300lb west tx/mexico blk is unheard of unless you been feeding it cookie/bread dough by the tons.

Average male in yellow stone is 260's, kuiu island chain southeast Alaska is avg 254.

Takes lots off calories to get them over 300. The big big bears of the north east have been feed well all year

With all due respect, snares will most definitely hold a Texas black bear. Strm mentioned how it's done, just as with a hog snare, you attach the snare to a drag. Game over. Actually, the snare would cut through the bears vitals before it got too far. I don't doubt your bear experience, but I can assure you that hogs can be very destructive as well.

My buddy traps lions out of Marfa. He has access to thousands of acres. Last year it was 63 lions when I asked him at the Tx. Trappers and Fur Hunters rendevous. Come to our spring rendevous in Uvalde April 18-19th and ask him yourself. He is President of the Assn. Talk to trappers from all over the state, Louisiana and N.Mex. As far as traps used - google Livestock Protection Co.#8 and Newhouse #4 1\2s.

If one decided to shoot said bear in trap, take the trap and nothing else with you.

I would love to see a bear in Texas!!!

I never want to see one lol unless they start eating raccoons

Hence why I said.....200-250 lbs.

Fellas,

It is interesting about the live catch lion traps. That's interesting and something I was not aware of as common practice.

For the record, I said "OTHER THAN SNARES" for lions. I know well that they catch lions in snares.

So far as bears, you can have your own opinion - but I can tell you that you could never convince me that any wild hog (other than a grander Hogzilla MAYBE) could ever come close to doing the damage that an average sized black bear can do. There's just no way. Pigs cannot pick up stuff, they don't have claws on the end of paws. Cutters on the side of head aren't even close. Pigs can't grasp and rip. Pigs cannot grasp and snap cables. Pig cutters, even on the largest pigs, cannot reach 5-6' in the air to crest downward rips. Pigs can't swing an arm with speed.

There just no way a pig can compare to a hog. Not saying pigs aren't destructive, but anyone who thinks pigs and bears do about the same amount of damage CLEARLY has no real experience with bears, no matter what they claim. It's bordering on a comical comparison.

Lions are large and powerful too, but they are no match for a bear. For shear brute force, a bear has more.

If you don't believe me, ask the Canadian Black Bear guy here on the forum. Ask him if pigs compare to bears in terms if damage and/or brute strength. Ask him about bear/lion encounters. Should be interesting.

Sorry John. But you lost a lot of credibility with that story about a Texas black bear turning a Polaris ranger over. You delivered comical there in spades .

Well it's true whether you choose to believe it or not. In this particular case, there were three bears reaking havoc on the ranch. A large female and two cubs. Bears are normally very passive and shy, but when hungry they can get very aggressive in their scavenging. At first it was only feeders and water stations that were hit. Later they found the deer camp and a ranch workers house. They rummaged through the trash cans. That afternoon, they put the trashcans in the back of a Nissan or Toyota small pickup and his wife wanted him to dump the trash well away from the house. He was going to do it in the morning. That night the bears got into the bed of the truck after the garbage. Either by purpose or accident they had flipped one side of the tailgate latch. Unable to get the other side unlatched, they had tore the tailgate off its hinges on the open side. The bed of the truck has deep scratches and gashes on it and its side.

Two nights later in there deer camp, a Polaris ranger 4-wheeler with a cooler with beer and some deer meat was demolished. Apparently the bears climbed over it and wanted in the cooler, which was attached with several black bungee cords. They got it off, but had apparently climbed on top of the cab in their efforts and tipped the buggy over.

Game wardens were called, but the bears moved on west after that incident. There were several game cam pics, plus some regular photos taken by the rancher. The GW estimated momma bear around 250 pounds and each cub around 60-70 pounds. There were also reports of another single bear sighted in the area, but may have been momma without the cubs.

I don't know why you find it so hard to believe, as a single guy could prolly tip over a Polaris, and two guys can definitely can - because we've done it. But you can choose what you want to believe or not, I doesn't matter to me.

Frankly, I didn't believe the damage to my feeders at first. I was pizzed because I really thought I'd been vandalized by people. Didn't believe folks that were claiming coons, etc. because I found one cam case that had been opened and the SD card missing. Figured it had to be people. It wasn't until a couple of months later that I found one of the missing cams that had teeth marks and punctures and still had the card. I had pics of a part of a paw, plus a lot of black fur. I eventually found the other SD card in the dirt, but it was unreadable.

After I mentioned this to the LO, I found out about the other bear incidents and he showed me his pics that he had. He was keeping it quiet because there was talk about shooting the bear. I later heard that a bear WAS shot west of us near the river by a guy claiming to have been threatened by the bear. GW investigated and they didn't press charges because of all the incidents reported by these bears. This wasn't too long ago, about three years - and I think there are still articles floating around about it on the Internet. NW/West Val Verde county, SW of Ozona, near the Pecos.

The reason I brought this up is there ain't supposed to be any dang bears out there.

At the time, I knew very little about bears in Texas. But because of what I had experienced I learned a lot since then.

We apparently have a sizeable number of bears - and more every year. Val Verde to Big Bend have been the hot spot, with a lot of bears coming up from Mexico in the dry years. There are regular sightings and even a breeding population in the area.

But we are also getting bears coming in from LA, OK, and NM. North, East, and West.

They could potentially be seen anywhere across the state because they can roam long distances in search for food, water, or mates.

TPWD predicts that bears will be regular statewide in 15-20 years. They even discussed proposals to stock/transplant them into east Texas habitats.

Hopefully TPWD will allow some hunting to take place with the ever-increasing population.

I have lived dealing with literally hundreds of bears at my fishing lodge in Ontario for 20 years now. In my mind not only are they a nuisance, but need to be respected for the damage they can do and the possible chance of human attack. (female protecting cubs, or a cornered bear) I have chased bears off my yard continuously and can tell hundreds of bear stories of the damage they can, & will do. My camp has 8 cabins, and every one has been damaged by bears over the years by them ripping into, through, busting windows, wrecking doors, ect., they are nearly unstoppable. I can tell you from experience, chasing one out from inside of a cabin with a broom can be entertaining! I have seen the strength a 200 lb. black bear can exploit, and I just can not imagine what a large brown bear or a polar bear could do.

I remember years back some dude up in Minnesota had a wrestling bear that he took to the bars as kinda' a carnival side show. A guy I knew who was the neighborhood tough guy, and was as big and burley as the bear himself gave it a shot. We sent him into the wrestling ring pretty confident that he would give that bear the arse kicking from hell... but we was wrong. That wrestling bear tossed him around like a rag doll, and had him covered & pinned in seconds. The guy said the worse part of the entire match wasn't that he got beat pretty quick, but the bears' bad breathe while he layed pinned down on the floor on his back. Needless, he was no longer perceived as the tough guy he used to be!
How one would ever release a trapped bear is beyond me, other than using a tranquilizer. Maybe a big bottle of Jack Daniels or Wild Turkey would do it. People have been known to do some pretty stupid things after drinking too much!



This was a bear ripping apart a door to get in. Surprisingly, it only did minimal damage inside... once it found a big jar of peanut butter and left.



This guy I killed in my yard.

Hey Ol Smoke, I forgot to ask... Hypothetically, just how did you get him outa' the trap?

Give a hog feet like a bear and we would all be in trouble I would like to see the first confrontation between a 400# hog and 200# black bear. Where is Payne, we need a poll on this one.

My $$ would be on the bear. They have the agility factor on their side. They can walk on 2 feet, balance on a 2 x 4, leap, twist 'n turn. Besides, I haven't seen too many pigs climbing trees lately.

I put my $ on the bear...I think he would slap the hog silly and put him to bed.

Sounds like bearzilla either that or the bear is related to Mike Tyson. You must have really ticked him off. I've seen bear be destructive with their curiosity and ability to grasp things like you said but that sounds pretty extreme unless there was food under the atv or in th eback of the truck. Destroying a trash can or getting into a barn or curious with a vehicle is one thing but a bear thats just going around destroying guidewires buildings and game cams is either being tempted by traces of food everywhere or just has a flat out hatred for you and it must be territorial. In that case probably a female with cubs nearby.

The trapper went back to the truck for ropes. Got the bear tied off to trees, took the trap off, untied the ropes. He wrote it up in our newsletter. Anyhow, better him than me! Thanks for all the interest and pics. Trapping can be interesting.

Iv seen big boar challenge full grown bulls in the pasture just because they got in the way... black bear would be tucking tail and running

O.K. but, ... who untied the last rope around the bear?

I'll say. A pretty one too!