View Full Version : Can you estimate Bear size by tracks?
My wife and I dicided to scope out a new deer hunting area within the South Mountain Game Lands and the area looked really promising - white oak acorns everywhere, but hardly any deer tracks at all. After hiking for a couple hours, and not seeing much deer sign, we ran across an old fire road littered with tracks, but not the kind we were looking for. They were all over the place going in all directions. We think we may have spotted several dens but since it was getting late in the afternoon, we bugged out and headed back to our vehicle. We saw cub tracks, with bigger ones alongside them, and those to were going in all sorts of directions. Then we saw some really nice tracks, with no signs of cub tracks accompanying them. My shoe size is 11 and is roughly 5 inches wide. I'm curious if there's a way to estimate the size of a bear by its tracks? The first pic are some of the bigger ones we saw. The next several were a little different, adjacent to my wife's size 9 keen boots. FWIW, the rain stopped roughly an hour or two before we started our scouting trip. Any input would be greatly appreciated. My wife and I may take up bear hunting :D
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Yes, but it takes some experience. Variables like weather (was the track in wet mud or sand or snow), conditions( fresh or a week old),, area (Fl Black Bear, vs Ak Brownies), season (full winter feed and coat vs Spring skinny ).
I'd venture a WAG, your pic is a young black,, under 250lbs..
Here are some examples..
Thanks. I know very little about bears. We are in NC so the only bears we have are black bears.
I've seen tracks before packing, camping and climbing, but I haven't run across any as big as these. The ones I've seen prior to these were either on Mount Mitchell, the Linville gorge, or around mount Rogers on the AT. My wife and I were surprised to see these nearly 15-20 minutes from where we reside.
I've read that you can judge the height by measuring the width of the track +1, but I'm not sure if there's any validity to that.
Thanks again JJ, the one in that pic looks huge!
I agree, guessing an adolescent around 150-175#. Little cubbies' tracks tend to 'wobble' more, and a heavier adult will often show a closer overstep if they're not in a rush than your third pic and deeper impressions at a jog/lope than your last pic (soil looks pretty loamy?).
Not a big fan of bear meat but had a really good roast once, no idea how they prepared it. Will vouch for bear fat being excellent for pie crusts.
DaveP
Thanks DaveP. Normally the soil is very hard clay and our area is known for its pottery. However, roughly 2 hours or so before we started scouting for deer, the rain stopped and it had rained most of the night prior to our day trip. So we figured the tracks were made an hour or so before we saw them.
This week if things pan out, we're gonna take a trail cam and mount it near the den provided the wind is favorable, and see what we come up with. Might spray the area down with mint prior to leaving...
mojaveman
12-12-2016, 10:38
Yes, but it takes some experience. Variables like weather (was the track in wet mud or sand or snow), conditions( fresh or a week old),, area (Fl Black Bear, vs Ak Brownies), season (full winter feed and coat vs Spring skinny ).
I'd venture a WAG, your pic is a young black,, under 250lbs..
Here are some examples..
Ok JJ, picture three? Is that your take? Holy cow...
Ok JJ, picture three? Is that your take? Holy cow...
No.. The pictures are googled.. The big guy was taken in Alaska..
Thanks Brush Okie, gonna add those to my Christmas wish list.
We think we found one, and we have a rough idea where another is about 4 miles from this one. No matter which direction we approached, our scent always seemed to be blowing towards the entrance, if it is a den. I was leery of getting any closer than 25-30 yards, and when we thought (could've been our imaginations :D ) we saw movement, we retreated gracefully, but slowly, to place a cam another day.
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