Field Judging Black Bears

Black bears are one of the most difficult big game animals to field judge for a number of reasons. Consequently, many beginning bear hunters, and even those with some experience under their belts, find themselves confronted with ground shrinkage when they walk up to the bruins they shoot. Besides shooting smaller bears than they would like, some hunters end up shooting females when they would prefer taking a male, but don't know how to tell the difference. Expert bear hunter Richard P. Smith, in cooperation with other veteran hunters like himself, have come up with a number of simple methods that anyone, regardless of experience level, an use successfully to field judge black bears. These methods will help reduce your chances of experiencing ground shrinkage on your next bear hunt as well as providing the know how to distinguish males and females. Excellent video and photographs of various size and sex bears, combined with detailed explanations, provide the audio and visual information you need to be able to accurately judge the bears you see while afield. To make sure you know what Boone and Crockett caliber black bears look like, no less than four of them are shown taken on camera.