Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Black Bear Calibers.

I just finished a book by a guy named Ralph Flowers. He was employed by some timber companies in the 50s and 60s as a professional bear hunter.

He killed his first bear with a .22 rimfire single shot with a broke extractor. The bear was about 50 ft away and he shot it in the head. The bear started for him and then stopped about 20 feet away and started shaking its head. In the meantime, he managed to clear the cartridge load another and then proceeded to shoot the bear in the nose. The bear turned away, and a final shot into the back of the head killed the bear. From then on he was hooked on bear hunting.

He soon bought a Rem in .270 Win. and used that for his bear rifle. He routinely made 200 and 300 yards shots.

At 20 bucks a tail, he hunted some of the thickest, meanest timber in coastal Washingtion. He would kill 50-90 bears a year. He started out still hunting and then moved on to snares and hounds. At the end of his career he was using all three. Sometimes he would kill 4 bears in a single day.

After a couple of decades of bear hunting, these are the calibers he recommends: .270 (he liked 130gr bronze points),
30-06, .308 Win. and .300 magnums.

He also carried a .38 S&W for use as back-up and shooting the snared bears. He was mauled several times, but usually when he followed up a poorly hit bear and literally cornered it in a thicket of some sort. He was once mauled when he ran out of shells and decided the bear was small enough (around 60 lbs) and hurt enough that he could knock it in the head and then kill it with his knife. Unfortunately the bear was closer to 150 lbs and the limb he hit it with broke in two on the first whack across the bears head as it charged him.

All that aside, I wonder what he would think of all the current thoughts regarding proper bear calibers, as many of todays hunters beleive that .300 mags are about the minimum for bear hunting.

What are your thoughts?

I haven't killed anywhere near as many bears as Ralph, but I think his advice is sound. Anything in the .270 to .30-06 class should be more than enough gun. I killed a nice black bear in Idaho a few years ago, it was broadside in an avalanche chute about 220 yards away. I aimed for the shoulder and the 175 grain partition out of my 7 Mag caused him to collapse and start rolling down the hill. He hung up in a small tree after rolling about 50 ft down the hill and it appeared as though he never moved after that. They don't always die that easily but they're not particularly hard to kill either.

.270 caliber. centerfire.

.50 caliber. black powder.

.45LC caliber. handgun.

90 grain caliber Muzzys on Easton XX75s. compound bow.

All running full throttle for the bears I hunt.

150 grain nosler Part. .270win.

Black bear aren't that tough to kill, but I will say this: If Mr. Flowers hunted black bear here in Oregon in the places like the Snake river canyon, Chesnimnus, or Wenaha, he'd think that a 300 magnum of some sort was just about ideal bear medicine..........

AD

Iused a 308 in short barreled savage bullet entered right ribs end up under hide on the left shoulder ran 40 yards and died 165 grian nosler bt worked perfect.DARREN

I've used a 270 but it depends a lot on the country your in. I think hunting old blacky is really where some of the big bore lever guns get a chance to shine. The 444, 45-70 and 405 are good bear poisen.

Edited to avoid controversy....

getting deep......

I have taken black bears with a '06 using 180 gr Partitions, works well.

This year I used a .35 Whelen, which shoud be more than enough for any black bear and what I found is that on a 2 1/2 year old the 225 grain Sierra BT separated from its core on a broadside shot. Right gun, wrong bullet.

Where's the muck on this one??? I havn't seen any yet....

RLB
I have been around lotsa black bears... even shot one a time or two... and I have never seen an honest 7' black bear in the round. I have seen many claims to 7' bears. I have seen 7' bears that got shy around the tape and came in at 5'6"...

That said, best to keep your chips real close to your pocket on this one... There is no smoke and the evidence was shown.
art

ahh...missed that

David that's exactly why I said you need to match the gun to the hunt. I really doubt many guys are taking 300 yard shots at blacky. I think I'd have to see that one to believe it. I'm sure its been done but here a typical shot would be under 100 yards and the lever guns would be at an advantage over a long barrel. I took my bear in AK and I sure cant see taking a 300 yard shot. Where's the fun in that? The stalk in open country is the best part of the hunt. I doubt I was more than 60 yards from mine.

Where David was hunting, I neither doubt the size on the bears nor the distances.

In most bear country, the ratio of true 7' bears to claimed 7' bears is 1:10 or less (maybe a LOT less <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />). There are areas though where the likelihood is much better that the stories are at least "close" to being true.

There are plenty of 6' bears in Colorado, but a "true" 7' bear is a real rarity. I've only seen one that would go close to that size.

The first person I heard make this statement was Art and I agree wholeheartedly [modified to fit the topic a bit]: A 1 foot difference in squared size equates to a HUGE difference in the bear. As in, night and day. As in a 7' bear will make a 6' bear look like a cub in comparison.

For reference, here's a typical 6 footer:


And here's a 7 foot bear for comparison:


The second one ain't shy (grin) and comes from an area known for big bears. Saw bigger bears on that trip without doubt.

FWIW, both bears taken at less than 30 yards.

As for the original question, i don't care if it's a magnum or not. Caliber and (more importantly) bullet is more meaningful to me, given shot placement. I really do like a .30+ cal bullet as it stands a better chance for leaving blood trails, if you need one. Smaller holes tend to plug on a bear.

A mag can stretch your range, but only if you have a rifle that can do it and a nut driving who has the experience.

Those bears make our's puny by comparison...nice bears.

I agree with you 100% that it depends on the area you hunt.

The spring fling video clip that was going around for a while shows a 7ft bear taken by us at 310yds. I filmed it.

Dude..I love that second picture...

Stetson
I have personally seen quite a few bears shot at 300 yards and more. With a known distance and a decent rifle that is called a slam dunk...
art

FWIW:

Any reasonable all around cartridge is fine.

But the perfect Black bear rifle is the one you can shoot well.

BMT