Trad Gang

Any experienced bear hunters want to guess this bears weight from last week in Wisconsin?
   (http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg565/gene167/160697c3.jpg) (http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg565/gene167/fa58d01b.jpg)

When the head looks big in relation to the ears, you have a good one. I'm sure if you do some measuring of the tree and do some math, there's some girth measurements and such that add up to weight, etc. Looks like a healthy one though!

I'm no bear expert, but I'd have to guess he's probably around the 250 mark. He looks to be about 5-5.5' possibly.

Hard to get a good estimation from this angle but it's a shooter in my book.  I'd have to have more pics and watch it live before I'd make an estimate.  I'm tempted to say it's a real nice bear but a standing bear like that could fool ya.

I'd say from the looks of him he is pushing into that 250 to 275 lbs guts in.  He is a shorter bear but he is big around, thick, and in real good shape.  Pics are hard to tell without something to relate to but unless it is a mirage I would guess he is in that range.  God BLess

Looks pretty big to me, he has a huge chest/neck/stomach even all stretched out like that.......I'd say 300+

Wish you had a picture of it on all fours but I would guess around 350

Big enough....

Hard to tell with absolutely nothing in the pic  for reference...it's very easy to overestimate the size of a bear...and most do.

My guess....around 200#

When you go back stand in the same place as  the bear and get your pic taken, or measure how high his paw was from tree base to that limb spot he's touching.

He's bigger than me    :eek:

327.5# +/-  :D  If its not a sow with cubs its a shooter!

(http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg565/gene167/d9d2b4bf.jpg)    
     The young man is just over 6'1" and 190# to help give some  perspective.

I'm guessing 250-300 dressed.  Looks similar to my bear that was 225 dressed and weighed after 3 days. This bear looks like he's got some weight on his belly.  My bear had hardly and fat at all, squared 5.5 feet and skull was 18 3/4. The snout on yours is shorter, but thicker than on my bear.  That's a very nice bear however you look at it.

 Ray\\'s bear on Ron LaClairs website (http://www.shrewbows.com/raylyonbear2008.html)

He is over 250 dressed.  I would put an arrow through his lungs in a heartbeat.  I hope he hangs around your bait.

Are we going closest or price of right rules?

325 is my guess

I'm thinking big enough to shoot.......but that's just me thinking out loud...lol!

QuoteOriginally posted by Guru:
Hard to tell with absolutely nothing in the pic  for reference...it's very easy to overestimate the size of a bear...and most do.

My guess....around 200#

So very true.  And with the added reference pic, I think that may be high.  People WAY overestimate bear.

I've never been bear hunting, but it appears that the bear is quite a bit bigger than the 190# man. I'm not sure how that translates to actual weight, though.

Bigger then the picture shows imo. His belly  looks big even with him standing, he is going to go 300 350 plus would be my guess. A big bear for wisconsin.

shoot shoot

I'll throw my hat in...#285lbs dressed.  We may find out soon enough, if my brother has a chance at this one.

Kris

It looks like the bear is about 6 1/2 feet tall from ground to snout. That's judging against the fella that is 6'1 in the other picture. Bent over on all fours, he is probably the size of a bait drum or slightly shorter. I would figure it is a 200lb bear. The fur is about 2 to 3 inches thick with a nice coat like that on him. With that in mind, his overall size looks much bigger than he likely would weigh on a scale due to the thick coat of fur. Bears with really nice coats on them are deceiving in size! I agree with the 200 pound guess. My bear was small and we both thought she was a decent size before we actually laid hands on her.

His ears look big compared to his head, younger bear, I would guess around 200# as well.

My guess(327.5#) is live weight or before field dressing weight!  :bigsmyl:

200 to 225.

280 as he walks.

If you wait 5-8 years to draw a tag. Theres no second thought.  Big enough to arrow!  Good luck and hope the dogs don't run him off your bait.

Thanks for all the input,  great range of weight guessing.

I have harvested alot of bears and I agree a bear on the foot will make a liar out of you but I would be willing to bet that bear is over 300. Look close at its mid section its nice and healthy like alot of us , Ha. Ha. but all jokes aside the bear did not lean up when it stretched to reach in the tree. That bear definatly over 300. Very beautiful coat. Just my opinion.

CT

QuoteOriginally posted by Steve O:
 

QuoteOriginally posted by Guru:
Hard to tell with absolutely nothing in the pic  for reference...it's very easy to overestimate the size of a bear...and most do.

My guess....around 200#

So very true.  And with the added reference pic, I think that may be high.  People WAY overestimate bear. [/b]

I think it is worse with hogs.    :D

I'd guess between 250-275, live weight.

It is hard to judge size from trail camera pics.First,the bear is in short Summer hair,something we don't see in hunting season and he is still very thick in build.It is a boar.No sow has a chest that deep and there isn't a 200 lb bear on earth built as thick as it is.

I'm positive it's a mature boar.It can't have a chest that deep or upper front legs that heavy even at 300 lbs.I've been measuring and mounting bears for about 3 decades and have a notebook full of measurements that I use for reference.

A bear like that will have a head 13" long,conservatively.That makes his chest 18" deep,which is big-deeper than the largest whitetail bucks.18" chest depth equals about 45"-48" circumference.That means about 50"-54" belly girth.Total length,nose to base of tail-hard to say.If that measures 68",350 lbs.If it measures 72",400 lbs.

Bears ears vary in size and in Summer,they look bigger because the hair is shorter.Sorry to go against the flow but I have to live by measurements and that's what I think.I'll really stick my neck out and predict it will be 5 1/4"-5 1/2" nose to eye,25-26" neck,behind the skull,45"-48" chest girth,50"-54" belly girth and 68"-72" nose to base of tail-350 lbs minimum-on the hoof,not gutted.

Go kill the bear.

This might help show what I was trying to explain.

3 1/2 year old,125# bear,built like a dog.
(http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/jbrandenburg/475X53X33009.jpg)
5 1/2 year old,225 # bear,starting to get a bear shape but not massive in the front end.
(http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/jbrandenburg/59014.jpg)
10+ year old,350# boar.This one had been rutting for a couple weeks so the belly wasn't filled out but massive in the front end,deep,wide chest and powerful upper,front legs.19 5/16" skull,68" length,53" girth.
(http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/jbrandenburg/BearSeason2010247-1.jpg)

Jim, you explained it well. Thanks for the tutorial.

I'd guess live weight 250 maybe a little less.

I am 6-2 almost and weigh 210 and that Bear appears alot heavier than me easily.Pics can be deceiving though either way.

Thanks JimB, great breakdown from your hands-on knowledge.  Hope to have some concrete results.

Good stuff JimB.....thanks for the info!

QuoteOriginally posted by gordydog:
Thanks JimB, great breakdown from your hands-on knowledge.  Hope to have some concrete results.

gordydog,you are welcome.I hope you get a chance to weigh him,then we'll know for sure.

If it were me,I would put a small blaze on that tree at the 36" height.Outfitters say if a bear's back,when on all fours,reaches the top of a 55 gal drum or above,it is a shooter.Most barrels stand 34.5".It would give you a good idea if he gets on all fours but he must be real close to the tree,otherwise the camera lense makes him look bigger.

I think that's your boss bear at that site.Do you have more pictures of him? Anyway,good luck.

What JimB said. Bears are the hardest thing there is to judge size on unless you really know what your looking at. Hunting them with a stickbow you set up really close. The few I've killed were at 8 feet, 6 yards and 14 yards. From that distance they look gigantic! And each one was 75 to 100 pounds less than I thought they were when I dropped the string! They all look big in the woods until you actually see one alive up close the size of a Volkswagon Beetle. Then you really know what a BIG bear looks like    :eek:

Very difficult to judge.  The first pix is a close up, compared to the pix with the person in it, and the person is rather bent over/slouched rather than stretched out.  The bear's structure doesn't appear an immature/small animal, but pix can be deceiving.

I am thinking that the bear is not a long one, some just don't stretch as long.  Mine from 2010 was like that.  Massive in the front,  not as much in the butt, but not terribly long.  This one looks thicker than mine did (belly, especially stretched up like that) and his dressed weight was 250 with an estimated (by taxidermist) live weight around 320 ish.  I am guessing that this bear is a bit heavier than mine was.
ChuckC

Bears are rarely as big as you think they are.

(http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg565/gene167/f72ef00d.jpg) (http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg565/gene167/91045cc2.jpg)
   Here are some updated pictures of the bear you guys helped me guess the weight on...again thanks for your input.

I still think you are under 200# on that guy...big ears, small head, lots of light between the belly and the ground.

It does look like he has been eating well!  You putting kegs of beer out there too?

The crease in his forehead makes him a mature bear. The broadside shot shows a deep, muscular chest. He's a good one, I think. I'de shoot him without giving it a second thought. As to weight...well, he may just be bigger than I think. Could make 300# is just a guess. Still...they fool you...big time. It will be interesting to see what he weighs if you can get him. Good luck. He's worth spending some time pursuing.

I think he is a shooter.  I won't guess a weight, I have no experience, but I would sure ground check him.

God Bless,
Nathan

Personally only ever killed one and he was small at 225 - have seen many one the scales anywhere from 100 to 640 (NC blackies run big!)

No way to judge that one without reference though he has a good belly/chest on him even being stretched out as he is.

No clue on how big but I would not waste a second trying to get a shot on him!! Bear is good eating!

Chief

JimB gives good info for sure. Been out of the bear game for a little while but I know this, That bear will be a chore to pack out. He is pretty large.
Please do us all a big favor and PM JimB and find out what measurments to take so we can all learn more. With all of his experience, I bet he is close. But cameras are funny to judge by.
And please put the bear on a scale.
When do you hunt?
Good luck,

CTT

I would bet 300+

That pix gives better perspective than the first I think.  He's bigger than I initially thought. I'd drop the string on it.

You cant always go by the ears Ive shot 20+ inch bears that had little stubs for ears and others that thier ears stuck up like this one. Its a big bear and he's there in the daylight Id try for him. Maybe its like deer they are usually bigger than they appear on the trail cam . No way to judge the weight till its on a scale ....Tim

There's one way to find out for sure.
Vig

It's nice to see more pictures.The one picture shows the muzzle well.The muzzle is very thick and that only comes with age.A young bear can't have a blocky muzzle.We can now see the height of the bear on all fours.His back is very close to the height of the young man's belt.That's tall.

If I were hunting that spot,I would give that bear a lot of respect.I would expect him to be very alert,like any mature big game animal.I've only been within bow range of two bears app. that size and they are very hard to draw back on.They may not see as well as some animals but they can sure pick up movement.It's great that he is coming in daylight.One little mistake and he could go nocturnal.

The more I see of that bear the more I think my guess may be conservative.I wish you the best of luck and hope you keep us posted.When does your hunt start? Are there any other bears coming in?

Here is a chart that helps estimate a bear's weight,based on measurement.Body length is taken to the tip of the tail and the circumference is around the chest.
(http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/jbrandenburg/scan0001-32.jpg)

I think you can find out if you throw in a 300# scale and check when you shoot him. They can be decieving, just get Vig to post a pic of the  400 pounder that he took last year for you. His Dad, Grizz

Wouldn't have dared guess,that is until you showed the comparison pic. If that ground is somewhat level,I'd say Bear must be 5.5 to 6 ft. tall, well filled out = 330 to 370   Tough to judge Bears

Pretty amazing how vast the difference is in all these guesses.
I assume all guessing have at least some experience hunting and seeing multiple bears, which makes it all the more interesting at how far apart the guesses are.
I downed my biggest bear in Alberta. We weighed it with a come-a-long and a 500# scale from a tree.
When I show pictures of me and the bear I get guesses of 200 to 500 pounds.  Pretty crazy.
My buddy's first bear was a 165# blackie that everyone in camp guessed at 225-250. It had SUPER long fur, but when skinned out it looked dog like as shown in the pics above.

I'm still sticking in that 275-300 pound range.  If I am wrong it is going to be low.  He is so filed out it makes his length decieving, which means he is quite possibly heavier.  I have seen a lot of dead ones and killed them myself, and the one thing for sure most over estimate weight on bears.  And most of that is due to dimension differences.  As Jim's chart shows, weight will vary greatly on healthy bears with length differences.  Good luck and God Bless

This is fascinating.  I hope you get him!

Can you measure some of those logs laying on the ground and put a blaze on a couple of the trees 36" high?

Stopped in Hesperia at the sport shop today. The owner has a Michigan black bear full mount, that field dressed over 400#. The mount came out  slightly smaller than "life-size". Sure looks real comparable to this one.

Fun pictures to try to guess the weight. Several other bears active at this bait that are really nice, but smaller.  Trying to become familiar with this biggest bear so my brother can identify it while on stand. Thanks for all the input.

Without a referance object in the picture it's really tough to put a size on a bear...especially weight. That, and the best way to fool yourself judging a bear is with it's front paws up on a tree or drum. The pictures with the bear on all 4's is the most accurate in my opinion.
Nice bear either way.....guessing the size...I'm not going there! Best of luck!

(http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg565/gene167/d3e5d03f.jpg)
 This guy stands 6'2"  and has a 6'6" wingspan.

My guess is the bear's back is around 36" high based on this guy's waistline compared to his height. A guy 6'2" has a 34/35 inseam. At least.

Looking back at the pics the bear's hip area appeaars higher than this, but depth plays a part in that too.

I still am clueless about his weight, but I know that bear outweighs me by a good sum. I'm 220lbs.

That is a nice bear.

Hey, that guy better not be wasting his PBR on that bear!  He should use cheap beer for bait.

Sure does look like a big bear to me.  I am with Bud...I would say over 220 for sure.

Good luck!  Hope we get to find out his actual weight.

QuoteOriginally posted by Manitoba Stickflinger:
Without a referance object in the picture it's really tough to put a size on a bear...especially weight. That, and the best way to fool yourself judging a bear is with it's front paws up on a tree or drum. The pictures with the bear on all 4's is the most accurate in my opinion.
Nice bear either way.....guessing the size...I'm not going there! Best of luck!

I've been waiting for our big bear magnet from the great white north to chime in on this...  :thumbsup:  

Like JimB, I think the bear is bigger than most are guessing but if Ryan's not going to venture a guess as to his weight... then I'm sure not gonna either!   :notworthy:  

Ron

This is a very interesting thread for me, and i'll probably never get a chance at a bear but like the interaction here to learn something.  I took the pictures  of the last guy standing for a reference and the 2 picture of the bear broadside and slightly quartering in, and scaled them so they were as close a match in scale amongst the 3 as possible. This way I could make a better judge of the size actually next to guy, It looks like a good bear to me in this frame, but i'm no judge of bears.  I couldn't figure out how to save and load to photo bucket. Any of you guys good at photo shop?  If someone could do what I did and save and download it would be neat to see on here.

I just scaled the standing bear pic next to the standing man and the bear is every bit as tall and that with it leaning in, the man is quoted as 6' 2".  And the bear is a whole lot more thicker than this guy, the man weight is not mentioned but at 6' 2" we can probably guess 180-220 safely. I say that bears carry at least 75 to 100 lbs more than the man   :dunno:

(http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg565/gene167/f0b97743.jpg)   Here is a smaller bear for some more reference.  This is NOT the "bigger one" from earlier in the post.  Notice how its back is lower than the horizontal balsam when on all fours.

:bigsmyl:

Okay- lets get this guessing thing over with.... Run some extension cords out there and put one of those big step on scales out for him!

    :goldtooth:

Ha, got me too at first!

When does your season start?  Just wondering how long before we get the correct weight   :biglaugh:

I'm no expert, but just for fun I'll say that he looks big enough to %$#t in the woods or anyplace else that he might get the urge  :thumbsup:    :campfire:

Wisconsin season opens Wednesday, Sept. 5.  Maybe we'll get a definitive answer then.

I just came back from Ontario. This bear was weighed before dressing it out. What is your best guess?
(http://i458.photobucket.com/albums/qq309/dnlnovo/045.jpg)

(http://i458.photobucket.com/albums/qq309/dnlnovo/074.jpg)

Dan, I'm guessing yours at 218#. On certified scales.  :D

Owlbait, I can tell you this, not even close.

You must be taller than you look in the picture! Maybe I'm getting my Kg's and pounds conversion wrong?

388#

hang a pole (or mark a tree) as a reference for heigth..make it 36"es.

I wish I would have kept the pics we had of the bears on my Wisconsin property.
One bear the belly nearly touched the ground.
A few weeks later I guy shot him and he went 500lbs,.
They posted pics where they registered him at Pap's store about 400 yards from where we had our cameras set.
There are some huge bears in WI.

This bear I took above was 410# on a scale. We had the scales checked also. I can tell you it took 5 of us to pick him up on a sled to put in the pickup.

I know they can double in weight from Spring to Fall.

Ok, we got any update on this bear. I sure hope your brother can get us an answer. I believe the answer is 42!

The ears are too tall for this to be a realy  big bear but this bear is 285 to 350. If it were 500+ the ears would look shorter, stubbier.

i say around 250....based on ears, head and body relative to those.

250-280 dressed deffinetly over 6ft.

Don't get too hung up on the ears. I guided in Alberta and the ears were surprisingly big on some monster bears up there...it's not a guarenteed tool to use when judging.

I've seen big ears on big bears also,especially Northern bears.

This is a list of the top 20 counties with the most B+C entries.10 of them are Wisconsin counties.
(http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/jbrandenburg/Scan0001-45.jpg)

I would guess 300+.