Bear Bums - Bear Hunting

If you can catch us bear hunters being honest most of us would admit we’d like to take a big bear over a smaller bear. Up front you either need to know or you should admit it can be mighty difficult to judge a big black bear.

Here is a list of things to consider when finding a big dominant male or just a big male black bear.

1. A big bear here in northeastern Utah must be very old—maybe 20 years or so. A blacky on Vancouver Island or the south east coast of Alaska can get real big in 5-6 years. And they do. If you hunt the high concentration areas for bears you help your odds of seeing Mr. big, so consider the lush coastal western US and Canada.
2. Remember the ears! A big bear has a big squash. The distance between ears is further than the distance from ear to nose in a large headed bear. The ears will appear small on a big bear. This is in relationship to the big head and the usual extra fur a big bear has on his head.

The diagram below are from the Alaska Fish and Game site. They are a good resource for bear hunting. The recommend the triangle method for judging bears that you see below.

Remember, the distance between ears is further than the distance from ear to nose on a large headed bear.

3. A big black bear can still have a genetic specified head size, big or small, so watch for other signs of a big bear.
4. The big bear acts like Mr. big. I’ve seen them roar into a bait sight and just take over. They may be smart and cat like but they won’t be afraid of other bears. They walk like they’re in charge and just present themselves like they are proud to be so powerful.
5. Start judging the undergrowth when hunting bears. A bear on a little log will appear bigger that he is. If a bear happens to be on a huge log he will appear smaller. If you know how big the undergrowth is you’ll know the bear size. This may seem dumb but I’ve see a lot of bears misjudged because of the size of the log they were on.
6. During later May and June remember the big boar will be following the smaller female but a cub will always follow the sow.
7. The belly on a big old boy will almost touch the ground. He’s out of food, and hungry but his belly survived winter much better than smaller bears. Even in spring the big bruiser will appear big in the belly.
8. Seeing a lot of bears helps so hunt a lot, visit zoos, even watch TV and find out what sets a big bear off for you.
9. The big bears will have the best eating spot. Grass, fish or bait.
10. Big bears = big bear poop. I always figure if the poop is the diameter of a pop can I’m behind the right bear.
11. Track size to me is rough. A front bear paw track over 6 inches is big and an 8 inch track will always be a keeper but remember some little guys can have big feet or the bear you see around the corner may not be the owner of the track you just surveyed.

Bears, especially big ones, are loaners, making them much more difficult to judge. Practice spotting the big boar multiple times as you stalk along hunting. You should always know where the next rifle rest is and how far away the likely spots are. Move slowly and ALWAYS face the wind.

Here are more hints for judging black bears.