BEAR HUNTING RIFLE: CALIBERS AND MODELS TO CONSIDER

[Lloyd Smale]

i know most of the bear hunters up here that run dogs. Id bet that a good 75 percent of them use either a 357 revolver or a marlin lever in 357. They shoot only treed bears and have all the time in the world to put one into the vitals.

Ive shot quite a few black bear. NO browns or grizzlys so i dont have a clue about that. Ive shot black bear with everything from a 22lf to a 338. For the most part black bear are not hard to kill. Matter of fact id say when bow hunted hit well they tend to not go as far as a deer will. Bear arent usually shot at long range. At least around here. Ive never shot one further then a 100 yards and most under 50. Shot probably half the bear ive shot with handguns. If i had to pick a proper gun id say with handguns a 41 mag would be the smallest although lots of treed bear around here get shot with 357s. A 44 mag would probably be my recommendation. For this area an ideal rifle would probably be a lever gun in anything from 44 mag to 4570 and the 3030 would probably be choice one.

I wouldn't feel under gunned hunting Bear with a 3006 and some.Federal Premium 200 GR Trophy Bonded Bear Claw ammo, or another good 200 GR ammo. For SD, I would rather have a 12 ga slug, or 4570 hard cast flat meplat bullet. However I hear some Bear guides in AK carry the 06. Since I have never been to Alaska, and will never go, and not in Grizzly bear country, I can get by with a 1022 for woods defense.

Yeah. Them squirrel are mighty fierce...

LOL! Not many squirrels left in southern Oregon, but we do have a few Black Bears and cougar. killed a bear back in the early 70's with a 303. Back when you could still hunt Bears with dogs here, a friend of mine killed many with a 22 LR. They were treed mostly, and he could pick a shot. Government Trapper here locally only uses a 22 LR or 22 Mag. for Cougar. Blacks have a tendency to run away when wounded. I hear Grizzlies don't.

[Lloyd Smale]

if you never loaded a bear in a truck its an experience. I shot one about 375 and had a buddy with me as big and strong as i am and we ended up having to back up to a dirt bank to get it into my lifted chev. Theres just no good place to get a good hold on one. The next week i put a 2k winch in the bed of my truck and have done it to every truck since. It sure is a back saver when we do crop damage shooting and have shot up to 5 deer in an evening

I never really hunted bear, cause there wasn't alot of them around 50-60 years ago in Vt, also don't care for bear meat.. But one cold day me and high school buddy Tony, teamed up to deer hunt an old abandoned farm. About 1.5 mile hike into this farm which did before sunrise. If we didn't hear any shots we were to meet up again at 10am.
So we met up and walking out a logging road and I saw a dark stump about 50yards away only it was moving and then realized it was a bear. I turned to Tony and was about to say 'Look at that'. But kaboom! He had shouldered his 303 Enfield and fired. Completely surprised me. Hit the bear center chest oblique and exited right side. Bear immediately dead right there.. Tony was from a Polish immigrant family and he knew what to do with his knife. We rolled the bear on a canvas and dragged it out of there. Had a hard time loading in his dad's 1960 Ford  because
that bruin  turned out to be 420 pounds.
Nowadays I see more bears and sign in NH, upstate NY, and VT then I ever did as a kid 50 to 60 years ago.
.

[Buckskin]

That is for sure!  They don't drag that well without a sled of some sort.  We generally put them on a pole to carry them out, but that's not that great either.  You can get several hundred pounds swinging very easily and can pull two guys over right quick.  I just put in for a WI tag an hour ago and am planning on using a 54 cal flintlock next season, on bait so will be close shot.

[Buckskin]

As long as you don't get a dump bear they are fine eating. Very rich and the prime cuts are very tender.  First bear I shot was with a bow and right around 400 lbs.  I cooked a roast from it and my wife who is not a roast lover, said "wow this is the best beef roast I've ever had". I smiled and told her it was bear and she wouldn't believe me!   I'm looking forward to having another bruin in the freezer next year.

[DDZ]

I hunted bear for the first time about 10 years ago. My brother has a camp in northern Pa, that a bunch of guys went to. I hunted up there for about four years,  I would walk up in this hallow about two miles, that had a stream that ran down the bottom of it. The hillsides were spotted with hemlocks, and pines, along with hardwoods. I would climb up a hillside and find a nice rock to sit on, and didn't care if I saw a bear or not. In fact most of the time I was hoping that I didn't see one to shoot. I was most content sitting in the peace and quiet enjoying the beautiful scenery around me. 
There were mostly young guys in the camp. In fact I was the oldest there.  From when I first went up there I told them they needed to put on organized drives if they wanted to see bear. After a few years they decided to start doing drives.  I hunted with them that first year, they started putting on drives, and just wasn't to keen about climbing a mountain side and stomping through thick stuff most of the day.  So about six years ago I quit going.  With all the younger guys going, I guess I felt I just didn't fit in. Plus I would rather sit up in the hallow than put on drives.  Now that same weekend I go to my buddys farm in WV where about 6 friends my age gather for deer hunting.  We eat good food, have a few drinks and tell stories from years past.  Getting a deer was never all that important to me. It was the time spend with friends that mattered most. 

I also tried bear meat one time, and I didn't like it enough to ever wish I had one in the freezer.