Listen to kamlooky newbies, excellent advice.
avg black bear shot distance
- Thread starter olympia
- Start date
I've shot so many black bears I've literally lost count...............go scoped for sure!!! My longest shot on a blackie was about 450 mtrs with my 340 Wby. We are not allowed to bait in the Yukon either so it's cruise the back trails and glass the south facing hillsides. With this style of hunting the shots tend to be a lot longer than baiting. Many of the bears I've shot couldn't be approached any closer due to terrain............It's a whole different style of hunting when no baiting is allowed. Some have been very close shots as well though, my son and I have taken probably a dozen with bows so they're not all long shots. I just love killing black bears and we have way too many in the Yukon. One May long weekend we went to Dawson for a trade show and counted more than 60 bears that weekend, 8 were grizzlies and the rest were blackies. We had 3 licenses so needless to say we shot our 6 bears.
This year I'm taking my .470 NE double for blackies and/or grizzly, just for the hell of it, I'll also have my bear slaying 350 RM which I have used almost exclusively for the last 6 years for spring bear. It is a killing machine and I NEVER have to track a wounded bear with it. Here in the Yukon we don't refer to it as bear hunting, as that would imply you might actually have to go out and look for them, which we don't. They're everywhere!!! I can go for a drive after work on any evening from May 10-30 and count at least 5 bears and sometimes as many as 10 or more.
This year I'm taking my .470 NE double for blackies and/or grizzly, just for the hell of it, I'll also have my bear slaying 350 RM which I have used almost exclusively for the last 6 years for spring bear. It is a killing machine and I NEVER have to track a wounded bear with it. Here in the Yukon we don't refer to it as bear hunting, as that would imply you might actually have to go out and look for them, which we don't. They're everywhere!!! I can go for a drive after work on any evening from May 10-30 and count at least 5 bears and sometimes as many as 10 or more.
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i totally agree with you Douglas (most of the time anyway lol). all the moose hunters up here should take a bear every year .... 350 is a good choice hope this year my 9,3x62 will make it too.
all the best.
Phil
my wife didnt read the memo. last year she shot one between 5 and 10 meters at x7 .... and she was not a newbie ... but at X2 it should work maybe a little better but dead is dead ....
Black bears are pretty docile in the spring so distances can be quite short if you want them to be, stalking to within 50 yards isn't hard. Also the black bear population seems to be increasing in leaps and bounds here in BC, more hunters need to start filling their two tags per year.
"but i would suggest far enough to have time for a second and even a third shot"
Why is that?
Are you of the belief that a shot bear will run towards you? They don't.
It is a good idea to be prepared to shoot again of course, to anchor the critter so it won't get away, but a shot bear is a shocked and hurt bear and wants to hide.
Why is that?
Are you of the belief that a shot bear will run towards you? They don't.
It is a good idea to be prepared to shoot again of course, to anchor the critter so it won't get away, but a shot bear is a shocked and hurt bear and wants to hide.
A friend of mine was run down flat by his shot black bear. It died a few yards past him. Never say never.
All our bears last spring were in a surly mood, not sure why. My son noticed it too, he enticed 2 different grizzlies to charge him (no he didn't shoot either, he was in a vehicle) and I noticed the blackies were particularly surly as well, if they were along the road and I stopped to look at them they would flatten their ears and look back, most unusual. Still as far as needing time for more shots because "he's gonna get you" just ain't reality with blackies. Not even the ones we have arrowed have made any aggressive moves at all. They're always looking to get out of Dodge ASAP !!
antiqueguy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- windsor ontario
a .470 NE with a cast load(soft point round nose) would be a good short range moose gun too
pretty much that.
i only shot one (over bait ) and it was 15 yards with a scoped 270
I have only shot 2 Black Bears, both with a Winchester 1300 Defender, Both times from less than 20 feet. First time was with a 3 in slug, from 20 feet as the bear was comming at me, as I was sitting in the Chicken coop. Next one was from 10 feet with 00 buck and the dam thing got back up and tryed to leave. good thing the next round was a slug.
