shooting bears

all animals are wonderful , you wouldnt shoot a roe kid would you . As for black bears , Id shoot one why not , theres plenty about and the numbers are regulated , over here we have no bag limits but over there things are done a little different . Each to their own
 
I doubt hunters in the US would share your sentiment.
It doesnt really interest me, but i'm sure i would feel differently if i had been raised across the pond.
Good video though.
Cheers
Richard
 
They're meant to taste great! I'd love to shoot one! Good meat, fantastic trophy and a good holiday into the bargain.
I found some last year that were about $1200 (Canadian) to shoot black bear with a bow. I will do it one of these days!
 
Got this one with my .22
20831a43.jpg

You can see he had a bad coat and needed culling
 
It seems that Black bear is very fine eating. Know some folks who hunt Black Bear every year.

I've eaten it. Never again.

I've had half a dozen close encounters with bears. Never had to shoot one but came very close once. I have zero interest in hunting them despite them being available to me.~Muir
 
Bears have probably been extinct here since the Iron Age and travelling across the world to shoot one holds little appeal. If they did live locally and were making a nuisance of themselves that would be a different matter, although I dont think that I would want to eat one.atb Tim
 
I certainly wouldn't pass up the opportunity to hunt one but I don't think I'd manage to eat a full one :norty:.
 
Each to his own , but its not for me used to have a client who came from Alaska, he gave me a book called

LAST OF THE GREAT BROWN BEAR MEN

Which is a tale arguably of the two most famous Kodiak brown bear guides ever.

While one shot kills are not unknown its extremely rare, the recognised procedure is to place the first shot through
the shoulders a wounded brown bear on four legs will attack and on four legs a human his no chance of outrunning it, with a shot through the shoulders this slows it down considerably, the procedure is then to keep shooting until the bear stops moving, the book is full of ten or more shot kills.

I have had my fair share of occasions in stalking when a second shot was needed, but have never been in a situation where I knew I would probably have to empty the rifle a couple of times to kill the animal.

An individual has to decide if its right for them or not, in my case its not something I could do with a clear conscience.
 
I know of one man who paid around 10.000 euros to shot a bear in Croatia a couple of years ago.
 
Each to his own , but its not for me used to have a client who came from Alaska, he gave me a book called

LAST OF THE GREAT BROWN BEAR MEN

Which is a tale arguably of the two most famous Kodiak brown bear guides ever.

While one shot kills are not unknown its extremely rare, the recognised procedure is to place the first shot through
the shoulders a wounded brown bear on four legs will attack and on four legs a human his no chance of outrunning it, with a shot through the shoulders this slows it down considerably, the procedure is then to keep shooting until the bear stops moving, the book is full of ten or more shot kills.

I have had my fair share of occasions in stalking when a second shot was needed, but have never been in a situation where I knew I would probably have to empty the rifle a couple of times to kill the animal.

An individual has to decide if its right for them or not, in my case its not something I could do with a clear conscience.

How strange people I have known via the inte-rweb have shot Brown Bear several of them in fact without having to shoot them 10 times. One in fact regards a Ruger Super Redhawk in .44 Mag loaded with 180 grain HP's as superior bear medicine and where he lives in the far North west of American Brown bears are not uncommon nor is findign Moose in your back or front yard.

Brown bear is it seems not a fine eating as Black bear.

Another old chap has just had to stop Black Bear hunting as he now at advanced years finds the travelling to do so and the hunting too physically taxing. He choice of rifle for Black bear is a single shot chambered in a hot .22 like the Swift or a wildcat. Often one he has built himself.

One young chap has recently purchased himself an Encore single shot rifle in .375 H&H to go with his 45/70 Encore. The 45/70 has loads worked up for and he has just outfitted it with a William FP receiver sight for this years bear season. in the North East where he lives and hunts bait stations are legal and shooting will done over such a station to ranges are short. The seat is about 25 yards from the station. Shooting is for meat although as he shot a nice sized bear last year in excellent condition coat wise after discussing it with the wife the skin was tanned into a nice rug.

The Black Bear shooting there at least appears to be carried out like the Boar shooting in a lot of the UK. Over baited areas from a seat or stand. Although he did not draw a Moose tag a close friend has to they will also be heading into the woods after a Cow Moose and Whitetail deer this fall.

Personally I see it as just different hunting culture just as Germany is different to here as is France or Spain. America and Canada are different also.
 
The bears on Kodiak island though the same species are larger than the average brown bear probably down to the rich feeding.

Brithunter regarding one shot kills some random quotes from the book.

The guide. I prefer .375 myself , .300 is fine, but as a rule 30-06 is a little to small.You want to hit your bear either in the shoulder, to knock the front legs from it or go for the lung area, the most important thing is to knock the bear off its feet so you can pump rounds into it fast and finish it of , you can't count on a one shot kill. Keep shooting as long as the bear is moving.


Zehring shot , then shot again then again, and again finally the hugh beast was dead.

Partialy paralysed by Sharpe's bullet,the startled bear wrenched in pain and lurched for the brush. The animal was unable to run, but desperatley began pushing itself with its hind legs.

Finally it ran into a big sink hole running its front legs into the muck, well then he managed to finish it off.

He fired his .375 and the bullet laid home, causing the bear to buckle, he fired two more shots as the bear went bellowing into the alders, staining the snow crimson. Morris fired a fourth shot into the beast rolling it into an alder chocked creek bed where it lay thrashing in the brush, as quickly as Morris reloaded his .375 he emptied it again
and the huge beast lay dead, he had his bear with eight bangs.

Robert fired a total of seven shots and the beast lay dead.

No one was surprised the bear had taken thirteen shots to die..

As I said not for me, something you would need to make up your own mind about


The clients of these two guides have accounted for one third of all brown bear in the RECORDS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIG GAME published by the Boone and Crockett club.
 
The clients of these two guides have accounted for one third of all brown bear in the RECORDS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIG GAME published by the Boone and Crockett club.

I am not surprised that multiple shots were taken
It happens all the time where trophies are the agenda
As the aim is to bag the beast
I don't mean this as an inflammatory remark
But you quite often see on hunting DVD's after the beast has been gathered where they talk about how the events unfolded
One I can recall where a monster cape buff was spotted and the guide told the client to shoot it
He did not care where just aslong as he shot it

Same as some guides in this country hav also been quoted by their clients on the same basis
How many of the trophys in any of the record books were 1st or even a second shot kill
Remove those and I am guessing there will be plenty left up the near the top of the lists
You wouldn't dream of instructing your client to shoot a roe deer in the rear end because it was the only shot available to secure the gold medal about to walk off into the bush along with that £500 price tag
But there are plenty that do
I suppose what ever you go and try to shoot , you should always try and place the shot as humanely as poss for the situ you are shooting in
And on dangerous game I see no issues on repeated shooting to make sure it is properly dead even thou the first shot may be very well placed , the follow up shots are more for security especially if it is still moving
But sounds like they like chucking lead thou...!!!
 
But sounds like they like chucking lead thou...!!!

Add to that comment that many Americans it seems only shoot off their hind legs on the actual hunt and so often shoot poorly. Most do all their shooting off the bench or when using heavier calibres from a Lead Sled. hence the multiple shots.

I'll have to dig it out but a hunter and Customer of the Ross rifle factory back in 1912 wrote this missive to the Manager of the Ross Rifle Company. Mr Cluny C. Luke, of Alberni, British Columbia, wrote to say how pleased he was with his recently purchased .280 Ross Rifle used on a hunting trip to Cassier, B.C.:-

I went after 13 head and bagged the lot, at ranges varying from 60 to 500 yards in 27 shots ........ taking three Black bears, four grizzlies, two Goats, two Caribou and two Moose. In my estimation there is no rifle to compare with it, the balance being perfect, the action fast and smooth, while the flatness of trajectory quite does away with judging of distances. I shot a Goat at over 500 yards with exactly the same sight that I take at 100 yards ............................ Three grizzlies were killed in under a minute.

This extract comes from a booklet called the " Sir Charles Ross and his Rifle"

Now that does not sound like the Grizzlies took a lot of lead to kill them and this is a 7mm calibre so not even a .30 calibre.

It sounds like some guides want their clients to all carry cannons :rolleyes:. I did notice this tendency when making enquiries about a hunting trip some years back after Elk. This was the reason I acquired the P-H 1100 Deluxe in 30-06 as that it seems was the least they accepted. When asked about using a rifle in 8x57 the answer was is not man enough :eek: . To my mind it just showed their lack on knowledge on cartridges and their performance asking about using the 9.3mm got replies of what?

.270 Winchester was far to small and impression given it was likely to bounce off :stir:. OK that was not actually said but that was the impression given. several suggested buying a .300 Win magnum as a minimum or even a .338 Win mag just for the trip. No wonder hunters shooting performance is poor if they follow such advice.
 
Back
Top