What is the average size black bear harvested in Ontario?

Depends…garbage dump bears seem to be pretty fat lol

This one is from a dump around Port Loring ON.

The thing could hardly walk but ate tons of garbage lol
My guess ~300 lbs.

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Here is a Central Ontario bear near my house in the spring of 2024. Drawing a line from the camera position across his back to the lilac bush opposite, I was able to calculate his height. He is a good sized bear, with a good looking coat. Only got the one photo, never actually saw him. Just passing through I guess. Date stamp is correct, time stamp is out.
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This one waPICT1889 Bear.JPGs a lot smaller.
 
Bears are difficult to judge weight on, even standing right next to them...a few years ago at camp 2 buddies shot bears the same night, we had them side by side in the well-lit shed, got the first one up on the old-school beam-style scale which read 124#. We all guessed the second bear to be at least 30# heavier...got the second one on the scale and it was within a pound of the first! Their long fur can be deceiving.

Here is a bear I arrowed a little over 2 weeks ago, not far from Sudbury. The trail cam pic was taken less then 2 minutes before I shot him. Guess the weight and I will reveal the confirmed weight in a later post. Bow is a Mathews VXR 31.5" ata. Bragging rights to whoever guesses closest :). For bonus points, guess the age and when I get the results back from the tooth submission I will post it.
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Runningfool said:
Bears are difficult to judge weight on, even standing right next to them...a few years ago at camp 2 buddies shot bears the same night, we had them side by side in the well-lit shed, got the first one up on the old-school beam-style scale which read 124#. We all guessed the second bear to be at least 30# heavier...got the second one on the scale and it was within a pound of the first! Their long fur can be deceiving.

Here is a bear I arrowed a little over 2 weeks ago, not far from Sudbury. The trail cam pic was taken less then 2 minutes before I shot him. Guess the weight and I will reveal the confirmed weight in a later post. Bow is a Mathews VXR 31.5" ata. Bragging rights to whoever guesses closest :). For bonus points, guess the age and when I get the results back from the tooth submission I will post it.
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I'll guess 180lbs and 5 years old. Maybe 250lb bear by fall?
 
This is one I shot a few nights ago... there are big bears out there, but most don't put in the time to get on them, or the patience to pass up good bears (or even the first bear), to connect with the bruisers... that is why so many 2 1/2 year old bears get shot... they are the largest demographic, and the most active and inexperienced. Ground shrinkage is more extreme with bears than any other big game animal.Screenshot_20250609_164307_M365 Copilot.jpgScreenshot_20250609_164703_M365 Copilot.jpg20250611_200335.jpg
 
The barrel is the best gauge for judging bear size it at least height of the barrel its small.
It only starts there though, if it loolks like you could wad it up and stick it in the barrel its likewise small. If if looks like it swallowed the first barrel aready its a bruiser.
Averages are deceptive; the average bear has one testicle for instance.
This works.

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hoytcanon said:
This is one I shot a few nights ago... there are big bears out there, but most don't put in the time to get on them, or the patience to pass up good bears (or even the first bear), to connect with the bruisers... that is why so many 2 1/2 year old bears get shot... they are the largest demographic, and the most active and inexperienced. Ground shrinkage is more extreme with bears than any other big game animal.View attachment 967838View attachment 967839View attachment 967840
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Looks like you sawed the horns off a devil bear.😂
I’ve got an 8 footer on bait and hunters who adamantly refuse to climb ladder stands😳. Same location where I skinned a 6 1/2 black with 4 other bears watching last week.Even the client shooting random 300 Win Mags wouldn’t get them to move off; and one or more stole a pail of oil, and one of oats out of the boat in the meantime.😂
 
DVXDUDE said:
From the trail cam picture I was thinking 200lb+ bear. But with your bow on it stretched out it looked smaller so I lowered to 180lbs.
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Yeah it's funny how sometimes the perspective in pictures can play tricks on us.
Now that I look more critically at the pic with the bow, I realize that his back end looks flattened and the perspective makes his hind feet look almost tiny - In hindsight, I should have chosen a different picture.
 
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