Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Black bear size?

I hung a corn barrel to shoot some pigs, took less than a day for a black bear to find it and get himself caught on trail cam, i'll try to get pacecars or riflecrank to post a pic, question is, i dont know squat about bears, the bottom of the boat winch bracket is exactly 54 inches off the ground, the bear is standing downhill nearly looking headlong into the winch bracket, anyone have an idea on what this thing will weigh?

TIA.

Thank you pacecars, much appreciated Sir.

Looks like a young sow, meat would be good though.

Damn, if that's a young sow, a big boar would indeed have me soiling my drawers running into either bow hunting, Thanks.

Oklahoma?

Under 250lbs.

Big enough. Shoot the sumbitch

Ha! With as much iron as you carry I can’t imagine a scrawny old black bear worrying you much.

Yep 👊🏻

Around 200, probably a shade under. Bears are like hogs, people guess way over most of the time. Had a guy argue me till he was red in the face that a bear I had shot was 250 pounds plus, said bear weighed around a 120 pounds. All in all, if he’s more than 80 pounds he’s fair game and delicious. Hard to beat a smoked bear ham, it’ll pit family members against each other if done right.

flat belly, nice haunches, defined legs, defined neck, about 165-180
agree on the young sow

LOL Big B, i believe you'll agree with me it's mighty funky weird scuffling/fighting in the dark, weird sheet buddy ; ]

Thanks for the advice and opinions everyone, i just figured a bear standing there with it's nose at the top of my belly would be bigger, if she has a big boyfriend i may arrow him, season begins 1 of October.

Gunner,

I'd say tasty & worth a dram or 2, after an evening encounter !

I would weigh it after I put a 180 grain Partition thru the shoulders. Bob

I love black bear meat as does my family. I would guess that bear weighs close to 250 pounds.

From what you've said about the boat winch at 54" from it's bottom to the ground, it looks to me like that bear's shoulders are about ten inches below that, and its front feet are another 2-3 inches below where the post goes into the ground... If those measurements are close that makes the bear about 44 - 48 at the shoulder - that's NOT a small bear, male or female! A bear that stands 3 and 1/2 feet (42 inches)at the shoulder with all four feet on the ground is a 250 + pound bear, unless it's very skinny! I've shot enough to know a little ... and I helped a partner get out a 400 lb bear, and helped skin it, and it would be stretching matters to say it was 4 feet at the shoulders standing on all fours. Of course, a lot depends on amount of fat... the bear in the pic is carrying a lot! I'd say that's easily a 300+ lb bruin! If we keep in mind that a 300 lb WT buck only stands about 43" at the shoulder, and their legs are much longer than a black bear!

Bob
www.bigbores.ca

120 lbs if that is my guess. Bear are very hard to judge but the legs and belly are easy to identify it is a young sow and the "pear" shape of her. Pretty animal and meat is good! Just cook it well done, use it in stews and roasts ect.

200 pound sow

It is the easiest thing to find out the weight of a black bear. Go to the bar and ask 20 people what they think it weighs, then divide by 2.

It is the easiest thing to find out the weight of a black bear. Go to the bar and ask 20 people what they think it weighs, take the avr. weight , then divide by 2.

wack it, then hang it on a scale then we will know it to the pound

A 55 gallon drum is about 36” tall. In my experience, every bear whose backline is above the barrel is large. I agree it’s probably a sow and I’d bet she’s very big with that winch at 53”. Biggest sow I’ve ever seen on a scale dressed at 305 or 308 (my recall is failing). The bear you have there is approaching that ballpark.

I know exactly how much this one weighed that my son shot

Truth…

I agree it’s a sow. Doubt it will break 200 lbs. most people though would agree it’s every bit of 400…

Todd

That’s a nice bear! Neck shot?

You have a measuring stick in that winch at 54". That bear at the shoulder is over 40". And ANY bear at or over 40" at the shoulder is over 300 lbs. I've shot many that were 200 +lbs and none were close to 40" at the shoulder. And one female in my sights was at least 350 lbs (I didn't shoot her because two of her yearlings were present, though she was legal). She might have been 3 and 1/2 feet at the shoulder (42") but not an inch more.

Bob
www.bigbores.ca

No weight but this one squared a bit over six feet.

This one weighed 260. The one in the photo appears to about the same weight.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/galleries/17241290/black-bear

Yup. That is the entrance side. .358 Win shooting 220gr Woodleighs. Mannlicher Schoenauer.

That's a good bear Ed.

An average adult polar bear when standing on hind legs is about 8' tall with its head level, not tilted upwards (that's average, not the largest), and on all four legs is about 52" at the shoulder. (4 ft plus 4 inches). A very large boar black bear of over 500 lbs, standing on hind legs with head not tilted upwards will be about 1 and 1/2 feet shorter than the polar bear.

How tall at the shoulder is a 500 + lb black bear? There are variables depending on amount of fat, of course, but one hanging on a meat poll that went nearly 600 lbs (where I did eight seasons of black bear hunting) would have been less than four feet at the shoulder standing on all four legs.

A general rule of thumb is that a black bear that squares 6 feet stands about 36 inches at the shoulders.

As stated, IF that bear in the pic is at least 40" at the shoulder, that's much more than the average adult male black bear. It's very important to have an objective means of measurement as bear images can be very subjective. The only objective means, in this case, is the height of the boat winch.

But I'll admit that the length of the bear doesn't match a bear that stands over 40 " at the shoulder, so the bear has to be at an unknown distance this side of the winch, as the length of the bear might only be five feet!

Bob
www.bigbores.ca

That’s not a 200lb bear if the winch is at 53”. Not even close. I’ve killed a few big bears and seen a bunch more.

(Weight by memory) all were dressed and weighed
488 Maine
335 NC
346 NY

The boy did good. Great bear and killed it with a cool gun.

10-4, Thanks all, much appreciated, good stuff getting the young folk out and getting it done too, as speculated, i sent pic to bow hunt Bud that has kicked 4 wives to the curb over hunting, long way around the barn to say he knows his chit, he states it's near impossible to put accurate weight on bear size because it may be an unknow distance [closer than pole] to trail cam, he also said shoot the damn thing, call him, and something else about a brine? and his big smoker LOL!

Nice bears hunter4623 and Sakoluvr

Jerry, i agree on it being a young sow. i'd say between 180-200 pounds.

I have seen a few wild bears in my life, two things that give a clue to size are ear to head size and length of neck to length of body on a broadside view. This bear probably is about 180. I don't know much about Oklahoma bears but I know its not know for huge bears. It may be a 3 year old female. If so and you want more bears leave her alone , If you don't blast her.

Any guesses on this one? The BOTTOM of the feed is right at 5' off the ground....

250lbs and 6 feet tall? nice bear.

I’m with Wyoming260. I feel comfortable with the opinion that’s a mature sow @ 180lbs give or take some. I can only suspect that southern bears don’t have the length or density of coat that northern bears do that would make them “fluffier”.

I agree with the 200 lb mark. Big ears=small bear.

Happy Birthday, Paul.

Thanks Mr !!!

Deb made sure I felt loved & appreciated.

This is deceiving as bears often are plus I’m behind it and light was going fast. It’s real close to 6’. We didn’t weigh it but I doubt it went over 200lbs. Maybe a little. I don’t think it was out of hibernation long.

Nice color on that one. Was the rug good on it? Our bears in Michigan are black and I haven’t seen a color phase my entire life. We do get some nice white chest blazes from time to time though.

This is a 350lb black bear. From this spring.



Here is one around the same from last year.

Yes, the hide was beautiful. I doubt you’ll see any “blondes” or “cinnamons” east of the Dakota’s. Primarily they run in a band from western Canada down through the western US Rockies, south into NM and Arizona.

A couple in that 300-320 range

Big ears
Slender neck
Shallow head
Lots of ground clearance

Sow and 200-ish

Pathfinder............ Do you drop ALL your bears right in the middle of a fine patch of seasoning ???
Hoe up a sack of those ramps and do a roast right on the spot !!!

Estimating size on a bear is difficult at best, and 95% of peoples estimates about the size of any bear they see, kill or get pictures of are way over the mark. Whats really funny though is the several comments on here where people think they can guess the bears age from the picture. Heres a test for you guys. Both bears had teeth sent in for cementum aging, both were sows. Guess the ages.

I don’t care what they weigh. Important thing is how big are they?
hint…

Of the pictures I posted, can you tell which is the “biggest”?

Thanks for the info men, she's back, got a half shot on trail cam of a MUCH bigger bear with her off to the side, think it may be breeding season here, nice bears men, great looking rug GDV3, very nice.

I killed a young sow about that size last summer. The meat was incredible.

I'd say shoot her, weigh her, and let us know.


Okie John

I know very little about bears, having just started hunting them, but I think we get a few out west. I've seen a cinnamon about 40 miles west of Seattle, and a friend of a friend got this one in southern Oregon.


Okie John

Gunner500, I didn’t know there were bears in Oklahoma. Thoughout the state or in that seemingly rugged SE area?

Sakoluvr, a Mannlicher Shoenauer full-stock in 358 Win is a rarity indeed!

Yessir, we have plenty of bears here in the SE Leflore Co. mountain country, i have heard of other parts of the state having a good number of bears but have no specifics, perhaps the Wichita Mountains area?

It is! Have not seen another. My son made it even more special!