SHOT PLACEMENT ON BLACK BEAR

A good place to start looking for a black bear rifle is a Ruger Hawkeye .338 Federal using 200 grain Federal Fusion factory loads, shown here with (2) two shot groups at 100 yards of under 3/4 inches.

Shot Placement on Black Bear (2003)

Shoulder shot or behind the shoulder for heart and lungs?

I have never shot a big black bear, or ANY bear for that matter, however I read a lot and have come to some conclusions based on research and many bear hunting videos I have watched.

Blackpowder Hunting Summer issue 2001:

Article entitled, “Muzzle to Muzzle Black Bear” by Joseph W. Byers,

Page 21, “As evidence of how tough a bear can be, Nemetchek (Alberta Guide), examined the hit on his hunter’s close encounter bruin. The rifle bullet broke the bear’s shoulder, exploded, but did not penetrate the vitals, typical for a .300 magnum, He said. On a big bear, the bullet won’t do that much damage”

Article starts out by mentioning that one of his hunters had shot a big bear with a .300 Win mag on the far side of a river at a distance of about 75 yards. He used a heavy caliber rifle capable of taking almost any thing on four legs and was surprised at the result.

There is NO mention of what load he was using, however I suspect having owned a .300 mag that he probably had the wrong bullet; perhaps one of the lighter 150 or 165 grain ballistic tips or something. Those are fine deer bullets at extended range, but probably did not have what it takes to break the shoulder, hold together and penetrate into the vitals. If he had been using 180 grain fodder such as (Accubond, Win Failsafe, Rem Core Lokt Ultra, Hornady Interbond etc.) the results would likely have been different.

Nemetchek goes on in the article to say, “AIM behind the shoulder and NEVER at it, to take advantage of the large lung area. No bear will go far if his properly in the lungs and it leaves a good blood trail to follow”

“The Complete Rifleman” Jon Sundra 2006 magazine

Page 13, “The reason I am for heavier and/or bonded core bullets is because I recommend taking shoulder shots rather than holding for the heart or lungs. In other words AIM for the shoulder and NOT behind it. If you are in a treestand and the bear is close by, the bullet is going to be angling downwards rather severely so aim higher than you normally would, about mid-way up the shoulder, with the intent to BREAK it down. In so doing the lungs will also be hit. Usually a well placed shoulder shot will anchor the bear right there, whereas they can go a long ways on a marginal heart/lung shot. I can’t tell you how many stories I have heard FIRSTHAND from guides and outfitters about how many bears are wounded and never recovered because the hunter took a standard behind the shoulder shot, but failed to compensate for the downward angle. He recommends the .270 Win with 150 grain bullets as a MINIMUM and NO upper limit.

Article from “Rifle Sporting Arms Journal” November 2005 on testing three new bear bullets.

Rifle used: Custom Winchester mdl 70 30:06
Bears taken / three

Barnes 150 grain triple shock bullet – bear quartering away, hit behind near side shoulder with point of aim to take out off side shoulder – bear collapsed at the shot – upon approach his head began to move so he rec another round on the point of his near shoulder – end of discussion

Hornady 165 grain Interbond (tack driver in my Savage 30:06) 6 ½ foot black bear boar – hit him at about 80 yards angling uphill. The Interbond smashed the front leg, broke two ribs going in, zipped through one lung and lodged in the centerhole of one vertebrae – bear collapsed at the shot and never moved.

Third bullet was a ROC Import slug called the GPA – not readily available and only if you handload. The bullet killed the bear with one shot – designed for the petals to break off and cause separate smaller missles flying around inside the bear – it did the job, but not relevant to this discussion.

I have read many forums where the participants are almost violent in their opinions for and against the shoulder shot.

Most arguments for the shoulder shot involved the classic breaking down of the bear on the spot so there is no tracking job. There are a number of comments from outfitters where bear have been killed that had neat holes drilled completely through a shoulder or shoulders from a previous hunter without hitting the vitals and showed NO sign of wear and were obviously NOT dropped on the spot.

Larry Weishuhn (Pronounced WHY SOON) (well know wildlife game biologist and hunter of no small acclaim) has killed numerous bears with a TC handgun and a rifle and has used both the shoulder shot and the heart/lungs shot.
One of his favorite gun/load combinations is the Marlin 45-70 guide gun using Winchester Partition Gold 300 grain slugs (No longer in production). With this combination he killed a huge bear weighing around 535 pounds with a heart/lung shot and the bear dropped in its tracks. He was hunting with Jim Shockey’s Pacific Rim Outfitters. This load put 3 shots into .62 inch out of Larry’s Guide Gun.

After taking numerous bears with both shoulder shots and heart/lung shots, he strongly recommends the heart/lung shot.

Over the weekend I watched two bear hunting videos. One of them involved Alaskan coastal spot and stalk bear (HUGE bears) and the other involved Dean Durham taking several blackies with both a rifle and a .50 cal ML.

ALL of these shots from what I could tell watching the point of impact on the bear were heart/lung shots, tight behind the shoulder and low in the chest. ALL the bears (except one) ran, but ALL were recovered and ALL left a decent blood trail.

I think it is always a judgement call and what sort of shot you may be presented with determines the shot you will take. I believe in a baited bear situation at close range however if one waits for the bear to become broadside and waits for the near side front paw to go up to the bait exposing the heart/lung area, he is better off taking the heart/lung shot. Placement should be in the lower one third of the chest tight to the shoulder as lungs and heart lie low in the chest.(Note Jon Sundra argument about factoring in sharp downward angle from your treestand however). I would guess the same would apply if the bear is standing on his hind legs and reaching into the bait bucket. Using a 45-70 with a 350 or 405 grain bullet I would not hesitate to take a shoulder shot if that was all I had. Premium loads for the 45-70 are made by:

CorBon, Garrett, Buffalo Bore and an outfit named Grizzly. I believe Cabelas sells both the Buffalo Bore and the Grizzly loads and the other two can be had on line.

They are premium bullets and you will pay between $40 to $60 a box for 20 of these puppies. The 405 grain load in particular will shoot lengthwise through a buffalo. Penetration is greater than that of a .458 Winchester mag. The problem is that while they penetrate like NO tomorrow, they can be problematic if shooting through the heart and lungs as expansion is minimal. Perhaps this is why Larry Weishuhn recommends taking the heart/lung shot for which you do NOT need a cannon to get the job done and for which you will have a very dead bear, very soon and hopefully not very far away from where you shot him.

In case you can’t tell, I am getting somewhat pre-occupied with this black bear thing again.

Dan
www.deer-hunting-information.com

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