The Things You Find in the Woods (Warning - Graphic Photos of Bear Remains)

[MT1]

On the first day of buck season in Franklin County I came across an interesting find. I spooked a coyote that was feeding on a carcass near where I had parked. On closer inspection it turned out to be the remains of a bear left by a hunter.

Everyone who has seen the pictures is amazed at how human the features appear.

I am not posting these to shock anyone. The intent is purely educational to show how similar the features are to human hands and feet. I will apologize now if anyone is offended... but keep in mind the warning in the title was there for a reason.

[ruggerio]

it looks like the bear was poached and they pulled the claws out, did you notice any claws and was it found with the paws cut off like that?

if so, that's serious stuff going on.

a hunter would not have butchered a bear in the field as its illegal. they need to go intact to a bear check station and no way would it have been in that state the first day of buck.

im not sure bear was even open then, i thought it was the second week of buck this year or the last days of the first week.

[Philadelphia]

On the first day of buck season in Franklin County I came across an interesting find. I spooked a coyote that was feeding on a carcass near where I had parked. On closer inspection it turned out to be the remains of a bear left by a hunter.

Everyone who has seen the pictures is amazed at how human the features appear.

I am not posting these to shock anyone. The intent is purely educational to show how similar the features are to human hands and feet. I will apologize now if anyone is offended... but keep in mind the warning in the title was there for a reason.

That's not the bear. That's what the bear ate. Always make sure bear is fully dead before trying to field dress.

[MT1]

PA black bear season starts mid November. It is usually one to two weeks prior to buck season. Depending on the WMU it is mid Nov to early Dec.

The bear was a legal kill. The carcass was dumped AFTER the hunter had it checked at a weigh station, took it home, caped it, and harvested the meat.

The condition was relatively fresh. You say it would not have been in this condition if legal.... All that was dumped was fatty tissue and skeletal system. If you recall, we had another warm start to antlered deer season. Had the remains been present for a prolonged period they would have been greatly decayed and picked clean by scavengers.

Removing paws (or legs in the case of deer) is a common practice when pulling a hide to butcher.

[Av8or]

Thats crazy

[Manxdriver]

Should have scooped it up and found a way to 'save' it for the next Halloween!! Guaranteed some fool would call the cops on you for being too graphic.

[Neilthepilot]

Everyone who has seen the pictures is amazed at how human the features appear.

I am not posting these to shock anyone. The intent is purely educational to show how similar the features are to human hands and feet. I will apologize now if anyone is offended... but keep in mind the warning in the title was there for a reason.

I read a post once that a man had got a bear. When he skinned it it looked so human he never hunted bear again.

[MT1]

After getting home that night I did a few google searches and apparently several times per year the police are called due to someone mistaking bear remains for human. I would have never guess prior to seeing this. There are also a few web sites tat overlay and compare the skeletal systems. If you only focus on the paws and spine the similarities are weird.

[camper]

I may be channeling Topsy, but methinks you found a Bigfoot.

camper

[new_shooter]

Wow. On initial viewing I would have thought human remains too. Looking closer I see the lack of human style opposable thumbs. But, had I encountered that unprepared my thoughts may have been more along the lines of X-Files, and less along the lines of bear.