Another thing to take into account is limited visibility due to thick brush. I had to kneel in order to shoot the second bear that real-charged me. Without having done so shooting him would have been more like shotgunning a rabbit running through the goldenrod. As it was, I was low enough to really see him coming and I shot as soon as I got a good clear view of him at 12 yards. A 300 gr Nosler from my .375 square in the chest adjusted his thinking about me. He flipped backward, fell, and then tried to run off. I emptied the gun into him, reloaded, and shot some more, sparing myself a tracking job. There was outstanding penetration all around. One bullet from a going away shot was recovered. It broke the pelvis, drove the rest of the way forward, and was found lodged against a neck vertebrae perfectly expanded.
Hitting a grumpy, motivated bear at spitting distance with a high velocity, frangible, limited penetration bullet and expecting success is delusional to me.
