Big bear? small bear?

[model 70]

went bear hunting yesterday. winds were up to 30+mph and very dry. the dogs had a tough time holding a track. finally about 3pm we found a hillside that was covered in tracks and scat. cut them loose on a big bear track and in no time they were out of that valley. they ran that bear over 3 big ridges into 3 different valleys a loooooooong ways off from where they started. finally found them around 8:45pm at the bottom of a real nasty draw. due to work obligations this morning i had to pull off that race and head for home (2+ hours away).

my question is, is it more common for a big bear to run that far before treeing or more characteristic of a smaller bear? for all we know they could have started on that big track and crossed another smaller bear that was fresher. thanks.