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Here are two of a handful of a shots from a reader in Botetourt County.
He wanted me to guess the bear’s weight. I figured I’d let y’all do it, and I’m going to help you by including a deer picture to provide some frame of reference.
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While growing up in rural Southern Oregon, Mark Taylor developed a passion for the outdoors while he and his younger brother tagged along with their father on fishing, hunting and camping adventures.
Graduating from Northwestern University in 1988, Taylor spent four years as an officer in the U.S. Navy based in Norfolk before moving into journalism.
After five years writing about the military for a Norfolk-based publishing company, he became the outdoors editor at The Roanoke Times in 1998. He lives in Roanoke with his wife and twin daughters.
200-250lb. range. Ears are large in comparison to the head.
150 pounds. His rear leg is pushed forward making him look bigger then he really is.
Maybe 250 to 275, might be larger than that.
175 lb (ish)
I have to agree with Jim,I don’t think it’s much over 200lbs,those ears are to big for the head.I also would guess it’s a sow!
Im going to say it’s pushing the 275 mark and maybe a bit more.
250
I hesitate on guessing weights but I would venture to say it is past the cub stage.
The bear will weigh 165 lb not over 175 lb picture is shooting down on the bear, if taken level it would show more leg and the head looks to be of a two and a half year old bear.
I agree with Charlie – 175lbs
I don’t claim to be a bear expert, haven’t seen too many in the wild and have never shot one. But I do know that I often hear that bear weight is often over-estimated.
This guy (or sow) is a little farther away from the camera than the doe. The doe looks to be at least 2.5, so she probably weighs 125-130 pounds on the hoof. So the bear is bigger, but not too much bigger.
My initial thought when I saw the picture was about 175. I still feel pretty good about that. 200 at the most, in my opinion.
OK, is that before or after it ate the deer?
I would say they bear is pretty young. Like everyone is saying about 175lb range. The ears look pretty big and very tall off the ground, so i would say a fairly young bear. I have seen plenty of them where I hunt and I have seen a 300lb+ bear and it they all seem to have littler ears and seem more closer to the ground. But still a great pic and hope you see during hunting season!
Mark, I have a random comment, and I can’t believe that I haven’t noticed this before but ………… I just now noticed in the picture in the header of your blog, that there is a cougar in the tree behind the trout fisherman. Given the cougar comments that surface regularly I had to laugh. That is awesome and I can only assume that this is an unaltered picture taken somewhere in Virginia : )
Dewey — Imagine my surprise when Roanoke Times photographer Sam Dean and I were going through pictures from our trip to Laurel Fork a few years ago and we saw that picture.
. That creek is near West Virginia so I think that was just a West Virginia cougar making a short trip to Virginia before heading back west.
Actually, another Wildlife reader who enjoyed some of the cougar-related exchanges here worked up that banner in February, and it’s been there ever since. But don’t feel bad. You’re not the only one who just now noticed. One of my co-workers asked me, “What is that animal behind you in your blog banner?” just a couple days ago!
Mark
be thankful that co-worker didn’t mistake it for Dan Casey.
I think it is a sow about 160 – 185 pounds. Not sure how old but I’ll guess at 3 – 4 years old.
135lbs head is small
I would guess 250 lbs… Thats a good size bear. I missed a bear last year with my bow and knew it was huge, but wasn’t sure just how big it was. I came home and Googled pics of bears that were 250 lbs, then I tried 275, 300, and finally at 325 knew that was close to the one I missed. Two days later a guy killed a bear that weighed 338 lbs about 1/2 mile away from where I missed mine…..ugh!
Some where in the high 130′s and low 140′s