Postby davem » Sun Nov 22, 2009 4:35 pm
Hey- this is exactly the thread I need. I'm in Florida and have seen a fair amount of bears both here- where you cannot hunt them- and in Canada (Ontario and Quebec) where I have hunted them. I think I'm a pretty good judge of bears.
Regardless of what a lot of folks think- I'll go out on a limb and say there are more 150-180 pound bears around than usually suspected. I- along with 3 other guys- in Canada once spent the better part of a morning dragging a 265 pound bear- stiff from the night before- out of a swamp- so I have a pretty good idea of a 265 lb bear. A lot of the bears on the videos shown on this sight- not really that big- I'd say 200 "ish"
Okay, on with my issue; most of the Florida bears aren't large but yesterday I was out deer hunting- saw two does- no bucks. I like still hunting even though I sit on stands at times. This bear I saw was a good sized one and I'm pretty sure it was AT LEAST twice as big as the 265 lb bear- which would make it 530.
I'm going to give some dimensions and maybe some of you can tell me what you think- maybe I'm wrong. I was about 30' away when I saw the bear. My first impression was his head, I have never seen a head that big. It was flat across the front. I have looked at other objects since then- the hub cap on the wheel of my vehicle, the steering wheel, the back of a chair- trying to ask- same size? I would guess the head was 12-14" across. The ears were stubs, small pig eyes, sideways- heavy roman type nose/snout. Pig nose. On the height of the back while walking, higher than one's bed, maybe about as high as a writing desk- possibly as high as a doorknob. Length without head- 4 1/2 to5'- with head add another 14" to 18" or so. Almost all bears I've run across bolt as soon as they see me- including a mother with two cubs, this guy stood his ground and his head started swaying and his mouth opening and closing- sort of gasps. In any event I decided I had better back off- as I said they are protected- so I backed away about 40 yards and waited, he resumed walking in the direction he was headed, taking his time and looking at me every few steps. I kept watch on how high he was compared to the brush around him and then went and measured that against myself after he was gone- hence my guesstimates on his size.
That bear shown on this thread that weighs 520 lb- how does it's measurements stack up against what I saw? When I saw it hanging- before the scales photo- my first thought was it was the same size- when the scales showed 520- well that was right there with my double 265 lb figure.
Pat Kemp- that 368- the ears are longer, about twice as long as the one I saw, yours has a little less of a pig face. The bear I saw had more of a hump to the top of the snout. My guess is the back on your bear would have been about even with the arms on a chair. BTW- your bear is a really NICE bear. True trophy. Nice paws.
And, this bear I saw was a "wild" bear in the respect that is is a good 50 miles to the closest agricultural fields (corn). I know there's some Carolina bears that are true monsters in the 600-800 lb class but I think they were feeding on corn in the Eastern parts of the States. I think on the 800 lb bears what you normally get is a really grotesque body where the head is relatively small given the massive weight.
So- I'd appreciate some thoughts- trouble is- I could be wrong- maybe it looked a lot bigger because it was only 30' away. What I'm thinking is that I'll go with whatever indicates the smaller size, in other words if a 500 pound bear's back is definitely higher than a door knob then the bear I saw wasn't that big, or if a 500 pound bear's body without head is at least 7' long- the one I saw wasn't that long. Maybe the bear I saw was more 350-400. In any event I'm sort of excited about it because I didn't think any of the Florida bears got that big. Thanks for any comments.
Never Hunted in eastern NC but had been thru there on business during the hound season saw a few on scales dressed a 600 lbs plus really fat bears . I believe that Coy shot one that dressed ?? 845 lbs might have been the state record. I have only talked to him once since than but I do remember him telling me that that part of the state had a lot of hog farms and the reason he had got so large weight wise is their were several that were feeding on dead hog carcuses along with the Natural abundence of food and the amount of agricultural products being grown. Along with the almost non-existent hibernation season .That would be my best guess for such large bears . I am sure the state would have but I never heard back if anyone ever determined the bears age.
