Saved a bear this morning

[Gobblengrunt]

Me and my buddy Joe were out turkey hunting in the Newark watershed. We came upon loud bawling which turned out to be a bear in distress. We found a small cub with her back leg stuck between two strong saplings. After observing it from a distance for about twenty minutes, I was confident (kind of) that no mother bear was in the immediate area. We went in for a quick rescue mission. As we got closer, we seen her back leg was completely snapped in half and held together by skin only. I freed the fiesty cub and it ran away quickly on its three good legs and up a tree. We backed out quickly and observed again from a distance. No mother bear was in sight within the next hour. By the elasticity of its skin (or lack of), I knew the bear was dehydrated. By somewhat old sign in the immediate area of its mother and the condition of the cub, it appeared the cub was stuck in that tree for at least a day if not more. I believed the mother had abandoned the cub which would have resulted in a slow agonizing death or to just be eaten by a male bear. I decided to recapture the bear for rehabilitation and give it a fighting chance. I swept up the cub and quickly left the immediate area. Still no sign of a mother bear so I was absolutely certain it had been abandoned at this point. Cradled the cub to the car and called fish and game. Fish and game responded to my location and retrieved the bear. They were to transport the cub to the rehabilitator for me. They are hopeful the bear can make a recovery and released to a wild mother with cubs who will most likely take the orphan cub as her own. Even though I know my area is loaded with bears and many will say why do we need another bear in the area, I did not have it in my heart to not give her a fighting chance. An otherwise healthy cub should not die this way. If the anti hunters only knew how cruel nature is. Had a really cool white blaze on her chest too! I just hope it doesn't turn into another "peddles" celebrity! Thanks for looking

[sussexcohunter]

i think you completely did the right thing. no animal should suffer. must have been awesome to hold a wild bear. imagine it was full of ticks too

[Rusty]

Great job Gobblengrunt.    

[Bucksnbows]

Great job!  I felt much the same when they saved that fawn stuck in my storm water drain the other day.  It's just going to grow up to eat my shrubs and torment my dog, but it shouldn't suffer dying a slow death in a storm water drain.  

[BothBarrels]

Great read, Good man.

 

The anti's are nuts, and don't understand the type of people we are.

[Hunter115522]

You ABSOLUTELY did the right thing. Good job!

[vdep217]

Although we pursue many types of game I don't think any hunter has the heart not to intervene in a situation like that. I my self have rescued baby geese that the mother was smashed by a car. I have also five the same with deer groundhogs and an otter once with a hook and tangled in ****ing line. Assessor job

[Nomad]

Nice bear!  Congrats!

[stratocaster]

Good job and hopefully it will recover, although it had no problem climbing that tree.  You will not receive any accolades from the anti-hunting asswads but it looks pretty cool holding a cub.   I saved a box turtle yesterday from getting squashed by a car.  Felt good to hold a wild turtle and put it in a safer place.  

[Swamprat]

Absolutely awesome. One of the best posts on this year.

Incredible. Hats off to you guys.

 

Nick

[Deerslayer21]

great job buddy !!!!

[Cedars]

Outstanding job! Thank you for showing what a true conservationist does.

[RPK0620]

SPECTACULAR.... what a great story and thanks for telling us.

[The Buschman]

Fantastic ... Great Job ... Well Done!

[BenedictGomez]

How did you get the cub out of the tree?  And it didnt try to bite you?