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Black Bear Hunts
| Bear Hunting in the Old Days | |||||||||
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| Taken in Happy Camp, CA in the 1930's | |||||||||
In the photograph above, Steve's grandfather and uncle
are shown with two black bears they shot. Back then, in the early
1930's,
bears were hunted mainly for their meat and their lard. The lard
was
highly prized for its cooking and baking oil. The children got
excited whenever the family got a bear because they eagerly anticipated
the
excellent doughnuts that would inevitably be made from the bear
lard.
As you can see, bear hunting runs in Steve's family!
Some Facts About Black Bears
1. Black bears are very unpredictable. Some will avoid humans, and a few have no fear.
2. Black bears have excellent
hearing and sense of smell, but poor eyesight.
3. The average bear taken by hunters weighs 125-300 lbs. Above that weight is considered
to be large.
4. Boone & Crockett judges black bears by weight and skull size.
5. Black bears are territorial, but several can reside
in the same area, especially when there is an abundance of food source, such as plentiful berries.
6. Cubs stay with their
mother for almost 1-1/2 years; then she forces them to go on their own.