Black Bear - tough as stink!

Northman999 said:
Bears are a bit different.

I've seen very similar shots numerous times with .338 WM and .375 H&H and an honest 100 yard sprint from the bear after the shot is not really uncommon.

The wierd thing is a 130 grain bullet from a .270 broadside into the ribs will often lay them flat immediately. I suspect they are particularly sensitive to hydrostatic shock, despite being generally very tough animals.

I sometimes wonder if their tough, dense body structure actually transfers more engergy to the brain and CNS from shock than softer bodied animals?

It's the only reason I can think of why they can routinely shake off (temporarily...) a 4000 ft/lb bullet with imact velocites around 2500 fps or less, but are hammered by a 2600 ft/lb bullet impacting around 3000 fps...just my theory...

Anyways, hope you enjoy your bear burgers!
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Using the new simplified Dogleg bullet selection guide; select a big, heavy, slow and hard bullet for big, heavy slow and hard animals. Since black bears are neither big, heavy, slow or hard, skip ahead to a selection that is smaller, fast, light and soft for a speedy demise. Life is simple if you keep it simple.;)

In a related matter the .458 DGX is crap on the big, slow, heavy and hard animals.
 
With the right shot placement, I had bears drop within yards of where they were standing. If your going to use a premium bullet then try to hit bone, it will make fragments of the bone and still make a good wound path all the way thru. As said before the DGX is made for animals way thicker and stronger than a black bear. I have read mixed reviews on the DGX but I have no experience with that bullet so I can't say its good or bad. Where I grew up there were guys shooting them with 243's and ballistic tips. In my experience you should aim high behind the shoulder for the lungs with a bow or behind the shoulder at the spine with a bigger gun and premium bullet. So far every bear I have shot has made it less than 50 yards. This years spring bear went down 15 yards away from where he was standing, I got him with my bow. No matter how far your bear got, it went down and you still saved a lot of trouble for the next people.
 
I've had them run off out of sight after being shot by a 7x57, 300 Winchester magnum, 7.62 Russian, 30-06 and 243.

I have been unable to recover firmly hit bears with the 300 (one) and the 7.62 (two) and also one with the 243. In fact, there are some misses that may have been wounding shots too, one with a 270 that I recall now.
 
Rugdoc said:
I've had them run off out of sight after being shot by a 7x57, 300 Winchester magnum, 7.62 Russian, 30-06 and 243.

I have been unable to recover firmly hit bears with the 300 (one) and the 7.62 (two) and also one with the 243. In fact, there are some misses that may have been wounding shots too, one with a 270 that I recall now.
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Time to find a new hobby.
 
"Time to find a new hobby. "

I expected some kind of smart alec remark like that.


I've been hunting bears since 1976 and put more than I can count in the freezer. You?
 
Rugdoc said:
I expected some kind of smart alec remark like that.


I've been hunting bears since 1976 and put more than I can count in the freezer. You?
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I have little patience for slob hunters that don't learn from their mistakes. "Firmly hit" bears will die within 100 yards and you should find them. Perhaps you're not putting enough effort into your searches or they're firmly hit with inferior calibers/bullets, as is evidenced by you losing two (2) bears with the 7.62 Russian or your "misses" which may have been hits, by your own admission.

It's probably safe to say that I've skinned and retrieved more bears over the past 25+ years than you've seen live ones. I'll let you draw your own conclusions on what I do for a living.
 
bearkilr said:
I have little patience for slob hunters that don't learn from their mistakes. "Firmly hit" bears will die within 100 yards and you should find them. Perhaps you're not putting enough effort into your searches or they're firmly hit with inferior calibers/bullets, as is evidenced by you losing two (2) bears with the 7.62 Russian or your "misses" which may have been hits, by your own admission.

It's probably safe to say that I've skinned and retrieved more bears over the past 25+ years than you've seen live ones. I'll let you draw your own conclusions on what I do for a living.
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Where's the most interesting man in the world gif? I don't always agree with bearkilr, but when I do I do it on CGN.
 
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Rugdoc said:
I've had them run off out of sight after being shot by a 7x57, 300 Winchester magnum, 7.62 Russian, 30-06 and 243.

I have been unable to recover firmly hit bears with the 300 (one) and the 7.62 (two) and also one with the 243. In fact, there are some misses that may have been wounding shots too, one with a 270 that I recall now.
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This is an asinine and disgusting post... like bearkilr, I have taken more bears out of the bush than you will see in your lifetime... I have been hunting bears for close to 40 years... and guided hunters for bears for almost 20 years... Rugdoc, you have had almost as much wounding loss as all of my hunters combined... sharpen up man!

Learn your weapon and load... stop taking marginal shots, steady up your nerves do whatever it takes to STOP needlessly wounding game. We all know that it happens on occasion but NOT with the regularity that you experience... Bearkilr used the word "slob"... I concur...
 
i wonder if its a case of not enough resistance for the bullet to fully expand. i have noticed my 375ruger over my 30-06 doing this. If you ask a lot of big bore hunters that hunt in north America. You will find a lot of them saying "less meat damage then a 30cal". I have found this with my 375ruger. no blood shot and toonie size exit holes. my 30-06 and bears i have seen shot with 300WM. caused more damage.

that being said all my bears have been shot with 30-06 165g or 375ruger 300g furthest one went was 8yds on its own feet and that was with a 30-06.

shots ranging from 5-130yds.

for what its worth black bears are not hard to kill.
 
Rugdoc said:
I've had them run off out of sight after being shot by a 7x57, 300 Winchester magnum, 7.62 Russian, 30-06 and 243.

I have been unable to recover firmly hit bears with the 300 (one) and the 7.62 (two) and also one with the 243. In fact, there are some misses that may have been wounding shots too, one with a 270 that I recall now.
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7 freakin' bears you can not account for! Stay out of the woods, please, you offend my sense of hunter ethnics.
 
My buddy who used to guide locally has shot them with rifles and bow and watched plenty of others do so, and still says a 12 gauge with slugs is the best way to go over bait. And we do have some big 'uns around New Brunswick - not monsters like the ones in AB and BC, but some pretty sizeable ones.

Any bears I have shot have been with the 12 gauge. Lost one that I thought I'd lunged with a .30-30. Took off into woods. Let him sit and die (or so I thought) and came back a few mins later with a buddy and flashlights (shot at last light). Lo and behold, no bear to be found. It rained hard all night, returned the next day, any blood sign was long gone by that point. Beat the bush upstream and downstream, uphill and downhill, found all sorts of bear crap but no big black monster lying there. Never found any hair, no blood, spent most of the day looking.

Checked the rifle and it was dead on. Pretty sure I didn't miss. After that I said I would stick with the 12 gauge (slugs) when possible. If for some reason I never got an exit wound, it would sure as shootin' make a big entry wound.
 
fraserdw said:
7 freakin' bears you can not account for! Stay out of the woods, please, you offend my sense of hunter ethnics.
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Methinks he doesn't have any idea what "firmly hit" means. 243 is a dreadful choice for bears (well, maybe koala bears) and the 7.62x39 isn't much better.
 
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Northman999 said:
The wierd thing is a 130 grain bullet from a .270 broadside into the ribs will often lay them flat immediately. I suspect they are particularly sensitive to hydrostatic shock, despite being generally very tough animals.

It's the only reason I can think of why they can routinely shake off (temporarily...) a 4000 ft/lb bullet with imact velocites around 2500 fps or less, but are hammered by a 2600 ft/lb bullet impacting around 3000 fps...just my theory...
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Very curious to know if others confirm this.
 
3 came into the yard at the farm, this one charged. A 10 gauge 1 3/4 oz slug (766 grains) square to the chest didn't cause much more than a stumble in mid run. Another slug to the face at just over 20 feet and skidded to a stop. The other two bears were about the same size, they ran away. The first shot was fatal, but the second shot stopped any harm from the 20 seconds that it had left to live.

There is no such thing as too much gun, but its funny how people think their side arm or under-powered rifles will somehow protect them. How many stories do we hear every year about some guy with a gun getting mauled by a bear?


 
The whole packaged meat comment makes me think of that Sarah Palin Alaskan reality show from some years back. She showed shooting, and processing a Caribou. Got a lot of Anti "hate" mail. Including one comment that she should leave the defenseless animals alone and get her meat at the grocery store where its made.

Now having encountered a good number of garbage bears and eaters of putrid pus bag sockeye carcass's......do enjoy your burgers.

I have shot a few. Any Bear that finds a source of food will return there again and again. Doesn't matter to them if its garbage, your apple tree, a Suncor employee, or a tree hugger's toddler. Just don't expect any thanks from the tree huggers, after all you let the stuffing out.
 
Home3 said:
Very curious to know if others confirm this.
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A lot of the small to medium bears will collapse at a shot from a fast and rapidly expanding bullet, but use the same gun on a large one and you get no exit and a blood trail that's very hard to follow. So far I haven't lost a bear due to someone using a caliber that was too large or that "over" penetrated. I have however seen several go missing from a fragile bullet that didn't reach the vitals. Exit holes are always better than "shock and awe".
 
Never shot a bear, no interest in the meat. Have seen many thousands however, as I worked a wilderness corridor on the railway. Killed just about every kind of animal there is in this part of the country with the unit at one time or another. The bears die the hardest. Mule deer are the next toughest. Smoked a bear in a rock cut at 45mph. Solid hit, punted him for a 20 yard field goal, he did a tuck and roll, hit the ground, got up running. There was no room as we were in the cut so he went straight up a 90degree rock wall and that was the last I saw of him. All his legs were working. I would guess he died in the bush somewhere. One tough animal.
 
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