Hunting Washington Forum

Big Game Hunting => Bear Hunting => Topic started by: Slider on October 17, 2007, 10:50:23 PM

Title: How Big is this Bear?
Post by: Slider on October 17, 2007, 10:50:23 PM: How big do you think this bear is? Is it a Male or Female? Is it the same Bear?
Title: Re: How Big is this Bear?
Post by: GoldTip on October 18, 2007, 07:32:27 AM: The night time pictures definitiely look like a bigger bear from the bear in the first picture. However, it's hard to tell from the angle of the bear in the first pic how big he is.
Title: Re: How Big is this Bear?
Post by: boneaddict on October 18, 2007, 07:50:54 AM: They look like two different bear. The latter looks like a male to me and I'd hate to venture a weight. I would say a shooter at this point in the game. The first one looks like she might have a pointier face thus the female, but again hard to say.
Title: Re: How Big is this Bear?
Post by: Intruder on October 18, 2007, 08:29:08 AM: Really hard to say w/ out something to reference against. I've only killed a couple bears so I wouldn't consider myself a very good judge... but my initial reaction is that it/they aren't real big bears (135lbs - 165lbs). That's a total WAG though.
Title: Re: How Big is this Bear?
Post by: jackelope on October 18, 2007, 08:32:52 AM: my guess goes as follows.
the top pic and the bottom few are 2 different bears. the bottom few pic's, are of the same bear, and he is above average to big size-wise.
Title: Re: How Big is this Bear?
Post by: T-ROY on October 18, 2007, 10:29:21 AM: my guess is a pretty nice sow with lots of hair making her look bigger yet.
Title: Re: How Big is this Bear?
Post by: Bearhunter on October 18, 2007, 12:20:20 PM: Pretty big ears, which generally means smaller bear, just a quess.
Title: Re: How Big is this Bear?
Post by: billythekidrock on October 18, 2007, 05:38:24 PM: I say we need more pics... I think there are two bears as well.
Title: Re: How Big is this Bear?
Post by: FWilliams on October 18, 2007, 07:12:40 PM: I would tend to agree on the 2 bear theory. the latter bear looks like a good boar....ears are a tad bit large for a real bruiser, but I like the distance between them......I wouldn't want to estimate a weight on the first bear based on the one photograph....but I would guess the latter bear to be in the 225 to 250 range.

Fred
Title: Re: How Big is this Bear?
Post by: Slider on October 18, 2007, 07:35:03 PM: I have one pic with 2 bears in it. I would have posted it but they are to far away from the camera and at night. I also believe the top photo is a sow and the other photos are of a decent size Boar with an above average head!!! Nice guesses!!!
Title: Re: How Big is this Bear?
Post by: Intruder on October 22, 2007, 10:45:28 AM: Just curious:
1. What are you guys seeing that makes ya think that 1 may be a sow? How do you tell without, well you know?
2. What do you guys generally feel is big.... something like over 200 lbs?

I've always been under the impression that most bears aren't as big as you initially think. I've heard various sources say that the run of the mill bear black bear (average if you will) is 125-150 lbs. That probably holds pretty true for the bears I've seen in the wild. Does that hold water in your guy's experiences?
Title: Re: How Big is this Bear?
Post by: saylean on October 22, 2007, 11:00:52 AM: I say...see black...shoot it. ;) Good luck with the hunt.
Title: Re: How Big is this Bear?
Post by: boneaddict on October 22, 2007, 12:16:51 PM: Facial features mostly Intruder and body build. Not to be sexest, but sows usually have a blocky ass, and small front ends, where as a boar is alot blockier in the front, or more weight up front. Heads tend to be narrow, narrow nose, narrow forehead, pointier face. The pictures of the lowere bear are of a decent sized bear. People are referring to ears, and they are a good/excellent indication, but in this case would cost you a decent bear. Look at the bridge of his nose. This is a pretty decent bear. Its like saying all deer have this much for spread on ears. Anything over 200 pounds is a nice trophy here in Washington. This would be in deer terms a 150 buck. Nice, but not gigantic, but damn worth shooting unless you had a specific goal in mind. Judgeing weight on bears is mostly done by experience. How many have you put to scale. While running bears professionally, we would always scale them and put some cash in a jar. The guy closest wins. Take a guess, knock 50 pounds off and you would almost win every time. ;) I would bet that maybe one 400+ pound bear gets killed in Washington per year...maybe??? Very few 300 pounders more 200 pounders and lots of 100-175 pounders. Thats just the way it is. Folks grab onto them thnking they are like a grain sack or something. Picking up or moving a bear is just different. It doesn't mean you have an instant 300 pounder. I have said this multiple times on here and piss alot of people off, but there just are VERY few 400 pound bears in Washington state. VERY FEW! Out of the thousand plus bear I have seen, I can count on my hands how many made that bench mark.
Title: Re: How Big is this Bear?
Post by: Intruder on October 22, 2007, 02:36:37 PM: Bone....
Your viewpoints mirror pretty much everything I've heard about bears all over the western states. 300lbers are truly big SOBs with 400s rarely ever taken. Vast majority harvested are 225 or less. I like the 50lb rule too. That's probably 1 of the most practical pieces of info I've heard.
Title: Re: How Big is this Bear?
Post by: billythekidrock on October 22, 2007, 05:35:27 PM: Quote
I've always been under the impression that most bears aren't as big as you initially think. I've heard various sources say that the run of the mill bear black bear (average if you will) is 125-150 lbs. That probably holds pretty true for the bears I've seen in the wild. Does that hold water in your guy's experiences?

That is exactly right and most of the bear hunters here will tell you that. Most people don't weigh their bears and they inflate the size for many reasons.

Bones post is right on, but I would have to say that I think are more and more big bears every year. I have only hunted them for about a dozen years but I have seen a couple hundred and at least a handfull that would go over 400lbs. One spring I killed one over 400 and the next week I saw another just as big in the same gmu. Every other year or so we see the black "VW Bug" that takes up the whole road somewhere on the OP. But in general they are alot smaller.
Title: Re: How Big is this Bear?
Post by: FWilliams on October 22, 2007, 10:13:07 PM: very good info by boneaddict, I quit counting the number of bear kills that I have been at in 25 + years of chasing bears.....we weighed everything we killed and only 2 crossed over the 400 mark. I had one of them life size mounted just because of how hard they were to come by.

I tend to judge the head more than the body as the trophy hunters I guided were more interested in the skull measurements than body weight. this is how a bear was scored for the trophy books. I know people look for large ears as a sign of a small bear, but I tend to look at the distance between them as well as the relationship to the nose and snout area.

the bear in your photos is a excellent bear and should make anyone that harvested it a happy camper.