I'm slated to hunt black bear in Alberta at the end of May, which is near the end of their month-long spring bear season. The outfitter I signed on with has a pretty good success rate, and bears are a good size... 6'6" and up to 7' are common, average is a bit smaller than that. I haven't shot a bear in 40 years, I'm really looking forward to this hunt.
I'll be taking a new-to-me Savage 99 in 358 Win for this hunt. I've wanted a 99/358 for years, for black bear and hogs. I was going to take my 375 H&H, but when this M99 turned up, it was a done deal. I'd like to get a good truly black bear, but as they have a lot of color phase bears up there, I'll take whatever color presents itself in a decent size.
Doc, simply, 51 grs of TAC under the 200 gr TTSX. I am just five weeks out on my trip to Alaska.
