# Judging Black Bear Weight & Size?



## Ansel (Mar 30, 2002)

Do you have any ideas for judging black bear, weight and size?

I will be hunting black bear this fall and want to do everything I can to reduce the chance of shooting a small inferior bear.

Ive talked to numerous guys who have sworn that the bear they shot was believed to have been much bigger than it really was. Ive also heard judging the size is difficult with nothing to compare to. Since in Michigan we are not allowed to place a 55 gal. drum or any other man made item at our bait station that would rule out a comparative devise.

Ive thought about painting a stripe around some nearby trees to give me a visual but thought maybe someone might have a better idea. Bear are very reclusive and sightings are fairly rare  so the option of spending a lot of time watching and studying them is hard at best.

Thanks for your help,
Ansel


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## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

Ansel,
First you want to decide what you want to shoot. A leagal bear or a big bear. If you want a BIG BEAR, believe me you will know one when you see it. It's body will be huge and it's head relatively small but there will be no mistaking something in the 300 pound range. Now if you want a leagal one (100-200 range)
you can tie some surveyors tape on a tree (2 1/2 to 3 foot up) and lay a stick near the bait (about 4 foot long) that will give you something to gauge the bear by.

Another good idea is to go to some garbage dumps before season. That is how I have seen my biggest bears. There also is usually a variety around.

P.S. I'm one of the guys that shot a bear that got a case of ground shrinkage, but I didn't have to hunt the rest of the week in the rain!


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## Aspen Hill Adventures (Feb 25, 2001)

Here's two other things to look at: Big bears will appear to have small ears and a belly that hangs near the ground.


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## FASTRNU (Jul 2, 2002)

I was told that if the legs look long and the ears big it is probably a smaller(less weight) animal.


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## dongiese (Jun 10, 2002)

I go to this tree farm/produce place in waterloo rec. area, and he has 4 Black Bear in cages. female is 350 and the male is 7oo lbs.

so i have going there on and off to get a better idea of size.


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