Measuring a bear, and size info

H Wally

H Wally

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How do people measure bears?

When I read about a bear measuring 7ft or something, usually it looks like the bear has been laid out on the ground, and the measurement has been taken from the tip of the nose to the tip of the outstretched rear paws. The human equivalent would be measuring our height by a person looking strait up and standing on tip toes while beaing measured.

Is this correct?

Secondly, what is an "average" and what is a "big" blackbear?
I know about how to identify (though I need practice), but I'm wondering when it comes down to measuring as far as weight, length etc, what is a big bear?
 
Skinned, lay hide out flat. Grab bears nose till hide starts to move, stretch front paws out at 90 degrees body. Pull just until hide starts to move. Measure from nose to tip of tail, and across the body from toe to toe. Add measurements together, divide by two.

A seven footer is a cranker. Any bear 6ft and over is a shooter for most hunters, and not a lot of guys will consistently take 6'+ bears every year.

The average bear killed is somewhere between 5 and 5 1/2 feet long, judging from most of the bears I've seen dead in the back of pickups.

Record books run off of skull size though (minus the hide), length + width = score in inches. A black with a 19" skull is starting to get up there.
 
Hmmmmmmmm. So to paraphrase, the length is not simply a point one to point two measurement.

To guestimate, what would you say most "normal" to "big" black bears would measure, nose to tip of toes?

AND, ignoring the fact that this question is one that's likely to raise eye brows.... do you consider it possible and likely to get a bear that would have a large enough skin to make a "bear suit"? I know bears are proportionally wrong, but am trying to figure out the logistics of if it'd be possible to fit a 5'4 person in one... and if that, a 6ft person in another...

By this I mean...

Wild-Things.jpg


I know it's a cracked out idea... I didn't come up with it, but it has certainly been nibbling away at me.
 
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Haha - glad I'm not alone.

Thing is without info it's a hard one to figure out. The person I hunt with is pretty darn short, so failing all things it'd work for them, but I'm kindof looking for myself too.

I figure you'd need about 1-1.5 feet of extra length on a bear skin from nose to the tip of the toes to take into account the fact that the face/nose would be facing forward rather than up, and the back paws would be bent back under your foot, unless you were walking on tip toes.

Seems I may need a griz tag...
 
H Wally said:
AND, ignoring the fact that this question is one that's likely to raise eye brows.... do you consider it possible and likely to get a bear that would have a large enough skin to make a "bear suit"? I know bears are proportionally wrong, but am trying to figure out the logistics of if it'd be possible to fit a 5'4 person in one... and if that, a 6ft person in another...

By this I mean...

Wild-Things.jpg


I know it's a cracked out idea... I didn't come up with it, but it has certainly been nibbling away at me.
Click to expand...


WHAT THE ####???? HA HA HA HA

This has been a Wally thread brought to you by the letters WT and F
 
I like it. But the bigger problem would likely be what kind of fasteners would be the best to make the seams "invisible" and then of course some one will make a best bear suite defense thread. Aside from that wicked cool idea
 
Jeepguy said:
I like it. But the bigger problem would likely be what kind of fasteners would be the best to make the seams "invisible" and then of course some one will make a best bear suite defense thread. Aside from that wicked cool idea
Click to expand...

Fasteners have been dealt with. The seam will show in the respect that the fur will meet there, but a heavy duty zipper sewn on the inside and velcro should work for this. Since it'd likely be baggy, you should be able to zip up and down from the inside.




Still don't have enough info on "bear sizing" to get a good idea if this is even possible though. I've never seen an average or big bear up close so I can't guestimate myself:(
 
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