Black bear question PICS

[jessonml]

I don't hunt bears but come across them often and want to learn to judge them. I put a stalk on this one for fun and want to see what you guys think. Boar or sow?

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/pp290/jessonml/IMG_9691.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/pp290/jessonml/IMG_9699.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/pp290/jessonml/IMG_9700.jpg

[Heavy Metal]

looks like a shooter to me. In around 6 feet??? imho

[proguide66]

Look at how big his ears are on his head..and how they are 'on top' of his head...his head also looks kinda ' big' on his body.....the angle of the pic leaves the head as the main thing to judge this bear by...I would call him a small one by this pic....a true BIG bear has small ears and they are down more on the sides of his noggin...a big one will also have a crease down the middle of their forehead......also , a big bear's head will look small to his body size!...this goes as well for grizzlies.

[srupp]

agreed ....not a shooter

srupp

[Hombre]

agreed ....not a shooter

srupp
I agree, no go.

[Caveman]

If he's got "Mickey Mouse" ears on his head, he's not a shooter, to loosely quote Dana. I agree, not a shooter if he's not your first. Nice color though.

[Bowtime]

Nice colour, small to medium size bear. From my personel experience hunters tend to shoot smaller bears when they rush the shot thinking its a big bear. Watch your bears and study their body characteristics and you will shoot a good one. good luck.

[Ron.C]

As a first year bear hunter myself, to call boar/sow??????
As for this bear being a shooter or not as some commented on above, in my opinion it depends on what your after. Some may be happy to harvest this guy for a meat bear. But if your after a bigger bear for a rug/mount, this guy does seem small to me.

[BlacktailStalker]

Young bear for sure.

[325 wsm]

if you had 2 trucks to pull at each end of his hide you might get 6 feet out of m

[bsa30-06]

I agree this is a small bear, big mickey mouse ears give it away.

[leadpillproductions]

i say its a bore but too small to shoot if your looking for a 6 footer let him walk

[Dadawa70]

It's a small bear. Did you get to glass it for a while? Sure is nice to see it up in the rocks tryin' to fill it's belly.:)

[tomahawk]

If your meat hunting shoot!

[jessonml]

Yea thats exactly what I thought. I thought it was big but then saw a MUCH bigger bear later in the day but it was cross to almost downwind of me at the bottom of an alpine bowl so I couldn't get close for pics. I had a bear tag and was only going to shoot a monster and he was definitely it. One concern I had was that he was also a brown color phase bear and I needed to make sure that he was not a grizzly. He caught my scent though and stood up and took a look then ran off very fast. I was about 300 yards away from that bear. I totally know what you guys are saying about the ears and being able to use the big mickey mouse ears to judge the head.

I stalked to within 50 yards of this bear.. to where it gets steeper in the pics.. with the wind in my favor and only when I stood straight up and waved my arms did he high tail it up and over the ridge. It was a lot of fun and made for a great alpine hunt. I saw 3 bears that day and was pretty happy with these pics for a 4x zoom point and shoot camera.

One interesting thing was that all 3 bears were brown color phase. I guess its in the genetics of the area.

[jessonml]

It's a small bear. Did you get to glass it for a while? Sure is nice to see it up in the rocks tryin' to fill it's belly.:)

Ya i got to glass it for as long as I wanted. He was eating all the wild bluberries and I don't blame him, those things are tasty.

Probably would have been a tasty bear as the wild blubes were plentiful.

[hunter1947]

I say a young 3,1/2 year old boar ,definitely not a shooter.

[Big Lew]

Totally agree with "proguide66", if the large ears and head dominates, it's a small bear. Large boars frequently have roman noses, and quite often, the uglier, or less cute, the larger they are.

[jessonml]

Totally agree with "proguide66", if the large ears and head dominates, it's a small bear. Large boars frequently have roman noses, and quite often, the uglier, or less cute, the larger they are.

Less cute.... now that makes sense. This bear was very cute as when I was glassing he looked so relaxed and yawned. When he yawned he reminded me of my dog. He was too cute to shoot so definitely not a shooter. I'll remember that. Big ugly bear BOOM.

[BearStump]

another thing to consider, is how long the fur is. When the bear is alive the fur is protruding from the body and making the overall size larger. When you walk up to the animal after shooting, It sucks to realize that the hair has fallen limp and he is now alot smaller than you thought.