Field judging bears thread with photo examples

[OsoMountain]

To add on for the guys in here that feel bad for taking a smaller bear, it could always be worse. I talked to my taxidermist the other day who mentioned getting a 30” nose to tail bear that someone wanted to rug. Neither of us were sure how a game warden would let that slide. I’m sure it will make a great bath mat

Nothing like a good set of cub mittens to keep a man warm during the hard times.

 

[KHntr]

Nothing like a good set of cub mittens to keep a man warm during the hard times.

We call those ones a “bath robe and pair of slippers”…

 

[Coveyleader]

Having a blast, not even sure I need to shoot a bear really. Solid boar here 37 yds he had enough

 

[Coveyleader]

Another a bit rubbed up

 

[Tanner]

Very likely the biggest black bear I’ve ever seen. This was in late June over 10 years ago in North Central CO. Hate to make too many guesses but looking back I bet he wasn’t far off of a 7 foot square and certainly over a 20” noggin. Guessing he did a serious number on elk calves to get that big.

 

[CMP70306]

Example

absolute unit.

To add on for the guys in here that feel bad for taking a smaller bear, it could always be worse. I talked to my taxidermist the other day who mentioned getting a 30” nose to tail bear that someone wanted to rug. Neither of us were sure how a game warden would let that slide. I’m sure it will make a great bath mat

From nose to tail he is 84” and from claw to claw he’s 81”, skull was 20 - 7/16” if I remember correctly. I had to hang him horizontally as any other way was too long to keep him off the floor.

 

[ElDiablito]

Here’s a good boar. Spotted him a few days after the bear season closed while moose hunting.

 

[OsoMountain]

 

[tater]

There are a couple of ways to gather more clues on physical bear size to avoid shooting "mitten" bears.

One is to always be mindful of the size of the trees and in particular stumps in the area you are hunting. It's hard if all there is are little Lodgepole pine, but if there are big old Doug or Grand Fir or even big old Ponderosa Pines those stumps and trees will give a general marker of relative size.

Another is to learn to use your scope reticle in an unloaded gun to calculate size (depth and nose to tail). That can either be marked mil/moa dot system or a simple duplex. You need to have a range finder and you are good to go.

If its an ffp dot reticle, do the math after determining the distance (look up the formula for either moa or mil). Do a little dope card with the formula and carry it with you.

For an sfp duplex, just set up a 6'x3' piece of cardboard at various distances and record the gaps or spillover out of the fine reticle at 3/6/9x and create a mini "size dope card". If you know at 200 yards on "x" power there should be "x" spillover into the coarse reticle then you have a have a rough starting point. Not perfect, but a good start.

Patience above all is the key to bear hunting.

 

[Okie-hunter]

Alright guys, I’m completely ignorant on bears. I’ve only seen 1 in the wild while deer hunting and I can’t tell if it’s a sow or a boar, decent sized or small, I have no clue. Give me your thoughts so I can learn!