Old bear tracks in northern Sweden

[Tjurved]

Hello found these old bear tracks today about 1.5 km from my home. The ruler is 30 cm long. I'm not really sure if I wanna meet this bear when I'm out walking in the woods...

 

[Shewie]

They're a good size, is it the European brown bears you get over there?

 

[Tjurved]

Yes brown bear.

 

[Shewie]

Do you get to see many bears when you're out? What sort of numbers are they over there?

 

[Retired Member southey]

Ace pic Tjurved, I would have a go at making a plaster cast of one

 

[Dreadhead]

nice! if worst comes you can always throw your ruler at it

 

[Tjurved]

I've never seen a bear out in the wild. The biggest ones that get killed here during the bear hunting season is around 230 kg.

 

[Martti]

The biggest ones that get killed here during the bear hunting season is around 230 kg.

That's quite average or a bit higher weight for a brown bear, I think. The average size of bears killed in Finland annually are around 150-200 kg and the largest wild one ever measured is 373 kilograms. Based on your photograph and some tables, I would say the bear that left that mark was a male weighing around 170-230 kg.

 

[Tjurved]

Yes I don't hunt myself (yet) but the ones I've heard of is just above 200 kg. There are probably bigger ones that don't get shot also.

Every naughty child who went to school in the old times should know how it feels to be hit with a ruler! .

 

[Shovel]

The biggest bear I've seen was an Male Black Bear when hiking in the Adirondacks. A friend of mine grabbed a stick and started waving it around, screaming at it. The Screaming was a good idea, not the stick.