I hunt black bear with hounds in the Appalachian mts often in steep, rocky, thickets where only the foolhardy and stubborn will enter. The ideal gun for this scenario is light, reliable, short, and pushing enough bullet to quickly dispatch a bear so as to prevent them from doing damage to the hounds. My firearm of choice for the last several years has been a post 64 Winchester 94 trapper in 30-30 with the 16.25" barrel. Lately, I've been thinking of upgrading to a more powerful round.
My experience with black bears (5x) is that you hit 'em in the "boiler room" and they are down and dead in seconds. Less than 10. The only way to top that is a head shot I suppose. And mine were with archery equipment.
It sounds like for the most part the hounds tree the bear in which case your 30-30 in the right spot has plenty of power and close range to do the job quickly.
As discussed, you have lots of ways to go regarding a "trapper" sort of thing if you feel a change is in order.
The only other thing I'll toss out is a cut 12 gauge w/slug. Possibly the stock as well. That would be short, light weight and powerful. Having said that, I'd stick with the 30-30 unless an upgrade falls into your lap.
