A record book bear

[Rag Horn]

After returning from a recnet bear hunting outing I realized I knew very little about bears in genral. This has sparked some recent study of the species. What information I have not found is

 

what does a bear have to score to “make the books” or to be considered a trophy? I realize that for me and others any leagally taken bear would be a personal throphy.However for instance

 

a bull elk over 370 by a lot of people’s standards considered a monster bull. What are the numerical equivlants for Arizona black bear? Does any one have measurements or pics of the state

 

record? Thanks

[youngbuck]

A 20" bear is a big bear. a 20" will make B&C awards. 21" will get ya in the all time. World record is 23 10/16. Ive seen a few in the 20s from Az/NM and 2 over 21, one was an Az bear.

[CouesBuckhunter]

a 20 inch bear is considered a trophy. The bear i shot this year wasnt a big one, im pretty sure it scored 16 14/16ths

[Rag Horn]

Thanks to you both for your responses.

 

Couesbuckhunter do you have any pics you would mind sharing to show me what a 16 14/16ths inch bear looks like? For comparisons and visual reference purposes.

 

[kidso]

About 20 years when I shot my first Arizona black bear, I too knew nothing about skull size or measurements, but went to get the skull "scored" as a buddy at college kept asking me to have it measured. While talking with the scorer, he was intially impressed with the skull size and after I mentioned that it was my first bear he made the comment that most hunters will go their entire hunting career without getting a bear over 18 inches. I don't know how true that is, but that was based on his own experience as an official scorer. So, if skull size is the only "criteria" to consider here, then an 18 inch skull would be an impressive skull and as stated earlier, 20 inches will make the books.

 

I had no idea that the measurement was simply calculated by adding up the length and width of the skull (top part; not the lower jaw). It is also interesting to note that if the outer curve of the skull's eye socket is missing from being shot out (this affects the skull width measurement), for example, then the measurement can only be made to the edge of the existing bone fragment and can not be extrapolated to where the missing bone would likely have been.

[Rag Horn]

Thanks kidso... which I guess raises another question for me. If skull size is not the only thing to consider then how about other measurements such as weight, and length, how long/heavy is a “big” bear?

[200"mulie]

here is a pic of a nice high timber bear

 

[Couzer]

wow thats a fat bear

[kidso]

Weight is probably the toughest thing to assess on a bear, as it can only be done if you have perfect access to the bear and can get him to a scale, which is a joke, as one would want to gut and skin it before any kind of transport. That being stated, Al LeCount our infamous state bear biologist for years had a paper published that showed a strong correlation between the circumference of a bear around its chest and its body weight (not sure if it was his own work or if he borrowed that tool from someone else). Thus, one can get a decent weight estimate if you measure the bear's chest circumference in the field with a tape before gutting and skinning it. Using "weight" as a tool, a good bear is arguably one over 250. A big bear might go 300. A great bear could be 350 plus. Anything over 400 is likely a trophy beast. I've tagged three bears and had a tape in my pack each time, but never measured a single bear due to the excitement and the rush to get it gutted and skinned.

[Coues79]

The first bear I ever shot came from 29. I didn't know what I had (meaning the quality of the bear), nor how big he actually was until measuring the skull; Ended up at 20 7/8". He was a big ol' boar. A 20" skull is a really big bear for around AZ. A lot of it depends on you though, what makes a trophy in your book?

[bullwidgeon]

19 inch bear is big, usually older bear. 20 inches is a really good bear and 21 inches is equivalent to a 380 bull or 110 NET typical Coues deer. I refer only to spot and stalk. I can imagine it might be easier to pick through and be more selective if hound hunting, but even then there aren't very many big Arizona bears killed every year, and d@mn few when you take Indian Reservation bears out of the picture.

 

Bret

[Non-Typical Solutions]

So where is the official bear measuring guidlines???

[Arizona Griz]

19 inch bear is big, usually older bear. 20 inches is a really good bear and 21 inches is equivalent to a 380 bull or 110 NET typical Coues deer. I refer only to spot and stalk. I can imagine it might be easier to pick through and be more selective if hound hunting, but even then there aren't very many big Arizona bears killed every year, and d@mn few when you take Indian Reservation bears out of the picture.

 

Bret

 

I officially measured an archery bear back in '04 at 22 2/16" taken from Arizona. It ended up getting second place for the P&Y two year recording period. It was a toad. They are few and far between.

 

 

So where is the official bear measuring guidlines???

 

They are scored the same way for rifle and archery.

 

http://www.pope-young.org/minimum-scores_charts.asp

 

http://www.boone-crockett.org/bgRecords/bc...s&type=Bear

[THOR]

This bear score 18 8/16ths and is an Arizona bear from the southern units I got a few years back by sot and stalk im not sure what the weight was, not sure on the age. Im 6'3" and the other guys are around 6' to give you a comparison on the size. Hopefully this might help a bit.