Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Caliber for Black Bear

I don't think there's a need for another opinion, but No, If that caint geter done you ain't going to!

Season opens on Sept 1st .... no Bear hunting in August in these parts.

I've hunted POW many, many times. The -06 is perfect and as stated, shot placement. As you look at blackies remember, the ears get smaller as they get bigger....take a good pair of waiders & walk the rivers. Slow as you go and peak around every bend. They only show for a moment to collect a fish and then back into the bush, and it's dark in there! Watch out for the tidal changes & hard rain...they will put you on the other side of the river for hours.
Who are you staying with??? Many good familys that rent out their places...have a great trip, take lots of pictures and keep a note pad. It's a great way to remember your trip.

Tell your wife you absolutely need another rifle! Grin.

If anything does trump lobbing 45/70 bullets across a salt flat it probably would be trying to shoot some new rifle and scope that you aren't used to in a hard kicking caliber. Please refresh my memory, does Alaska have the law on bears that if you draw blood your tag is punched?

Yes, most definitely� you NEED a new rifle. Just tell your wife that an '06 will bounce off those man eaters and that you simply won't put your life at risk with anything less than a new Win M70 EW in 338WM� tell her you're just thinking about her.

Shot a nice 6 1/2 footer on Kuiu in 2006 at 135 yds with my .338 Win Mag with 225 gr Interbond bullet. Took out the on side shoulder; spun it around and knocked it down. It got up and was running on 3 legs. A (lucky) second shot hit it in the neck. Bear can take a lot of killing. You spend a lot of money and time on this hunt; take enough gun. That being said, I killed two brownies and an even bigger black bear with that gun.

My black bear gun is my brown bear gun.

.30-06 with me that day. 180 gr. Barnes TTSX. Client had just been flown out and I was cleaning up camp after a successfull trip after Dall Sheep and Black Bear. Both of those were taken with 1 shot 7x57. We might have been the most undergunned crew out in the Talkeetnas that year, but it sure did not feel like it.

That brown just went about his business, by the way.

Same combination I used for this 7 footer. Took out the off shoulder and left a fist-sized hole.

However, I would not hesitate to take the same bear, same shot with a 30-06 and good bullet.

You 30-06 will do fine

Not sure how I handled this one with a 250AI.

Stunt shooter.

Does anybody else find some of the replies here to be more than a little absurd?

First of all, there are enough pictures of prince of Wales bears that have been killed with the 223 to sink a ship.
Secondly, there are enough experiences related by guides and professional hunters on here (24 hr campfire) about clients wounding animals and missing animals with Magnum rifles that it's a freeking cliche. Phil shoemaker, a very respected guide often states that he has no problem with his clients hunting brown bears with 308 class cartridges. It seems if someone had even a passing interest in hunting but had never hunted, he could have gathered by now that toting some new, hard kicking rifle on a black bear hunt is NOT a good idea. Hunting experience not even required, just a 5th grade reading ability.
There is no bear currently alive on Prince of Wales Island that will live more than a few seconds when hit with a properly placed well constructed bullet from a 243. There are lots of bears on POW that will take a 338 bullet in the guts and never be found. And, yea, I know, everybody on here can handle the recoil from hot loaded 45/70s and 338s 'cuz "ya don' feel recoil when yer shooting at an animal..." Ya, right.

There was nothing more fun whilst living there than watching all the DSMF's arriving with 338's and 375's for a black bear hunt.

It was almost as fun as seeing some with that MONSTER 5' bear they shot.

Took a .470 and a .375 AI to stop this 9 foot POW black bear. You guys severely underestimate the dangers of hunting bears there...

It's pretty much a given when someone asks "do I need more gun than my .30-06?", that the answer is going to be a resounding 'no'. The .30-06 is probably the right choice all the way until you get to Cape Buffalo.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea belted magnum culpa!

Or a 250AI for that matter... I used a 338 on that hunt because I wanted to, and because I can shoot it.

Don't like it? GFY

And a big GFY to you too, if we are going to scoop to white trash talk.