Guessing a Bears Weight

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Dewey
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Re: Guessing a Bears Weight

Unread postby Dewey » Fri Dec 22, 2017 1:36 pm

I was only off 328 lbs on the second one! :lol:

That pose and the big ears had me fooled. Like I said I’m terrible guessing weight on bear. By far the hardest critter to judge.

I’ll stick to judging deer. I’m usually very close with them.


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Re: Guessing a Bears Weight

Unread postby JAK » Fri Dec 22, 2017 3:10 pm

Bears are tough sometimes first one I ever killed looked like a 300 pounder on camera and on foot had a really nice thick coat made the thing look like a Butterball. Turned out to be 180 dressed.. so that's when I gave up trying to judge :lol:
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Re: Guessing a Bears Weight

Unread postby stash59 » Fri Dec 22, 2017 3:44 pm

It's even tougher to judge bears from pictures in places you've never been. No way to know how big a tree's trunk is ,etc.

The first bear fooled me abit. I felt the camera made his but look big. I did judge him to be old though so figured he was at least 400#.

The second one totally fooled me. His long ears on what looks like a narrow head and his long thin legs made me think sow or young boar. So 250 max. The tree in the background must be bigger than I thought too.
Happiness is a large gutpile!!!!!!!
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Re: Guessing a Bears Weight

Unread postby P&YBuck1 » Sat Dec 23, 2017 1:47 am

Wow, very interesting Mike.

The best I could say for myself was I was correct on which one was bigger but I was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off on weights on both.

I too fell for the perky ears on the smaller bear thinking it was small.

Great post, Thank You Mike!
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Re: Guessing a Bears Weight

Unread postby Mike Foss » Sat Dec 23, 2017 3:04 am

P&YBuck1 wrote:Wow, very interesting Mike.

The best I could say for myself was I was correct on which one was bigger but I was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off on weights on both.

I too fell for the perky ears on the smaller bear thinking it was small.Great post, Thank You Mike!


One of the reasons for our big bear success rate is the education process that I put the hunters through, all summer long I would send pictures, videos of small & big bears, what's a cub, yearling, sow, boar etc. It sure does help the hunter out, education is knowledge, without some kind of it your in the dark. The biggest main thing I stressed also is just to have fun on the hunt.... what ever bear you get is your trophy!
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Re: Guessing a Bears Weight

Unread postby matt1336 » Sat Dec 23, 2017 4:07 am

I’m horrible at judging the size of a bear. I passed a 300 pounder thinking he was too small my first year hunting. Never again will that happen I need 7/8 points to draw a tag. That’s too long to eat tag soup.
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Re: Guessing a Bears Weight

Unread postby Dewey » Sat Dec 23, 2017 4:25 am

I passed on this bear when I hunted with Mike in 2015. Bait was pretty much gone by this point and he just strolled right through the bait station. Stopped for a shot before leaving.

https://youtu.be/xtZWW2EtzMU

This was opening day and I was holding out for a bigger bear. Shortly before I was watching a smaller bear and he exited the direction the one in the video came from to the left of the bait. Honestly I thought it was the same bear but after comparing pics later I think I screwed up. The bear in the video was much larger. Look at how much more of the bait station he covers. :o

First bear.

Image

Second bear freeze framed from above video.

Image

In hindsight I should have killed the bear in the video. I never touched my bow because I wrongly judged him to be the same bear. :doh:

So easy to wrongly judge especially smaller to medium size bears. I’m sure the true giants are much more obvious. Lot’s of guys killing what they thought were 300lb+ bears and then are surprised when they walk up and see it’s under 200 lbs. They all look big in the bait when you are a new hunter. Takes a lot of observation time on multiple bear before you start seeing the differences in how they act.

Mike,
Knowing that bait and the bears visiting it back then and looking at that video what would you guess for a weight on the bear in the video?
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Re: Guessing a Bears Weight

Unread postby stash59 » Sat Dec 23, 2017 4:56 am

That's why where legal. Using a barrel for baiting is so useful. Anything that looks as big or bigger than the barrel is a big one!!!
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Re: Guessing a Bears Weight

Unread postby Buckbreath » Sat Dec 23, 2017 11:15 am

Most of the good bear hunters around here use measuring sticks at bait sites. 4 foot logs laying on the ground in several places will give you a good measure of the length of a bear. Sifting some sand at baits is also a nice way to get identifiable tracks. No matter what, some will always fool you on size.
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Re: Guessing a Bears Weight

Unread postby strutnrut716 » Sat Dec 23, 2017 11:23 am

Thanks Mike. I could have used your instructions on size judging earlier this year. I messed up on judging the bear I shot this year. But I did have an incredible action packed hunt and had fun !!
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Re: Guessing a Bears Weight

Unread postby Mike Foss » Sat Dec 23, 2017 1:02 pm

Dewey wrote:I passed on this bear when I hunted with Mike in 2015. Bait was pretty much gone by this point and he just strolled right through the bait station. Stopped for a shot before leaving.

https://youtu.be/xtZWW2EtzMU

This was opening day and I was holding out for a bigger bear. Shortly before I was watching a smaller bear and he exited the direction the one in the video came from to the left of the bait. Honestly I thought it was the same bear but after comparing pics later I think I screwed up. The bear in the video was much larger. Look at how much more of the bait station he covers. :o

First bear.

Image

Second bear freeze framed from above video.

Image

In hindsight I should have killed the bear in the video. I never touched my bow because I wrongly judged him to be the same bear. :doh:

So easy to wrongly judge especially smaller to medium size bears. I’m sure the true giants are much more obvious. Lot’s of guys killing what they thought were 300lb+ bears and then are surprised when they walk up and see it’s under 200 lbs. They all look big in the bait when you are a new hunter. Takes a lot of observation time on multiple bear before you start seeing the differences in how they act.

Mike,
Knowing that bait and the bears visiting it back then and looking at that video what would you guess for a weight on the bear in the video?


Dewey that bear is a very long, big, heavy, mature bear, Damn it why didn't you shoot? LOL I understand he didn't really give you a shot...you should have called me I would have brought some more bait out, LOL The answer to your question is he is 400lbs plus :violin:
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Re: Guessing a Bears Weight

Unread postby Dewey » Sat Dec 23, 2017 3:25 pm

I was afraid you would say he was 400. :doh:

After that bear walked out of view he circled around and then behind me and walked towards the road. Pretty sure he winded me then. I walked out at dark the direction he went and never seen or heard him take off. Must have been long gone. You told me the big one on the bait was coming in the way I walked in and we then did some trickery by having me walk out towards the road. Hoping that was not the bear I was after. It all happened so fast and I never realized how big he was till reviewing video footage later.

I’m happy with the bear I killed and he made a beautiful rug but can’t help being slighly upset at myself for not taking the shot on this bear. He stopped perfectly broadside right before walking into the brush but his leg was back. I’m still confident it would have been a dead bear if I knew what I was looking at. I hesitated unsure about the size knowing there was a real big one on the bait and blew it.
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Re: Guessing a Bears Weight

Unread postby Mike Foss » Sun Dec 24, 2017 12:54 am

Dewey wrote:I was afraid you would say he was 400. :doh:

After that bear walked out of view he circled around and then behind me and walked towards the road. Pretty sure he winded me then. I walked out at dark the direction he went and never seen or heard him take off. Must have been long gone. You told me the big one on the bait was coming in the way I walked in and we then did some trickery by having me walk out towards the road. Hoping that was not the bear I was after. It all happened so fast and I never realized how big he was till reviewing video footage later.

I’m happy with the bear I killed and he made a beautiful rug but can’t help being slighly upset at myself for not taking the shot on this bear. He stopped perfectly broadside right before walking into the brush but his leg was back. I’m still confident it would have been a dead bear if I knew what I was looking at. I hesitated unsure about the size knowing there was a real big one on the bait and blew it.


Ya those mature bears are smart...without the bear even looking at you he new something just wasn't right and circled you to be sure, once he reassured himself of the danger he never came back again to that bait station. Hunters most of the time only have one chance then the games over!
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Re: Guessing a Bears Weight

Unread postby Edcyclopedia » Sun Dec 24, 2017 1:35 am

Mike, cool thread.

I would have asked what state and region. That likely leads to the extra weight factor OR less weight factor...

I was way off by the way...

Do you know how old they were by chance?
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Re: Guessing a Bears Weight

Unread postby Mike Foss » Sun Dec 24, 2017 1:46 am

Edcyclopedia wrote:Mike, cool thread.

I would have asked what state and region. That likely leads to the extra weight factor OR less weight factor...

I was way off by the way...

Do you know how old they were by chance?


The smaller of the two 528lbs was 8 years old, will try and find out about the bigger one


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