7 MM for Black Bear

[long ranger]

In my experience with about a dozen different 7 rem mags that my hunting buddies use as well as my own 3 it seems most of them like to shoot 160 grain bullets . I have taken several big bears with 160 grain partitions over the years I load 61.0 grains of IMR4350 getting 2975 to 3005 fps dependent on the temperature. The last thing you ever want to do is piss off a bear by wounding it then have to track it into the very woods it knows better than you do!! As a guide & outfitter I stongly suggest break the shoulders first then follow with a chest shot for a humane kill.If you need to. If you can't get a clean shot don't shoot, bears can be less than friendly to all in the vicinity when wounded

[Ian M]

Tim,
Good luck with the bear hunting. Don't know if you can use bait - autumn baiting works but there is usually a lot of natural food around to compete with - berries, crops etc. Bears seem to like petroleum products, I recall many creosote treated posts that were chewed to splinters.
Suggest you spread a few cans of sardines around the location, sardines are easy to work with and seem to attract very well. Break up each fish into 1/3's - splash the oil up a few feet in branches to get the scent into the air. I used a lot of different bait, beaver is the best but used a lot of buns soaked in deep fryer grease also.
Used sardines for at the footsnare locations and to get them into livetraps.
Have fun.