the place. I wanted to determine whether it was a black bear or a grizzly as that would affect how I plan to handle things going forward. The fish and game has had a barrell trap at my place for a few weeks but I think this bear has been trapped as he's been inseveral times now wreaking havoc without going in the trap which has a nice stinky deer leg waiting to be tugged on.

So which is it? black bear or griz??

[billhammond]

I know what kinda bear that is, MM:




BIG!

[Deleted]

Looks more like a Grizzly to me. Doesn't have the pointed head and light colored snout that the Black bears do around here.

[Gypsy Picker]

Looks like my dog. Okay, looks like it ATE my dog. My completely uninformed guess is Grizzly.

[dradtke]

That's not a bear, it's a clump of grass. But if I had to pick, based on the center picture, I'd say it looks more grizzly than black. See what the wildlife guys have to say.

[TDR]

You can't go by color, some black bears are brown and even tho he looks black, it could be the night light.

But his face doesn't look very dished in and I don't see the big hump you'd look for in a grizz in that walking away shot, so I think he's a good sized black bear.

I'm also looking at his ears and his big rump. There's nothing to compare his size against, but he looks like 36 inches at the withers and somewhere pushing 300 lbs?

Can you get a tag and take him legal? I mean, I know you can't if he's a grizzly. But that's a nice looking critter and he's practically coming in and giving himself up.

[lakeside]

Looks like a Griz to me. We've got black bears down here on the West side of the Lake. They don't have the snout or the dished (rounded) face like this one. Plus, that dude just reeks of ATITUDE! I can almost see him swaggering in that last still shot. Black bears are wimps, I can run 'em out of my backyard with a little CO2 BB gun. That guys gonna take a 12 gauge.

I do agree with TDR, the hump isn't very visible. But, he looks like a Griz in other regards. Let us know.

[Cribbs]

He or she has the skull structure of a grizzly, and seems to be a bit bigger than a black bear. My vote goes for a grizzly.

[TDR]

Seems like his face is not dished enough to me, Jeff. And I'd look for his shoulders to be bigger compared to his hind end if he's a grizz.

Plus look at his ears. Don't most brown bears have smaller rounder ears? This guy has tall pointy ears.

Steve can you see any good tracks there? If he has real long claws sticking out in front of the pads, that makes him look like a grizz. If he has little doggy claws he oughta be a black bear.

I'll put my money on black bear and I think you should make a rug out of him. Specially if he's tearing stuff up and had lost his fear of people.

Maybe its the angle in those pics (nice pics Mm), but doesn't he look more like this black bear?



You don't see these rounded ears or concavity at the nose or prominent hump like you see on this grizz. Altho the angle does make it hard to see the face.


And just to show that gizzlies can look black

[majorminor]

TDR raises a good point. Distinguishing between the two species can be difficult. If you have time and find this interesting there is an on line no obligation test that can be taken at the Montana Fish and Game website.

fwp.mt.gov/bearid/

I missed one and scored 93% and I’ve personally seen lots of bears.

[Deleted]

Well? After taking Montana's Bear ID test and downloading and lightening the pictures some, I'm more inclined to believe this is a Black Bear. In the lightened pictures, the ears appear larger and more pointed.

Either way I wouldn't want to run into one in my yard.

[majorminor]

I'll check for tracks when I get home. Too dark this morning. Based on the photos I think it's a 6 1/2' foot or so young grizzly. When fish and game set the trap he looked at some of the misc scuffs and scratches and thought it was a black bear so I dunno. We'll show them the pics and go from there. My guess is based on what appears to be dark legs/lighter torso, the size and squareness of his nose relative to his head, how broad the forehead is...then I get to looking at the ears and the doubt creeps in. They aren't definitively tall and pointy nor are they cleary small stubby and round. I still say griz.

[TDR]

That test goes to show that when its obvious its not hard to tell, but sometimes its not so obvious.

I missed all three of these black bears, erring on the side of caution and guessing they might be grizz.

[Deleted]

Difficult to tell with the light or lack of but judging by the shape of the head I'd be more inclined to think it is griz! Either can be dangerous.

[knobtwister]

After Photoshopping the pics so I could see anything, I think what you have is a LARGE bear that needs shooting.

[majorminor]

knobtwister said:

After Photoshopping the pics so I could see anything, I think what you have is a LARGE bear that needs shooting.

Strange - at work the pics are fine...still night shots with a flash, but detail is there. Looked at at home they are pretty dark and obscure.

Fish and game is coming out tonight and I'm trying to talk them in to setting a snare, or another kind of trap. The bear got 8 birds but left us 3 which is about all I ever wanted in the first place

I really hope he can just be caught and relocated(I'm guessing there are some looking in that think maybe I should be relocated )

I'll let you know what the game warden has to say.

[TDR]

If he's coming in pretty regular, and he's too savvy to get in the trap, maybe you can lay for him and dart him with tranquilizer.

Or F&G can. Where I live that'd be illegal for you as a civilian. But it seems like he's gonna get himself shot if he's poaching in people's yards and killing livestock.

[iamjohnne]

Geeze,

And I was surprised to see a possum in the alley the other night.

[millring]

Some folks say there aint no bears in arkansas
Some folks never seen a bear at all
Some folks say that bears go around eating babies raw
Some folks got a bear across the hall

Some folks say that bears go around smelling bad
Others say that a bear is honey sweet
Some folks say this bears the best I ever had
Some folks got a bear beneath their feet

Some folks drive the bears out of the wilderness
Some to see a bear would pay a fee
Me I just bear up to bewildered best
And some folks even see the bear in me

So meet a bear and take him out to lunch with you
And even though your friends may stop and stare
Just remember thats a bear there in the bunch with you
And they just dont come no better than a bear

[millring]

Two admirable things:

Mm's bravery.
Loopy's restraint.