bucksniper14

does anyone have tips on how to judge a bear on the weight of it.

stubblejumper

Look for small ears with a large space between them if you want a mature bear.The ears won't actually be any smaller,the head will just be larger.Mature bears generally look fatter than younger bears as well.

salukipv1

It may sound simple...but a big bear will look big! there should be little "what ifs" or judging required...

But I agree the ears will tend to look small for the bears head...

the head will look big...though may look small compared to the bears body...

less space between the bear's belly and the ground...

I think when you're judging a small bear vs a medium bear is when these factors come into play more, but like I said before, you should know a BIG bear when you see it!

Schultzy

This can be tough for someone to do, specially for someone with not allot of expierence. Everyone thinks bear are all 300lbs+, kinda funny as no one seems to shoot a 150lb dressed bear anymore. I'll name a few things that come to mind for me when judging bear size, a few of these were already mentioned.

Small Bear Characteristics-
Lots of room (light) under the tummy
Small framed
Long looking ears
Ears straight up
Narrow space between the eye's

Big Bear Characteristics-
Not much room (light) under the tummy
Big framed
Short looking ears
Ears go out the side of the head
Wide space between the eye's

Phil from Maine

I have seen some big adult boars that didn't look all that big in the tummy before. They had some really thick front leggs on them though as well as a very wide looking head. Sometimes they can fool you when looking at the size of the tummy compared to proportion. But as others have stated when you see a big bear you will know it is a big bear without much of a doubt about it.. Shoulder hiegth is one way to tell as well sometimes..

Tribal

Schultzy if I am not mistaken the average Black bear taken in Minnesota is around 115 pounds. It's tough to go out there and drop a 300+ pound bear. I shot a 175 pound sow and she was 6.5 years old.

But advice above is good. You could always hang something up high enough so you know if the bear reaches it hes the size you want. Otherwise small to the side ears squared nose.

Unclejeb

Schultzy has it right....there are always a few more details, but you can only run through so many in the field to make your shotdescisions. Baited hunting does seem to take a little out of the challenge...but there are arguements on both sides....
NC where I am from has the biggest Black Bears in the world...pricey anymore to hunt them generally and numbers on big boys getting lower with time and influx of non-resident hunters (and dog hunters)....but over 600lbs not all that rare....898lbs is stillthe NCrecord far as I know...probably still World record too...not absolutely sure anymore....he was a big, fat bugger-bear ! Shot at a hog farm eating hog carci from dumpster....near Vanceboro NC.
Hyde, Tyrrel, Washington, Beaufort Counties are the best for the "Big-Boys"....