Bear weight, thoughts

[Sierra Hunter]

Bears are notoriously difficult to judge (at least for me)and I haven’t gotten the skull,
hide or collar info back yet. Interestingly I’ve tried hard to get the collar info and gotten nothing from the bio… but back to my request. For those that have been around more bears what’s your estimate on weight? I know it was difficult to move and work on, harder than a big Muley but not an elk. I’m thinking 350ish but wouldn’t be surprised if I was wrong either way, may or may not be helpful but I’m 6’1 195. What I know is it was my biggest bear by a large margin.
thanks guys

 

[Wrench]

The last spring bear I weighed was

24 lbs carcass
6 fat
34 bones and trim
43 carcass meat
30 hinds
31 fronts
74 hide

Add in blood, guts and 5-10# of extras.

 

[jhm2023]

I'm no help with the weight estimate. I personally don't understand why guys get so hung up on a bear's weight, especially considering how drastic a bear's weight can vary depending on time of year. I'd rather shoot a P&Y bear that weighs less in the spring then a mediocre bear that weighs more in the fall. The numbers that matter (to me) are the skull and maybe the hide squared, sometimes age if that's an option.

As far as being difficult to handle, bears are just that way compared to deer and such. Large legs that are difficult to grab vs skinny legs that are easy to grab. Bears almost feel like a leather sack of gelatin when trying to move them around.

Almost 30 bears under my belt and helping with plenty of others, I still struggle to field judge them at times. Big bears are pretty obvious, but the decent ones can be tough. Either way, that's a decent bear with a nice color and one to be happy with. Update the thread when you find out skull and squared hide.

 

[ArcherAdam]

Great job! That is a nice color!

It's tough to judge from those photos for me. I would suspect 250+ for sure. Old one? The tooth color has me wondering.

I am from the PA and everything is by pounds out here so I don't speak square numbers like everyone else does however a montana biologist told me a 7' bear is usually around 400#. I know that can vary though by 50 or more pounds depending on a spring vs fall bear.

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[wildwilderness]

Congrats on a nice bear.

My thoughts on weight is - who cares

Haha I have noticed eastern guys care more about weight and tend to haul out animal whole and weigh them; all the time with deer

Western hunters tend to at least field dress and very often debone etc to pack out animals so weight doesn’t mean much other than how heavy the pack is!

For a record book bear the only thing that matters is skull score so once you get that post it up!

The only other way that we compare bear is a quick judgement on how long - nose to tail length- like a 6’ bear or that’s a small bear at 5’.

Once the bear is killed and skinned then you get the Squared measurement- tip to tail and paw to paw added up then divided by 2- (some people like to stretch the hide)

So when you killed the bear you should have measured that….

 

[Sierra Hunter]

Congrats on a nice bear.

My thoughts on weight is - who cares

Haha I have noticed eastern guys care more about weight and tend to haul out animal whole and weigh them; all the time with deer

Western hunters tend to at least field dress and very often debone etc to pack out animals so weight doesn’t mean much other than how heavy the pack is!

For a record book bear the only thing that matters is skull score so once you get that post it up!

The only other way that we compare bear is a quick judgement on how long - nose to tail length- like a 6’ bear or that’s a small bear at 5’.

Once the bear is killed and skinned then you get the Squared measurement- tip to tail and paw to paw added up then divided by 2- (some people like to stretch the hide)

So when you killed the bear you should have measured that….

I was too busy thinking about all the work in front of me and the math of how many trips I could get it done in.

 

[6mm Remington]

Nice bear my sir! He's a pretty one.

 

[6mm Remington]

My guide and I wondered what my bear weighed also. He is 7 1/2' and was aged at 14 years. We guessed 400-450. He was hard to move just a short distance so we could take pictures and take care of him. What do you guys think?? I'd like to get better at judging them too!

8' Wall.

 

[Wrench]

The bear I posted wasn't a dink and live weight would be mid 300lbs based on the 293lbs that I did weigh and figuring what I had to toss and leave in the field. I never did measure the skull or square it as I don't much care.....it was delicious.

I'd suspect that griz to easily be in the 450-500 plus area.

 

[deer310sg]

Beautiful chocolate!!

 

[nsimmons]

Congrats on a nice bear.

My thoughts on weight is - who cares

Haha I have noticed eastern guys care more about weight and tend to haul out animal whole and weigh them; all the time with deer

Western hunters tend to at least field dress and very often debone etc to pack out animals so weight doesn’t mean much other than how heavy the pack is!

For a record book bear the only thing that matters is skull score so once you get that post it up!

The only other way that we compare bear is a quick judgement on how long - nose to tail length- like a 6’ bear or that’s a small bear at 5’.

Once the bear is killed and skinned then you get the Squared measurement- tip to tail and paw to paw added up then divided by 2- (some people like to stretch the hide)

So when you killed the bear you should have measured that….

In pa we have to take the bear whole to a check station for the game commission to age and weigh the bear. Plus most guys do bear drives and people have a tendency to see black and shoot at a moving bear so it's common for guys to get 100lb bears because of how they hunt.

 

[Muleyczy]

how long was he nose to tail?

 

[Sierra Hunter]

how long was he nose to tail?

Taxidermist should have that shortly, he did say it missed all time book by an inch on the skull. But that it would make some honorable mention

 

[long hunter]

Taxidermist should have that shortly, he did say it missed all time book by an inch on the skull. But that it would make some honorable mention

If this is the case you have a very nice bear, a few years back my dad shot a northern Ontario blackie who’s skull when cleaned and dried missed the book by 1/2 in. And he was a big bear congrulations on a fine animal.

 

[Jason Snyder]

That’s a really nice bear. You should be able to get some interesting data with the collar and ear tag.

 

[Muleyczy]

Taxidermist should have that shortly, he did say it missed all time book by an inch on the skull. But that it would make some honorable mention

Beautiful bear. The data would be super interesting.

 

[WiscoHoundsman]

Nice bear!
All the bears I have been a part of harvesting have been weighed because they are often shot in the head at close range so measuring the skull might be difficult. Just a different perspective.

 

[Sierra Hunter]

I know! I’ve called the bio >10x and still nothing. Bummed

Beautiful bear. The data would be super interesting.

 

[Muleyczy]

PM sent

 

[Sierra Hunter]

Go the updated hide measurements. He said laid out and not stretched it was 7ft long and 7ft 1in wide