Bear Question

[Ridgerunner]

What is considered an average bear in Washington and a good bear in Washington?  I'm talking what they square out at, not weight. 

[Bofire]

Average?? I'd guess about 5 foot.
I have a 7'2" it is the biggest my taxidermist has done. I think anything over 7 foot is pretty big for here.
But I have no data to prove that!! LOL
Carl

[T-ROY]

I'd say any thing over 6 foot, 300 pounds or a  19" skull is a dandy but a seven footer is a real dandy.

[GoldTip]

Over 6' bear in Washington I would compare to shooting a 145" whitetail, they are certainly around, but your not necassarily going to get one every year, or even every other year.  A 7' black bear(measured nose to tail) south of the Canadian line is a pretty rare critter, that would equate to a 180" whitetail in my opinion.  Most guys never see one.

[T-ROY]

Over 6' bear in Washington I would compare to shooting a 145" whitetail, they are certainly around, but your not necassarily going to get one every year, or even every other year.  A 7' black bear(measured nose to tail) south of the Canadian line is a pretty rare critter, that would equate to a 180" whitetail in my opinion.  Most guys never see one.

well put,   I was gonna say the same thing about the seven footer. I have never seen one, but a friend of mine killed  one 2 years ago that  field dressed at 525, and that was on a scale, not guessing. we never measured it but had to be close to 7 in not better, it was a brute as far as the average goes the taxidermist i use says his average bear he get is 5' 150 pounders.

[actionshooter]

I would go along with 6' is a pretty good bear with the average about 5'. I've seen alot of bears both breathing and not, I haven't seen but a couple that were close to 7'

[billythekidrock]

I hear of a couple seven footers every year by people that know what they are talking about. The only dead seven footer I have seen was on POW. I have seen a couple alive that would go seven up on the OP. My largest was in Thurston County. 6.6 ft and 20 inch skull.

Average on the westside would be about 5 - 5.5 ft, 180-200lbs for males.

[russ]

what does POW stand for?

[actionshooter]

Prince of Wales
 Thats a good bear Billy, My brother in law took a 6-6 a couple of years ago, my biggest has been 6-2. I seen a blonde/red in the NE about 5 years ago that I was sure was 7' and I saw a dead 6-11 (close enough to 7) in the back of a truck come of the coast.

[cohoho]

 :drool:A nice Washington shade of blonde about 5.5 would do me fine.    Same average sized for Price William Sound and most places in AK, most are 5 1/2 some big monsters to 7 but not very often, average skulls 16.5 to 16.75, the bigger boys going out at 19-19.5.  Like Billy said if you want a big boy go to Southern Alaska, POW Island area...

[SHANE(WA)]

doesnt matter to me, all about skull size, I guided my buddy to the new WA state record blackie a few years ago and the bear was only around 325-350lbs not really big.I saw a life size bear at a taxidermist shop that had a 21" skull in a 300Lb bear, on the other hand my dad shot a bear that taped out at 7' 2" nose to tail and only had a 19 5/8 head.

[T-ROY]

when you tape a bear are you suppose run the tape with the curvature of the head OR from the Chin straight back. proabalya acouple of inches different i'd guess.

[GoldTip]

I've seen one bear I believe would have gone over 7' nose to tail.  Bowhunting NW Montana, a beautiful cinnamon.  Never got closer than 70 yards to him during a spring spot and stalk hunt.  I measure them nose to tail, skull out laying flat, tip of nose to tip of tail, no stretch.  I tube skinned a bear that came off Mica Peak here in Spokane that went 6'11".   It was hard to even believe the tape measure looking at it.  So I layed down on the thing flat on the floor, I am 6'2" and with the tips of my toes stretched out on it's tail, the top of my head reached it's forehead.  Damn big bear.  Only had a 19 5/8 skull however.

[Skyvalhunter]

Measure the hide nose to tail + end of front paw to end of front paw then take the average unstretched. Of coarse the books want skull measurement.

[Michelle_Nelson]

   When you skin an animal.  I don't care what it is, it will stretch.  I have to be real careful wnen I measure a skin for life size.  I like to measure the animal as a whole to get the proper measurments.  Most of the time that is not possible.

I know a lot of people like to measure their bear rugged out, but if you want the true length it should be measured off the animal.  

Take 2 bears for example.  both are 6' measured from the whole bear.  Bear #1 has a 40" girth while bear #2 has a 50" girth.  When you skin both bears out Bear #2 has the potential to be longer when measured.

Make sense?

[GoldTip]

Michelle, the bear in your example could also be only one bear, spring versus late fall, as well.  Thats why I do not "square" a bear when I measure them for bragging rights.  But I understand your need for taxidermy purposes to square them.  I also don't care much for skull measurements.  The bear in my previous post is the biggest dead black bear I have ever seen, and I've probably seen well over 100 dead bears.  But by skull measurements, it was a average P&Y bear.

[billythekidrock]

Thats why I do not "square" a bear when I measure them for bragging rights.   I also don't care much for skull measurements. 

Then how do you "measure" them for bragging rights? By color phase?

[RubblesPH]

My experience is that bears are all over the place...just like humans.  Short, tall, fat skinny, long snout but narrow head, really short snout but unbelievably broad head, etc.  

The thing I run into most is that people tend to over estimate the weight.  We took four bears last year and three of them were over 6', but all within three inches of each other.  Most people guessed the largest one to be approximately 450lbs.  We weighed (Cabela's field scale) the bear with a field scale and it went 283 lbs with a full belly.  We weighed ourselves after the bear just to make sure the scale was close.  It had a 19" skull.  

The 6' 2" bear was only an inch shorter but almost 50 lbs lighter and had a 17 3/4" skull.  Just a younger bear that was going to have great potential.  

I shot a bear the year before that was 7'3" and had a skull that just missed 20" (broad head but unfortunately had a short snout).  The bear was unbelievably fat and measured 61" across the belly, skinned.  Based on a published article that had a length/weight chart for bears (similar to what pig farmers use), the bear was estimated to weigh 628 lbs.  I laid down next to it and it made me (6ft, 245lbs) look like a high school DB next to a professional O-lineman.  Wish I could have gotten him on an actual scale.    

All bears were measured from the tip of nose to tip of tail with the hide on the animal.  Some people measure from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail.  Never did square any of them out.

My opinion is that if it is over 6' and around 250lbs, you've done something in WA.  

[billythekidrock]

My opinion is that if it is over 6' and around 250lbs, you've done something in WA. 

Yep.

[RubblesPH]

Oops - correction in the weights.

the 6'3" bear was 330
the 6' bear was 300

Went back and checked my records since I thought those weights seemed a little low.

Still think the 6'/250+lbs is a bench mark in WA though.

[shawnrdavies]

I would have to say around 5ft or weight would run about 125-150lbs would be average after talking with my taxidermist. I shot a 6ft from nose to tail and it was 400lbs.

[RubblesPH]

Shawn...sounds like a great bear.  Got any pics? 

[Outfitter]

A big Washington bear on our property.

[actionshooter]

Boy that one looks fat!

[T-ROY]

nice, he would look good on the wall

[SHANE(WA)]

looks like a fat sow, no shoulders and a large rump, small gap between the ears very small skull, a large head on a bear the ears will appear to be small and almost look like they are on the side of the head.

[billythekidrock]

looks like a fat sow, no shoulders and a large rump, small gap between the ears very small skull, a large head on a bear the ears will appear to be small and almost look like they are on the side of the head.

I agree that it looks like a sow, but I think it is a very fat boar. There is nothing in the image for real size reference, but it looks to have a deep chest, fair sized frame and an extreme amount of fat. So unless someone wants to lift a leg and take a peek we shall never know.

[Outfitter]

Heres a picture from our trail cam on video.Small bears but cool.

[Outfitter]

I put up a sign here just for some funny pictures.

[PacificNWhunter]

Great pictures...looks like you have a nice piece of property there with lots a photogenic critters!

[beardown]

 it is true that people over judge bears.  I have killed several bears that break the six foot mark and none of them came close to touching the 400 lb mark.  This last year I got one that was 6'5 1/2"  It only weighed 225 lbs (without guts).  Guts don't weigh 100lbs.  It wasn't a skinny bear either. Everybody I have had guess by the pictures says 400.  NOT EVEN CLOSE.  I wanna see scale pics of these 400 pounders.  They do exist, but not like people think.