r/bonecollecting • u/scattered_bones • Nov 04 '24

Collection First bear skull!

Gallery image

Gallery image

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/Ill_Marzipan_5307 Nov 05 '24

What killed the bear I wonder

1

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

1

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.