Actual Grizzly Shooting

Casull and B.U.M. both have it right...while 30 cals might do the trick on a docile feeding bear, something bigger will have to be used on a charger...oh sure one could use multiple follow-up shots with a 30 cal like a 30-06 or a 303 Enfield, but you dont really have the time to get off more than two or three shots...unless of course you are a crack shot from around a tree trunk while running in circles away from a 1200 pound nasty with gnashing teeth at the forefront :D

12 Guage 000buck or slugs
45-70 lever action
50-70 also lever action
338 win mag or bigger in a bolt action
 
Amphibious said:
what does PG have to do with it?

90% of people when faced with a random, new, stressful encounter such as a bear attack are going to freeze, #### thier pants and cry for mommy.
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WTF are they feeding you Amphib :confused: This proclomation is a bit out there to me.......
 
Amphibious said:
what does PG have to do with it?
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It has to do with the fact that you live in grizzly bear country. I might have expected someone from the east to make a statement like that about a 243, but not you! :rolleyes:

I, also, have seen the 243 take both moose and black bear with a single shot while guiding, but that does not make it a moose or bear gun.

Have also watched both moose and bear take repeated hits from a 250 gr 338 mag and not go down.

Ted
 
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Salty said:
WTF are they feeding you Amphib :confused: This proclomation is a bit out there to me.......
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based on my personal experience watching people:

*Get Shot at

*Deal with large predatory fish

*close to a large explosion

*encounter a victim of serious injury


doubt the stress level of being attacked by a bear would be much different. So many people talk the talk, very very few can walk the walk. why I think these threads are, for the most part, 110% B U L L S H I T. a firearm in any defence related situation is useless to you unless you are propperly trained to use it under stress and commit yourself to practice.

Ted, I prefer to carry my .450 in the bush around here. but from a strickly hunting standpoint, I still see nothing wrong with a 100gr 6mm bullet for moose. light yes, but will kill just fine if you're surgical with it.
 
Why not? said:
It has to do with the fact that you live in grizzly bear country. I might have expected someone from the east to make a statement like that about a 243, but not you! :rolleyes:

I, also, have seen the 243 take both moose and black bear with a single shot while guiding, but that does not make it a moose or bear gun.

Have also watched both moose and bear take repeated hits from a 250 gr 338 mag and not go down.

Ted
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Agreed, and it dosen't make it into a stopping gun either.
 
Nothing surgical about a grizzly shot at arms length. I have stopped one bent on chewing on me and he was easily within sniffing distance. When it happens, you point your gun and go BANG. The bigger and louder the bang, the better. It seems pure instinct to me. I've watched a guy run full away from one too shooting a .45/70 Marlin over his shoulder, didn't quite get that. But, I will tell you the one 400 grain Nosler at 2500fps. that broke his on shoulder and off hip gave me time to reload and aim! If that was a .243, I doubt the result would have been the same and I doubt I would be nearly as happy about it. He wasn't a wounded bear, but he sure didn't like my being there.
And the .243 is completely inadequate for big moose. It can be done sure, but it's very poor form if you can handle a bigger rifle. And if you can't, you shouldn't be hunting them. This is going to wound far more moose than it will cleanly kill. Yes, I know Col. Craig has done it, with a guide and time and backup a lot of other luxuries.
Go out and shoot a few and come back and tell us your results.
 
I'm not so sure that Homesteader was hunting as much as harvesting a moose.Moose are only medium sized in the Peace country,nothing like those big Alaska moose in the Dease.But it's not how big,rather how tender.
 
Casull said:
And the .243 is completely inadequate for big moose. It can be done sure, but it's very poor form if you can handle a bigger rifle. And if you can't, you shouldn't be hunting them. This is going to wound far more moose than it will cleanly kill.
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I'd like to see you tell that to the 100's of natives that kill 100's of moose every year with a .243 :D

the old 6.5x55 has killed and continues to kill lots of moose. and it's only 100 to 200ft.lbs ahead of the .243.

Currious..... :p
 
Some guy up here in the Yukon killed a bear with a knife...can't remember if it was a black or griz :confused:

Then there was the incident where a guy was protecting his wife from a bear attack and he killed the bear with a clean hit to the head...with a camping axe

Casull might remember the specifics as I don't right this minute
 
peckerwood said:
Some guy up here in the Yukon killed a bear with a knife...can't remember if it was a black or griz :confused:

Then there was the incident where a guy was protecting his wife from a bear attack and he killed the bear with a clean hit to the head...with a camping axe

Casull might remember the specifics as I don't right this minute
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Yeah, and I once landed a 45lb Spring salmon on 2lb test line, but that doesn't mean that I am going to go tell someone to use 2lb line when they go Spring fishing!:D
 
Gatehouse said:
Amphib, how many moose have you personally killed with a .243?
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Zero

Gatehouse said:
How many moose have you personally witnessed killed with a .243?

:p
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Two

:p

misc5.jpg
 
Amphib - you know that the 243 is not an ideal moose cartridge by any streach of the imagination. And we both also know that natives can sometimes be a bit of a 'special case', the laws allow for them to do some things that may not be an option for other hunters.

If a guy came along and said 'i'm getting into moose hunting, what should i buy' i DOUBT the first words out of your mouth would be '243 - it's the right choice' :)

Sure - you can do it. But if you're talking 'best tool for the job' it's probably not going to make the list.

Obviously if thats all you had at the time and a bear was harassing you you'd use it and hope for the best, but it's not a first choice for most people.

The argument that you're better off with a light gun you know than a big gun you've never shot holds some weight, no doubt. But i think you'd always want the biggest gun you can reasonably handle if you're facing 600 lbs of angry bear :)
 
peckerwood said:
Then there was the incident where a guy was protecting his wife from a bear attack and he killed the bear with a clean hit to the head...with a camping axe
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A guy I know had a black bear that was tearing up his carport. Went outside in the morning and it was still in there and wouldn't leave. He walked up to it with his axe and nailed it between the eyes and the rest is history.

I don't know if I'd have the balls to try it but apparently the head of many animals is a weak spot, who would have thought?:D

Brambles
 
This thread makes me laugh. So much garbage and advise based on stories they heard or a one time incident, a friend killed one, or at best a one or two bear knowledge base.

Every time someone brings up a topic of killing big nasty creatures that can turn you into goo......we have to suffer through a few of the Karamojo Bell comments or Jose Sarber killing brownies with a .270........and comparators like killing moose with a .243.

I've seen natives in northern Alberta gut shoot moose a few times with a .22 magnum and follow it up later to cut off the hind quarters of its bloated carcass......hmmmm, hardly is it relevant to selecting suitable moose cartridges, and the .243 ain't one of them.

With grizzlies you can be dealing with a bear that is anywhere from 300 to 1000 pounds, and squares at 6 feet to 10 feet. Shooting one grizzly properly with any caliber and it then dies, does not instantly make what ever was being used a suitable grizzly cartridge and bullet.

When the chips are down and a wounded bear or one with a bad attitude is coming in to teach you a lesson, that is when you need something that will put the bear down and quickly. With dangerous game your cartridge and bullet choice should be selected for the 'what if' worst case scenario.

Not all bear hunts go as planned with a perfectly placed shot and a bear quickly passing on to its reward. There is a reason that grizzly guides are all packing .338's, .375's, .45-70's and .416's. Once you have a bit of a knowledge base and have had to finish pissed off bears that your shakey hunter stuck in the wrong spot, your view of things and attention to detail improves.

If you are going to hunt the big bears with a .270 or 7x57, then do it on your own. Be really brave. Cause if you aren't going to go armed so that you can deal with things properly when Murphy raises his ugly head and a problem occurs, you really don't have the right to place your hunting partners, your guide, or anyone else in harms way.
 
The stories about the bears killed by an axe and a hunting knife both were verified and hit the newspapers up here...one was about 7 years ago, and the other was about 5 years ago...

Talk of the town for a whole month.

I just cant remember exactly what type of bear it was in each story...I will ask around to see if anyone knows...maybe a friend who works as an editor at the Whitehorse Satr might be able to score some background info on them including possible names.
 
I think that the black bear that was killed with the knife was along the Alaska highway at one of the campgrounds along Kluane Lake (the one south of Dbay I think). I believe it was in '98. It was either the year before or the year after the grizzly killed the couple in the park. I'll look in my photos cause I think I might have a pic of that bear before the COs hauled it away.

Oh and i've only seen grizzlies killed with either 30-06, 300 winmag and 338 winmag. All worked well.
 
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Mike all three of those cartridges are good rounds. I am sure you will agree that what is really important with all big game hunting is the bullet selection.
Something that gets left out of many 'appropriate cartridge' discussions.

I would rather hunt grizzly with a guy shooting his trusty .30-06 loaded with a 180 or 200 grain Nosler Partition/swift A-frame/Barnes X or similar bullet than a guy with a .338 and 200 grain Winchester soft points.

A actual charge situation is also greatly different than properly placing a bullet in the lungs of an unssuspecting grizzly. Oh, and I mean a real charge. Too many bears are mistakenly shot every year that are just bluffing. Unfortunate indeed.
 
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