Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting Bear trophy judging

I have been involved with this a long time. My hunters often struggle and dwell on what to do when they see a bear even at very close range. Bears seem to be able to look far bigger then they are even at 20 yards!

There are no antler points, spread, mass, or height of tines. There is no full curl, or or amount of twists in the horns. Bears are just plain difficult to determine. Far and away the ground shrinkage effects happen more with a bear hunter then any other species I have been involved with.

There are a couple sure fire ways to determine bear size but they do require either luck or legal baiting conditions. As an example. If you have a tree stand in or near apple trees, you could see how high the branches are with the apples and reach up. When a bear does the same thing you would know for certain how tall it is. Rather then guessing it was 6 foot while it's walking on all fours.

In several areas I hunt with high traffic bear trails I have cut an 8 foot log about 12" diameter and then made a notch every 12". This is placed on the trail so a bear will walk past it and give me certain reference to length. The same is done on the base of trees they will walk past so I can see how tall they are while on all fours. If they cover the 36" notch I shoot them. If I can see the 24" notch they carry on down the trail.

With baiting legal areas like Idaho, the sky is the limit and nobody should shoot a female or a small bear. Placing small sweet baits in the tree limbs will get them to stand up to see the running gear, while allowing you to see how tall they are.

Bears with small ears are one of the more typical standards. I'm also in agreement that this is a decent base line to judge. However bears with thick fur will also seem to have small ears and bears with thin fur will appear to have big ears. I learned this about the bear ears when I was doing taxidermy for a living. There is only one size for bear earliners. Regardless if a bear is 100 lbs or 400lbs they have the same size ears. If they look big it's a small bear and visa versa.

However the real good way to do this is to look close at the top of the head and the mass of the shoulders. A big adult male will almost always have visible muscles on the top of his head and a deep muscular groove down the middle. they have far bigger rounder skulls then females and younger males. A big round head with a short wide snout is a big bear.

A long slender snout and proportional smaller skull is not a big bear, not ever. The next best reference is the distance between the front and rear legs. Small bears seem to be only a couple feet between then legs. Bigger bears have a big gap in this. 3-4 feet long is not out of the question. Then there is the mass of the front legs and the shoulders. Big bears are wide through the shoulders and have a hump, Not as big as a grizzly but they have a definite rise in the shoulders. smaller bears do not have this.

excellent! bears are the toughest for me to guess.

Bears are very difficult to judge - but when you see a big one you will never forget what they look like. I recommend going to the zoo or anywhere else (Idaho has Bear World) where you can see lots of bears and take the time to determine what makes a big one over smaller ones. Hunting over bait or with hounds usually gives you the opportunity to look one over. Often incidental bear spottings do not give you much time and having a picture of what a big bear looks like in your mind already may save you from shooting a 5'er thinking it is a big one.

The human male hunters brain can make a 5 footer into what they want to see.

I have been caught up in this myself and I have seen many hundreds of bears. After sitting in a stand day after day for a few weeks or months begins to drive bad decisions and poor judgement.

Even when 20 yards away in plain sight. Patience is the biggest key in this. As stated by centershot, you need to see a lot of bears before you have a prayer at deciding what is big or not. Having something as a reference when baiting is fantastic, or paying attention to the body shape. I'll also mention one other thing. Almost every big bear I have killed, I have heard before I saw. They often have labored breathing which is loud enough to be heard from a distance. When you hear this breathing it's another data point to recognize that points to a bigger animal.

Another good indicator is when the bear that is on your bait takes off in a hurry - the next one in is often the big boy! Knowing how tall your barrel is, is a good indicator as well as hanging things in the tree to make them stand and stretch out. Fun stuff.

Add to these difficulties 500 yards of distance and a lone bear in a prickley pear field and one can understand how AZ bear seasons close so quickly as female harvest limits are reached.

Which is a pain in the ass.