Weight of boned out black bear

[phinneas_gauge]

Advice on packing out a bear:
To be safe, you should probably just leave all your ammo at home when you go bear hunting so you don't accidentally shoot one. But I've included some advice just in case you aren't willing to listen to reason.

Shoot the bear NO LESS than 28 times. Make sure to take careful aim at all four quarters and put a couple in the back for good measure. The goal here is to blow holes in the hide big enough to push a basketball through and make sure to turn as much meat as possible into jelly. Since the hide is no good you can leave it. Salvage what meat you can and put it in a sandwich baggy. If you can still find the skull after you're done shooting pull out the tooth you need to send into the state and call it good. Shouldn't add more than a half pound to your pack or you're not doing it right.

Now, you might ask yourself "Why the hell did I just do that?" Don't beat yourself up - you would've asked that even if you only shot it once but now you don't have to carry the heavy bastard. You're welcome.

If you insist on keeping the damn thing you should probably listen to TRIPLE's advice. He always shoots the things only once and then he wants help carrying the mother)@(*$)#s out.

 

[Amphibious]

An average to large bear is a two trip ordeal with gear. Obviously a slug can take three and a dink can be done in one, but it's almost always two trips. If you do shoot a bear, I'd suggest braking it down quickly (take his coat off and bone it out) and draping the hide in shade to cool for a bit to get some heat out. I'd then load the boned out meat in your pack and get ready to hurry the hell off the mountain. Before your ready to leave, loosely fold the hide in some thing waterproof (garbage/drybag) and submerge in a running water source. Pack out the meat and come back for the hide and your camp.

+1 on this. Bear is very tasty when treated proper, and that means getting it as cool as possible as fast as possible. Get the hide off and cooling asap, Deal with the meat first then come back for the rug.

Take your time caping, have got some wicked infections from nicks while doing bears. Could have been a result of to many brews handed to me by happy clients while I deal with their animals. Be rude not to....

 

[charvey9]

Of course, varies greatly by size of the bear. However, I just got back from Alberta trip. Got a nice boar that taped 6'4" and was really tall. Probably square 6'8".

Took home the hide, skull, backstrap and 4 boned quarters. I trimmed all the heavy fat off the hide and meat before packing, and got it all froze solid before heading home. Weight at the airport for my rubbermade container filled with all of the above was 78lbs....so figure about 75lbs for this bear. However, this is a pretty good bear and my guess is your average 5' to 6' bear is going to be around 60-65lbs.

 

[_Nick_]

I trimmed all the heavy fat off the hide and meat before packing, and got it all froze solid before heading home.

Does this mean that you didn't keep the bear fat? So was that the weight sans fat? I hear that bear fat is mighty tasty and would probably bring that back myself... how many pounds of fat did you cut off? Congrats on a beautiful bear!

 

[charvey9]

Does this mean that you didn't keep the bear fat? So was that the weight sans fat? I hear that bear fat is mighty tasty and would probably bring that back myself... how many pounds of fat did you cut off? Congrats on a beautiful bear!

I also hear that bear fat is mighty tasty and makes really good pie crust, however I knew I'd be pushing it on weight for the airline limit so did not bring any home. Depending on the time of year and how much food they've been able to find, they could have a lot or a little fat. Both of the bears I got this year were pretty lean. If I had taken the good fat off this one, it maybe would have added another 8-10lbs or so but nothing too signficant.

One of the other guys in camp got a nice 7'2" bear that was already fattening up pretty good. They took most of the good fat off the rump and it just about filled up two gallon zip lock bags.

 

[_Nick_]

Thanks for the info... hope I get a fat one when I eventually do get one!

 

[coastalyeti]

Thanks everybody, good stuff!!

 

[goldenarrow]

Yeah thanks guys. Your incites made the decision easy to pass the bear that came cruising by my camp on my solo wilderness hunt in August. The fact that I had a boned out buck already in my pack didn't hurt either!

 

[Bar]

It's even worse in Colorado. We not only have to bring out all the meat, but also the head and hide for inspection. Pretty much the whole bear minus fat and bones.

Not a concern for trophy hunters, but i'm not one of them. I'd leave the head and hide if I could.

 

[justin davis]

In colorado it's tough to kill a bear in my opinion. If I get one I keep the hide and skull and the meat. I've hunted along time and have only arrowed two Colorado bears.

I think the weight depends a lot on the size of the bear. The Bears I killed were "average" sized and the meat weighed 80-100 pounds. Add the hide and skull and you have a pretty good load.