Bear Trail Cam Photos and Judging

Elkcrazy8 · 09-23-2009, 08:57 PM

I was going to post these on another thread that dealt with judging bears. But I figured that I would share with you some of the 4,000 photos that we took off of one bait site in one season. From what we can tell, we had over 15 different bears visit throughout the season. I was really wanting to take the large chocolate or the monster black. Lets see if you can tell the ones that were on my hit list. Note, that is a full size 55 gallon drum.

Elkcrazy8 · 09-23-2009, 09:00 PM

Here are some more

Elkcrazy8 · 09-23-2009, 09:04 PM

In the last of this series, look real close at the bear standing on the barrel. This is by far the best way to tell the difference between a boar and a sow!

Elkcrazy8 · 09-23-2009, 09:17 PM

As a rule of thumb, I will NOT let a first time bear hunter shoot anything less than a 2 ringer. If the bears back is at the top of the barrel, I am getting my bow ready, it will be pushing close to 6 feet. If the bear is on patrol and will not come to the barrel for size estimation, I wait for him to walk by ribbons placed at 34 inches which would be the top of the barrel. If you can imagine stuffing the carcass inside your barrel, don't shoot it. If it would be tough to stuff the carcass inside the barrel or impossible, its probably a shooter bear. Also look for a crease on the head, wide ears, or pigeon toes, These traits point to a big bear. The best trophy bears that I have seen have had somewhat of a different build than your typical big pot belly bear, don't always use the pot belly as a gauge when looking for a trophy bruin. Sows will have a bigger rear end with more narrow forearms, boars will carry more weight up front and have popeye forearms. Boars will have a blocky looking head while sows will have a more triangular shape.

I hope you enjoyed the photos and hopefully you will be able to judge your next opportunity.

If you are interested in finding out how we get the big bears to feed during the day, here is a link to an article that I wrote on our bear hunting strategy.

http://www.elkcrazyoutdoors.com/home...the_bear_woods

Dbldroptine · 09-25-2009, 07:29 PM

Those are some nice lookin bears and the backdrop looks great.

Elkcrazy8 · 09-25-2009, 10:34 PM

Thanks for the kind words. We had one more bait to set and just threw this one out. I am surprised that it turned out to be the best bait that I have ever seen. Here is a bear that my friend from WI took off of it. Not one of the bigger but still a nice 1st bear.

RonPenner · 09-28-2009, 11:08 AM

Hey great pics and some great advice!!!!

rather_be_huntin · 09-29-2009, 09:19 AM

I've never hunted bear or had much a desire to do so but looking at these pics and reading this thread has me re-thinking that. Great pics and thanks for sharing along with your article.

Schultzy · 10-01-2009, 08:03 PM

Chad (Elkcrazy) knows his bear hunting very well. I've talked with him on the phone a few different times regarding bear and their behavior. Below Is a link to his website that has some great Info. I also believe he Is coming out with a Bear Hunting DVD soon If not already.

http://www.elkcrazyoutdoors.com/home/video