Black Bear Hunt Failure (experience... thank you Rob :) )

I've killed bears cleanly with the .223, 270 with 130gr bullet is more than adequate.

You shot under the bear and hit some dirt or you might have grazed his underside. A solid hit from head on would have resulted in a dramatic reaction.
 
rifleman762 said:
To the OP: a miss with a bigger cartridge is still a miss. A 270 is perfectly adequate on a black bear. I've seen them shot with a 100gr 243 Win and 180gr 308 Win. Both Nosler Partitions. The bears all died. Maybe try the 130gr Partitions in your 270. I doubt you had a bullet failure but it's good to be confident in your bullet's performance.
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A small grain at very high speed can fragment on impact instead of mushroom. Fat and slow can be a good thing (at least that's what I keep telling the ladies )
 
I've not hunted bear, but I think a frontal shot is a frontal shot, black or whitetail. To penetrate to vitals, the path is fairly long. I half expected to be cleaning shot up guts, but surprisingly, penetration was not that far. That was for a brisket shot, the other one was between the eyes, the bullet traveled up the nasal cavity, and probably down the throat, no matter as his eyes closed and he dropped. Again, not the baseball sized hole in the back of the skull I expected. I was using a -06 and a 308 Win, app 165 gr. @ 100 or so yards. Play the shot over in your mind, if you're like me, I seem to remember the shots that weren't ordinary.

I'm going to do a bit of guessing here, but I do believe you missed, and I may know the why. A successful prone shot in the field, may be harder than you think. Where I hunt there is too much vegetation in the way, there always seems to be something sticking up, grass, weeds or brush. I've always been standing, have a friend that goes down on one knee, prone, not so much.

Caliber, if you like the big ones, give one a try. Use something that a grizzly hunter would use. 375 H&H, 416 Remington magnum or 338 Lapua if you want to stretch the range. IMO, nothing wrong with a 270, but for your shot, a 150 Nozler Partition, minimum. When I'm hiking through black bear country I carry a 35 Rem, and I fear no evil. I'd carry pepper spray, but I trust a bullet more than a can of spray.
 
OP.

I doubt you missed. And the caliber is plenty good for the job.

I shot a moose at 10 yards with a 250gr 338Mag. It was trotting towards me, so I had a frontal shot, like the yours.

Apparently my moose was at a slight angle to me. The bullet slid around the chest, under the hide. It exited at the rear hip and is still going...

Yes, a broadside would have been better.
 
Prone on the side of a gravel road? Could have hit a stick on the way?
Was scope zoomed in ? Black bear at 60 yard with a 10x scope is probably just a lot of black...

Sounds like it was a miss if there was no blood
 
As others have said laying prone the bullet may have hit something on the way. A lot more on the ground to get in the way. Also something directly in front of the barrel may not be in the view of the scope when zoomed in.
Was the gun cold and clean? Do you need a fouling shot or two before the gun hits where you want?
 
ChromeArty said:
Thank you Rob... means a lot :)

I hope it was a clean miss. He showed no signs of being hit.

I do wish I had a freezer full... but you're right, there is always tomorrow.

I hope I can find him again!
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If this is any consolation,aiming a frontal shot while in the prone position,there's a better than even chance that because of thicker fur hanging lower than the body,your bullet may have gone under the body coming out between the rear legs without hitting flesh. .270Win is an excellent Blackie cartridge. I have every confidence that if the Bear had have been hit,it would have either dropped right there or turned and spun off into the bush dying within 50-60 yds. Did you move towards it right away or did you wait for a few minutes listening for a "death moan"? Were there tufts of fur at the shot site? If the answer to these questions is "no" and there was no sign after searching well,then, I think it's OK to regard it as a clean miss. Live and learn is what hunting is all about. Better luck next time.
 
Trimmer 905 said:
If this is any consolation,aiming a frontal shot while in the prone position,there's a better than even chance that because of thicker fur hanging lower than the body,your bullet may have gone under the body coming out between the rear legs without hitting flesh. .270Win is an excellent Blackie cartridge. I have every confidence that if the Bear had have been hit,it would have either dropped right there or turned and spun off into the bush dying within 50-60 yds. Did you move towards it right away or did you wait for a few minutes listening for a "death moan"? Were there tufts of fur at the shot site? If the answer to these questions is "no" and there was no sign after searching well,then, I think it's OK to regard it as a clean miss. Live and learn is what hunting is all about. Better luck next time.
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I waited about 20 minutes before looking... but didn't know about the death moan!! I waited by my truck. Next time will! There was no fur either.

It really does sound like a clean miss... I'm embarrassed by that
 
Misses happen. Its part of hunting.

Take solace in the fact that you felt ####ty about possibly wounding an animal (ive known people who dont feel anything at the thought) and also that nature doesnt waste. What you dont consume, nature will.

That said, I would not attempt a brisket shot on a bear (I dont lke them on any large game, in fact). Your rifle calibre is fine.
 
Did you hear a smack at impact? Every big game animal I've shot with a rifle always has a very distinct smack when the bullet meets the animal. You'll know it when you hear it. It sucks you lost an animal but sometimes killing isn't pretty. That's how it goes.
 
Too light for me for use on Bear and wouldn't be using that round. Not the type of wounded game animal to let bugger off into the thickets to track. Hazardous. Prefer one of my high speed 40's like my 458 WM using a Speer 350gr bullet at 2400 fps MV for example. Connect and it's going down.

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Gatehouse said:
I've killed bears cleanly with the .223, 270 with 130gr bullet is more than adequate.

You shot under the bear and hit some dirt or you might have grazed his underside. A solid hit from head on would have resulted in a dramatic reaction.
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I agree with this assessment. Black bears aren’t hard to kill, you have plenty of gun. Chalk it up to a tough hunting lesson and get back out there.
 
You won't find an experienced hunter that doesn't have at least one story similar to yours.

I once had a turkey dead in my sights. 25 meters away. Pulled the trigger and he flew off. I never found him.
 
Power Pill said:
You won't find an experienced hunter that doesn't have at least one story similar to yours.

I once had a turkey dead in my sights. 25 meters away. Pulled the trigger and he flew off. I never found him.
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Thank you so much for sharing and having my back. This has to be the best subsection of CGN... solid lads (and lasses) all round.

I realized I don't have a job lined up for tomorrow... so I'm heading back out solo. I truly hope to have a picture for you all... and if not, it will be a good experience regardless.

Alarm about to be set for an ungodly hour :)
 
nitro-express said:
I'm going to do a bit of guessing here, but I do believe you missed, and I may know the why. A successful prone shot in the field, may be harder than you think. Where I hunt there is too much vegetation in the way, there always seems to be something sticking up, grass, weeds or brush. I've always been standing, have a friend that goes down on one knee, prone, not so much.
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Good chance it was this^^^. This exact thing happened to my on a prone shot at a large whitetail at 50 yards. Half inch diameter branch less than 2 yards from the muzzle that was not not visible in the scope.
 
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