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What's the average weight of bear harvested in your state? Michigan has been producing some real trophys (that's a joke) with the average bear harvested weighting 115 to 120 lbs.

Don't say much for sportsmen pulling the trigger does it....

I haven't done my homework on this just know of the weights of mine and my buddies bears. My bear was a large B&C bear weighing around 400 pounds. A friend of mine has shot 3 bears in the 200-300 pound range over the last 5 years, and during the fall season of 08 we saw a total of 24 bears most I would say, excluding the cubs, were in the 150-300 pound range.

Rich,

I'm not sure what the state wide # would be, but I thought the WI DNR said it was right around 130-140 for all bears.

In the last 5 years our group average has been about 230lbs. It all depends on who's got the tag, how much they can hunt, what their expectations are and what we've been finding.

Tman & Nick,

Thanks for the information. No question about it dog hunters are a lot more selective.
Got a hunch hunters in other states have not stooped to this level.

Killing cubs is illegal in Michigan, but the DNR claims even a hollow canine tooth does not prove its a cub, so basically it is not enforceable. And we have a lot of "sportsmen" trending to the smaller bear. We know of one trophy bear taken in the Keweenaw Peninsula that hit the scales at 38 lbs. The guy stopped for gas in Copper Harbor and the station owner told us the "hunter" lifted the bear by the scruff of the neck with one hand.

Hey there,
I was born and raised in Traverse City area. Is there stiil good bucks in the Ontanagon area?

Tim

wv bears range from 90 to 150 a big one and pretty rare is bout 400

wv bears range from 90 to 150 a big one and pretty rare is bout 400

I have to say thats about the same here in vermont

In maine I would say the average weight of bear harvested would be 100-125 lbs But that would include bears harvested over bait also. as far as strictly over hounds I think guy's are more particular . I have passes on several that I guessed would go under 250 lbs .Hard to resist taking one over 300 lbs Cubs are legal and I have seen a few tagged in pretty embarassing for the hunter . Just goes to show the difference between the bear bait hunters and the bear hound guy's. In Maine it is still popular to run bear off your own bait stand . Final choice is up to the guy carring the gun.

Here in NC we got the biggest bear around. The record was killed here at around 880lbs. that was at the coast i live in the mts and ive seen em round 600 lbs b4. avg up here is prolly 400+ full grown

WalkerhoundhunterNC...By all accounts NC has turned what was once low in bear numbers to some high quality bear hunting. How did they do that and what inspired your game department to turn things around.

Rich: Just my opinion ,but unlike the MTS of western NC. Eastern NC Swamplands has the largest bears due to :

Short or non-existent hibernation season
Acess to quality bear habitat
Abundence of natural food
Access to hog carcuss's
Even with hounds TUFF hunting conditions

bob baldwin jr wrote:Rich: Just my opinion ,but unlike the MTS of western NC. Eastern NC Swamplands has the largest bears due to :

Short or non-existent hibernation season
Acess to quality bear habitat
Abundence of natural food
Access to hog carcuss's
Even with hounds TUFF hunting conditions

Hog carcuss's have nothing to do with 98% of the big bear killed. But I would have to agree with the rest of your thoughts. We kill bear every year and know of alot of guys that do also in the 500-600 lb range and there aren't hogs within 50 miles or more.

Please correct me if I'm wrong...I was under the impression NC outlawed bear baiting and does not allow guiding.

N.c. outlawed some types of baits. You can't feed any processed foods, only natural foods. Not sure about the guiding thing but I think you can.

I had heard that the 880 lb bear was shot off a commercial hog operation property by COY PARTON Dolly's brother and that bear had been feeding extensively on hog carcus's