Need advice from the veterans (Black bear)

MadDog said:
Should have lots of pics if he doesn't try to eat my trail cam this week. 38-55 is a wimp compared to the 375 Win, same casing only the 375 has a bit more oomph. Now 'm wishin I'd had bought the 250 grs shells that 44bore offered me but the 200 gr should do the job to.
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Absolute falsehood, unless your still using factory fodder :rolleyes:
Ken Waters fav load of 35gns of 3031 behind a 255gn bullet rewards you with 1,800fps. I've chrony'd many a factory 200 & 250gn 375 load & rarely got any better than that. Sav 1899s will hold 220 Horns up to & over 2,000fps but I keep my deer & bear loads down in the 18-1900 range. & even Kens load of 35gns behind a 220 will get you 1,700. Shoot the bear with the old girl then check to see if she's smiling back at you...betya she will :)
 
senior said:
Shoot the bear with the old girl then check to see if she's smiling back at you...betya she will :)
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The bear or the gun?????:eek::runaway:

Sighted in the 375 at the range tonight, good thing to cause it was hitting 8" low. Shot my Savage 1915 in 380 while I waited for the barrel to cool between shots. Must have given the old 375 a bump in the safe or something, shouldn't have been off that much???? Was getting 2" groups at a hundred.
 
MadDog said:
The bear or the gun?????:eek::runaway:

Sighted in the 375 at the range tonight, good thing to cause it was hitting 8" low. Shot my Savage 1915 in 380 while I waited for the barrel to cool between shots. Must have given the old 375 a bump in the safe or something, shouldn't have been off that much???? Was getting 2" groups at a hundred.
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That's only because the 38-55 told your 375 it was his turn to go play for a change. Go on, you know you want to.:D
 
Just to give you a heads up about your 375. I just filled my Alaskan Brown Bear tag with a 375. I managed to get within 30 yards or so and laid the bear out with one shot. Now this bear was approx 8-5 long and weighed about 900#s. I guess if you also have a 900 pound Blackie then take your 375.

But then on the other hand.. They cant be to dead.

Jamie
 
Mad Dog,

Sounds like you need to bring Mr Bruin into your home - as a rug.

I think any of the rifles you mentioned will get it done. Having said that bears are like people in that they are all different. I've had them fold up on the first shot, especially if they are rrelaxed when you hit them. I've also had them get their hair up and take several shots, all of which would have proved fatal, before eventually going down.

Lots of council here, the only thing I will offer is break the front shoulders first and then put some in the boiler room. He may go down like a sack of potatoes or he may come after you like he has'nt been hit - seen it both ways except if his front shoulders are done he's not moving all that fast and it's a whole lot less exciting.
 
Jamie Hunt said:
Just to give you a heads up about your 375. I just filled my Alaskan Brown Bear tag with a 375. I managed to get within 30 yards or so and laid the bear out with one shot. Now this bear was approx 8-5 long and weighed about 900#s. I guess if you also have a 900 pound Blackie then take your 375.
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375 Winchester??? Or an H&H?

Westcoaster, my deer stand is right near where he's hanging around. It's built up against a big Beech tree and the ladder alone is 32 ft. Won't be on the ground when I pop this guy, or at least I hope I won't.

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Maddog,

I'll echo the other comments that you don't need a cannon to kill blackie. My friend has taken 20+ black bears over the years with his Win94 .357 trapper using pistol bullets. His advise was too use a heart or lung shot, but never try a head shot unless it was entering the rear of the skull. IMHO black bears are NOT particularly tough to kill, but shot placement is the critical factor. The vitals of a bear are a much smaller target than a deer's, & a bear shot too far back will go a long way & die a slow painful death. Check out this .pdf file which gives good details on a black bear's anatomy. Good luck on getting your bear.

http://www.snapdrive.net/files/574710/Hunting/bear anatomy.pdf

George
 
Leave the cannon at home and invite your neighbour Ted Nugent over with his bow!! ;)
Seriously- growing up we shot a whack of NW Ont. bears with the .30-06 no problems, its just not near as cool a gun as your 375/38-55. If someone hasn't said "solid bullet placement beats calibre every time" they should have.
Where's our pics???????
 
Now that I actually wanna hunt him Bones, he dissapeared all of a sudden. And to top it off, my trail cam wasn't set right and I didn't get one pic of him. Hopefully this weekend will be the golden hour.
 
dunno bud I am not out there or maybe we could run a plan of attack, here right now bear is a tuff one seeing its been snowing all day there going to be heading for dens asap but thats fine we still have 3 moose tags and umpteen deer tags left

does a little jig about the snow and moose hunting haha
 
Had to take the wife and kids to the U.S. on Thanksgiving and figured our adult tags would be gone for sure by the time I got back but to my surprise only the bull tag got filled while I was gone so maybe I'll get a poke at the cow yet!

I personally think that planning a family trip and booking hotels on opening day of moose is grounds for a divorce, just gotta find an attorney that hunts!!!!
 
I had the same problem. Never seen sign of any bears until I made a 30 gal. corn feeder. BTW, they love corn. It did not take the bear long to figure out that if he moves the spinner plate, he can empty the drum, which is exactly what he did, and at the same time he bent the crap out of the spinner plate, and ripped the wire out of my solar panel. BTW, if its a Moultrie, you can get a new spinner place for a few bucks from Moultrie.

As for your trail cam, I hope you did not mount it at waist level like they recommend. I did that, and the first pic I had of the bear was his neck pressed up on the lense of the camera. He must have also wacked it, because the motion did not work properly afterwards.

I now have a new camera, but this time I mounted it 7 ft. up the tree trunk aimed downward, and I have put a varmit cage around the motor of the feeder. Next yr I am going to put extensions on the feeder legs and get the motor and spinner up out of the way.

Cheers!
 
problem with a varmint cage is bears are ruthless when it comes to food and they will destroy that as well, best to hunt the bear if you can and hope no others move in or if its possible lengthen the legs of the feeder so he cant get up to it but brace it heavily he will try and push it over, remember a average 5 foot 5 black bear can rip a car door open seen many times in Alberta parks were people leave food open in there cars, spiking the legs on the feeder would help to, welding on a few 4" spiral nails etc would stop the putting paws on it in a hurry ...and give the deer a scratching pole :)
 
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