Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Bullets for black bear?

I have shot two black bears - both with a Partition. One was shot with a .358 cal, 225 gr Partition. The other with a .308 cal, 180 gr Partition. Both shot over bait at close range. Both piled up dead within 50 feet of where they were shot. Both shot through the shoulder. Both bullets exited.

I witnessed a 4 1/2’ cinnamon killed once with a 375H&H using Federal premium 300gr Nosler Partitions. Guy shot the little old bear from about 75 yards, hit it right behind the shoulder from broadside. Bear rolled around a little and died. When we shucked the hide off we were surprised to find the picture perfect 300gr partition against the hide on the offside. No exit! A 4 1/2’ bear probably weighs #125 BTW.

I guess bears are bulletproof or partitions suck. .

I will not say they suck, but I have used a bunch of them over many years and have a large number that failed to leave the scene. I rank exit wounds as more than extremely desirable and that is why I no longer shoot them at big game. Last time I went to buy bullets they were more expensive than X bullets.

The bullet went through both shoulders and still exited. There is a lot of bone there. Must have been small bears. Shot a white tail in shoulder with same bullet. It didn't exit.

When you guys talk about shooting through shoulders, are you talking through the knuckles or the blade? Everyone talks like shoulders are 3/4” plate steel or something. I’ve shot and butchered just about everything from rabbits to moose, to include black and brown bears, and none of them have a shoulder blade that is very thick at all. Moose and elk have pretty thick bone down at the knuckle but the bone on the scapula isn’t much over a 1/4” thick, bears even less so. I believe Sitka even has a picture showing how thin a big brown bear scapula is.

I’ve shot hundreds of wild pigs, most in the last 2 years with 223s and a 222mag. A 200 pound pig will have scapulas about 3/16” thick and if it’s a boar he’ll have a 3/4” or so “shield” over the shoulders. I haven’t had any trouble blowing a hole through both shoulders and the “shields” with 53gr TSXs as well as plain old 55gr Hornadys. I did manage to catch a 150gr SPCE out of S&B factory 30/06 a couple years ago on a 300 or so pounder shot through the shoulders from about 12 yards.

Not really. Bear bone is very tough and flexible, but not particularly dense, hard, or thick. Far less bone in any bear than most ungulates of equal size. Even great big bears have surprisingly light bone.

Yup... I will have to dig that out. OlBlue shot the Kodiak bear and it was a beautiful sunny day so I boned a scapula out and took a picture of an orange knife handle... THROUGH the scapula... I have to admit a complete lack of knowledge and experience with black bears over 8 1/2 feet, but brown bears do not have heavy scapulas at that size! I have cleaned up a few others to check, but the pictures do not come out as nicely as that particular bear.

Please let us know how your hunt went and what bullet you decided to go with. Hope your trip goes well!

Black bear aren’t that tough. I’ve seen a 450 pound Bruin dumped with a 22-250, 55 grain green box load. Not my preferred load but none the less. Guy was checking bait and expected coyotes. It kind of just happened. I’ve killed mine easily with standard deer bullets. 30 cal 150 grain Speer Hot Cor and last one with a 240 grain JSP 44 Mag load out of a 6” pistol. Good deer bullet in the engine room. I might be hesitant with a mono due to lack of expansion. Maybe a LRX And yes, their coat can hold blood but bear stink and it’s not hard for a good dog to track one. 140-150 in either and go hunting.

I only know of one legal tracking dog in AK, and most consider that a bit of a joke. There are many more, obviously, but they are far from common.

Having shot a pretty good sized pile of bears with many types of bullets from a bunch of firearms and having seen a very big pile killed by others, I find it laughable when someone suggests monos do not kill every bit as fast as any other and usually a lot faster.

Any deer cartridge willwork with a heavy for cartridge bullet. shot placement is most important. I agree with the 7mm08 and 270. would not prefer the light deer cartridges unless that's only what I had. I would use my Roberts but I have others. I have taken bears with the 7mm rem mag, 338-06 and 358win. most with the 358 with 225gr. This year will be a 308win 168gr accubond. Preferred shot is broadside through both shoulders, Last bear went 11 FEET, The vitals are behind the shoulders. Don't let the long hair cause you to misplace your shot. If you see a bear before and after skinning that will drive that point through. Good luck and most importantly have fun.

A good friend of mine was a government predator hunter and almost certainly shot more bears than most of us have seen (I think his biggest year was 68 bears and he had a few 50+ years). He shot them with everything from a 22LR to a 375. His favorite combo was a 270 using 130 grain Winchester Silvertips. He shot a lot in populated areas and didn't want the bullet coming out. Also, he wanted the bear to die right there. He also liked the 308 with 150 ST. I have trouble arguing with his experience. When he was in grizzly country, he felt more comfortable carrying a 338 Win. GD

I have just about the opposite experience where almost every sled dog is also a bear dog at least for the white ones. We even had a Golden Retriever that was a good bear dog. Knocked at least one brownie off it's feet with no scratches. Not sure what a legal tracking dog is?

Greydog in some combinations the Silvertip acts like a premium with a slightly delayed expansion then very rapid expansion but usually retains the core as they have a sort of hour glass crimp to the core. I have heard of PHs in Africa choosing these for baited Leopard and one would carefully peel the aluminum wrapper off a 375 silvertip just for this purpose. Not sure when they switched from tin alloy to aluminum but some were not happy when they did. The old 87 grain 250 Savage load was one that performed well at least on deer and hogs. Anything that does well on hogs is bear worthy as they are similar in bone and fat make up with if anything an old boar hog being tougher but not quite as big as a good bear.

Dogs are illegal for big game hunting unless registered with the State. And they distinguish between tracking dogs (which must be leashed IIRC) and hunting dogs.