Found some Bear tracks and wondered

[Butts2]

Went scouting this weekend and found in an area some Bear tracks in various locations 5.5" wide was the widest. Are all paws on a bear created equal or front/rear smaller? Is there any rule of thumb on size with regard to paw print?

[Charlie Lamb]

Butts2... my pals and I always judged tracks by the width of the front pad.
4" is usually a pretty common bear...nothing special but shootable.
5" was a much better bear and worth waiting for.
6" pad was a bear that you'd give your left... a real good one.
 '

[Badger Matt]

General rule of thumb I've heard was to add one inch to the width of the front paw to get squared measurement.  5.5" paw = 6.5' bear...get 'im.

[Don Thomas]

As far as gauging bear tracks goes, I generally just look at 'em... Don

[Don Thomas]

There was evidently some confusioni about my post, for which I apologize! I'm still most definitely hunting bears! But I do aa lot of tracking and have never measured a track in my life. There are just too many variables. Was the track made in sand, dirt, mud or snow? If the latter, is it melting or freezing? What about the animal's pace and stride length? With lions, the appearance of the toe pads often gives me the best feel for the size of the cat. Point is, tracks offer a complex second hand look at the critter that left them and you can't reduce the story to measurement with a ruler. Don

[Snakeeater]

Don, sounds like another article.