I will be going black bear hunting this spring and my 7mm-08 ackley will not be done at the gunsmith so I was wondering if any of you have used the 25-06 for black bears and how did it perform? Would you do it again? I will be shooting 115 grain nosler partitions out of it.

Well this one died to a 250 Savage Ackley Improved, pushing a 110gr bullet at 2900fps.




This one bit it to a 257 Weatherby with a 100gr bullet at 3600fps (only have skinned hide pics)





You'll be right betwixt the two and that's a good place. You will be just fine, assuming you can shoot.

I took a 200(ish) pounder out of the Bitterroot a few years ago with the 120 Grand Slam. While it did the job, The bear bedded a few times and would get up, walk a few feet then bed down again. It was dying fast, but I decided to put another one in the neck to make it faster. He was hit tight behind the shoulder and had lots of bubbly blood. Sample of one, but it ruined my confidence with stout bullets through only lungs on smaller animals.

The partition will be fine, but I am a firm believer that with bears, you need to break shoulder bones to put them down fast. Their hide and fat can also make blood trails faint. I also believe their vitals are a little farther forward than deer/elk.

If God didn't want us to shoot bone, he wouldn't have given critters shoulders..........

x2. I have taken 2 with bow but shots were under 20 yds. I accompanied guys shot bears with 25-06 and 270 and they did not go down immediately. Long tracking job in both cases and hit behind shoulder. Have seen bears shot and lost with 300 mag too. Can be very tough animals. Shot placement well constructed bullet are key.

Good advice need to shoot a bit forward for vitals and break bones.

That first bear is a nice one. Look at the size of its head

Laker take your 25, tis plenty of gun and then some. I've seen a lot of bruins taken over the years and the Swift and the 22/250 with 55's and 63's will do all one needs so your 25/06 will work very well.

Blackies are no diff than most other game, hit em right to begin with and you'll have no issues. Hit em wrong and issues do show up.

Even the biggest of bruins our state has to offer will give it up easily with a good shot to the lungs so load em up and get after them.

Dober

"If God didn't want us to shoot bone, he wouldn't have given critters shoulders.........."

I like that.

My Black Bears this year will be killed by the 155 Scenar. Lungs, which is a change for me.

That's what we'll be running this year as well. Via a 308 and a shorty mag. And we will be doing the lungs as per normal.

Dober

Is it April yet? (grin) Looking forward to seeing some dead bears this year.

Heading over to Montana end of April

Hopefully have some pics to post

I'm hoping to take care of business the first few weeks of April. We've got lots of snow up high still, so I'm not sure that it's going to be a reality.

The most accomplished bear hunter I know uses a .270 w/ an 18" barrel. I can't remember offhand what grain he is using but a 25-06 w/ a heavier ball should be fine. (personally I like a bigger ball)

.25-06 100gr TSX at 3312fps. ~450lbs

.25-06 100gr TSX at 3312fps. ~450lbs

Head shot? Or is that the upper cervix?

Jordan - that's one mighty big bear. I've run the same bullet from my .25-06 at about the same speed, but only on mule deer so far. Where did you hit the bear and at what range? Did he drop quickly?

Holy Chit! Nice bear!

That bruin is an absolute Toad!

Dober

This one went 416 lbs (fall), which for a Big Sky bruin is about as big as they come. No doubt other parts of the world have bigger bruins but for where I live this is pretty much top end.

Pic isn't the best to show it's size.

Dober

That is a very respectable Montana bear. I have rarely seen one over 300 lbs

I used to hunt them very hard, would look at tween 40-50 on many years. Of those I could usually count on less than 10% of them being 300 plus and 19" or so. The Rocky Mtn states are tough places for them to make their living, so we just don't get them the size of some of the other places.

NC has big bruins, Pen has some big ones as does sunny Kali. AB and Sask can boot out some corkers and of course SE Alaska. But Mt, Id, Colo, Wyo and such just don't get the true corkers very often. If I hunted the other states I'd look for bigger bruins but for what we have to offer we're getting the biggest offered when we get to bruins like this.

330 lbs give or take a bit is very big for spring here Montana), and anything over 400 lbs is more than likely a fall bruin.

As for skull size, IMO anything over 19" here is very big and over 20 is quite rare.

Dober

This pic cracks me up, it was my first big bruin. Taken April of 89 or so?

I was a young pup 4 sure...<g>

Dober

Come on May! Can't wait for it to get here!

the biggest i've ever killed.
a 147 yd shot with a 243
bear went another 100 yds
but he left a road map a
blind man could follow
7' 2" and est.550lbs
his neck skinned was 32"
measured tight under the jaw

I'd love to see a better pic of that one, looks like a super bruin!

What state and what bullet?

Thx
Dober

Holy Smokes, Ditto That!

Probably too much of that Cannuck brew, looks like he has a beer belly eh....grin

Dober

Canadian beer usually means a bloody mouth in the end though...

I hope they give us a season here in Louisiana before I'm too dang old.

Nice pics everyone.

Holy chit again! Fantastic bear!

The only bear I have hit and lost was a small one that I hit with a 340 Wby. Don't remember the bullet but remember the crosshairs directly behind the shoulder when the gun went off. That bear hit the dirt hard, and I heard the unmistakable "THWAP!!!". The bear then got up and took off running without a second shot available. I never found a speck of blood after 2 days of looking.

heres one with my nephew and the bear
kid weighs in at 240
hunt was in n. mex. and shot this
bear with a 85 grn bullet.
i try and exit the opposite shoulder
another measurement was the bears forearm
skinned at 18"

The fire should welcome this new member.

I will let it be known....he is a good guy and a professional at what he does for a living.

Welcome to the fire my Wyoming friend

Ted

thanks ted
i'll do what i can to live up
to that endorsement.

Welcome, and you started out just fine with that big ol' bear!

Nice bruin, funny you should mention forarms, I've written a couple articles about bruins and in one of them I spoke about looking at the size of their forarms. I've never heard anyone else mention them!

Dober

257 wby 120 partitions at 165yds.

https://picasaweb.google.com/tundragriz/Alaska2003SpringBlackBear#5397859603081858098

Nice looking bruin, have any more pics? Also guided and or on your own. I fell in love with the 257 Wby about 1973 or so, and I still love it!

Dober

Only have a very few pics as I was alone. Had the camcorder next to the gun on a horizontal tree when I took the shot. Regret not taking more but I had a lot on my mind as I had to get back to my tent before the tide came in anymore. It was a solo floatplane drop off on Prince of Wales, I just walk the shore while the tide is out. Skull was just a little over 20.



But here is one I came across the next morning packing the meat out.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v67/tundragriz/videos/?action=view&current=ak03bigbear.mp4

It was May 13, as I recall, and I initially saw the bear on a hillside above me at about 250 yards (I think the Leica said 247, or so IIRC). He was walking away, so I put a bullet into his mid-back, angling towards his brisket. He instantly dropped and started rolling down the hill. He got back to his feet and I hit him in the neck (no spine was hit). He dropped again and rolled to the bottom of the hill. He struggled to his feet once more, facing me now. I put one more into him, a frontal shot, and the bullet entered where the neck meets the chest. He went down for the count this time. All 3 bullets exited. His insides were pretty shredded up, but he was a tough old customer

BTW, Dober is right on about the forearms of these things. This bear's forearms would put the young Arnold Swarzenegger to shame...

If you heard a thwap with a .340 Wildebeest and didn't find blood you must have hit a tree!

That is a lot of blood for an 85 gr bullet. Was it a .243 Winchester?

The only bear I have shot was with a .257 Roberts and the same bullet the OP was considering from his 25-06, the 115 NP. One shot, high in the shoulder and through both scapulas and the spine. One dead bear on the spot.

I killed a few bears when I lived in southwest Montana and the only one that ever dropped with one shot and stayed there was shot with a .257 Roberts and a 115 nosler as well.

yes it was alot of blood and i almost shot this bear twice
but saw the amount of blood pouring from his mouth and
knew he wasn't long for this world.
i've shot a doz or more bears and will tip my hat to the fella from bozeman,they are not all that hard to kill.
hence my statement that i like to exit the off side shoulder
or tight behind the onside shoulder with alittle forward angle.
why would bullet weight matter to the amount of blood?

yes it was alot of blood and i almost shot this bear twice
but saw the amount of blood pouring from his mouth and
knew he wasn't long for this world.
i've shot a doz or more bears and will tip my hat to the fella from bozeman,they are not all that hard to kill.
hence my statement that i like to exit the off side shoulder
or tight behind the onside shoulder with alittle forward angle.
why would bullet weight matter to the amount of blood?

Jordan, why did you drag that bear all the way out to the prarie just to take pictures? Seems like a lot of extra work for nothing...

He was actually shot where the foothills meet the prairies, walking up one of the hills that jutts up against a field...

Was he a fall bruin Jordan?

Thx
Dober

Hi Dober,

No, sir. He was shot May 13, IIRC, which is about when the bears start coming out to play around here...

Jordan

be interesting to know where the bugger had denned? to be down by the fields in our country it would most likely be a fall bruin who was out roaming for all the grub he could get.

Do you hunt bruins yearly?

Thx
Dober

I'm not sure where he had denned, but like I say, he was right where the brushy foothills meet the plains. He wasn't more than a mile from the thick bush, just out roaming the hillside. There were some cattle in a field fairly close by, so maybe he was hoping to turn a newborn calf into a snack...

I typically chase bruins every spring, but we don't see nearly as many around here, as you do down there. Lucky sons o' guns...

Jordan,
If you decide to take up guiding send me a PM.
whelennut

Haha, I've done some guiding in the NWT, but up until now I've never done any in Alberta. Been thinking about it, though.

You may just get a PM from me one of these days...

Auu Good Greaf Put the .257 pill where it will do the most good.

The 257Roy kills dinks too.....

Jordan, you do realize I was joking..right? Just not what I have been accustom to around here...bears and praries. Is that a wolverine in your avatar?

No worries. It IS a valid question. You don't often see bears on the prairies here, either

Yeah, that's a wolverine that one of my clients in the NWT shot while we were caribou hunting. Once the dudes shoot 2 bull caribou and tag out, we go fishing and ptarmigan/wolf/wolverine hunting. Man those wolverines stink as bad as a skunk when you're skinning 'em...

I have known a couple of guys that used 257WBYs on black
bear in PA with great success. One of them is talking about
backing down a little and using a 25-06 this year.

i've killed a few in va with my 270win 140gn bullets. hit in the right place most drop where they stand. biggest in my area was a 700lbs. killed at 50yds by a friend,one shot in the punkin with a 180grn 30-06. then theres the one that attack a near by hunter that had been neck shot with a muzzleloader,3 more shots and he finally wondered off to die.not before mawling the shooter real bad.he weighed 580. don't piss a big bear off,put him down.

Hey Mark, why you sitting like a girl in that pic (#5036382)? You afraid someone will look up your dress...lol? I'm just giving you crap brother. Heck of a bruin! Flinch

Just as an FYI, while driving into school at 5:30 this morning a nice big bear jumped across highway 93 in my headlights. They are starting to come out of the den.

coworkers found a dead bear today. Cougar sign all around it. Weird. Was a small bear. Bout a year old. Was very recent. NE Washington

.243, .30-30, '06 have all worked for me.