Black Bear Hunting Newb

mosinmaster

mosinmaster

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Hi,

Looking into getting a black bear this Spring. What advice do you guys have for a newcomer?

Types of rifle, ammo grain to use. Techniques?

I've got .30-30, 6,5x55, and 8x57 to choose from. Are they hard to kill?
 
I have shot and killed bears with a 243, 7x57, 7.62x54, 30-06 and 300 Winchester magnum.

I have shot and lost bears using the 243, the 7.62x54 and the 300 Winchester magnum.

The best advice I can give you is to study the diagrams of bears and their skeletons and aim for the shoulder, not just behind the shoulder. The bears I shot and never recovered were all lung shot and ran into thick thick bush. I have spent hours and hours following blood trails until they run dry.

You're from B.C. right? Not too hard to find bears if you go out from mid-May on. You might get lucky earlier on, but my experience is mid to end of May into the first week of June is best. South facing slopes and green road sides in any 2 to 3 year old logging cut.

If you trust your 8x57 to be accurate it should be good but the 6.5 with 140 to 160 grain bullets would be good too. Thousands of black bears have been killed with the 30-30 as well.

Oh, one more thing. No bacon grease in B.C. Baiting is illegal.
 
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I suppose you can slather yourself in bacon grease, is that considered baiting? *I'm joking!*

Hm, the 8x57 or the .30-30 will either get the nod. I suppose I should use 200 gr 8x57 or 170 gr .30-30? I also have an 870.. will 12 ga slugs work?

Thanks!
 
Beavers...and then more beavers.. Donuts, KFC grease and oats also work well but not as good as a rotten beaver carcass. I use Slick tricks 100 gr. Shooting with a gun is waay to easy. This is if you plan on baiting, if not a .308 works well.

Cheers!!
 
You could see a bear anywhere from from 3 to 300 yards so the shotgun with slugs limits you to close shots.
 
Yes 12 gauge slugs work very well, as far as rifle loads go I'd say you're on the right track. Any bullet you would use for deer will do the job on a black bear provided you put it in the right place. Good point about studying bear anatomy, its slightly different from a deer or mooses.
 
I hunt over bait from a tree stand here so what I have learned that might help you is that bears can see colour, have terrible sight and can smell you and where you've been like you wouldn't believe.
 
use a dead beaver to have them come in, then keep them around by taking a barrel or drum, cut a hole 7 or 8 '' in diameter and fill it with old doughnuts, table scraps, whatever. having some grease poured around the base of the barrel is good too.

all those calibers are perfectly fine for bears, they arnt hard to kill and are shot at short ranges.

good luck!
 
On the ''Wet'' Coast. No baiting allowed. I suppose that makes it too easy? Not sure why.

I think the .30-30 is a good start. 150 or 170 gr?
 
I'm still fairly new at hunting bears myself but some of the standard advice I've been given is to hunt in areas that were logged 3-5 years ago as they're starting to green up.
 
Any legal rifle is good for a black bear. The real problem is to know where and when to find them. The same spot which has quite a few bears can be total empty in a couple weeks, this is especially the case when salmon run is over.

I have run thousands miles in my go to areas and take notes of different seasons of different habitat characters. It really paid off. I can tag out annual bag limit in a day if I want. But I prefer to exploit one more area each time.

Good luck to OP. We are blessed to live in BC. As for black bear hunting, we islanders are spoiled.
 
Right of ways green up first. Have seen as many as seven black bears in less than a mile in the spring when the right of way was greening up. If the bear is broadside sight down the front leg and let go just below the shoulder. Good luck to you.
 
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