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Thread: Bears, Apparent Size vs. Actual Size

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
    Posts
    265

    Bears, Apparent Size vs. Actual Size

    Am I the only one that has difficulty accurately gauging the size of black bears from any sort of distance?

    Just yesterday I tagged a bear on a hillside, I thought it was a decent size, but it turned out to be much smaller in reality. Still a legal bear with a decent bit of meat to it. It's also been that I've seen bears thinking they were on the small side that turned out to be much larger once I got closer, or they started moving.

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    okanagan
    Posts
    3,061

    Re: Bears, Apparent Size vs. Actual Size

    Yup you’re the only one

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    In the bush near a lake
    Posts
    7,198

    Re: Bears, Apparent Size vs. Actual Size

    Ground shrinkage with bears happens to lots of hunters. I have watched someone swear they shot a giant then run up and pick up the bear like a dog lol

    It takes time and seeing lots of bears both live and dead to get good at judging bears.

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Cedar B.C.
    Posts
    6,999

    Re: Bears, Apparent Size vs. Actual Size

    An excellent case for baiting lots of chances to see lots of bears and be able to learn to judge them experience is the best teacher when it comes to bears
    "BORN TO HUNT"
    Foxton's Cuervo Gold "KEELA" Oct. 2004-June 2017. Always in my blind and my heart.

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Hope & Tulameen
    Posts
    8,621

    Re: Bears, Apparent Size vs. Actual Size

    I don't bear hunt but this reminds me of a number of years ago when the neighbour's kid shows up late at night with a bear in the back of the truck.
    Naturely I go out to congratulate him and see if he needed a helping hand.
    I look at the bear and say "Christ Mitch, your dog is bigger than that."
    He looks knda sheepish and says "It looked bigger thru the scope."
    He and I still laugh about that.

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Posts
    385

    Re: Bears, Apparent Size vs. Actual Size

    Check the distance between the ears. Old rule of thumb is if it would take four ears to fill the space between the ears, it's a big one.

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    North Van
    Posts
    1,888

    Re: Bears, Apparent Size vs. Actual Size

    Like Monasheemountainman said - you're the only one. I've never done it, and definitely not with the last one I got. Nope. Never....

    I've made it a rule now that I'm not going to shoot one smaller than the last one, and I'm 50/50 regretting it because I'm in bad need of bear grease !
    Rob Chipman
    "The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders" - Ed Abbey
    "Grown men do not need leaders" - also Ed Abbey

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    6-09
    Posts
    1,217

    Re: Bears, Apparent Size vs. Actual Size

    Quote Originally Posted by Rob Chipman View Post
    Like Monasheemountainman said - you're the only one. I've never done it, and definitely not with the last one I got. Nope. Never....

    I've made it a rule now that I'm not going to shoot one smaller than the last one, and I'm 50/50 regretting it because I'm in bad need of bear grease !
    bear grease is a valuable commodity! It is great for frying fish, French toast, bannock...

  10. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
    Posts
    265

    Re: Bears, Apparent Size vs. Actual Size

    Half the reason I hunt bears is for the fat! So many uses, plus delicious meat. Got a bag to render down tonight. Mmmm.

  11. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
    Posts
    265

    Re: Bears, Apparent Size vs. Actual Size

    Quote Originally Posted by Coyote View Post
    Check the distance between the ears. Old rule of thumb is if it would take four ears to fill the space between the ears, it's a big one.
    I went back and looked at past pictures of bears I, or people I know have tagged and that actually is a pretty good rule to follow.

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