Smaller Calibers in Grizzly Country
- Thread starter Leavenworth
- Start date
pete dobinson
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Courtenay BC.
Way more protection from the elements in a good quality light weight tent.
Mumbles Marble Mouth
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Lower Mainland
I'll put it like this. The .357mag is a pretty powerful cartridge right? So is the .44mag which is a lot more powerful. Both of those calibers are approved for a wilderness ATC permit. Now, they're powerful for a Handgun but reality is a .223 Remington is a lot more powerful than a .357mag and as powerful as a .44mag with standard loads. If you go to buffalo bore then the .44mag has more energy but a .243win drastically trumps the .44mag. There! That should stir up a .22 hornets nest. Okay I'm making a run for the door now bye!
In many spots, there is no such thing as "prevailing" wind... it swirls from every point on the compass... and who wants to stumble around looking for a spot that lays out perfectly for a lean-to... sounds like you are unnecessarily complicating things.
Doc Rainbow
CGN Regular
- Location
- Beautiful B.C.
I fished the Crowsnest Valley and West Castle wilderness for a decade of summer holidays 1991-2001 and first 6 years of that didn't have a gun. I think it's good to not do stupid things ( eg wear the clothes you cooked in to bed, cook where you sleep etc ) in grizzly country. When I've hunted deer and elk in the past in grizzly country I felt undergunned with a 30-06 and 150 grain bullets. Did that once.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Decided to trim this down for politeness and to avoid an Olympic quality internet argument.
In the mountains the wind no longer moves in one prevailing, flat dimension, but also up and down and more violently in those directions often, switching around daily.
You carry the poles for your lean to, too?
Last edited:
Maybe in terms of energy, but the .44 has mass and frontal area going for it.
nowarningshot
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
And the 223 travels at three times the speed, creates a large large temporary wound channel, along with a permanent wound channel up to 18" if bone is not hit.
I would take neither if there was another choice.
Here's some Sheep Country where 2 of us weathered a snow storm in a lean-to while hunting Mule Deer in November 1991, saw the biggest Black Bear that I have ever seen on that trip, the fog rolled in before we could get him.
Hunted Goat here, this was a famous Sheep area at one time but they are gone and it's all goats now.
This is the top of a mountain where I've spent some very wet days, there should be sheep, but the only mammal bigger than a squirrel that I've ever seen up there was a Bull Moose of all things. An aggressive Grizzly ranges lower down.
Hunted Goat here in 2006, it was pushing +30 during the day and not even freezing at night.
Hunted goat here in 1996 and 97.
Found an old weathered ram skull here, only the skull cap and horn cores were left and killed a bull elk here in 2003, it is so steep that I could drag him down the mountain until the grade gentled out.
Here's where the rams stay during hunting season.
Hunted Goat here, this was a famous Sheep area at one time but they are gone and it's all goats now.
This is the top of a mountain where I've spent some very wet days, there should be sheep, but the only mammal bigger than a squirrel that I've ever seen up there was a Bull Moose of all things. An aggressive Grizzly ranges lower down.
Hunted Goat here in 2006, it was pushing +30 during the day and not even freezing at night.
Hunted goat here in 1996 and 97.
Found an old weathered ram skull here, only the skull cap and horn cores were left and killed a bull elk here in 2003, it is so steep that I could drag him down the mountain until the grade gentled out.
Here's where the rams stay during hunting season.
Attachments
Pretty much, I was referring to hunting well above the treeline... if you are way down in the timber, then have at your lean-to... personally, I'd be in a tent down there too... and I say this, having spent WAY more of my share of nights in a lean-to... wheeled carts didn't have motors at one time either.
- Location
- Southern Vancouver Island
Which explains the many species of heavy & dangerous game taken with it both here & in Africa from revolvers propelling 320+ gr cast boolits of good design & hardness at speeds just shy of 1500 fps. The JDJ design 320-360 gr slugs are plow through machines on critters at ranges inside 100 yds and are very accurate due to their weight forward layout coupled with a bore riding section ahead of the crimp groove to center the boolit into the bore.
This NEI mold is the one to go for in a 44 mag. Only bugga-boo is NEI recently closed shop due to family circumstances, so it looks like Ebay shopping type options to get one now.
Attachments
Johnn Peterson
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Chemainus B.C.
Being a follower of Elmer Keith and having actually met the man, my choice would be the Lyman 250gr SW, 429421, designed by Keith.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
A .429" diameter bullet is fine if it weighs north of 300 grs and impacts in excess of 1150 fps. I load hard cast 325 WFNs over 20 grs of H-110.
I dislike tents when bears are around because they prevent me from seeing what's around me. Wrapping my sleeping bag in a tarp although less comfortable has been enough to keep me dry and in addition to 360 degree visibility, its also more or less windproof. A tent during the winter is fine though. If I want comfortable, I have a cabin. If I want comfortable and warm I have a house.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Cabins, houses don’t follow mountain goats around their ever changing preferred abodes. Bivy bags will keep you alive but get bloody old after a few weeks let alone few months. Well designed mountain tents are wind stable from any direction, and help ensure sanity from bugs and relentless wind and weather, and safety. Your risk factors on the mountain above the tree line are #1 weather and exposure, #1000 Grizzlies though they’re certainly there. It’s so far down the list, the bear threat to you in a tent, it’s a “deal with it if it happens” issue. You certainly don’t make shelter choices based on bears, and we have more Grizzlies than anywhere. It’d be like choosing your kid’s first car based on how resistant it is to lightning strikes.
Behind my tent one October goat hunt, I’m still here, the weather was what I was worried about. Been sniffed many an early morning or late evening. Grizzlies live in Canada too.
Behind my tent one October goat hunt, I’m still here, the weather was what I was worried about. Been sniffed many an early morning or late evening. Grizzlies live in Canada too.
Tents also come with zippers... it's not like you are sewn into a body bag. I have had bears in camp dozens of times... my moose hunting partner even got stepped on one time while inside the tent... granted, it is not an entirely comfortable experience, but the process goes something like this;
1. Click goes the flashlight
2. Zip goes the zipper
3. Poke goes the muzzle
4. Poke goes the head
5. "GO BEAR!" in your deepest voice
95% of the time that does the trick... on a couple occasions the (6.) Gun went "BOOM!"
1. Click goes the flashlight
2. Zip goes the zipper
3. Poke goes the muzzle
4. Poke goes the head
5. "GO BEAR!" in your deepest voice
95% of the time that does the trick... on a couple occasions the (6.) Gun went "BOOM!"
