Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Top 3 for black bear

I would say black bears take a lot longer to know they are dead than any deer or coyote... And I have shot a whole lot of all three...

A buddy has killed a few with a Rem Model 7 in 7mm-08 and Barnes 140 TSX's. Usually he hunts with his cousin, who avidly hunts them with dogs. He did manage to recover one bullet and it looked picture perfect. One of his buddies killed one with a .308, at bad breath range.

There is at least one big bear photographed on a trail cam where I'm planning to go next year. I will probably take a .308 with 150 gr Nosler E-tips. You can hunt both deer and bear at the same time in that area. If I join them hunting with dogs I think my .480 Ruger SRH will ride along.

I don't have many rifle to choose from so I am stuck with what I have: 30-06, 35 rem, and 450 marlin for black bear.

sitka, i am not a bear hunter, so i of course defer to your experience, just something i read and thought i would toss up here and see what you guys think of it.

Sadly, despite an over abundance of bears, Florida still considers them 'endangered'.
No legal hunting here for many years.

Last (and only) one that I killed, a 200 pound sow, was with a 30-30.

I have only killed 3 bears, used 30-06 w/ 150 gr Nosler PT, 35 Whelen w/ 225 gr PT, and 338 RUM w/ 210 gr PT.
They all died fast.

JD338

I have levers in .45-70, .35Rem, .32Win, .30-30, .300Sav, and .308Win. I also have an old Rem Mod 81 WoodMaster auto in .300Sav. My problem is no bears.

I have killed a lot of bears over dogs, out of trees with a 44 mag S&W 629. They were not that hard to kill. However 500 pounds is a lot of bear and a lot more bear than anything I have shot with a pistol.

The bear in the picture took a lot of killing with both a 300 SAUM and a 338 WM. We didn't have to reload but almost. Didn't weigh him before we packed out the meat and pelt but he was big.

As for weapon of choice, it depends on the distance. The more distanced the better if he weighs 500 pounds!

Small and medium bears don't take as much killing as really big bears. Close range a good slug in 12 gauge, as many as possible. Medium range a big boomer like a 45-70 or bigger with a lot of lead. Longer range, anything good for elk, with a good bullet, like a partition or barnes.