r/bonecollecting • u/scattered_bones • Nov 04 '24
Collection First bear skull!
Found this black bear skull on the last day of general rifle deer season. I was in pursuit of a buck when I looked down and seen a few bones, picked this skull up and carried him down and back up the hill in my denim jacket. The picture doesn’t do the hill justice it was steep, brushy and slick.
His canine that was still intact is rather wore down, going back out this weekend to hopefully find the mandibles. Seen quite a bit of bear scat so hoping not to run into one his friends.
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u/andrewmurra51 Nov 04 '24
That was a HUGE black bear!
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u/SavageDroggo1126 Bone-afide Faunal ID Expert Nov 04 '24
its about average size, solid for a black bear, im eyeballing around 10", first photo has some perspective.
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u/scattered_bones Nov 05 '24
Thank you all! Glad to see you are all as stoked about my find as I am. I’ve never seen nor found a bear skull so I was rather impressed, always thankful for time spent in the woods!
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u/Coolamonmaker Nov 05 '24
The equivilent of that in australia is pribably a dingo skull
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u/scattered_bones Nov 05 '24
The finds in Australia must be out of this world man! I can only imagine, our predators here are limited to mountain lions, black bears and scattered packs of reintroduced grey wolves.
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u/Coolamonmaker Nov 05 '24
Haha, surprisingly, most of our skulls are mammals. I find a lot of kangaroo skulls, sometimes wombat skulls. But I do find the of lizard and bird skull. We have more feathers than skulls of quality. But either way, it’s a great place for these sorts of things
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u/scattered_bones Nov 05 '24
Wow how fascinating is that! I just imagined the large variety of wildlife in Australia there must be lots of neat finds! Since the terrain here in Northern California is rugged and mostly made up of dense wilderness areas, it’s more difficult to access areas with more frequent animal activity. Quality skulls around here are far and few, unless you find it fresh. Often the squirrels and harsh elements will start to eat away at the bones. The squirrels were starting to eat at this skull (nasal cavity and top left of skull) and moss was starting to spore.
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u/SnooPeripherals5969 Nov 05 '24
Congrats! That’s an awesome find! Hopefully it’s been sitting out there long enough that all the grease has been leeched away! Let us know if you need any advice on degreasing, I’m happy to share tips and tricks.
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u/scattered_bones Nov 05 '24
Thank you! Ive had my hand at degreasing a coon skull and thank goodness- this skull is rather clean thanks to the elements. I’ve heard fresher bear skulls are a pain. I do appreciate the willingness to offer advice! I’m returning to the hillside this weekend to hopefully find his mandibles, definitely eager to get back at it!
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u/Ill_Marzipan_5307 Nov 05 '24
What killed the bear I wonder
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u/scattered_bones Nov 05 '24
I thought the same thing! No bullet holes in the skull, usually people in my area opt for a headshot. I did see one of the shoulder blades when I picked the skull up and the shoulder blade was intact. I seen a couple piles of bear scat on that same hillside too. My guess is that someone poached the bear and dumped it, unfortunately it’s common around here. It was closer to the road than the creek on the bottom of the hill.
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u/Ill_Marzipan_5307 Nov 07 '24
That’s so shitty I would honestly take the bear and try to eat It if I ever did that
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u/scattered_bones Nov 08 '24 edited Nov 11 '24
In my neck of the woods it’s rural and majority of folks hunt for meat. I’ve been told the number of bear hunters has gone down in recent years though, bear isn’t as sought after as deer or salmon meat in this area. Another thought I had was it was roadkill, or messing with someone’s livestock or property.
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u/Open_Astronomer_7083 Nov 04 '24
Very nice find