Judging Bears??? (pics)

[Mt^Boy]

Bears are tough to judge. I bet that bears have probably surprised more hunters with amazing ground shrinkage, than anything else out there! (except for that glacier lake

Here are a few pics from last year.... I chased a few bears and had a blast! (Some of the pics are taken in infra-red, so they're pretty grainy)

How big would you guess? Male/female? Would you shoot????

One:

Two:

Three:

Four:




Five:

[BOWHUNTERCOP]

The best pics are the 1st, 3rd, and 4th. 3 & 4 are the same bear.

1st pic I would say that bear is about 250/300lbs
The same bear in pic 3 & 4 is larger 450/500lbs.

If I was hunting I would take them.

[marty1028]

the first two pictures are of a small bear. The red one is much larger. It would depend on where I was hunting if I shot the first bear. If in alaska no way I would wait for a bigger one. If it were where I hunt bears perhaps twards the end of the season I would shoot either. Now if the red one was where i hunt I would shoot it opening morning. Thats a good bear in the place I live.

[mntrapper]

The first one is the best picture and it is a smaller bear pretty leggy meaning it is a younger bear.

The fourth picture is also pretty good and that is a decent size bear a shooter

The others I can not take a guess at because the pictures are not good quality at all can not see good enough to make a decision

[Bill_in_MI]

3 & 4 are shooters, if the bluriness on 3 is not "rounding" things too much He is big. The reddish is a beautiful bear.
Bill

[Mt^Boy]

Thanks guys, good responses! I was lucky to get out a ton last year, and had a blast watching 49 different bears. Here is my perspective on them, having seen watched many of them for extended periods last year:

#1 - Sow about 175 lbs - she had two cubs with her. Judging from the picture, she looks like stocky like a boar, but she is actually pretty short.

#2 - Sow about 150 lbs, although from 500 yards across the valley in the long grass, she looked big enough to spend an hour crossing the creek & stalking her with my bow.

#3 - Decent black boar - about 250 lbs. Only saw him once.

#4 - Big Red - a big fat-a$$ bear, probably a boar. Only saw him once, but couldn't close the gap with the bow.

#5 - Mr. Big - a large cinnamon male. Stalked him 5-6 times to 40 yards, but couldn't close the gap with the bow. He is #1 on my list for some hot lead this year. Haven't seen sign of him yet...

[Elkcrazy8]

An idicater for me is the first look at the ears. If you look at the pic's(or what you can see of some). The ears appear smaller as the bear gets bigger. I didn't look at the animals body until after and came up with the same results.

[Bldhound]

Same as Elkcrazy 8 said also if it looks like their head is mounted to their shoulders(no neck) it's a shooter as well.

[bearklr]

elkcrazy is right on. The best indicator is to look at their ears. A bears ears are the same size throughout their life so the smaller and farther apart the ears appear the larger the animal will be.

[Western MA Hunter]

I agree... I always look for that big "pumkin head" with small looking ears with no neck.