Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska 338 Bullet for Brown Bear

I'd eat a BLACK bear if I shot one, whether it was good or not. That's what I'm afraid of <g>. I'm eatin' it either way!

-jeff

Jeff,

FWIW the bears in the Blue mountains smell like huckleberries in the fall. We really enjoyed the last one.

I truly agree with you about most of the ofthers,especially the coastal garbage dump bears.

My forkie blacktail this year is the best venison i've ever had. Must be the acorns. Man, if they all tasted like this one they'd be extinct!

-jeff

Ironically, bears clean up their own very expeditiously quite often.

Wow, this turned into a very interesting and informative thread.

Usually when the topic is on bullets, things get out of hand real fast..........

I would imagine that a 1k lb. brownie, would be one tough SOB.

Tony

It really goes to show the sheer POWER of a hunting rifle, doesn't it? I mean you hold even a 250-gn bullet in your hand, and then compare that to a grizzly bear... pretty amazing.

-jeff

I think that when speaking of what kills a bear in a specific caliber or bullet design the variables are vastly different. I would say that many popular hunting calibers would kill a brown bear if well hit in the vitals but.... what most worry about (myself included) are those variables. A bear 100 yards away totally oblivient to your existence before and after the shot, and in a place where a follow up shot can be easily made versus say a bear at 40 yards thats dialed in on you right before you squeeze the trigger and he immediately associates you with the pain he's feeling. I spent quite a bit of time working hand in hand with a couple of brown bear guides that work for a pretty well known guide service and their stories were quite interesting. Its never the perfect world stuff that [bleep] them up its the usual transformation of a good situation to a bad one, and none of them boys carried anything less than a 375 H&H for their back up guns and none wore scopes either. I guess the fun part of being the brown bear guide is when Billy Bob from Oklahoma doesn't make a good shot on said brown bear and now the guide has to go to work, thats the exciting part of their job. <grin> I watched a hunting show a while back cant remember if it was Jim Shockey or who but a client shoots a brown bear in the guts at like 30 yards with his bow and the next day (yeah they waited till the next morning to go looking for it cuz the shot was so bad)the bear charged them in the alders and like 4 different guys shot it as it came hard. No doubt about it, you can [bleep] up a shot on any ungulate in North America and things can be mended with some tracking skills and persistence, somewhat, but [bleep] up a shot on a 800+ lb brown bear and your sure to get your moneys worth.

Forget where I saw it but this guy and his guide shot and killed a boar and almost immediately a female charges them...from probably 40 or 50 yds...the guide stands up, waves his arms shouting at the bear and finally busts her at 8 yds with a 404 Jeffery, which turned her but did not do an immediate lights out ...yes, the guides DO earn their $$ sometimes..

jwp
AK law does not require brown bears be salvaged and it also does not require black bears shot after July 1 to be salvaged. The requirement to salvage spring black bear meat is new. The old law was either meat or hide had to be salvaged.
art

a 275 Swift A-Frame @ 2500+ IS effective within the 5" line...sure as hell don't need one but it will work dandy. Bring the old 06 if ya got one...it'll doootooo.

Now what was this about raingear? Helly Hansen "Impertech." Nuf said.

bhtr

bearhunter,

Impertech is what I've been told from others.
Seems like the stuff. Do you like fleece or
wool pants?
Dave

250 nosler partition.

That was on the Cabelas Outdoor Journal tv show, I watched that video and the clown doing the hunting was the worst bow shot i've seen in quite some time. The guide shooting the brown bear in self defense raised quite a ruckus on a few forums but IMO he did the right thing and I would have done the same thing.

Raingear: I've had very good luck with Rivers West.

-jeff

Rain gear: Impertech is the real deal and i have found nothing else that will stand up in a driving rain and wind.

Don't doubt it for a second... you would know, up there! I'm more experienced with an all-day drizzle. The Rivers West stuff holds up all day in the rain, and is soft, warm, stretchy, and quiet, and VERY durable. But I couldn't say for sure how it would hold up in a driving, intense rain for the whole day. Plus it's kind of hard to dry it out in a night.

Is Impertech otherwise wonderful- IE, durable, quiet, etc?

-jeff

I would have to say yes, the material it's made out of is more like a soft stretchy rubber. If your hiking all day with a pack you will sweat pretty good but for general all day hunting/glassing/walking in rain and wind it is hard to beat. I also wear it when fishing and riding my wheeler but without the pants, I wear hippers instead.

I think anything waterPROOF is gonna be sweaty; the RW gear isn't something you want to hike hard in all day either!

I've not had good luck with anything "breathable" as far as waterproof anyway. Plus, they may breathe OK dry; my ski jacket does, but put a film of water over the fabric and membrane and now how's it supposed to breathe.

I'll have to check some of that Impertech stuff out sometime...

-jeff

tried the rivers west one time was soaked by noon. sent it in for my money back

Wow! Well, it works in Oregon...

-jeff