I wanted to make black bear gender identification easy to understand. Hopefully, this helps anyone going on a spring bear hunt. The borders better be open next spring!
Adam looks like you have a mark on a tree to indicate a shooter bear. That bear is in front of that mark and its back is below it. I'd say that's a chunky sow or a gorilla bear. Gorilla bears are short and pudgy giving the impression they are sows. As you know there is never a sure thing in hunting. Judging sows and boars comes down to experience and the area you hunt. But for new bear hunters, the above video is to help prevent guys from shooting a sow.
That bear is just wandering past a camera on a deer hunting property that is in an area not known to have many bears at all. Seems to be the odd one about. I did see one a few years back in spring that I mistook for a cow it was so big. I quadded up to it and somehow it didn't see/hear me until I was 50 yards away, it was ginormous.
David that post is a fence post with barbed wire. But ya, I never thought of measuring how high that is, and using it as a reference point on this particular bear. Pretty sure this was an August pic if I remember correctly.
A good boar is 5+ ft, a big sow is 4 ft, a barrel is 3 ft.
A good boar is 5+ ft, a big sow is 4 ft, a barrel is 3 ft.
As David said, body length matters! And here’s another way to check it if the barrels are laying down. A Pope and Young boar will be 5 ft long or more compared to the 3 ft long barrel. A sow will never be 5 ft, she will be 4 1/2 ft max and she will appear Roly Poly! A young 3 yr old boar will be 4 1/2 ft but long and lean looking. I think body length is also a better way to determine sex and size from a tree stand. From a ground blind we prefer 36” shoulder height as David outlines so well.
Good vid. I never heard of the ankle size being one of the cues....that was a new one. The big sow definitely had small ankles compared to that boar. Along that lines....something else I noticed....and I don't know if it applies to all big boars.......the front feet on that boar looked much longer than the sows. Was it just that particular boar or do the front feet run longer in most boars? FWIW....I was with one outfitter in Manitoba and some of his bait sites used the smaller, blue 45gl barrels and that can throw you off if you try to use that as a measurement.
Thanks Mike! The log looks good, I might have to start incorporating that at the sites.
JL, big paws are normal on a boar. I have seen very large sows with big paws as well. But the video is to give you a general idea, especially for guys going on their first western Canada bear hunt. I'm glad you mentioned barrel size. I was guiding in northern Manitoba and I think they used 30 gl barrels, that was weird to see. But I still think that if a jumbo bear walks in you'll know.
