Bear Weight--Need Your Help

[Magnum_Willys]

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Black bear size (i.e., chest girth) is highly correlated with body weight. To estimate the weight of black bears, simply measure the bear's chest girth(use a nylon measure in inches) and the the cooresponding estimate of the bear's weight on the table below.

Chest Girth     Estimated weight
 (inches)          (lbs)


29                      98
30                      108
31                      117
32                      128
33                      138
34                      149
35                      161
36                      173
37                      185
38                      198
39                      211
40                      225
41                      239
42                      253
43                      268
44                      284
45                      300
46                      316
47                      332
48                      350
49                      367
50                      385
51                      403
52                      422
53                      441
54                      461
55                      481
56                      502
57                      522
58                      544
59                      566
60                      588
61                      610
62                      633
63                      657
64                      681
65                      705
66                      730
67                      755
68                      781
69                      807
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

[high country]

Ok I managed to get cut up today.  I wasn't able to weigh each quarter,  but I did my best to get the weights broke down. Additionally my scale must have been hung up when I tried to relax the hoist in the shop because when I weighed it on my refrigeration scale which is pretty accurate I was waaaay off or maybe I red kilos or something stupid......anyhow hers how it played out.

My best guess is about 45-50# per quarter based on :

I had #31 meat in the front shoulders and #15 of bones along with some trim. This number is a light representation as it didn't pull the whole quarter and the carcass weight will reflect that.

I had #30 in the hind meat
#43 in carcass meat
#24 in total bones other than carcass
#27 carcass weight after trimming.
#6 fat

So I have #105 clean meat.  #75 hide & head #161 meat and bones combined after hanging....so it was #236 gutted and dry. Guessing #40-50 on the blood/guts, so #276-286 live is might damn close.

Thank God,  when I weighed the carcass earlier I felt like a *censored* for not being able to toss it @ #100....lol. that extra #75 made a difference.

[CarbonHunter]

Ok I managed to get cut up today.  I wasn't able to weigh each quarter,  but I did my best to get the weights broke down. Additionally my scale must have been hung up when I tried to relax the hoist in the shop because when I weighed it on my refrigeration scale which is pretty accurate I was waaaay off or maybe I red kilos or something stupid......anyhow hers how it played out.

My best guess is about 45-50# per quarter based on :

I had #31 meat in the front shoulders and #15 of bones along with some trim. This number is a light representation as it didn't pull the whole quarter and the carcass weight will reflect that.

I had #30 in the hind meat
#43 in carcass meat
#24 in total bones other than carcass
#27 carcass weight after trimming.
#6 fat

So I have #105 clean meat.  #75 hide & head #161 meat and bones combined after hanging....so it was #236 gutted and dry. Guessing #40-50 on the blood/guts, so #276-286 live is might damn close.

Thank God,  when I weighed the carcass earlier I felt like a *censored* for not being able to toss it @ #100....lol. that extra #75 made a difference.

Sounds about right. About 35-40% of the live weight would be cut and wrapped meat. That is about what my last bear was.

Which would mean that if you get 30 pounds of meat off of your bear, the bear would weight about 85 pounds live weight. Or as converted to Internet forum talk... a 300 pound bear. 

[CarbonHunter]

Correct, just weighing the legs. What one would normally cut off the carcass in order to bring out the meat on the bone.

Sounds a little more plausible. When I read quarters I was thinking they were weighing all the meat minus the spine and rib bones.

[Timberstalker]

Awesome information high country. Thanks for sharing. 

[SilkOnTheDrySide]

Ok I managed to get cut up today.  I wasn't able to weigh each quarter,  but I did my best to get the weights broke down. Additionally my scale must have been hung up when I tried to relax the hoist in the shop because when I weighed it on my refrigeration scale which is pretty accurate I was waaaay off or maybe I red kilos or something stupid......anyhow hers how it played out.

My best guess is about 45-50# per quarter based on :

I had #31 meat in the front shoulders and #15 of bones along with some trim. This number is a light representation as it didn't pull the whole quarter and the carcass weight will reflect that.

I had #30 in the hind meat
#43 in carcass meat
#24 in total bones other than carcass
#27 carcass weight after trimming.
#6 fat

So I have #105 clean meat.  #75 hide & head #161 meat and bones combined after hanging....so it was #236 gutted and dry. Guessing #40-50 on the blood/guts, so #276-286 live is might damn close.

Thank God,  when I weighed the carcass earlier I felt like a *censored* for not being able to toss it @ #100....lol. that extra #75 made a difference.

So 61+24 bones plus quarters*3.25=276.5.



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[high country]

Let's have some more numbers to see if it rings true as they fatten up.

[257 Wby Mag]

Nice bear Greg but there's no way the quarters were 40-50lbs.....

[high country]

Nice bear Greg but there's no way the quarters were 40-50lbs.....

Like I said, it's just my best guess as I didn't quarter it traditionally. I peeled all the crust and went to grabbing meat. I kept my meat and bones/scrap in a bucket for a while but soon I had 6 buckets floating around my kitchen and was running out of time.

The quarter weight is a guess, the other weights are as measured.

[dan11011]

Using the first chart: My Bear was 5' 2" and had a 38' girth putting it around 178 lbs. Very plausible. This other chart means my bear would be almost 200 pounds which I believe is not true.

[high country]

Using the first chart: My Bear was 5' 2" and had a 38' girth putting it around 178 lbs. Very plausible. This other chart means my bear would be almost 200 pounds which I believe is not true.

Did you ever get anything on a scale?

[dan11011]

Sadly, no. So I know you can't really double check the accuracy. I just thought I'd chime in with my experience with the chart.

[SilkOnTheDrySide]

An update on Jeff's Bear. Skull rough taped out at 18 5/8.

I'm definitely surprised it wasn't over 19.

My bear from 13 was 17 3/4 ish off the top of my head, and this guy seemed way bigger.


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