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Offline tourangeaud

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judging size
« on: February 13, 2007, 05:43:58 AM »
I may be going on my first bear hunt this coming spring.  How do you judge the size of a bear?????  To shoot or not to shoot.
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Offline NONYA

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Re: judging size
« Reply #1 on: February 13, 2007, 07:56:09 AM »
First bear hunt...Id say any legal bear is a trophy for a first timer but if you are hunting over bait and can afford  to get picky look for a BIG belly coming close to the ground and legs that look very short,not tall and skinny.The ears should seem small in comparison to his head,a young bears ears will stick up of his head and seem very large.If hunting a bait station you will be close and you will know when a true bruiser shows up,the most important thing to be watching for is CUBS,some sows get huge and can be mistaken for a boar.This is a 3 year old bear...

this is an 8 year old sow

you can see the difference in thier form.




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Offline SDS-GEN

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Re: judging size
« Reply #2 on: February 13, 2007, 01:19:13 PM »
A big bear on Vancouver Island may be easier to come by than a big bear in Colorado so do some research on bears in the area you are hunting.  If its a giant you will probably know instantly, I know any time I've seen a really huge bear in real life or on TV it has simply taken my breath away.  It is the good vs. average vs. small bears that are hard to tell apart.  Best advice I can give is get real close (inside 50 yards) and don't shoot at the first bear you see.  Also take your time shooting, no snap shooting.
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Offline tourangeaud

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Re: judging size
« Reply #3 on: February 15, 2007, 01:53:13 AM »
Any way to tell a sow from a boar?  other then finding cubs with the sow.  Or a big set of walnuts, LOL.
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Offline NONYA

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Re: judging size
« Reply #4 on: February 15, 2007, 06:34:05 AM »
nope.other than cubs there is no reliable way to sex a bear on the foot.
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If it aint fair chase its FOUL,and illegal in my state!
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Offline bearfat

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Re: judging size
« Reply #5 on: February 15, 2007, 04:26:24 PM »
They have surprised me several times, some bigger, some smaller than I thought. And all of my shots were taken under 40 yards. What kind of range are you talking tourangeaud?
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Offline tourangeaud

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Re: judging size
« Reply #6 on: February 16, 2007, 01:47:57 AM »
This particular outfitter has baited stations.  Treestands for all types of hunting, BP, bow and rifle.  I guess it is up close and personal hunting.

Thanks for all the advise.  Any other ideas will be greatly appreciated.
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Offline bearfat

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Re: judging size
« Reply #7 on: February 16, 2007, 08:16:15 AM »
So sounds like you just don't want to shoot too small of a bear. I agree the head can be a good indicator usually.

big head compared to body = small bear usually

small head compared to body = big bear usually

But visually you can be tricked. Take a look at my avatar. There the head looks small compared to the body. One might think it was a big bear but it was not. Take a look at this pic and you can see the head is very large on the body. You might think that thing is really small.



In reality it weighed around 200 pounds. He're a pic of me next to it. I weigh 230 pounds.



To be honest I've always blasted the 1st thing that came in. I hunted with a guy once that didn't because he thought it was a small bear. He took pictures of it instead as it stood up and pulled bait out of the 55 gallon drum. I took over his stand at the end of the week and it was the last 10 mins of the season. The same small bear (so I thought) came in but I took it anyway. It turned out to be a 300 pound female that was just short and compacted like a fat sausage. We compared his pic's and concluded it was the same bear. It had a birth defect on one paw.

Whatever you see this spring will be over one year old ranging from 150 pounds up I'd say. You'll definitely know the cubs because they were born in January/February? and weigh about 40 pounds max and that's cubs that have been eating real good. I'm talking black bear, I know nothing about brown bear.





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Offline Robert Baggett

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Re: judging size
« Reply #8 on: March 02, 2007, 08:21:49 AM »
Hey tourangeaud, were are you hunting this spring?
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Offline KamiahKid

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Re: judging size
« Reply #9 on: May 27, 2007, 05:55:04 AM »
I'm in kinda the same situation as tourangeaud, this is my first time baiting and I have some bears coming in. Here are some trailcam pics. The sow and cubs are in early around 9:45PM. The other single bear is coming in at 3AM. Can you tell from the pics how big the single is? I am not sure, but he looks big to me. Now what I need to figure out is how to get him there in the daylight? Let me know what you think?


This one shows up at 3AM


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Offline bearfat

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Re: judging size
« Reply #10 on: May 28, 2007, 03:04:52 AM »
Pictures and even real time standing in front of me I have guessed wrong on the weight. So I won't try and guess.

Night feeding problems? Try ringing the dinner bell slow cooking bacon or honey. They probably are laying pretty close and hear you walk in. A bacon and honey burn sometimes gets them to throw caution to the wind and come in early but not always.

You can also try the two men walk in making a lot of noise restocking the bait pile, but only one man leaves. Make sure your partner makes alot of noise leaving.

Rare to see cinnamon black bear cubs and with a white patch on chest. Save that one for me will you?




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Offline Demonical

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Re: judging size
« Reply #11 on: June 05, 2007, 08:56:17 AM »
Okay this is what a really big black bear looks like. These pics are off a buddies trail-cam, from "somewhere" Alberta. Taken May 20th, as you can see on the date stamp.

Look at the bait barrel and notice the angle it is on plus the fact that it is actually chained so that it is about 10-12" above the level of the ground that the bear is walking on and then consider that even with the barrel raised the bears back comes 4-5" from top of the drum. You see this best in the pic of the bear standing...

I can safely say this is a 7-1/2' bear. It's only too bad the lighting doesn't allow a better examination of the head, but it is a true Mellon-Head.

This bear absolutely dwarfs the 45 gal drum bait barrel!








Bears are the toughest animal to judge. If it is a bait site, try to pay attention to the barrels, logs etc, that may be at the bait site as reference to judge the size of the bear. Like the 45 gal. drum in the pics above is great; those barrels are 36" high.


Here's your average size black bear 5-1/2' to 6' bear.

Try to get a look at the head, preferably see the width. Really big boars will appear to have a seam in the flesh on the top of of their head; their ears will be off to the side and appear small.


Look at the seam on the head. Big bear, 7'er...

Look for footprints 5-1/2" or wider. General rule is add 1 to the width of the front pad, IE a 5-1/2" front paw print should mean about a 6-1/2' bear. Any bear that gets to 6-1/2' is getting to be a pretty good bear. Bears that are 7' are the great trophies and should have a front pad 6" wide. In 27 years of hunting in central Alberta I have seen 6" wide black bear tracks only a handful of times. Very hard to find bears that size, but they are here.




This bear is a brute. He's certainly 7'+, but hard to judge because he's a fall bear, enormously fat. If I had to guess I'd say he's 7-1/2' to 8', yeah he could be an 8'er...
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