Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles There it is, a 115-grain from the .257 Bob at 3000+ fps

On the color Q I'd say that for the most part it depends on what part of the state we're talking about as we have pods of the state that have more of this or that and so on.

But to put a # on it I'd say the % would be black 60 to 40 some color for the most part. I rarely see one that has a white chevron but do from time to time.

And my experience has been that for the most part the truly big bruins have been black tip to tip not that we've not found some good colored ones.

Once again it depends on what part of the state I'm hunting but I do see some blondes (bruins) but most of them are about the size of cocker spaniels..(I feel that they change colors as they mature but could be totally full of bear apples on that)

Dober

In my experience it depends on the part of the state. In the northwest there are more blacks, though there's still a good percentage of color-phase bears.

Down here in the southwestern part of the state color-phase bears are more common. Ingwe's guess of 60/40 is as good as any.

Chocolate-brown is the most common variation, but once in a while you'll see a "cinnamon" (light brown) or even a blond bear. The blond bears tend to die young due to lead-poisoning. A local friend got one a few years ago around here, a young bear.

I've seen some big color-phase bears in wilderness areas. A buddy and I got onto a big cinnamon bear just before sunset one year in the Bob Marshall. It was my shot and I passed, partly because in the dim light I couldn't be sure it wasn't a grizzly. My buddy was sure it was a black bear, but he wasn't willing to pay the 10-grand fine for me if it did turn out to be a griz.

On that particular hunt half the bears we saw were grizzlies, and the difference isn't always obvious. One of the top bear biologists in the world (Charles Jonkel of the U. of Montana) often said that he'd run into bears that he couldn't be sure about unless he caught them in a trap.

The prettiest color-phase bear I've ever seen up in northwestern Montana, too. It had a chocolate body but brick red legs and ears. It wasn't huge, maybe a six-footer, but it was too far to get to before dark and I never saw it again.

Dober, glad you chimed in cause you've seen and shot a schittload more bears in Mt. than me...
I have my own theory on the Blondes and why they are so small...mainly because they are so visible that hunters, and more importantly other bears, can spot them, and kill them...There is nothing a bear is more scared of than another bear.
I got that one blonde I keep posting the pic of that squared 6'1" and that is the biggest one Ive ever seen.Anywhere.

Ingwe

Yeah that's one of the best bruins a 6 foot blonde is a good thing...grin

The biggest blonde I've seen alive was 5 maybe 5 1/2 and had the red legs and red face so maybe it was a bottle blonde..

It'd be good to ask Madel or Frye and see what they say but I'm still for betting that they get darker as they get older. I've seen a lot more small blonde booboo's in the wild than I've ever seen in trucks. One of these days I'll get around to scanning some bruin pics.

Dober

You guys suck. I'm thinking I'm gonna need to rebarrel my SC M70 FW to .257 Robwah. Chit.

The ones I've seen down here are all black. The wife and I saw one with a white patch on the chest that stood up in a cotton field.

I watched one wreck a corn feeder while hunting at my Fil's in Louisiana, he had a white patch as well. I enjoyed watching him destroy that corn feeder.

So after reading 17 pages of this thread, I gather that if one hunts bears very much, you will have some weird stories and see a lot of bears, and that the 257 Roberts probably doesn't need much more than a good 100 grain bullet for deer-sized game, even though I am still interested in trying the heavier bullets. Did I miss anything in those 17 pages? If not, I'll go downstairs and load some 100 gr bullets in my 257. But it was an interesting thread, especially the bear pictures.

Anyone try 120gr Hornady HPs?

I was shooting some today and getting teenie weenie groups, but no chrony this trip..


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+1 on that. Very interesting thread, love to hear the stories that come out of discussions like this one...

Dad has been shooting them out of his 25/06 for years.

They do quite well, he hasn't recovered one yet.

But his is only a sample of 20-30 deer with an aoudad or two and 30-40 hogs thrown in .

I can't remember his exact load off the top of my head, but it involves 4350.

Bill

My 257AI shot the 120 Hornadys better than anything else . I got the best group I ever shot with any rifle with that load - three shots you could cover with a nickel at 200 yards .

I got a tad over 3k with RL 22 as I recall . I killed a few whitetails with it . The last one was a pretty ordinary buck that I shot thru the ribcage as he was chasing a doe and I had to get my dog to find him . He ran down into , and up out of a draw and made it close to 400 yards before he fell dead .

There was not a drop of blood anywhere along his track even though he was shot thru both lungs . The exit hole was only about three times the bullet diameter and not much stuff torn up inside so I figured it didn't expand .

Thanks, Scott.

I have some bear stuff in the works for Idaho. Hopefully it will happen.

I could go the rest of my life and never shoot another, but I'd hate to never hunt them again.

Totally the way I feel as well Scott! I really dig getting out there and looking for them, stalking them, calling them and such but have less and less desire to drop the hammer on them. Edited to also say that I'd not be suprised if I didn't give one the old Nozler Nap one of these days again though...grin

I do enjoy taking bruin virgins and such after them though. Fun to see how they light up when we're in pursuit..

Dober

This is a common emotion and characteristic with experienced hunters and favorite game animals;they want to "hunt", but the killing part is not essential....just observing here

I didn't read this whole thread, but I know exactly what you're talking about ^^^. I love to duck hunt, but I could care less if I ever shoot another duck.

That's why I get so worked up about taking a couple of newbies! They want to shoot everthing that comes in and my dog gets lots of work! Everybody wins!

Always enjoyed going/taking people after a bear. Bear hunting is a fairly social adventure.

That's what I was using last week, 4350. I got a couple very small groups as results. I've always used 100gr Hornadys in my 257R and had good groups/results with them, so never bothered to try out the 120s till the other day. I was very impressed.

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Ok, this thread has deviated long enough! Go buy a 270 Win. and a roll of freezer paper. End of story. OH, a 7x57 will do in a pinch.

I got all three.

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