HuntAway

Agreed, but the majority of shots are less than 40 yds and are over bait. Had that same shot been done at that range with that load, it would have been a DRT bear. The only bears I have shot have been with a 30-30 and a .270. The 30-30 was DRT with a head shot and the other went 30 yds before piling up. It was shot in the crease right behind the shoulder. I still carry my ML'er in hopes of.......

cayugad

I hunted them with a .54 caliber roundball and a .54 caliber REAL conical. I do not shoot into the shoulder, but tuck behind it to the off leg.

I can tell you, if you want pucker power, be in a ground blind over a bait station with two cubs looking at your blind and a sow 15 yards away and in an alert mode... and you have a roundball rifle. (and a ruger redhawk .44 mag on your side.)

lemoyne

HuntAway
I have hunted over a bait a few times, but I find I really like to hunt the sucker runs in the spring. I really like to eat spring bear but I won't shoot one in the fall, I like to eat what I shoot. Lee

UncleNorby

I'm no bear hunter, but from what I've read, beginners do not allow for the long hair that bears have, unlike deer. They end up aiming too low.

Gotbuck

I can hear Cayugad's knees now. That reminds me of a mountainlion I heard while hog hunting in Texas at 2 am. Scared the living hell out of me.

bronko22000

Well now, I'm sure if somebody knocked my balls inside my skin and flattened them out on the far side I do believe I would be staggering a bit too......
Lee I believe you should aim a bit farther forward...

All kidding aside, that 54 puts a nice big hole in things.

gearheart

Ithink the mountain men carried a pair of pistols and a Bowie knife for back up and prayed they wouldn't need the knife if dealing with a pi$$ed off bear.

lemoyne

bronko22000
Are you sure you could still stagger with them flattened out? Lee

HuntAway

Nothing wrong with fall bear other than having to skin them two or three times. Once for the hide and two and three for the fat. The bears that I have shot have been in pretty remote areas and were pretty tasty. My brother shot one last fall during the moose hunt and the meat on it was just as tasty. I think if you are hunting anywhere near a dump I'd be leery of eating them. But if all they've been feeding on is berries and mountain ashe berries the meat is very sweet. Spring bear, especially right after they come out of hibernation are nice and lean and would certainly taste a little different. Unfortunately in Ontario, the tree huggers got our spring bear hunt cancelled and now we only have the fall hunt left.

cayugad

I was up in Canada bear hunting with a friends many years ago. We'd stopped in this restaurant for breakfast before heading down these old logging roads to the camp we had rented (and guide). Well this old gal that served us was telling us she picked up trash in town as a side job, and how she took it to the dump and was chased back to the truck by a huge black bear. And that the bear lived in the dump and was always around.

So being the young fools we were, and the dump right on the way out of town, we stopped to see if we could spot the bear. Well the three of us got out of the truck parked up on the hill over looking the dump trying to spot the bear. The other two wanted to walk down there. I told them I did not want walkall over, and down that hill,fora dump bear, lets just keep going to the camp. But off they went, no rifles, just walking down there to see if they could spot tracks.

They got about 100 yards from the truck and I yelled... "look out for the bear.. he's headed your way!!" Then two turned and would have put an olympic sprinter to shame, coming back to the truck.

When they got back to the truck I was laughing too hard to stand.. and they were too out of breath to kick my you know what.. But they were ready to leave and head to camp.