A little help from you bear experts

willy

5 year old buck +
Here are a few pics of a few bears. The barrel is a 30 gallon barrel and next to it is a dead 1200 pound cow.(just for size comparison.

What do they weigh? I think the one is a bit on the obese side and I have have never seen one bigger.

Thanks in advance for your input.bear 7 554.jpgbear 7 388.jpg bear 7 410.jpg bear 7 534.jpg
 
I have no idea on weight but that one sure is BIG. Good luck getting that one.
 
That big one is 400+ other ones are maybe 150 at best IMO.
 
That bigger one is a porker!
 
I've seen some big bear before and my father in law shot one a few years back that was 405 lbs. but that one is a serious giant.
 
Wow that is a really big bear. I have been fortunate to shoot some nice bears ...just lucky...however the last one was over 400 lb and your bear is quite a bit bigger in my estimation. I am shocked at his size considering it's only May.
 
The big one looks like a sow. Shorter body and big butt. Probably 300lbs. The other 2 are year old cubs and weigh about 100lbs. My guess is that it her cubs from last year. A 30 gallon drum is not that tall. 55 gallon drums are 32 to 34 inches tall and if you have a bear that's back is over a 55 gallon barrel you have a big bear. After seeing over a 100 dead bear in the last 3 years and trailcam pics to match you can get pretty good at estimating size although once in a while one will fool you.
 
that bear looks deceivingly big, I still get a chuckle watching the tv bear hunts when they talk about weight. I do know they do get big and fat in New Jersey.
http://tinyurl.com/oqofng2
 
big one 350 and probably a sow. . other guys are 120 tops. One of them cinnamon?? very fat on the big one but really not that long. Get a bag up in the air so we can see her stretch out. That will tell a lot when she gets up. I do think its a sow. Let the little guys slide if you have a tag. I would tag her if she came in solo.
 
and for the record...

1. how did you get the cow there?
2. You are gonna have a mess there in a few weeks with the cow..
3. I don't think I would walk within 50 yards of that bait set... you are gonna have flies of biblical proportions.
4. I am gonna guess. coon city, skunk town, and possum ville.

I knew a guy that did that once with a cow. wow.. it was a freaking mess... He thought it was a good idea. I like the sweets for bears... their sweet tooth gets em every time.
 
It's tough to tell 100% for sure, but I'd bet there 3 different bear total (the 2 together and the lone one is the same in the other 3 pics). That lone one is a really good bear. I'd put it right around 400-450, playing it safe. Looks very similar sized to the biggest spring bear I've arrowed, missed Boone by 1/8th. That one also had a shorter, stubbier body for his size. It may go higher, but it takes one monster of a spring bear to even hit 400 lbs. I can't remember the exact ave % bigger a bear is by fall, but I want to say 20-30% range.

The other 2 are small/younger bear.

One thing is for sure, if the bigger one steps out, you won't be questioning if you should shoot it. Judging bear, particularly from tree stands (for me at least), can be tough. I messed up and shot a 120-130 lbser, after passing multiple 200-250 lbsers over 3 days (all on video) and had convinced myself that the one I shot was bigger than them, and that was after I'd watched him come to the bait 5 times. When we followed the blood trail right to where he laid, my camera guy got in an argument with the guide that the one laying there wasn't the one I shot, and he was 100% deadly serious. In fact, they were starting to yell at each other, when I grabbed the bear, picked it up, turned it around and told my buddy, "Shut up. It's our bear. Now film the #$%$ing recovery." (would have been hilarious, if I wasn't feeling like the world's biggest jack wagon at the time).

That was my second bear (1st was around 250), and I'll never forget how foolish it made me feel. It taught me an invaluable lesson, though. If you question for a second if a bear is big, he's not.

Also, I've hunted them exclusively out of ground blinds after that. I found that angle to be much easier to judge size from, then when looking down on them (all the hair laying down/out made that one look MUCH wider than he really was and played with my head, where the long legs and narrow heads are easier for me to spot/stand out a lot more for me at ground level).

In either case, when you see a really big one, you immediately know. No questioning it for a split second.
 
I messed up and shot a 120-130 lbser, after passing multiple 200-250 lbsers over 3 days (all on video) and had convinced myself that the one I shot was bigger than them, and that was after I'd watched him come to the bait 5 times. When we followed the blood trail right to where he laid, my camera guy got in an argument with the guide that the one laying there wasn't the one I shot, and he was 100% deadly serious. In fact, they were starting to yell at each other, when I grabbed the bear, picked it up, turned it around and told my buddy, "Shut up. It's our bear.

I have heard this more than a few times while recovering or tracking bear.
 
and for the record...

1. how did you get the cow there?
2. You are gonna have a mess there in a few weeks with the cow..
3. I don't think I would walk within 50 yards of that bait set... you are gonna have flies of biblical proportions.
4. I am gonna guess. coon city, skunk town, and possum ville.

I knew a guy that did that once with a cow. wow.. it was a freaking mess... He thought it was a good idea. I like the sweets for bears... their sweet tooth gets em every time.

Hunted coyotes in NV many years ago. On one hunt.....we set up on a huge dairy farm.....near where they had a big pit with dead cattle / calves. (always thought it strange they didn't have a rendering truck pick them up.)

Anyway......Talk about stink!!!....and talk about a magnet for coyotes!! You had to be pretty careful how you set up with the wind so that you didn't have to breath the air. Yuck. :eek:
 
I'll go out on a limb... I'm guessing the big one is 500+

I helped recover one last fall that was just short of 600 lbs.... Yours is close to that one.

-John
 
Night time pics are the hardest to judge. Cubs are 110# probably. Hard to really get good look at the sow since she never stretches out. But the sow would be 350 . Now remember, as big and porky as they look, they can run 35 mph. You try to do that. An amazing omnivorous predator that can show very human like attributes at times .
 
man.. I keep looking with you guys saying so big. I don't see it. Not long enough, maybe 400??? tops. I don't see 600.. NO WAY.. Saw a 600 in the UP twice. One my realtor shot and the other one was hit by a corn head. Those were 600 all day, and this bear isn't even CLOSE. Both of those were looooooong and thick. That belly is way off the ground. No way over 400!!

DON'T GET ME WRONG.. I WOULD SMOKE IT!!!! BUT WE ARE ASKED TO JUDGE WEIGHT.
 
man.. I keep looking with you guys saying so big. I don't see it. Not long enough, maybe 400??? tops. I don't see 600.. NO WAY.. Saw a 600 in the UP twice. One my realtor shot and the other one was hit by a corn head. Those were 600 all day, and this bear isn't even CLOSE. Both of those were looooooong and thick. That belly is way off the ground. No way over 400!!

DON'T GET ME WRONG.. I WOULD SMOKE IT!!!! BUT WE ARE ASKED TO JUDGE WEIGHT.

I thought the same thing. It takes a long big fat bear to make 600 pounds.
 
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First, thanks to all of you for sharing your thoughts on the bears. I agree that the big bear is the same one but I am not sure on the 2 smaller ones being it's cubs. The smaller ones had been coming to the bait for awhile and seperately and the big bear just showed up. The one is a red or cinnamon color. There is also a sow that has been on camera but I didn't share that pic.

My friend measured the barrel and told me it is 30" tall so if that is the case I believe that bigun is a big biggun. Big enough for my wife anyways. He also said it is the biggest bear he has ever seen and he has seen a pile of dead bears.

1. how did you get the cow there?
Tractor

2. You are gonna have a mess there in a few weeks with the cow..
Probably but my friend has been putting dead cows/calves in this spot for a few years now so it must work out okay. He puts rolled corn and dr. pepper syrup in the barell and says that stinks like hell but the bears seem to love it.

3. I don't think I would walk within 50 yards of that bait set... you are gonna have flies of biblical proportions.
Hope to find out in a week or two, my wife is hopefully going to get to pull the trigger. If the prevailing winds are blowing we will be fine otherwise we won't be able to hunt there anyways (thank goodness)

4. I am gonna guess. coon city, skunk town, and possum ville.
Not a lot of coons, skunks, or possum in this area. This is in the Mnts. of WY

A bonus if we do go out to hunt with my friend is that we will be doing some elk shed hunting where several hundred elk wintered this year.

Again thanks to all of you for sharing your ideas on these bears.

If we go and my wife is able to close the deal I will have all the details posted.


NH, I am from NE
 
That is definitely one of the biggest bears in WY. I figured it for a east coast bear. Where they eat Dunkin Donuts leftovers year round. Good luck to you wife!
 
My cousin guided a bear hunter for a TV show. He shot a 175# sow. Then they propped it up and said it was 350#s on camera. It looked that big when it was propped in front of the camera.
 
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