alright bearklr that sounds pretty fair. i might go buy a scale. they aren't that much over $20 if i remember right. i just went to bass pro and that seems to be what i saw one for.

Question:

I am going deep into the back country and will not be able to weigh my bear until I come out of the woods. Will dressed weight count or how would you like me to handle that? I plan on quartering the bear and packing it out and could weigh the quarters and the hide and I would have to just deal with that weight as the final. Otherwise, the bear I am looking for I dont think I or my partners are going to be able to lift him onto a scale. Luckily I will have this bear on film!

Kevin

Western MA Hunter...don't fret...it happens. I have a similar story that I will e-mail you. Congrats on your first bear.... There is nothing like it...a bear with a bow We are the few, the proud, the bow bar killers.... (yes I meant bar killer..came from a movie..)

CTOGuide, we are all going to be counting dressed weight. If for some reason a bear is weighed fully in tact we are going to subtract 15% to get close to what the dressed weight would be. If you quarter it and weigheverything packed outthat should get you pretty close to the dressed weight. I know it's tough but there seems to be a lot of situations that require special attention and I'm not sure how to handle them all. All I can say is that I trust everyone in the contest and will not start any arguments as far as what they say their bear weighed dressed out. We are all hear to have fun as a group of hunters and that's what it should be. If you get all of the quarters hide and head out and think the ribs and spine left in the woods weighed 20 pounds then add 20 pounds to the total. You wouldn't be any further off than someone who had to subtract 15%. As I said earlier. We are here to have fun not cheat our fellow hunters out of a t-shirt. This is why I trust everyone's entry.

now granted, if you post a pic of a bear sitting in a 5 gallon bucket and tell us he dressed out at 570 then I think there would be an issue but I'm pretty sure everyone knows what this contest is about and hopefully we all trust one another as honest and ethical hunters.