Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game So, are black bears hard to kill are not?

Frank Glaser, "Alaska's Wolf Man" said the Swift killed everything faster than any other cartridge he used and that was with the bullets available prior to 1965... his only exception was brown bears.

FWIW an acquaintance of mine who lived for many years in northern BC killed everything he hunted with his 220 Swift, including a lot of moose, elk and bears. 'Course he was the fellow I've mentioned who roped and hog tied a swimming caribou bull, pulled it into his river boat and brought it home alive and whole. If you got what it takes... Like most here, I suspect that Scenar Shooter does...

I travel more along JJ's path when I hunt bears. I've been in on about 50 black bears including those shot by friends and family with me along. I like large exit holes with a better chance of leaking blood for soft footed animals difficult to track on moss and forest duff, like bears. That's extra true when I'm not the shooter and I am not 100% confident in the shooter. OTOH I have one friend I happily hunt black bears with when he uses his 22-250. He killed a nice black bear with that one day with me along, one shot. I carry my 30-06 with 180 grain Swift A-frames in it.

Overall, IME I've come to the conclusion that black bears are NOT particularly tenacious of life, but are often hard to find after a fatal hit. IMO they are generally about like deer in how easy they are to kill with a decent hit. Exceptions are exceptions.

A ton of overkill beats an ounce of underkill.

I've only been in on one goat roping with black bears and it involved a 375H&H, a 5 1/2' bear and a guy that couldn't shoot the 375H&H worth a damn.

Right good time

Yep Im headed back and yep I brought home pork. It is the best Ive had...even the fat is good!

Same here, only one, also a small bear, hit around the edges with a .44 and hard cast bullets. turned into a 2 hour run-n-gun.

Funny schitt there.

Does size matter? According to the Pa. Game Commission press release, of the 3748 bears killed in Pa. last fall, 68 of the them weighed over 500 lbs. The two heaviest both had an estimated live weight of 713 lbs.

It seems to me that a bear that big has a lot of fat and that the comments from JJ HACK would doubly apply to a bear that heavy. Yes, no, maybe?

Dale

Are black bears hard to kill..... Nope.

Like jerrygoat states, there vitals are smaller than anticipated, that has lead to not the best of vital hits in my experience.

Another thing with bears is the layer of blubber they have in the fall sometimes will close off exit wounds to an extent also. That can make trailing a dead bear a chore at times

I have not killed no where near the bears Ralph Young has or have seen killed. I do know they die very well with a good ol'brain pan hit 'my favorite' or the ol' fashioned heart/lung shot with just about any caliber that you shoot deer with

I believe there were less-defended trash cans available.

A lot of the bears in downeast N.C. are hunted with dogs,the hunters usually follow them into some of the thickest brushpiles you have ever seen . Most are shot at touch me distances with 44mags or 45/70's One was killed within 5 miles of my place that scaled 495lbs.