Options to help judge bear size?

[npaden]

I have gotten quite a few trail camera pictures of bears on my place in Colorado. I’m pretty sure some of them are really nice bears. I just don’t know how nice.

I get most of the pictures on the same camera that is a pretty good location for all kinds of other animals as well. I go back and forth and look at where other animals are in the same spot but it’s tough to get them in the same exact place for comparison.

I’ve had a few people suggest putting a T post with alternating paint every 6” to help try to judge them but not sure that is going to tell me much. No baiting in Colorado, but I could put an empty 55 gallon barrel for comparison like people do for bait and just not put anything in it.

This is a great trail camera spot in a high traffic area and I don’t want to mess that up whatever I do.

Any suggestions?

Here’s some pictures from this spring:



From last fall:

 

[TheTone]

I’m no bear hunting expert but I’d shoot any of those bears given the chance, especially if they were on property I own

 

[The Hedgehog]

I go years without seeing bears as good as some of those.

 

[MTLabrador]

There are some stout bears there.

 

[npaden]

Some elk pictures from the same camera to help with perspective.

 

[Flatbrimmer]

Those are all big bears…

Couple sows I think though.

 

[Muskeez]

I wouldn't risk messing up the spot just to get a gage on the animal size. (I typed the portion below before looking to see who the OP was. I bet you've shot more critters than I ever will) Go hunt, and when you see the one you will know it. I've found on different species, that if we kinda have to talk ourselves into shooting it then it tends to be in the "fair and decent size" category. When your brain says HOLY SMOKES, or something similar just shoot.

 

[npaden]

Thanks for the comments. I've only shot 2 bears in my life. One dink when I was in college walking closed logging roads up by Libby, MT and one decent one on POW a few years ago.

One thing that I was surprised at was this past fall we saw one of the smaller bears that I have been getting on camera and it person he actually seemed like a decent sized bear. That has me thinking that some of these others might be really good bears. I think you are right about if you have to talk yourself into it then the animal probably isn't a Holy Crap type animal. I'm not sure on sows vs boars on these. I did get a picture of a sow with cubs this spring and she was much smaller than the bears in these pictures.

I have been judging them somewhat based on the space between their ears compared to how close their eyes are together. The 2 pictures from yesterday stood out to me on how big their head looked compared to their snout. Both look like they have big old noggins. Some of this is distortion from the camera too. Especially with closer pictures you get some fish eye type distortion making things closer look bigger than the rest of the animal.

Still working on getting a bear tag, I mess up and didn't realize that the unit my land is in went from OTC private land bear tags to a draw this year until after the deadline was already over. Hoping we can get my son a tag on the secondary draw.

I guess I'm leaning toward not messing with any kind of measuring markers since I don't want to mess this spot up as it is BY FAR my most productive camera spot. I'm still thinking about it a little, I might could put a log or something that would not be too much in the way and would help me gauge size a little bit.

 

[kiwi hunter]

I'll take the cinnamon txks

 

[Sask hunter]

Big neck, head as thick as the neck and a squared off nose and your looking at a mature boar. Some big bears have creases some don’t or not a very visible one

 

[Falcon75]

I guess I'm leaning toward not messing with any kind of measuring markers since I don't want to mess this spot up as it is BY FAR my most productive camera spot. I'm still thinking about it a little, I might could put a log or something that would not be too much in the way and would help me gauge size a little bit.

Put out something that can tell height with. Guide for bear said if it is taller than barrel it is a big bear and to shoot. Maybe a branch put in a hole of the trail and tie yarn every 3 inches or just paint two different colors. Or go full send and get a 12 14ft section of old utility pole and the bears will rub and claw on it. I think they like the smell of the preservatives because place i go has them on the trail we walk in on and almost every one has scraches way high and fur and bite marks.
Hang a branch off side from rope made like use to draw hang man in school and you will get deer rubbing and licking on that like what they do above scrapes. Love the pics and they do look really massive.
p.s. I have a youth that could help with putting a bear on ground to get real measurements you know just to be sure they are big.
p.s.s Put out a miget statue to be in frame with bears and John Cushman will loose his mind.

 

[2ski]

I've heard if it looks like a dog as it walks it's a small bear. Don't know how true that is but that's what I got for you.

 

[daltrix99]

Judging size is hard man, even on a live bear through glass (especially if it's far!), and for me, judging sex is even harder unless it's a true big-booty Judy or a really muscular pot-belly boar.

I agree with everyone on these being big fat bears. What I immediately noticed was:

• Fat blob shape with long shaggy fur and therefore not a bunch of daylight between the legs, chest, belly, and ground
• HEADS: pumpkins with small ears out to the side. In my years of bear hunting and good fortune to have killed a handful of fairly big boars, that head size, shape, and feature proportions is the best tell for me. You have relatively small ears pushed out to the sides of the heads on most of these bears. Every small bear I've seen (or seen killed) has big floppy dog ears close together on the top of the head.

Nice photos, good luck!

 

[kansasdad]

I’ve seen lots of trail camera photos showing prey species walking seemingly unconcerned down the same trail that predators used just a few moments earlier. My guess is you could get to the spot, drive a carefully prepared measuring reference into the ground and be on your merry way within 60 seconds. You might influence behavior for a day or two, but I’d think the locals will return to their life patterns quickly.