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Bear Wallows

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Bear Wallows

Postby Swede » 08 08, 2018 •  [Post 1]

Has anyone here ever seen a bear wallow? Do they wallow like an elk?

Near where I grew up there was a place named "Bear Wallows". I have seen bear swimming and observed them in marshy areas. I have never seen a place where a bear wallowed anything like an elk. Just wondering.
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Re: Bear Wallows

Postby ishy » 08 08, 2018 •  [Post 2]

I've got trail camera pics at home I will see if I can find-don't tell my boss I'm on here at work.
We got to a wallow just after one (maybe grizz) few years ago. You can see the swath of wet mud it left after leaving the wallow on the video at the 1:04 mark.
https://youtu.be/OoLoDdLKBiE
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Re: Bear Wallows

Postby Lefty » 08 08, 2018 •  [Post 3]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen or known of a Bear wallow. I’ve seen rubs and marks.

Historically some places get named for all sorts of reasons. We atv a place in the desertBear Den Butte, in all Likelihood a bear couldn’t or wouldn’t go there.
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Re: Bear Wallows

Postby Swede » 08 08, 2018 •  [Post 4]

Ishy, I saw nothing conclusive about the part of the film that showed a bear track in the mud. Did a bear walk across an elk wallow? That appears to be as solid a theory and it being a bear wallow without closer examination. If I saw bear hair in the tore up area, and more bear sign it would help.
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Re: Bear Wallows

Postby Swede » 08 08, 2018 •  [Post 5]

Lefty, your post reminds me of a time when I was working for the Forest Service. A coworker and I came in and for some reason the receptionist wanted to know if there were bears on Beartrap Meadows. The fellow I was with said "sure", and we have elephants on Elephant Mountain.
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Re: Bear Wallows

Postby ishy » 08 08, 2018 •  [Post 6]

The elk call at the 1:04 mark is just for size reference next to the bear track. Yes it is an "elk wallow" that a bear used, it doesn't have much water and the bear had to have gotten into the seep off its feet to carry as much muck out with it when it left. There isn't really any standing water there just mud. Can't say they wallow like elk do for elk reasons, but they get in them to probably cool off and swim, help with bugs etc...
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Re: Bear Wallows

Postby wawhitey » 08 08, 2018 •  [Post 7]

The local elk wallows ive hung cameras on get more bears taking a dip than elk. Friend of mine movex up from oklahoma a few years ago, had never killed a bear but wanted to. I showed him a good wallow and told him to sit there opening day of bear, sep 1st. Well he sat there for i think 2 days. And killed his first bear in that wallow.
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Re: Bear Wallows

Postby Swede » 08 08, 2018 •  [Post 8]

I saw that same video, and tried to see definitive evidence of a bear wallowing. I can't see it. Certainly a bear was there. I too have seen bears at a wallow. I have seen them drink, and at one pond, one took a good swim. Bears will walk through the mud. I have been sitting wallows and water holes for over 25 years. I see a bear about every other year at one. No wallowing has ever occurred. I don't shoot bears or interfere with them in any way. I just sit and watch, so they are not run off before they get a chance. I have watched bulls wallow before they were shot.
I think bears will wallow, but I would like to have stronger evidence. If someone has seen on or has a trail cam picture of one walling, then we could be more sure.

I just watched the video a couple more times. The ground is all roughed up. When an animal such as a bull elk or bovine wallows there is a smoothed out area where there body lay in the dirt, as they turn over and roll. The ground is wet and there is dirt moved. I can't say there is no drinking water available. The spot in the video is too small to make any claim for or against drinkable water. My experience would suggest there is a 90 chance there is available water very close by. There may be more mud too that clung to the bear's paws and legs. It is impossible to accurately extrapolate on that small piece of video and say.
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Re: Bear Wallows

Postby tikka » 08 09, 2018 •  [Post 9]

I was sitting on an active elk wallow and a nice bear came in and drank for about 15 minutes. It then ran away and a much bigger bear came in. It laid down in the water/mud and drank but never rolled around. On my last day of sitting there I walked up and looked at the wallow. Lots of bear tracks but no indication that bears ever rolled around.
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Re: Bear Wallows

Postby ishy » 08 11, 2018 •  [Post 10]

[quote="Swede"] I don't shoot bears or interfere with them in any way.
Swede we have read your book, and I know one bear has felt interfered with!
And I will dig for some pics. Just been really busy.
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Re: Bear Wallows

Postby Swede » 08 11, 2018 •  [Post 11]

ishy wrote:Swede we have read your book, and I know one bear has felt interfered with!


OK, you got me on that. :D
But I was making a general statement to try to say if the bears wanted to wallow, they could have, and not known I was around. I was in my stand when I watched the bear swim around. Even the bear I peed on got a drink, and went on, before some crazed tree creature started peeing on him or her.
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Re: Bear Wallows

Postby ishy » 08 12, 2018 •  [Post 12]

STC_0842 small.jpg
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Re: Bear Wallows

Postby Swede » 08 12, 2018 •  [Post 13]

We are getting closer. I would like to see a trail camera picture of a muddy bear in a muddy wallow, but this is as good as I have seen. Thanks
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Re: Bear Wallows

Postby WapitiTalk1 » 08 12, 2018 •  [Post 14]

Swede, look closer at Ishys TC image. I see a muddy bear, in a muddy wallow.
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Re: Bear Wallows

Postby Swede » 08 12, 2018 •  [Post 15]

I missed it. You are right. Thanks
I saw the bear on the far right and did not see the main attraction. It was the camouflage pattern it was wearing. Over the many years I have sat over wallows and watched at least a dozen bears, I have never seen one wallow.
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Re: Bear Wallows

Postby Jhg » 10 09, 2018 •  [Post 16]

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I just saw this. Here are two pics of a wallow being used only by a bear. The rubbing tree is right next to the wallow. There were two other wallows nearby, one used by elk and 1 unused. The bears wallow was clearly an old elk wallow, but being used only by the bear. There was a bear trail (anyone who has seen one knows how distinctive they are) leading to and away from the wallow. Sorry about the bad pics, I was not taking them with sharing in mind. The bear had been going into the pool, mudding up a bit then rubbing against the tree. I am over six foot and the rub was a bit higher than I am tall. Wallows are at end of fallen tree.
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Re: Bear Wallows

Postby Charina » 10 09, 2018 •  [Post 17]

I think I just recently deleted the photos to free up space on my phone, however there was a wallow I put a trail camera on last year that was frequented by bull elk, cattle, and bears. I wouldn't say the bears were wallowing in a manner similar to the elk, but they did appear to be laying down in the shallow pool and water-saturated mud below the small shallow pool. I suppose they were not elk-wallowing, but perhaps their own version of bear-wallowing. Appeared to be more for cooling off and pest reduction than lathering up in urine-mud for the purpose of sent signaling.
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