Gigantic bear caught on trail cam near New Bern!

[Devilwin]

My nephew hunts near New Bern. Got this on a trail cam. The world record is 880 pounds for a black bear, also from the coastal plain of NC. new record maybe?6351

[cspan37421]

That thing hasn't missed too many meals, it appears. If that cam had been human-operated, it might have been the last picture the person took!

Black bears are making quite the comeback, but that comes with difficulties.

[Devilwin]

That thing hasn't missed too many meals, it appears. If that cam had been human-operated, it might have been the last picture the person took!

Black bears are making quite the comeback, but that comes with difficulties.

Black bears have doubled their population in NC over the last 15 years or so, to around 16,000 animals now. Or maybe as many as 20,000.
Our coastal bears, because of their rich, varied diet (soy beans, peanuts, hog farm refuse) grow much bigger than our mountain bears.
The current heaviest black bear on record was from there, 880 pounds. That's grizzly sized.

[CameronBornAndBred]

That's a well fed bear. I've lived in New Bern for 4 years, and before that in Morehead City for 10, and have yet to see a bear, dammit! I have seen a cub that was hit on the road. :(

Very cool cam pic!

[Newton_14]

Black bears have doubled their population in NC over the last 15 years or so, to around 16,000 animals now. Or maybe as many as 20,000.
Our coastal bears, because of their rich, varied diet (soy beans, peanuts, hog farm refuse) grow much bigger than our mountain bears.
The current heaviest black bear on record was from there, 880 pounds. That's grizzly sized.

Last summer, my son and a friend were riding my son's 4 Wheeler on the farm across the road from our house. On one of the farm path's, a black bear comes out of the wooded area and crosses the path some 10 feet in front of them. My son doubled timed it back to our house and bout needed to change his pants. Scared them to death. A friend of ours got it on his Field Cam that overlooks his corn feeder. The bear would sit straddled legged right in the middle of the corn pile and drag handfuls at a time to himself. It was funny watching it. No deer would show up when the bear was feeding obviously. :)

I've seen pics on FB of black bears caught on other deer cams set up in our county. They are definitely growing in number around here. That's for sure.

[Devilwin]

I found the latest population update. The 16000 to 20000 figure was from 2009. The figures from 2015 estimate around 32,000, of which 20,000 are coastal plain bears. The other 12,000 are mountain dwellers.
Normally, mammals are larger the more north you go (Bergmann's Rule) but our black bears are an exception. There's no doubt the coastal population bears are larger than the mountain bruins, where big males rarely top 400 pounds. Coastal males often top 500, and there have been 47 taken in the last ten years over 600, and five over 700! In 2014, an elderly man took one of 782 pounds, and just a few weeks later, a teenage boy got one of 784!
Bergmann's Rule can best be shown by the example of tigers. With six subspecies, the larger ones are found in the Siberian tiger (males can be 600 pounds or more) and the Bengal (also some males up to 600 pounds). The Sumatran males rarely hit 320, and the extinct Bali tiger males averaged no more than a lioness, 280 pounds.
So why do our coastal bears grow larger than the big bears of the Poconos, or south Canada?
There is no doubt they eat well with all the agriculture in the area. But I believe there's another factor.
Over 80% of NC swine production is in the coastal plain. These animals are fed growth hormones, and when stillborn piglets are disposed of, the bears move in and do what bears do. They eat them. The 880 pound world record bear was taken in an area that had three hog farms, and his massive tracks were found near the refuse area of one of them just days before he met his demise. So maybe the hormones are finding their way into the bears?

[JBDuke]

I found the latest population update. The 16000 to 20000 figure was from 2009. The figures from 2015 estimate around 32,000, of which 20,000 are coastal plain bears. The other 12,000 are mountain dwellers.
Normally, mammals are larger the more north you go (Bergmann's Rule) but our black bears are an exception. There's no doubt the coastal population bears are larger than the mountain bruins, where big males rarely top 400 pounds. Coastal males often top 500, and there have been 47 taken in the last ten years over 600, and five over 700! In 2014, an elderly man took one of 782 pounds, and just a few weeks later, a teenage boy got one of 784!
Bergmann's Rule can best be shown by the example of tigers. With six subspecies, the larger ones are found in the Siberian tiger (males can be 600 pounds or more) and the Bengal (also some males up to 600 pounds). The Sumatran males rarely hit 320, and the extinct Bali tiger males averaged no more than a lioness, 280 pounds.
So why do our coastal bears grow larger than the big bears of the Poconos, or south Canada?
There is no doubt they eat well with all the agriculture in the area. But I believe there's another factor.
Over 80% of NC swine production is in the coastal plain. These animals are fed growth hormones, and when stillborn piglets are disposed of, the bears move in and do what bears do. They eat them. The 880 pound world record bear was taken in an area that had three hog farms, and his massive tracks were found near the refuse area of one of them just days before he met his demise. So maybe the hormones are finding their way into the bears?

Grizzly bear populations exhibit the same phenomenon on the west coast - the coastal bears tend to be much larger than the inland bears.

[wilson]

I love this thread. Bears are my spirit animal.

[luburch]

My nephew hunts near New Bern. Got this on a trail cam. The world record is 880 pounds for a black bear, also from the coastal plain of NC. new record maybe?6351

I did not give you permission to use this picture of me! :)

[budwom]

several years ago in broad daylight, we heard a thump on our deck, so the labradors starting barking. A very large black bear had hauled itself over our deck railing and was heading
for the bird feeder when he heard the barking, so he took a right hand turn, stood on his hind legs, propped his front legs against our large living room window (up near the top, very large bear)
and peered in at the dogs who were half an inch away from him on the other side of the double paned glass. After several nervous minutes, he ambled away, thank you glass for being strong.
We left the muddy paw prints on the window for the local kids to gawk at.

(This had generally been a safe spot for a bird feeder, but this guy foiled our plans, he was an early riser from the winter....)

[devildeac]

I did not give you permission to use this picture of me! :)

I thought it was Sean May in the off season :rolleyes: .

[elvis14]

I thought it was Sean May in the off season :rolleyes: .

I thought it was Kennedy Meeks in the off season. :rolleyes:

[devildeac]

I thought it was Kennedy Meeks in the off season. :rolleyes:

An easy mis-identification either/both of us could make. :o

[Reisen]

8 or 9 years ago, I went to a wedding in Northern California (near Mt Shasta). It was a very hippy affair, and involved leaving our rental cars at a trailhead, hiking, taking a boat, and camping in a clearing.

Another groomsman, with whom I had shared the rental car, left a half eaten bag of In-N-Out in the backseat. When we returned to the car a few days later, we found bear pawprints all over the windows, and clawmarks in the paint. A park ranger stopped by, and remarked we were lucky the bear wasn't hungrier, or he would have torn the door off.

[JasonEvans]

I thought it was Kennedy Meeks in the off season. :rolleyes:

I thought it was BJ Anya in the off season

[94duke]

I thought it was BJ Anya in the off season

Maybe it was BJ and the Bear. (ducks)

[luvdahops]

My nephew hunts near New Bern. Got this on a trail cam. The world record is 880 pounds for a black bear, also from the coastal plain of NC. new record maybe?6351

He may have a future as a henchman for Dr. Evil

[Newton_14]

Last summer, my son and a friend were riding my son's 4 Wheeler on the farm across the road from our house. On one of the farm path's, a black bear comes out of the wooded area and crosses the path some 10 feet in front of them. My son doubled timed it back to our house and bout needed to change his pants. Scared them to death. A friend of ours got it on his Field Cam that overlooks his corn feeder. The bear would sit straddled legged right in the middle of the corn pile and drag handfuls at a time to himself. It was funny watching it. No deer would show up when the bear was feeding obviously. :)

I've seen pics on FB of black bears caught on other deer cams set up in our county. They are definitely growing in number around here. That's for sure.
Here is the pic of the bear my son encountered...6353

[sagegrouse]

several years ago in broad daylight, we heard a thump on our deck, so the labradors starting barking. A very large black bear had hauled itself over our deck railing and was heading
for the bird feeder when he heard the barking, so he took a right hand turn, stood on his hind legs, propped his front legs against our large living room window (up near the top, very large bear)
and peered in at the dogs who were half an inch away from him on the other side of the double paned glass. After several nervous minutes, he ambled away, thank you glass for being strong.
We left the muddy paw prints on the window for the local kids to gawk at.

(This had generally been a safe spot for a bird feeder, but this guy foiled our plans, he was an early riser from the winter...)

We had a bear in our kitchen 3-4 years ago.

[Doria]

We had a bear in our kitchen 3-4 years ago.

Wait, that feels like only half the story! What did you do to get it out of the house? Actually, revise that to ask what you did to get a bear in your kitchen, to begin with!

[Reddevil]

I thought it was BJ Anya in the off season

Are we sure that's not Big Jelly - Nigel Dixon?

[DukieInKansas]

Wait, that feels like only half the story! What did you do to get it out of the house? Actually, revise that to ask what you did to get a bear in your kitchen, to begin with!

Follow up questions: how did you prepare it? Did it taste good? :D

[Devilwin]

On the grizzlies. The grizzly bear was long thought of as a distinct species from the brown bear. But we know now it's just a race of the brownie. There are several races, found in Europe, Asia, and North America. The reason the coastal browns are bigger than the inland bears is because of their diet, which is rich in salmon, scientists think. Big coastal brown males can weigh 1400 pounds or more, compared to the inland race (which includes our grizzly bear of the western states) which averages 600-700 pounds for large males. That being said, a few inland bears can reach nearly 1000 pounds. In 1879, a cattle and man killer named "Old Mose" in Colorado was finally killed, and he weighed over 1090 pounds.:cool: