Thanks. Actually, I meant to say "Sometimes the bear is
SMALLER than we first thought."
Up at our camp we see dozens of bears a year. You would think we'd be experts at judging the size of bears. I shot one bear in my PA career and guess what - it was smaller than I thought. I saw it walking on the bottom of the hollow and I was on the top. The first thoughts to go through my head were:
1- holy !@*#, a bear!!!
2- and it's bear season
3- I have a bear license
4- Am I dreaming????
5- I better shoot before it's gone!!!
How big did I think it was? I don't remember. It looked like a big, black, hairy bear. There was nothing to judge it against except trees. It was moving and about 75 yards away. It was going to be out of sight in about 5 seconds.
It ended up only weighing about 150lbs on the hoof. It was a 1.5yo old male. I thought it was much bigger. Especially when I was dragging him up the mountain.
Here's his picture. Pretty small for a bear, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Even a 500lb bear that I shot over bait in Canada in the spring when they're hungry and desparate.