I hung around a group of guys through the 90’s and we were all avid black bear hunters. We hunted the north end of Vancouver Island and the coastal inlets by boat. We only shot what we hoped were bears with big noggins on them and getting a good one became a bit of a competition amongst us. We didn’t worry as much about weight since bears shot in the spring obviously weighed less than ones in the fall so we never weighed them. Plus some came out of areas where we could never have gotten them out in 1 piece.
Out of 30-40 bears over a 10+ year span a dozen or so went over 19 inches. Some just over the mark. We only had 2 over 20 inches. I shot one that measured after drying 20-3/16“. It was a very old bear that was wider that most for skull measurement but relatively short in length. The skull was completely calcified and it was hard to see the lines between plates. Most of its teeth were worn down and in bad shape. It was what we thought was a very old bear with not great genetics. The bear squared out at 94”, so just short of 8 feet. I had a rug done that took up a whole living room wall in the small House I had at the time.
My brother-in-law shot one that was the exact opposite. His scored 20-6/16”. I remember his being a younger bear with what we thought was pretty good genetics. His wasn’t as wide as the 20+ incher that I shot but it was quite a bit longer, the plates on the skull were easy to distinguish and it’s teeth were in good shape. I always wondered what that bear would have made it to skull measurement wise if it had lived as long as the one I shot.
The bear habitat in the coastal regions is second to none. It was not uncommon to see 20+ bears in a day cruising the river/creek estuaries. We saw a lot of bears over the course of a year and very few were what we thought were shooters over 19”. I’ve now lived in Fort McMurray for the better part of 10 years and it’s not uncommon to see a dozen bears a day while out for a quad ride in the areas I hunt. In that time I’m not sure though that I’ve seen a bear that would have got a second look back in the day. Great eaters with not having to worry about any of them being fishy but if you were after one with a big head it would be a tough go for sure.
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