I've been in three situations where bear have came after hunters and this is what I have to say about it! You better spend a lot more time practicing shooting offhand at targets than the effort you put into picking a bullet.
One situation was a Black bear that had been hit on the highway and when a friend jumped out to put it out of its misery the bear came after him. He shot the bear thru the lungs twice as it attempted to get him! Don't be stupid and shoot a bear thru the lungs because if you do your a dumbass! It doesn't kill them right away. In fact it angered the bear more and as it was going for him again only much more aggressively I dispatched of the bear with one shot behind the ear with a 12 gauge shotgun.
Second bear was with an older military friend Chuck who had served in the special forces and a fella named Steve Hodgdon who is related to the family who makes hodgdon gun powder. Both men were experienced hunters however when we went into the brush after a Black bear that had been shot thru both front shoulders the bear was still alive and extremely aggressive when we walked up on him. The bear couldn't move very well because both front shoulders had been shattered but it was very much alive and very much in a rage. At this point both Chuck and Steve emptied a 45 and a 357 mag at the bear. When the bear continued to aggress I shot the bear in the head with a 270 and it immediately stopped moving. The problem this time had been that both Chuck and Steve although rather experienced admitted to not having practiced much at all in there later years. Apon inspection we did find one 38 caliber bullet hole thru the ear! 11 shots were fired at about 10 feet away. There pistols were emptied what if the bear could move a bit better and what if I hadn't been there. The moral is if you want to hunt bear don't rely on the fact that you used to shoot a lot years ago!
Third bear another black bear was caused by a Rottweiler taking after it, pissing the bear off, and than running back behind me and my brother! In this instance the younger brother put one shot thru the head of the bear at less than 10 feet with his 44 mag and dropped it in its tracks! I was very thankful that day that the thousands of rounds of practice and playing with pistols paid off and was thankful he was packing.
Every year hunters are killed by bears and while I haven't encountered a grizzly I hear they are more dangerous and agressive than black bear which in my experience are very dangerous. Many of those hunters are carrying ammo with a bullet that could easily kill a bear had the hunter been prepared and practiced! I won't hunt bear without making damn sure I can shoot and am ready because IME it can mean your life and not just from what most people get all giddy about......"the big browns" The determining factor that killed all three of these bears I have talked about was not the size of the weapon it was simply shooting the bear in the CNS, the head in these three instances, and hitting where the shot was intended to hit.
Your mileage may vary but this is the experiences I have had with bears so thought I would relate them
