Registered: Sep 2007
Location: Knoxville, Tn
Posts: 9

I am mainly a coon hunter but some of my buddies bear hunt and I am starting to love it myself. I was so surprised last night that I just had to see if anyone else had done this before. Up until now the most bear I had see at once was two, a mom and cub, up one tree. However last night we went and turned 14 dogs loose. Two hours later some of them started beeping treed, but we had not heard the first bark. So we started tracking and driving around looking for them when we finally found them they were three dogs on a huge tree. My buddy and I were the first to get to the tree. It was less then 50yd off the road but the briars and under brush was so thick it was almost impossible to get to. Once we finally got down there we had to break down some of the under brush before we could even see up the tree. Then after clearing out the third spot to look up we finally spotted THREE cubs on a limb together. They were about as big as small dogs so I would guess they weighed 30 to 50 pounds. I was ecstatic with this but my buddy was worried about finding the mother bear so we kept looking. After clearing the fifth spot we finally found her. She was sitting on a limb hugging the main part of the tree. This was bear number FOUR in the same tree. While looking at her and trying to call everyone else and tell them where we were I noticed something moving above her and to my amazement there was a fourth cub, but this one was much smaller then the other three. It was only about the size of a large coon. So I would guess it at 15 to 20 pounds. WOW that was bear number five in the same tree. Man this “huge” tree is sure starting to look small. I am no bear expert but I thought a bear could only have two cubs a year. The first three were all the same size but I don’t think they were a year old. So how did mom end up with four cub, two different ages, and all under a year old?

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Aug 2006
Location: USA
Posts: 1522

__________________
Jess
Light Foot English

"They are often imitated but never duplicated"

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jun 2003
Location: vt
Posts: 1256

So how did mom end up with four cub, two different ages, and all under a year old?


she didnt --


unless she adopted one --lol


they breed every other year --


most likely to have 2 cubs but can have 1- 5





one cub is probably stunted -- or a runt --

maybe was unhealthy and has recovered now --

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Nov 2007
Location: Alberta, Canada.
Posts: 123

Have seen four cubs on a bear before but they are all gonna be small. Had a set followin me bout six years ago, Sounds like she just had a runt in the litter, But a cool find, Healthy sow. Congrats.

__________________
IN THE TREE OR DIE TRYIN!

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Sep 2007
Location: Knoxville, Tn
Posts: 9

Nice pic. I never thought of one being a runt. One of the guys that was with us said that the sow could have adopted a cub to. Is that common?

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jun 2003
Location: vt
Posts: 1256

One of the guys that was with us said that the sow could have adopted a cub to. Is that common?

its common in hollywood

she couldnt / wouldnt adopt a cub that wasnt same age --

she has milk - every other year




i have heard of biologists putting an abandoned cub in with a radio collared , denned up female -

i think the odds of that happening without human interference would be very close to zero

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Feb 2008
Location: westpoint,Ca.
Posts: 38

Yea I'd have toagree with Pete, I've had 3 cubs before on a couple of ocassions but mostly 2 and sometimes just 1. Mike

__________________
I hunt the leopard spotted bear dogs
http://bearmtnguideservice.webs.com/

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Dec 2007
Location:
Posts: 11

I treed five in one tree about 15 years ago. Looked like a sow, a couple of cubs and a couple of yearlings. Hard to say what they actually were.

Dave

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged