Originally Posted by 458Win
MH, I will agree that a .375 is arguably a "better" choice for brown bears than a .270 and yes I do prefer my .458 for tracking wounded bears in the pucker brush. But I would certainly not recommed a 458 to a client as the majority of clients who bring up larger bore magnum rifles, especially Weatherby's, do not shoot them well.
The vast majority of, actually when I think of it, every wounded bear that I have had to follow up was due to hunters using magnum rifles that they were afraid of and who didn't shoot as well as they claimed to . I have never had a Client who brought a 270, 7 mag or 30-06 ever loose a wounded bear.

I will also add that I have used my 30-06 to stop a number of wounded bears, both from escaping as well as charging.

Here is just one example of a bear that was poorly hit and wounded by a Weatherby shooting client that I had to track and finish with my 30-06
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Kind of peripheral to this discussion but certainly related is the kind hunter you get into camp I would think. I've noticed there are those for whom hunting is the focus and the rifle a necessary but mere tool for the job. They are experienced and good hunters But they are not only not gun loonys, they are the ant-loony hunter.

Ballistics, cartridges, and rifle platforms hold no or very little interest to them. They hunt with a rifle suggested a long time ago by friends, a clerk, or perhaps acknowledged by the general outdoor culture as the way to go. This hunter may be as deadly as a sniper with his deer rifle but if he has moved up recently to a big Wby medium as suggested by the experts above, he may find himself in your bear camp tentative and lacking confidence. This is not good.

Then there is the "Hunter" who is in camp with his new 340, 375, or 378 Wby and who is not even an experienced or good hunter but, by golly, he is on a brown bear hunt and all his friends and family have heard about this for months now. The rifle was chosen based on the it's rating on the machismo monitor and ratified by ten onlookers at the counter. Not good.

Then there is the guy who is a genuine, and far gone gunny. He lives in the Midwest, has no plans for Africa or elephants but has a 458 Lott. He hunts and loves it but shoots ten times more than he has hunting opportunities. He has gone through the mediums, the 40's and can handle them effectively. He hand-loads and can shoot very well from field positions and has probably fired his chosen rifle and load several hundred to a thousand times in preparation for his BB hunt.

Of course, these are a few and simple, artificial categories with many folks falling by various degrees into more than one camp.

In any people oriented business, one learns to size folks up pretty quickly, sometimes in minutes, but certainly in a camp over several days spending twelve hours a day together or more. I would think that the type of hunter the guy is as a pro like Phil is determining from the first phone call, and face-to-face, goes more to comforting him, or not than what's in the gun case; what's in the gun case then can become a much greater or a lesser reason for concern depending...

Phil, It'd be interesting to hear of your impressions and evaluation process as you meet a new client, whether it's a conscious, gradation process or just a feeling and how you do proceed differently based on your client.

I'm sorry if this is too much off topic but it certainly seems that the type hunter one has would greatly determine how you'd feel about his armament and where in the cartridge continuum you'd like him to be. You might suggest the guy bring his 30/06 or even 270 just as you might say to the affirmed gunny, "bring that 340".

Last edited by George_De_Vries_3rd; 06/07/14.