66 The Black Bear 



seen an animal in the open, and have no actual data for 

 comparison and upon which to base their opinion. I 

 have, first and last, weighed a good many Black Bears, 

 and should say that, when full grown, they range in 

 weight from say two hundred and fifty to say five hun- 

 dred pounds. In some instances they probably go 

 over that. As a rule the largest specimens I have seen 

 appeared to be in the prime of life and in the best of 

 condition, but I have seen those that gave every evi- 

 dence of being old and almost decrepit that would not 

 have weighed over two hundred and fifty pounds. 



Ben, when I caught him, was about three months 

 old, and would have weighed about five or six pounds. 

 When he was a year old he weighed about fifty pounds. 

 The last time I actually put him on the scales he 

 weighed three hundred and thirty-two pounds, and I be- 

 lieve that four months later, when I gave him away, 

 he would have gone better than four hundred. This 

 three hundred and thirty-two pounds was actual live 

 weight. 



What may be the life span of the Black Bear in their 

 free state it is hard to say. They do not arrive at full 

 maturity or growth until their sixth or seventh year, 

 and they probably live well beyond the twenty-five 

 year mark. Mr. William R. Lodge and his father of 

 Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, have a pair of Black Bears that 

 they have had for twenty-two years, that were six 

 months old when they got them, and that are still 



