By the Bear Tech | @Kolby_Morehead

One of the great things about being outdoors is that you never know what you’re going to come across. Often the full story doesn’t come out until you get home.  Tammy Russell harvested a once in a lifetime bear, though she didn’t know it until later.  Tammy is an accomplished and avid predator hunter in Oregon with two passions, bear and mountain lions.  If she is not at work, you’ll likely find her hunting something year-round.

One day Tammy sat in a makeshift ground blind by a watering hole. There was a good bear that was coming to this particular area that had earned the nickname the ‘Lion Bear’ due to the shaggy fur on its front half, like a mane, and the slick coat on the back.  The homework paid off and sure enough, as if it had been scripted, the bear slipped into view and that’s where the real story began.

After harvesting the 265-pound sow with her trusty 7mm Mag, Tammy checked the teeth to see what kind of condition they were in and to her surprise, there were no front teeth.  Not wanting to waste time, they got to work getting the bear home that is where the full story came together.  The bear has no teeth – and never did.  The bear had been born with no teeth.  One might expect such a critter with this type of condition to be emaciated and barely getting by, but this bear was fat and still packing on the pounds getting ready for denning.  The Lion Bear got renamed to the Gummy Bear after its secret was revealed.  We suspect this bear had a rare condition called anodontia, a very rare congenital absence of teeth.