Hey guys, I just wanted to share my saga. I'm bowhunting a black bear that has been withing 100 yards of the house for the last few months. I saw him once in the middle of the summer with some fish he ganked from trash can. He was fairly big then, I'd say 300 lbs. I put over 300 pounds of corn out throughout the summer to fatten him up and quit feeding him around the beginning of September. I haven't seen him recently but I saw his "mess" today. His excrements were a little bigger round than the end of a baseball bat and pieced together probably about a foot and a half in length. I found two piles this morning and where he is bedding. Also there were a few piles of bird feathers where I'm guessing he snatched them to prepare for hibernation. Also one cat was taken but I'm not sure if it was him. I'm going to hunt him hard and I hope to get him.
Now, where do you think this bear is on the weight scale just from that info? His making little burrows or funnels through these thickets that I can bend over and walk through with ease. They are probably about 3 feet wide and 3 1/2 foot tall, maybe a little bigger.
So if you bear hunters could help...
1. How big do you think this bruin may be and how much wieght could he have put on in 3 months after eating 300 pounds of corn?
2. When do bears typically move? Morning, Noon, Evening, Day or Night?
3. I know bears can have a 25 square mile home range, whats the chance of him with the onslaught of winter coming; to stay put like he has been? He has been seen almost every other day by one of us here and the dog barks a storm almost everynight when he gets close to the house.
4. After shooting a bear with a bow, how long should I wait so I don't lose a limb or jugular vein or two?

Wish me luck, I'm gonna hunt him hard over the next few weeks.

big enough to eat a virginia bowhunter. here's a good info site.... http://www.black-bears.org/ good luck

Thank you sooner...could you have a clue as to how big he is with the info I gave up there?