Brown bear Rifle

[Pdvdh]

True story...

An assistant guide from my local area shot his client in the back of the head about 10yrs ago, while trying to shoot a brown bear that was running off, after being hit by his client's first shot...

Dumbfounding that a guide would ever stand behind his client, as a backup gunner. The muzzle blast alone would be deafening for the client. But the bullet was instant death. I believe the hunter was from Pennsylvania, if memory serves me right.

In this instance, the client initially shot from a sitting position. As the bear was running away after his first shot/hit, the client stood to better enable a 2nd shot... just as the assistant guide pulled the trigger.

I suspect the news coverage on this incident could be found using a Google search and search words such as "Soldotna Alaska ... guide shoots brown bear hunter".

 

[Treeslug]

Those are exactly my feelings…..though, I'll modify a bit! Someone, me included, had better be moments away from being bear scat before someone else shoots my animal……any animal!

Not that I'll ever make an expensive, guided hunt…..but, it's my hunt! "Nuff said"!

I once hunted with an avid hunter that hunted horns before meat. Let's just call him Steve. Around a campfire in another hunting camp, Steve told us this story. He said he had saved his money and booked a mule deer hunt in Wyoming two seasons ahead of time.

Steve met his guide, and they seemed to get along well enough. Steve never imagined a guide shooting a mule deer after Steve had put a .338 Winchester round through both front shoulders, so he never asked about it. But the guide did just that. A failure to communicate!

Steve was thunderstruck. The buck was about 200 yards away, hunched over and trying to take a step, when the guide shot the buck with his rifle, this time far back through the liver, killing the buck where he stood.

Steve asked the guide why he shot the buck, and the guide told Steve that the buck was too close to the top of the hill and he, the guide, did not want to chase the deer over the ridge and possibly have to blood trail the buck for hours. Steve walked away, saying many, many curse words. Then, after a brief cooling down, Steve started walking toward the downed deer. The guide followed. Steve never said another word.

Steve skinned the deer, put the rear hams and a ruined front shoulder in his backpack, then turned and walked away. By this time, the guide was jumping around and turning all inside out, screaming at Steve that he had better put his tag on the deer and help get the rest of the deer back to camp. Steve hollered over his shoulder, "You killed him. Put your own tag on him, and get him back to camp on your own."

Steve got back to camp, dropped off the meat, and got the camp cook to drive him back to his truck. He was never quite sure of what happened to the deer, and he never heard a word from the guide.

I'll take my chances and hunt unguided. Then, if I want to hunt a brown or grizzly bear, I'll move to Alaska and hunt, with a few buddies, on my own. Steve did say that it was hard to leave the rack behind. He said it was probably his best muley buck ever.

 

[Weaver93]

My idea of the perfect Alaska brown bear hunt would be with a .338 and a guide who is proficient with his .375 or .416, about 250 pounds overweight, smells like bacon and has a very pronounced limp!

 

[cooperjd]

I read page 1 and skipped to the end. No idea if the OP bought a new rifle or not. If one can afford a brownie hunt, one can probably afford a new rifle. My 'smith down in CO Springs guided bears in AK for a decade. After his first year, he built himself a .416rem to take with him from then on. My guide in AK a couple years ago does hunts on Kodiak and carries a 375HH. I'd carry a 338rum, 340wby, 375hh, 375ruger, and up, pick your poison. Just because something "can" be done with a smaller cartridge doesn't necessarily mean it "should" be done. I'm also more of an "overkill is underrated" kinda guy.

 

[zeeman]

I started this thread almost 1 year ago to the day !!! I would like to thank everyone for the informative and entertaining comments. I will certainly use the info in the near future. Leaning towards a new rig in 375 H\H. Maybe a standard Mod 70 and shoot it a bunch. Have a Sako that I could rebarrel to 375 but don't know if it's really a CRF. I think the mod70 is CRF. Have researched a bunch of outfitters for 2023 or 2024. THANKS !

 

[sloone]

There is a reason most guides insist on .338 AND UP for the big brown bears. Smaller calibers will EVENTUALLY kill a bear. Larger calibers stop bears more quickly — presuming you can put the larger caliber bullet where it needs to go. The last thing anyone wants to deal with is a wounded bear in thick cover.

I haven't been able to afford the hunt yet, but over the years I've collected two appropriate rifles, a stainless/synthetic Sako in .375 H&H that was Magna-ported, and a Weatherby Accumark in .338/.378 Weatherby. Both are as easy to shoot well as any .300 Win.

sorry.disagree on this one

 

[tomsd]

Install a muzzle brake.
I even have one on a 22 Creedmoor. Very nice for spotting hits. Muzzle brakes on most everything else too. With an efficient muzzle brake, recoil is almost a non-event.

In the Bay we hunted brown bear earlier this month, the local guide and client had a 10+ footer scramble to within 5yds of them after shooting it.

They returned the next morning to find a good blood trail and the boar still alive. Were able to finish it with additional shots fired.

I don't have the fine details about shot placement, but feel certain the guide was plugging it too, since it came at them. And they commonly carry .375s.

The bigger the bear, the bigger the caliber of my rifle carried. At this point, I use .338s. I don't hunt with a guide. So don't have to worry about them shooting my bear. I just like them down sooner than later.

Doesn't a .375 actually kick a little less - or not as sudden as a .338?

 

[tomsd]

Doesn't a .375 actually kick a little less - or not as sudden as a .338? More of a push v. a jolt /

 

[Hela52]

I've always been a fan of the big 338's. Recently I had the chance to shoot a 375 H&H. To me the felt recoil of the 375 was quite a bit less!

 

[Frank in the Laurels]

Doesn't a .375 actually kick a little less - or not as sudden as a .338?

..off the bench without a pad between your shoulder and the gun there both brutal no matter what anyone says..3-5 shots and your done...in the field at game you won't even know it went off...

 

[akdad]

I had at least two 338s and two 375s.
I sold all the 338s and kept 375s. One has a brake and one is just a stock 700 with no brake. I don't mind shooting the 375. The 338s I never shot.

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

I heard that the 375 Ruger that came out several years ago had a lighter recoil than the 375H&H.
I always wanted to get one.

 

[akdad]

I heard that the 375 Ruger that came out several years ago had a lighter recoil than the 375H&H.
I always wanted to get one.

My plan for this next season with kido is to download the 375 with h4895 and let him use one and my buddy and I both use one as well. Trying to keep things simple.

 

[blvette75]

Planning on a once in a lifetime brown bear Alaskan hunt in a couple years. Have a 300 Win Mag that shoots 220 Nosler partitions and 200 Nosler partitions quite well. Don't really want to buy another rifle but should I move up to a 338 class? Thinking of either a 33 Nosler, 338 WM or 338 ultra??? Opinions???

Well wanting to do the same thing had a 375 ruger built. Have fun and be safe.