Bears over 500#

[MooseZ25]

Just curious about how many Washington bears have been shot weighing over 500 pounds?  A good friend thinks he has one in his hunting area over 500. This would be his second bear over 500.  I didn't witness the scale on the first one, but I will be there if he kills the second one.   Let me know what you all have seen.

[luvmystang67]

HAHAHAH, maybe there are leadberries in your area.  That would help get a bear there.

But no...

[DOUBLELUNG]

Once a Washington bear reaches 400 pounds, its hide becomes a Kevlar-like bulletproof barrier.  Thus, although several hundred are seen every year by hunters, one is rarely if ever brought to the scales and weighed. 

[h20hunter]

HAHAHAH, maybe there are leadberries in your area.  That would help get a bear there.

But no...

Stang....post the link to last year's bear....that was a huge bear....but not close to 500....

[luvmystang67]

This one?
http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,138043.msg1832844.html#msg1832844

or the spring bear this year?

[D-Rock425]

That was sure a good time.

[tgomez]

I've honestly only seen one bear that was over 500 pounds and was definetly over 7' long. People get them here in Washington though its rare. Average bear 175 lbs or so, so when you see a 500 plus pound bear you will know it!

[Timberstalker]

I've honestly only seen one bear that was over 500 pounds and was definetly over 7' long. People get them here in Washington though its rare. Average bear 175 lbs or so, so when you see a 500 plus pound bear you will know it!

Was this bear on a scale?

[Jonathan_S]

I imagine there have been a few 500# taken near the Peninsula.  Anywhere that has constant food source and warm winters can produce some fatties, i.e. SE Alaska has warm winters and plenty of food.  400+ isn't terribly uncommon there.

Bears aren't measured by weight anyway, skull size and age are more interesting (and reliable) if you're talking trophy. 

I've honestly only seen one bear that was over 500 pounds and was definetly over 7' long. People get them here in Washington though its rare. Average bear 175 lbs or so, so when you see a 500 plus pound bear you will know it!

Was it near your 200" bucks? 

 

[h20hunter]

This one?
http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,138043.msg1832844.html#msg1832844

or the spring bear this year?

That was the one.....biggest bear I've seen in person dead or alive.

[RadSav]

We had one on the BumbleBee fish dock scales in Newport, Oregon tip 548#.  The bear running side-by-side with that bear was actually bigger!  Those are probably the only 500# bear I have seen.  I do have one here in WA that might push that at the right time of year and with a good berry crop.  Wife shot one of his offspring that hit 450# (scaled whole, field dressed and calculated for innards) so it's possible pops can reach 500#.  Just not sure there has been a berry year recently that would support it.

It's like a 400 bull elk.  They do exist, but most of us will never see one in person.  For me that's two, perhaps three, out of possibly 750-850 bear (not all Washington).

[snowshoes22]

I imagine there have been a few 500# taken near the Peninsula.  Anywhere that has constant food source and warm winters can produce some fatties, i.e. SE Alaska has warm winters and plenty of food.  400+ isn't terribly uncommon there.

Bears aren't measured by weight anyway, skull size and age are more interesting (and reliable) if you're talking trophy. 

I've honestly only seen one bear that was over 500 pounds and was definetly over 7' long. People get them here in Washington though its rare. Average bear 175 lbs or so, so when you see a 500 plus pound bear you will know it!

Was it near your 200" bucks? 

Haha you beat me to it.

 

[2labs]

Seabeck bear legit, google it. Just a few years ago.

[snowshoes22]

Were these bears in Lincoln County?

[Curly]

The one that made this might be 500 pounds:  http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,182914.msg2412660.html#msg2412660

[seth30]

Ripper and I ran into a fellow that claimed he saw a 9 foot bear that was really aggressive and charged his truck.  The only reason he didn't kill it was because " I already tagged out"   

[bearhunter99]

I've seen alot of bears and the weight is almost always about 25-40% less than what people seem to think.  I have one that was over 500# and it was scaled.  He was a monster though at 21-1/2 yrs old and 7' -6" from nose to tail and a 21-10/16" skull.  I have a couple that were closer to 350# and dwarf most bears I have seen that were estimated at 400# 

[RadSav]

Seabeck bear legit, google it. Just a few years ago.

Hadn't seen that before.  Pretty darn cool!  http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/11/06/seabeck-wa-giant-black-bear/

[Jonathan_S]

The one that made this might be 500 pounds:  http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,182914.msg2412660.html#msg2412660

Probably about 480 when that picture was taken 

[2labs]

Seabeck bear legit, google it. Just a few years ago.

Hadn't seen that before.  Pretty darn cool!  http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/11/06/seabeck-wa-giant-black-bear/

Yea, I use too live a few miles from there. Know a guy that knows the guy deal. This was a true backyard monster! Living in a fairly populated area

[luvmystang67]

Wow that Seabeck bear was 570!!! Holy socks!

[boneaddict]

About as often as 200 inch typical mule deer are shot here.

[Jonathan_S]

About as often as 200 inch typical mule deer are shot here.

Too bad it's not as often as they are "seen" 

[fishngamereaper]

Seabeck bear legit, google it. Just a few years ago.

Hadn't seen that before.  Pretty darn cool!  http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/11/06/seabeck-wa-giant-black-bear/

Yea, I use too live a few miles from there. Know a guy that knows the guy deal. This was a true backyard monster! Living in a fairly populated area

I know the guy..big bear for sure, and it wasn't that much of a back yard bear. Mostly 5-10 acre tracts with a large chunk of un populated land bordering them. He roamed the area for years.

Theres a couple more of those in Kitsap that I know of.

[2labs]

I would be willing to bet that bear knew its way around a vegetable garden as well as a garbage can

[fishngamereaper]

I would be willing to bet that bear knew its way around a vegetable garden as well as a garbage can

 :chuckle:Most of them do.

[RadSav]

Our big boy from Oregon was taken between the Waldport garbage dump and a swamp with skunk cabbage surrounded by salal berries.  He was a stinky, greasy, nasty of a bear.  We can usually eat dang near anything if it's ground.  That bear went into dog food that the dog refused to eat!!   Ended up becoming bear bait for a half dozen very tasty bear later that year!

[MooseZ25]

Great input guys I know they do exist but few and far between.  We used to catch some big bear in California with the hounds but not even sure any pushed 500.  Some felt twice that once they got packed out though....

[cougarbart]

have never seen a 500 bear in eastern Washington! have seen 2 scaled that went 402 and 465!

[jackelope]

 

[tgomez]

Nice picture Jackelope.

[eastcoastguy]

I'm originally from Maine but live here now. My dad just trapped a black bear. Hit the scales at 471lbs.going to be a nice rug.

[shootnrun]

My brother killed a bear that taped a hair over 7'nose to tail and I estimate it was around 350#. Even so, it took four full grown men to get in into the side by side. We didn't care to take the time to scale it. Sombish was a toad though. I couldn't imagine what a 500#er would look like.

[boneaddict]

In this state, that's what most of them do look like. Lol.  People don't realize how great a bear 350-400 is.  Thanks for honoring an awesome trophy by not feeling the need to exaggerate him.  That's a gorgeous trophy.

[3nails]

 I got a picture sent to my phone the other day of a bear killed in Sumas that supposedly weighed 561 lbs.  Corn fed fatty.

[JimmyHoffa]

I imagine there have been a few 500# taken near the Peninsula.  Anywhere that has constant food source and warm winters can produce some fatties, i.e. SE Alaska has warm winters and plenty of food.  400+ isn't terribly uncommon there.

Bears aren't measured by weight anyway, skull size and age are more interesting (and reliable) if you're talking trophy. 

I've honestly only seen one bear that was over 500 pounds and was definetly over 7' long. People get them here in Washington though its rare. Average bear 175 lbs or so, so when you see a 500 plus pound bear you will know it!

Was it near your 200" bucks? 

 

Seems that most I hear about are fewer and far between now days--back when the salmon runs were stronger.  The guys I knew that told me of routine big ones, would set up their elk camp near the coastal streams.  The silvers would be in and it would draw the bears down to feed on salmon before hitting the den.  But the last few years, the salmon have been rather no-shows.  The guys were still taking the fishing rods to camp, but said not really getting any salmon dinners nor seeing the bears like they used to either.
Olympic NP is doing a bear study with the Elwha River now.  They went and captured bears in the Elwha drainage and bears in adjacent drainages that would get salmon in their diets.  They plan to compare the bears before the dams came down (fish inaccessible) to the bears once the river is 'restored' (fish accessible).  But in the part with the dams still up, some of the bears on the side of the ridge with salmon were around 400 lbs (about a hundred more than the non-fish bears)--and those were measured after any decent salmon runs have since occurred.

[Jonathan_S]

This is what most 500# bears in Washington look like 

[Timberstalker]

Shootnrun.  what an awesome bear.  Was it killed in Washington?

[DOUBLELUNG]

I have seen one trapped near Lake Wenatchee that scaled 420 in the bear trap on the truck scales.  I'm sure he was over 500 at least one of his fall seasons.  If I recall correctly he was a 21 year old boar.

[Jonathan_S]

I have seen one trapped near Lake Wenatchee that scaled 420 in the bear trap on the truck scales.  I'm sure he was over 500 at least one of his fall seasons.  If I recall correctly he was a 21 year old boar.

I would not get within 100 feet of that trap until the thing was tranquilized 

[shootnrun]

Shootnrun.  what an awesome bear.  Was it killed in Washington?

Yes. My bear this year died about 50 yards from where this pic was taken. And we've harvested 4 bears from that canyon. But this toad has by far been the largest.

[bigmacc]

Anyone here of the bear killed around Gold Bar this past week somewhere up Picklefarm rd?..Some friends of mine had seen it alive 5 times over the past 2 months(they live up there). They told me Friday that a guy got him this last week figured him at 450-500. They said the hunter was taking it to the game guys for weight and measurements....

[JohnVH]

One down in whatcom county, 561lbs

[Blackelk]

Not many killed over 500 but have a few on camera that are pretty close. They live the night.

[kodiak 907]

Check out the 500+ pounder that was killed in whatcom co. Today. It's a hog!!

[300rum]

Fixed this one for you!   

About as often as 200 170 inch typical mule deer are shot here.

[LeviD1]

I think people mistake the weight because even a 200-250 lb bear is a pain in the butt to handle with 4 guys so it seems larger than it is.