Polar Bears
- Thread starter Thomas D'Arcy McGee
- Start date
When I worked there it was a 12 gauge with slugs. - dan
It depends on the location and size of group. Close to town its shotguns. Out in the country small group mostly shotgun large group rifles. Anything from 3006 up. My son's guys carry everything from 416 Rem. .375 H&H & .338 it's more what you are comfortable with and shoot well. It is not cheap to practice but it is not smart to not.
Thomas D'Arcy McGee
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Hello fellows,
There is a lot of interesting information for Polar Bear firearms in the linked article below!
The Governor of Svalbard's guidelines for firearms and scare devices for protection against polar bears
https://www.sysselmesteren.no/siteassets/vapen/the-governor-of-svalbards-guidelines-for-firearms-and-scare-devices-for-protection-against-polar-bears-1.pdf
There is a lot of interesting information for Polar Bear firearms in the linked article below!
The Governor of Svalbard's guidelines for firearms and scare devices for protection against polar bears
https://www.sysselmesteren.no/siteassets/vapen/the-governor-of-svalbards-guidelines-for-firearms-and-scare-devices-for-protection-against-polar-bears-1.pdf
Last edited:
- Location
- Saskatchewan
There is a Facebook page I follow called "Inuit Hunting Stories of the Day", which is basically a page where anyone from way up in the arctic post their hunting stories and pictures. The vast majority of polar bears taken, are with a 22lr, but you see a lot taken with 223, 3030, 303brit, 3006. Are these ideal for protection? No. But it's more of a "use what you have on hand".
Given the fact they are one of the largest predators on earth, if I was guiding them or hunting them, I'd use it as a very nice excuse to buy a nice 375 H&H.
Given the fact they are one of the largest predators on earth, if I was guiding them or hunting them, I'd use it as a very nice excuse to buy a nice 375 H&H.
Thomas D'Arcy McGee
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Thanks, it is a different way of life in the arctic. There seems to be a disparaging lack of teeth in the Inuit community!
Most of the Inuit people think 3006 is a big bore. Feeding a rifle like a 375 and up is very expensive in the south it is 3 -4 time more in the north. One rifle may be used for everything from Ptarmigan to bears so big bores are not all that common in my experience. I did sell a .458 wm. to one guy for whale hunting but he had a hard time getting ammo.
My guides choice was a sporterized No 4 Mk 1 with a mixed bag of 150-180 grain soft points. Some with the old Dominion headstamps.
When we hunkered down for 3 days to wait out the howling wind I spent a few hours cleaning many years of crud out of that old crowbar.
On that hunt I carried a 338 WM with 240 grain Northforks. I never dropped the hammer on a bear but it would have got the job done.
I planned on leaving my ammo behind at the end of the hunt but there were no other 338's in the community as far as my guides knew.
When we hunkered down for 3 days to wait out the howling wind I spent a few hours cleaning many years of crud out of that old crowbar.
On that hunt I carried a 338 WM with 240 grain Northforks. I never dropped the hammer on a bear but it would have got the job done.
I planned on leaving my ammo behind at the end of the hunt but there were no other 338's in the community as far as my guides knew.
Marine Magnum 870 full of slugs is what I carried when working along the coast.
Put a few cracker shells to use, but those are pretty harsh on barrels, so a beater break action is best for those. The cracker shells were pretty good for our application, but I was jumping around in helicopters and wasn't traveling overland.
Put a few cracker shells to use, but those are pretty harsh on barrels, so a beater break action is best for those. The cracker shells were pretty good for our application, but I was jumping around in helicopters and wasn't traveling overland.
Thomas D'Arcy McGee
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
22LR is good for wabbit defence not PB defence!
There is a member on here that’s has a documented encounter with a polar bear. His weapon for defence was a well placed straight right to the bears nose, which thankfully was enough to change the bears itinerary!! True story. Artichunter is the fellow I speak of.
True. Saw a LOT of 222's when I lived up there. The guys that had them, used them on everything. - dan
