My 2009 Bear
 

Anyone who has ever put in the time and effort to bait fall black bears can appreciate how much work it is. Finding the bears, baiting the barrels, keeping them active, cutting shooting lanes etc etc. That's why it was so frustarting for me when I had an active bait and it went cold when another hunter started going in screqwing things up.

Thank goodness for good friends however. A buddy of mine called and asked me if i could help his 69 yr old mother-in-law with her bear hunt. He had to leave on the moose hunt and she was unable to continue hunting without assistance. In doing so he very generously suggested I hunt one of the baits as well. The result of a frutiful evening for the botah of us.

I tell you I lost a few pounds dragging those fellas out!

Hey Congrats!!!!!!!!

sorry to hear about the other guy screwing you up after you put in the hard work!!!

That's awesome! Congrats to both of you.

Those are some nice looking bears. Congrats!!! Just curious if you happened to weigh them. The biggest one I saw in person this year was 300lbs. and saw few in the 150-250 range. These were northern Minnesota bears. Thanks for sharing.

Very nice, congratulation's to both of you!!!

NZC, we estimated mine at about 225 and the other one at about 250-275.

I have been taught that as an estimate, if the bear's body is as big as a 55 gallon drum he is pushing 400lbs at least. Mine I watched for about 5-10mins and was approx 2/3 the size of the barrel. The other one was probably 30-50lbs bigger.

These bears are from south central Ontario. That would not be the same as the northern ontario and Manitoba bears you guys often see on TV shows. Average size of mature bears in this area would be 150-200lbs. Trophies might get in the 300-400lbs range but are rare.

congrats... that is a beautiful bear...