Size

[brobear]

The Bear Almanac by Gary Brown - The Boone and Crockett Club.

The club, started by Theodore Rossevelt in 1887 as a "Big Game" conservation organization, ascribes to strong ethical hunting, such as fair chase and sportsmanship, and several North American states and provinces have adopted many of its standards. Roosevelt aptly named the club after frontiersmen Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett, who represent the hunting standards prescribed.

In 1950 the club adopted a scoring system that provides "objective" measurements and scores of big-game animals, thus "Big Game Records" of North America. The club manages an official scoring meant to record skull size.

Recorded skulls normally originate from a fair-chase hunt, though a few discovered and "picked up." The recorded score is the total ( in inches ) of the skull length and width. Records are maintained by species of bear.

[brobear]

The northern interior grizzly bear Ursus arctos L. by Arthur M. Pearson.

Weights, measurements, and pelage: During the five years of the study, we captured 53 different grizzlies on the study area. The sex ratio was 36bmales: 17 females. During the same period, we also captured 31 different black bears ( 23 males: 8 females ) on the area.

The average weight of 40 mature males was 139 kg ( 306 pounds ) whereas that of 21 females was 95 kg. ( 209 pounds ). The maximum size of each sex shows even greater dimorphism. The largest male weighed 240 kg ( 529 pounds ), nearly twice the weight of the largest female, 125 kg ( 276 pounds ). The large boar class can be recognized from size alone when observed free-roaming. It is not likely that many northern interior grizzlies reach a weight greater than the 240 kg ( 529 pounds ) recorded in the study. weights were also obtained of several mature males killed by hunters throughout the Yukon. The five heaviest weighed 218 ( 481 ), 203 ( 448 ), 192 ( 423 ), 175 ( 386 ), and 164 kg. ( 362 pounds ). All were killed in the late autumn and should therefore have reflected the heaviest annual weight. All were described as very large by both guide and hunter. Mature females probably never weigh more than 140 kg ( 309 pounds ): the largest killed by hunters weighed 125 ( 276 ), 120 ( 265 ), 109 ( 240 ), and 104 kg. ( 229 pounds ).

General colour: The northern interior grizzly shows a broad spectrum of colour, varying from very light yellow to a uniform dark brown, although very few animals were found at either end of the spectrum. The most common colour is a chocolate brown underfur with silver-yellow guard hairs over the neck and shoulders. There is usually a darker dorsal stripe.

[brobear]

The northern interior grizzly bear Ursus arctos L. by Arthur M. Pearson.

Age determination: Previous authors have all referred to a change in the thickness of the annular zones which occurred at various ages in the specimens they studied. Craighead ( 1970 ) found that the narrower zones occurred first at 5 years of age. Similar timing was found by Mundy and Fuller ( 1964 ). On the other hand, Rausch ( 1969 ) found, in brown bears from Alaska, that the change in the thickness of the zones did not occur until the 8th or 9th year. In the Yukon, I found that the change in the thickness of the cemental zones was not a consistent feature but in no case did it occur before the 8th year. In some cases, the change did not occur until the 11th or 12th year. It is quite possible that the change in thickness of annulation is in some way related to the sexual maturity and/or growth patterns of the animal, because grizzlies do not reach sexual maturity as early in the north as they do in the south. However, this change in thickness is a definite feature of the cementum pattern in grizzly bear teeth, whatever its reason. In many cases it was quite easy to distinguish annular rings up to and including the change, but afterwards the annulations became very narrow and sometimes obscured.

...From a subjective inspection of the male sample, it appears that a break in the growth curve occurred at about 10 years of age. Therefore the male sample was divided into those 10 years and younger, and those over 10 years.

*Note: those under 10 years old ( adolescent ) and those 10 years old and up ( mature adults ).

[brobear]

Great Bear Almanac by Gary Brown.

The Official Boone and Crockett Scoring System - Trophies are an important product of bear hunting, with a full mount or head, skull, and hide popular with the individual hunter. "The black bear is among the most coveted trophies in the United States," relates hunting authority Ben East in "The Ben East Hunting Book."

The largest is important to many trophy bear hunters. However, "largest" is normally difficult to determine. An official scoring system meant to record skull size is managed by the Boone and Crockett Club. The club, started by Theodore Rossevelt in 1887, ascribes to strong ethical hunting, such as fair chase, and many of its standards have been adopted by states and provinces. Recorded skulls normally originate from a fair-chase hunt, though a few were "picked up." The recorded score is the total ( inches ) of the skull length and width. Records are maintained by species of bear.

[brobear]

California's Day of the Grizzly by Willaim B. Secrest.

George F. Kent, "Life in California in 1849," California Historical Society Quarterly, March 1941:

A few grisly bears were killed in the neighborhood this winter, and three of our men had fell in with one while out hunting & shot him in the head with a charge of buckshot, but instead of attacking them he made tracks for his den. I was out shooting that day and had parted with them but a short time before they saw the bear. The next day we got up a party to track him to his den, some six miles distant, but he was not at home, though there were traces of his recent occupancy of the cave. Some of these bears are very large, weighing in instances round 1200 to 1500 pounds. Toward the last of the winter I met a man who a few weeks before was wounded very severely by a grisly bear, and he showed me a wound on his arm that had not healed. His brother, who helped him fight the bear, was nearly killed, but had then got so as to walk about. They fired two or three balls into the bear's head before he attacked them, but he at last got away alive, though probably died in his den. This affair occurred within a few miles of our camp. Generally, these bears are very hard to kill, but a Mr. Taylor shot one near the Shingle Machine, in March, with a single bullet. This bear weighed when dressed 960 pounds. And his meat sold for $1 per pound.

[brobear]

BEARS of the last frontier by Chris Morgan... At every turn there seems to be a bear and that's why we chose this part of Alaska ( peninsula ) as our first location. Although the same species ( Ursus arctos ) as their grizzly bear cousins dwelling inland and along the Arctic, these coastal brown bears differ in several ways. But it mostly comes down to size. A large male can weigh in at 1,500 pounds, double that of even a large grizzly. Quite logically, the size of a bear partly depends upon diet, and the enormous differential in coastal brown bears comes down to access to an abundance of calories in the form of salmon and the occasional wash-up whale carcass. On a good day, a bear on the Alaskan Peninsula can consume 25,000 calories - about the equivalent of ninety Snicker bars, or fifty personal-sized pizzas for a human.

[brobear]

calgaryherald.com/news/local-news...ional-park

The Boss, one of the largest and best known grizzly bears in Banff National Park, is back.

No. 122, an approximately 300-kilogram male bear, has left his den and was spotted by a local photographer travelling along the railway tracks near Muleshoe, an area along the Bow Valley Parkway, on Saturday.

“This is really what we’d expect,” said Steve Michel, human/wildlife conflict specialist with Banff National Park. “We’ve been anticipating seeing bears in the first week of March.

“That’s typically what we see or certainly what we have seen for the last several years with respect to the large male grizzly bears.”

Last year, the same bear was spotted on March 19 when he was caught on a remote camera at a research site. In 2014, he was first seen by a train crew near the railway tracks on March 16.

No. 122 is often the first bear out in Banff National Park, but he became famous a couple of years ago for eating a black bear and, more recently, for fathering at least five of the younger bears in the park.

Michel said other males will also emerge shortly, followed by the females. A collared female grizzly, No. 148, was already “somewhat active” near her den site last week, he said.

[brobear]

"The Boss" is one of the largest ( not nessasarily the largest ) grizzly bears of Banff National Park of Canada. At roughly 660 pounds, he is one of the dominant males. 
 

[brobear]

voices.nationalgeographic.com/201...-far-east/

If you can get past the concept that all grizzlies are brown bears, but not all brown bears are grizzlies—a source of great confusion to some—there is an opportunity to learn about the most wide-ranging species of bear in the world, and one of the most wide-ranging mammals on Earth.
Although “grizzly bear” is used interchangeably with “brown bear” up here in Alaska, “grizzly bear” really refers to any brown bear found in interior North America. Bears found within interior regions of Alaska and Canada as well as remnant interior populations in the western portion of the contiguous US are grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis).
There are only about 1200 grizzly bears found in the lower 48. They primarily exist in designated Recovery Zones in Montana, Wyoming, Washington, and Idaho. Bears of other interior regions and sometime even coastal zones in Eurasia may be referred to as grizzlies, to add to the confusion.
In contrast, there are approximately 32,000 brown bears living in Alaska. Some of Alaska’s islands like Admiralty Island in the Southeast part of the state and the Kodiak Archipelago off the southern coast of mainland Alaska are home to some of the densest populations of brown bears in the world.
Kodiak is home to about 3400 brown bears of a particularly large subspecies. The the Kodiak brown bear (Ursus arctos middendorffi) is often touted as the largest terrestrial carnivore on the planet. Because of access to an abundance of fish Alaska’s coastal brown bears, similar to the Kodiak, can attain weights upwards of 1400 pounds.
Here at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, we currently have Alaska coastal bears, a grizzly, and Kodiak brown bears, as well as two American black bears. Most of these are permanent residents at the facility.
Just across the Bering Strait from Alaska lives another gigantic brown bear–the Kamchatka brown bear (Ursus arctos beringianus) or the Far Eastern brown bear. Considered to be the ancestor of the Kodiak, the Kamchatka brown bears are dark brown and the largest carnivorans in Eurasia. These are the bears that were featured in the PBS special Walking with Giants: The Grizzlies of Siberia. The film documents the work of Charlie Russel and Maureen Ebbs–two naturalists who sought to discover some insight into the lives of the bears of the famed Kamchatka Peninsula of Siberia.

The black grizzly or Ussuri brown bear (Ursus arctos lasiotus) is another big bear occasionally attaining a size greater than the Kamchatka brown bear. These bears are found in the Amur and Ussuri River regions of the Russian Far East, northeastern China, the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
In the Amur region these bears cross paths with Siberian (Aumr) tigers on rare occasions, primarily because there are so few Siberian tigers left in the world. Tiger attacks on bears have been reported when the bears were in hibernaculum as well while ambulatory. Supposedly, the brown bears are attacked with more frequency than the smaller Asiatic black bears because of habitat preference and an inability to climb trees. But these bears also attack the typically smaller tigers on occasion. The bears are more commonly known to track tigers, following the big cats’ foot prints to ungulate kills, where they ultimately force the cat off the carcass, taking possession of it.
“Huang Di” which translates in Chinese to “King” is the name of the celebrity Ussuri brown bear (Manchurian brown bear) who calls the San Diego Zoo his home. Nicknamed “Blackie,” Huang Di is one of the largest and most beautiful bears I have ever seen. The black bear is a gentle giant, standing nearly 5 ft at the shoulders and weighing in at nearly 900 lbs. Today his enclosure sits adjacent to two young brother grizzlies. When I last visited Huang Di who was born at the Bejing Zoo in 1984 he lumbered over toward the large metal divider, that when closed, safely separated the younger bears from the big Ussuri brown bear in the adjacent bear grotto. Smell or sound of this gigantic boar in their proximity sent them scrambling to a distant hiding place on the other side of their enclosure. Click here for a photo of Huang Di (A.K.A. Blackie).

[brobear]

Huang Di also called Blackie 
 

[brobear]

www.outdoorhub.com/stories/2014/1...n-hunters/

Polar bears, Kodiak bears, grizzly bears, black bears—hunters have taken some giants over the years. Ever wonder where the biggest bears come from? Here’s the lowdown on where the biggest bears are likely to be found. Some of the locations will surprise you.
Bears are some of nature’s most fascinating creatures. I am sure there are many reasons why so many people have more than just a passing interest in them. Who hasn’t been lying in a tent at night when a strange noise suddenly brings the thought of a bear to the front of their consciousness? There are four species of bears in North America, and all of them have killed people; some more than others. That’s just one of the reasons why people get an adrenaline surge when they encounter one.
Most bears, of course, won’t hurt you. But they could, and that’s enough. Black bears are the most common bear by far, and a tiny fraction of encounters with black bears have ended with an injury. Contrast that to the polar bear, most of which live out their entire lives without ever seeing a human. To a polar bear, anything that moves is potential food. Both subspecies of the brown bear, the Kodiak and grizzly, are dangerous creatures, though not so much as the polar bear.
In some areas, these bears get really big—like as-big-as-a-Volkswagen big. That interests hunters who crave the difficulty of taking the premier specimens of any given species, and it interests those who just thing big bears are amazing creatures. We all seem to be fascinated by things that get really big.
The biggest bears have some things going for them. First, they have to live in near-perfect habitat; second, they need to grow old enough to reach peak size; and third, to become a world-record size, they must hit the DNA lottery. They need the right genetic code to grow to outsized proportions. Let’s look at the biggest bears of all four species that have been shot by hunters or found and entered into the Boone and Crockett Records. We can learn some things about where the largest of each of these species can be found.

Boone and Crockett scores bears by measuring the size of the skull, an accurate way of judging a bear’s size. Some bears may weigh more than others, but generally the bears with the biggest heads are the biggest bears. The score is simply the greatest length added to the widest portion measured in sixteenths of inches.
Kodiak bear
Kodiak bears (also known as Alaskan brown bears) are a subspecies of brown bear and are only found on the Kodiak Archipelago in Alaska. The biggest brown bears come from Kodiak Island itself. While bears are found on many islands off Alaska and the Alaskan peninsula, 17 of the top 25 Alaskan brown bears were taken from Kodiak. The world record was bagged by Roy Lindsley in 1952. Its score is 30 12/16. It’s the largest-scoring bear of any speices known. The skull is now owned by the Los Angeles County Museum. The largest specimens of brown bears commonly weigh more than half a ton, which is a predator that will make the knees of the most seasoned hunter shake.
The second- and third-place bears were also taken on Kodiak. Erling Hansen took one in 1961 that scored 30 11/16 and Fred Henton took one in 1938 that scored 30 9/16. Henton’s bear was the world’s record until Lindsley’s harvest overtook it in 1952. The most recent bear in the top 25 was bagged by Thomas Stago in Uyak Bay, Alaska in 2012.

Grizzly bear
Grizzly bears are another subspecies of brown bear. But while Alaskan brown bears live on the coast, grizzlies live inland and over time have adapted to the the unique environments they live in. These adaptations have led to smaller bears. North American brown bears that aren’t shot in coastal areas are considered grizzlies, and their recorded sizes show it. Seventeen of the top 25 grizzlies were taken in, you guessed it, Alaska. Seven were taken in British Columbia and the remaining one was taken in the Yukon.
The largest Grizzly bear skull on record was not taken by a hunter, but was found dead near Lone Mountain, Alaska by Gordon Scott in 1976. It scored 27 13/16. The largest taken by a hunter, a 27 6/16 giant, was shot by Larry Fitzgerald in 2013 on the Totatlanika River, Alaska. In third place is Rodney Debias’ 27 3/16 bear shot on the Unalakleet River Alaska in 2009.
Big grizzly bears are being shot every year in Alaska and British Columbia, and a new world’s record could show up at any time.

Black bear

Black bear hunting is popular across the United States and Canada. About half of US states offer black bear hunting, and with an expanding population nationwide, five states have added bear hunting seasons in the last decade. There are more to come. Alaska ranks high in producing giant black bears as well, led by the islands in the Pacific Ocean just off the state’s southeastern coast, but the most consistent producer of giant black bears is not what you would think. Twelve of the top 25 black bears in the record book came from Pennsylvania. Wisconsin comes in second. As stated earlier, a big bear is the result of two main aspects: excellent habitat and age. Both states have a mix of farm crops and big woods that create ideal bear habitat.
Wisconsin and Pennsylvania take a very different approach to their bear hunting, but these approaches seem to lead to the same end. Wisconsin issues a very limited number of bear tags to hunters. It can take a decade to draw a tag in Wisconsin, but the success rates for those with tags is fairly high because both hounds and baiting are allowed.
Contrast that to Pennsylvania, which issues tags for anyone that wants one for a small fee. But because the most successful methods of hunting bears (hounds and baits) are not allowed, most bears in the state are shot incidentally by deer hunters. To some degree, bears are shot when large groups of hunters get together and make large drives through blocks of timber. The success rate normally runs around two percent for bear hunters in Pennsylvania.
Despite all this, the largest black bear skull on record came from a dead bear found in Sanpete County, Utah in 1975. That animal scored 23 10/16. The largest bear killed by a hunter was shot by Robert Christian in Monroe County, Pennsylvania in 2011; it scored 23 9/16. The second-largest found dead was discovered in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania and given to the state Game Commission in 1987. It scored 23 7/16.

Polar bear

The polar bear is the largest land carnivore in the world. A lot of bears have a nasty reputation, but polar bears back it up. More people have been killed and eaten by polar bears than by all other bears combined. The opportunity to hunt a huge polar bear has been turned upside down in the past couple decades. That’s not to say that you can’t shoot a huge polar bear because all adult polar bears are huge by bear standards, but the areas that produce the biggest ones are off-limits except to indigenous Alaskans.
All of the top 25 white bears and more than 90 percent of all Boone and Crockett record book bears have been shot out of coastal Alaska. Most of them have been shot out of Kotzebue, with the Diomede Islands area a distant second place. Only indigenous natives are allowed to hunt these bears. It stands to reason that subsistence hunters are not looking for bears with big skulls, and if they shot one of record-book size, the odds that it would be entered would be low. All of the top 50 in the record book were taken before 1968. The world record, taken by Shelby Longoria, was taken off the coast of Kotzebue in 1963. It scored 29 15/16. Will there ever be a 30-inch polar bear entered in the record books? Not in the foreseeable future
There are, however, opportunities to hunt smaller polar bears. In fact, the polar bear population has expanded in the past decade across its range. Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut offer excellent bear hunting, but they rarely reach the Boone and Crockett minimum of 27 inches. There is a catch in this scenario, too: non-Canadian residents are not allowed to take their bears across the border into the United States or any other country. You can hunt a polar bear and take photos (and even have it mounted), but you can’t bring it home. That’s a significant roadblock to many people who have an interest in hunting this bear, which can only be taken in the most harsh and unforgiving conditions imaginable.
There has been significant effort by several parties and organizations to change this odd situation. Time will tell if it ever changes. In the meantime, there are a lot of bears in storage and on display at sporting goods stores, airports, and museums that may someday be allowed out of the country so they can go home to the hunters who bagged them.

[brobear]

russianbearhunt.com/

AMUR BROWN BEAR
Ursus arctos lasiotus
(Ussuri brown bear, black grizzly)

DESCRIPTION & TAXONOMY
It is smaller and darker than the Kamchatka brown bear, with a differently shaped skull and much larger teeth. The coat is often almost black in color. The skull is longer and narrower, with especially long nasal bones and it is flatter in profile, being less elevated over the nose. The ears are noticeably hairy. Consists of the following races listed by various authorities: lasiotus (northern China), cavifrons (northwestern Manchuria), mandchuricus (Primorsky Krai), jessoensis (Sakhalin), yesoensis (Hokkaido), and melanarctos (Hokkaido). The record bear, obtained in Khabarovsk region scored 27.6 inches.
DISTRIBUTION
Russia: Southern Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, Maritime Territory, and the Ussuri/Amur river region south of the Stanovoy Range. China: Northeastern Heilongjiang. Japan: Hokkaido.

[brobear]

www.boone-crockett.org/news/feat...ews&ID=207

LARGEST HUNTER-TAKEN GRIZZLY ENTERS BOONE AND CROCKETT RECORDS
FRIDAY, MAY 02, 2014

The largest grizzly bear ever taken by a hunter has been entered into Boone and Crockett records.

The big bruin, taken in 2013 near Fairbanks, Alaska, scores 27-6/16. It missed the World's Record mark by 7/16 of an inch but landed a spot as the second-largest grizzly ever recorded. The reigning World's Record is a skull found in Alaska in 1976.

Bears are scored based on skull length and width measurements.

Conservationists use Boone and Crockett trophy data to gauge outstanding habitat, strong recruitment of game animals into older age classes, sustainable harvest objectives and other elements of sound wildlife management and fair-chase hunting.

Grizzlies are symbols of our willingness to accommodate large predators and wilderness, but hunter Larry Fitzgerald of Fairbanks found his trophy boar in a location that seems counterintuitive.

"One would think that a relatively accessible area, with liberal bear hunting regulations to keep populations in line with available habitat and food, would be the last place to find one of the largest grizzly bears on record," said Richard Hale, chairman of the Boone and Crockett Club's Records of North American Big Game committee.

Hale said the area is being managed for an overpopulation of grizzlies. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game liberalized hunting regulations to help balance and control bear predation on moose. Baiting is allowed although Fitzgerald stalked his trophy.

"Grizzly populations are doing well across all their ranges. That includes populations in the Lower 48 states that are currently federally protected under the Endangered Species Act, but will soon be up for delisting and management authority turned over to the watchful eye of state wildlife managers," said Hale.

Hale added that Boone and Crockett Club recognizes found or picked-up trophies, like the reigning World's Record grizzly which scores 27-13/16, alongside hunter-taken trophies because all are useful for documenting historic conservation successes.

[brobear]

The Bear Almanac by Gary Brown - North American Brown/Grizzly Bear Weights ( Heaviest ) ... ( pounds ).
Alaska - 2,500
Wyoming - 1,120
Yukon - 948
British Columbia - 800+
Montana - 790
Idaho - 550
Northwest Territories - 528

North American Polar Bear Weights ( Heaviest )
Undetermined location - 2,210
Northwest Territories/Nunavut - 1,780
Newfoundland/Labredor - 1,768
Manitoba - 1,549
Ontario - 1,350 Reply

The Bear Almanac by Gary Brown - Adult Male Average Height and Length measured in feet.
American Black Bear - height from 2 to 3.3 ... length from 4 to 6.5
Asiatic Black Bear - height from 2.6 to 3.3 ... length from 5 to 7
Andean Bear - height from 2.3 to 3 feet ... length from 4.3 to 7.8
Sun Bear - height 2.3 ... length from 3 to 4.5
Sloth Bear - height from 2 to 3 ... length from 5 to 6
Giant Panda - height from 2.3 to 2.75 ... length from 4.9 to 6.5
Brown Bear - height from 3 to 5 ... length from 5 to 10
Polar Bear - height up to 5.3 ... length from 8 to 8.4 Reply

[brobear]

Post #162 gives us a record weight of an Alaskan Brown Bear of 2,500 pounds. This is about 900 pounds above the actual record of a Kodiak Brown Bear killed in the wild. There have been some unconfirmed weights given for captive Kodiaks above the one-ton mark however ... Clyde and Goliath.

[brobear]

California Grizzly - 1955.
The grizzly always appears larger than he really is. The average weight is between three hundred and fifty and six hundred pounds; males weigh a fourth more than females. Few grizzlies weigh more than seven hundred pounds, though exceptional specimens are known to have weighed more than one thousand... It may be that years ago, when not so closely hunted, the grizzly lived longer and grew to a larger size...

[brobear]

Posted by Polar... I remember some old articles and some posters from AvA/ShaggyBoard/CarnivoraForum forums stating that the California grizzly produced plenty of giant specimens all more than 1000 pounds in size, vastly unlike grizzlies of other areas.

Could this be because of the vast, huge abundance of large prey (mountain sheep/large deer/bison), and the fact that American brown bears were more predatory back then?

Kodiak bears become large because of winning intraspecific fights (with their already good genes) among rival males, thus acquiring all of the food routes and areas (most notably, salmon). But the California grizzly seems more of a mystery; it seems as if rival males barely fought with each other unlike their other brown bear cousins.

Ancient California looked like the perfect hospitable place for large animals, for sure!

[brobear]

www.nps.gov/katm/learn/photosmul...er_web.pdf
www.nps.gov/katm/learn/photosmultimedia/upload/Bears-of-Brooks-River_web.pdf
The largest bears frequenting the Brooks River are adult males, also called boars. Like full grown adult females, their bodies appear filled in, their heads appear smaller in proportion to their bodies, and their ears are generally wideset. Looking for genitalia is the easiest way to identify male bears, but you can also determine the sex of adult bears by watching them urinate. Male bears will urinate straight down between their hind legs. When male bears are shedding in the early summer, numerous scars are often visible.
Due to their large size and strength, no other class of brown bear is able to compete physically with a large adult male. They can stand 3-5 feet (.9-1.5 m) at the shoulder and measure 7-10 (2.1-3 m) feet in length. Most adult males typically weigh 600-900 pounds (272-408 kg) in mid-summer. By October and November, large adult males can weigh well over 1000 pounds (454 kg). The best fishing spots at Brooks Falls are dominated by adult males. Hierarchy and displays of dominance play important roles in preventing these animals from entering into violent battles. Wounds, and their associated scars, are often received during fights with other males. These fights can be the result of competition for food resources (access or appropriation) or for the opportunity to mate with females.

[brobear]

Yellowstone Bears in the Wild by James C. Halfpenny.

Size and Sensibility - Size counts.
My bear is bigger than your bear! Perhaps size is the most common topic for bear watchers. It is certainly a cause for bragging rights. Of course, bear size depends on where you are and who is telling the story. Famed naturalist Adolph Murie long ago noted that the biggest bears were always furthest away from any scales. In the Yellowstone area, bears are always biggest at the K-Bar Saloon in Gardiner.
Many people wonder if half-ton grizzlies roam the GYE. Paul Schullery noted historian and above all ursophile, reported in 'The Bears of Yellowstone' that on July 9, 1870, Bart Henderson shot a large grizzly near Cooke City. According to Bart's story, "We was attacked by an old boar bear. We soon killed him. He proved to be the largestever killed in the mountains, weighing 960 pounds." Paul notes that we do not know how, or really if, the bear was weighed.
I am only going to consider bears that were actually weighed or had their weights carefully estimated by chest girth measurements - no stories, no tales, no matter how good.
The heaviest Yellowstone grizzly "with documentation" that I know of was killed in 1916 near Old Faithful by Arthur Young for an exhibit in the California Academy of Science in San Francisco. When weighed in sections, the animal totaled 916 pounds. Dr. Saxton Pope, who also shot at the bear, estimated that 10 percent of the bear's live weight may have been lost as blood and waste during processing. If true, the bear weighed about 1,000 pounds. The bear was shot in May and reportedly had no fat left over after hibernation. How accurate were the scales in 1916? It should be noted that this bear was probably feeding at a garbage dump.
Then there is the legend of the Thousand Pound Bear named "Bruno" ( grizzly number 14 ), studied by the Craighead brothers. The heaviest recorded weight for Bruno was 890 pounds when live-trapped on September 5. Since the brothers figured he would put on additional weight before hibernation, Bruno was nicknamed the Thousand Pound Bear, even though he wasn't.
The Craigheads also trapped Fidel ( grizzly number 206 ), which weighed 800 pounds, No. 115 which weighed 660 pounds, No. 13 which weighed 645 pounds, and Ingemar ( No 12 ) which weighed 620 pounds. All were males. They also reported the average weight of grizzly bears contending for top leadership at the Trout Creek garbage dump was 575 pounds. All weights were taken in June or July. ( In some accounts referring to the Craighead research there are reports of a 1,120 pound ( or 500 kg ) grizzly bear. I have not been able to find such a bear in any of their scientific articles.

[brobear]

The Grizzly Almanac by Robert H. Busch: The largest Yellowstone National Park grizzly was an 1,120 pound ( 509 kg ) fatso that gained his pear-shaped figure after a steady diet of human garbage at dumps. Most Yellowstone males are 215 to 715 pounds ( 98 to 325 kg ); females are 200 to450 pounds ( 91 to 205 kg ).