Big Bear
 

I saw in the local paper that the Game and Fish Commission euthenized a 590 pound problem black bear in Longwood, Florida (central Fl). I didn't know that black bears grew that big in Florida.

That is a big bear for this area.

I have seen a few bears in highlands county in Central Florida. They are all pretty skinny must have been a brute!!!

Ive seen some in the panhandle that looked to me to be around 300 pounds or bigger. Most are alot smaller than that though. Thats quite a bruin, maybe theyll get the tree huggers out of their pocket and start letting us whack a few.

And the lack of hunting pressure.....

Florida bear may be mostly small but if a bear is dominant,has a good food source and lives to be of age,he can easily become enormous.Seems like the east is a good place in general for black bear.NC holds the official record.Va. had a 740 pounder killed in 2000 and unconfirmed reports of a 960 pounder killed in 1887-88.Nice to think the east has game animals the west can be envious of.

here in Florida the bears don't hibernate like they do way up north. which means they eat year around. i hit one with my truck about 5 years ago in the Ocala National Forest that went over 500 pounds.

Big bear
 

This bruit is over 10ft tall when standing!
Pic was taken south of tallahassee.
Screwed up and loaded the feeders with corn. Switching to soybean.
Question: How long should I leave the feeder empty/off before slinging the beans? Any suggestions?
The pic is the biggest one outta 5 or 6 that is hammering the feeders.

That is a pretty big bear damn. I'm used to only seeing skinny little bears compared to back home in the rocky's. That bear there has to be double the size of any I've seen in florida.

Most of the bear I've seen were in apalachicola national forest. I've seen a few in chazz swamp quite some time ago but none recently. There's a giant bear rumored to be on a local cow ranch here in citrus county but I've yet to see him.

Had a bear go right past me last bow season in Chaz. He made so much noise, at first I thought it was a real bad hunter. Broke every branch in his way & splashed like a fifth-grader in the creek. Also had a bobcat, a gator & 3 coons go right underneath my treestand. Of course, no deer - just deer flies. :mad: My thermocell tamed the grey clouds of skeeters quite well, but the deer flies would land right on it like it was candy. It was exciting to be that close to a bear in the wild, but I heard the deer bleating in the distance. I KNOW they stayed away from the trail that day because of him. I would love to see another bear this year, just not on my special dear trail...

A few years ago while muzzleloader hunting, I had one try to climb my tree..when that last foot got off the ground and I screamed (thought about jumping, forgot alllll about the gun in my hand, lol), then he screamed and flew off that tree.....the most intense thing I have ever experienced while hunting....almost shot it thinking it was a hog walking under my stand but then he popped his head out and I grabbed my phone.
Here's some pics of the 590lb. Bear that started this thread...look at his head, it's huge....




This is the one that tried climbing my tree....