# How rare is this?



## jbogg (May 13, 2016)

After spending most weekends since January scouting National Forest in preparation for my first year of hunting the mountains, I made a last minute decision to run up this evening and sit on a food plot on Chattahoochee WMA in hopes of a chance at a hog before turkey season ends this weekend.  After walking in a mile or so I was excited to see a bear in the food plot.  After easing to within 30 yds I took a few photos before he saw me and ran huffing up the ridge.

I then quickly set up my hammock seat on the edge of the field since I had arrived so late. (It was 6:15PM when I made it to the food plot)   As I was sitting there relishing my first ever bear encounter I looked across the field to see what I thought was my first hog of the evening.  Once it moved clear of the tall grass it was clear that it was a sow bear with a cub. Over the next 15 minutes they slowly fed closer until much to my surprise I counted a total of five Cubs with one Sow.  I was able to get ten seconds of video as they ran off the field when the wind shifted.  I couldn't figure out how to post the video, and the screen shot I have posted does not show one of the Cubs that had already exited the field. 

I am a complete noob when it comes to mountain hunting and have zero experience with bears.  I have heard of 2-3 cubs being fairly common, but was not aware that a sow could have five Cubs.  Is this common? 

As a side note I had a gobbler sneak to within 30 yds as I was focused on the other end of the field.  He caught me off guard since it was 7:50PM and I was sure they would have been on the roost by then.  He was just inside the tree line and putted a couple of times as he headed up the hill.  Ended up having a great evening in the woods after almost talking myself out of it.  Can't wait for fall.


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## doenightmare (May 13, 2016)

That is too cool - I also didn't know a sow bear could have 5 cubs. No wonder the population is booming.


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## jbogg (May 13, 2016)

This is the one that was already in the field when I arrived.  I'm guessing it weighed around 100 - 125 lbs.


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## jbogg (May 13, 2016)

One more pic.  Would this be a legal sized bear during the season?  Not much to use as a size reference, but it's surely over 75lbs. Right?


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## gobbleinwoods (May 14, 2016)

jbogg said:


> One more pic.  Would this be a legal sized bear during the season?  Not much to use as a size reference, but it's surely over 75lbs. Right?



IMO it would be close.  I would not field dress it until it was weighed in.


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## whitetailfreak (May 14, 2016)

Nice pics. In my hundreds of bear encounters, I've never seen a sow + 5, so it's rare. There are  many documented cases of sows adopting orphaned cubs. I believe the last pic would be a legal bear, but tough to tell without scale.


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## northgeorgiasportsman (May 14, 2016)

I've seen a sow with 4 cubs a few times, but never heard of one with 5.  Cool find!

Hard to tell by your photo, but it looks pretty small.  I'd say if in doubt, let it walk.  You wouldn't want your first bear to be an illegal one.


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## O-Country (May 14, 2016)

I have seen them with 4 twice but not 5.


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## herb mcclure (May 14, 2016)

*How rare is this*

jbogg, first my mountain friend, I usually see you on turkey talk. You are very persistent in doing your thing, about learning mountain hunting and I commend you for that, persistent you have. 

The photo of that mama bear with all those cubs should get you some recognition, if you wanted it, from GON,s magazine. Quite an photo.

I had already signed off on the forum, when It occurred to me, I should comment to you about your mentioning the gobbler coming so late to the food plot. You being what seems like a nice outdoors man, and not having hunted that long in the mountains; I decided to share with you some of my turkey knowledge on public land gobblers that are exposed to lots of hunting. 

When a gobbler lives near a food plot, especially a food plot that has j-hook gobbler droppings in it,and they are fresh. You can bet that gobbler on that public food plot, is not leaving them droppings there during the day; not in hunting season on a WMA. What you learned from seeing that gobbler real late there, is customary for mountain gobblers to wait until almost dark, after the sun has set, and come into a plot to eat; as fast as he can, and then sail off to a roost nearby. 

Keep going and hunt with a camera all summer and by acorn-drop time, you will be fine; I believe. 

herb mcclure


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## tree cutter 08 (May 14, 2016)

Neat pictures. I don't think you will ever see that again. I got pics of 4 cubs one time and seen a sow with 4 cubs last year before daylight, But never seen 5. On a side note I seen little white oak acorns yesterday down low around the 1800 ft mark. Should start showing up higher in elevation in the next few weeks if there going to produce. They were almost the size of a bb so they are hard to see.


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## jbogg (May 14, 2016)

Hey guys. Thanks for the comments. I can't believe it took almost 30 years of hunting before I discovered the mountains in my backyard,  but I am very thankful for the opportunity to hunt such a beautiful place as North Georgia.

Mr. Herb, thank you for your insight regarding the mountain gobblers.  I feel blessed to have benefited from the experience of so many on this site.   Special thanks to Killer Kyle for being so generous with his mountain knowledge, and pointing me in the right direction at times. I will be hunting until dark tomorrow night if necessary to try to catch that old bird on his way to the plot.

This final picture shows all five cubs if you look carefully. There's one to the immediate left of the Sow, and also on the very far right of the screen, just right of the locust tree.


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## Unicoidawg (May 15, 2016)

Great photo...... I have never seen one with 5 as already stated, you will probably never see that again.


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## jbogg (May 15, 2016)

The last cub was still standing upright while the rest of the family was getting out of dodge.


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## Joe Brandon (May 15, 2016)

That is too cool!!!! Saw three cubs last year and thought it was a lot, 5 though!? Wow that is an awesome sight!!! What a cool afternoon! Thanks for sharing!


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## ripplerider (May 16, 2016)

Very rare. The most I have ever seen was 4; they were not much bigger than a ground hog. I was delivering a load of wood chips and saw them crossing a field on R.R. Scenic Hwy and of course didnt have a camera with me. I have seen sows with 3 cubs several times. Once I had a huge sow with 3 big cubs come by at 30 yds; was sitting on the ground on Coopers Creek with a muzzle-loader in my hands which felt pretty inadequate had Mama scented me and felt like her cubs were threatened. They never knew I was there however. First bear looks barely legal. They are very hard to field judge as was said. You should send the pics of the cubs to G.O.N.


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## bfriendly (May 16, 2016)

Having seen a bear once in the wild at close range, I KNOW you were feeling a rush that cant be gotten elsewhere.............to see that many bears takes it to a new level

You also didnt know that gobbler was there because he didnt make a sound

X a bunch on the send the photo to GON


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## shakey gizzard (May 16, 2016)

Very cool pics!


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## NCHillbilly (May 17, 2016)

I've been around bears all my life, and I've never seen or heard of more than four cubs. Two or three is more common. Great pics!


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## T-N-T (May 18, 2016)

Awesome pics!  Congrats on the experience.


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## Killer Kyle (May 18, 2016)

Excellent pics brother, and thanks for the recognition! I am but a wee babe when it comes to exploring these beautiful mountains. Most of anything I know I can attribute to many of the posters here on this thread. Been lucky enough to befriend several of them along the way. There is a great network of real mountain men on here and an ocean of knowledge found here within. So I can pass along the thanks and gratitude to all of the wonderful people here.
You had an excellent hunt, no doubt. Getting to not only encounter that number of bears in a single sit, but getting to observe them is such a treat. Think about the billions of people would wide who will never have the luxury of observing bears in nature, and you got to see seven in a single evening! They are funny and entertaining, intelligent, powerful, curious, irksome, delicious, and beautiful. Really one of my favorite creatures in this biota. I'm glad you had such a great experience to kick off the summertime. Keep your eyes peeled, and you will be seeing more of them, and bigger. I wish you success and joy this coming season. Shoot straight!


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## buckeroo (Jun 3, 2016)

Very cool photo! Looking forward to chatting with you! 
-Greg


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## Dana Young (Jun 3, 2016)

Yeah only ever seen 4 cubs at the most. I would say that bear is around 130 lbs and probably a sow If no cubs were by its side it would b plenty legal to shoot.


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## jbogg (Jun 3, 2016)

buckeroo said:


> Very cool photo! Looking forward to chatting with you!
> -Greg



Likewise Greg.  I will give you a call soon.


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## jbogg (Jun 3, 2016)

Dana Young said:


> Yeah only ever seen 4 cubs at the most. I would say that bear is around 130 lbs and probably a sow If no cubs were by its side it would b plenty legal to shoot.



Thanks Dana.  My dog was over 90lbs, and the bear definitely looked a good bit heavier than ole Jake.  I know the bushy fur can be a little deceiving but I sure thought it would have been a shooter.


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## Ptothec (Jun 10, 2016)

There is some great info on black bears and how many cubs a sow has or can have in this podcast.

http://www.themeateater.com/podcasts/episode-037/


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## 308 (May 17, 2017)

Must be something in the water... 

On cameras, we had our first 4-cub sow this past fall... and we had two different sows with triplets... 

Bless her heart... having quints...


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## ddd-shooter (May 17, 2017)

Jbogg,  great find. I've seen three several times and finally saw 4 last year, but never 5. 
As to field judging, pay attention to the length of nose and ears. Big bears have a shorter nose and tiny ears on a bigger head that often times tucks right into the rest of their body-short neck. Also, legs seem long on a small bear, big bears have stubby legs, with a sway belly. The chest on a big bear is often as big or bigger than the rump. On your pic, tall ears plus long nose plus long legs and a narrow front make it easy to say it's a juvenile. Plenty legal in my opinion, but definitely on the smaller side. It takes a tiny bear(read cub) to be 75 pounds, and many times I compare size with family dogs as well.


Edit to add I didn't realize this thread was a year old! I'm sure you've a lot in the last year!


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## NCHillbilly (May 18, 2017)

Pretty rare, I'd say. I've spent most of my life in the woods here in the Smokies where we are supposed to have the highest concentration of bears in the lower 48; and I've never seen more than three cubs with a sow myself. Two is the usual here, three is fairly unusual.


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## jbogg (May 22, 2017)

Glad this thread was revived.  Someone sent me an interesting link to a black bear documentary where they studied radio collared bears in Pennsylvania.  They tracked the female Bears to their winter dens after Cubs were born and found that the litter sizes were as follows:  One cub was the least common, 5 cubs was as common as 2, and 3 was as common as 4.  With our milder winters in GA I would have thought that 4 - 5 cub litters would be at least as common down here, but apparently not.


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## caughtinarut (May 22, 2017)

I would like to hear numbers from here in the southern part of the state


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## CornStalker (May 25, 2017)

Jbogg, awesome pics!! Like everyone else, I've never seen five cubs together. I wonder if they were all hers or if one was adopted. Either way, that's an incredible find.

Also, I'm curious on the documentary you found from Penn.  Could you share a link? There seems to be very little black bear research literature available from the southern Appalachians. I'm surprised the UGA doesn't do more research on them. Perhaps they do and I just can't find the publications, but I'm always eager to learn more about them.


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