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Hammer bullet for short range bear hunting
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<blockquote data-quote="Alibiiv" data-source="post: 2766073" data-attributes="member: 69192"><p>First I would like to apologize for your post getting sidetracked by people who want to argue BS about whose bullet is better than whose bullet. After about six or seven pages of the bickering, I stopped reading and decided to address your post.</p><p></p><p>I black bear hunt over bait in Maine, and have been doing this for around ten-years now. During these years I have hunted with outfitters who will have anywhere from six hunters to twenty hunters, so I've seen a number of bears hunted and shot, and heard a lot of "good" and "not so good" hunting stories. None of this makes me an expert on killing bears from close shots, but.....it does give me a lot of experience of hunting them. Between my son, another hunting buddy and myself we have taken 12 bears over the years. I hunt from a ground blind because my back is blown out, <em><u>getting in and out of a tree stand would take a crane to get me in and out of one; and...I'm a dinosaur to boot!!!</u></em> Ground blind shots where I hunt run from 30-50 yards, I prefer some distance from the baits because of the keen smelling abilities and the keen hearing abilities of a black bear. So...30-50 yard shots is what my experience has been. I hunt black bear with 30-06, .358 Winchester, 35 Whelen and 45-70s. My first black bear went around 160 pounds, was shot with a 30-06, using a Barnes 180gr TSX bullet and shot from a Remington 700, 1:10 twist. That bear was quartering away from me, the bullet entered just in front of the left rear-quarter and exited just behind the front right shoulder. Was it the best shot that I have ever made on a bear, "absolutely not!!!" That bear ran about 60 yards straight away from where it was hit, then started back toward where it was shot and it died. But that 180gr Barnes went through 35-40 inches of bear, and exited the opposite side.</p><p></p><p>My experience has been that when a bear is hit you want a "through-and-through hole" and the bigger the better. A through-and-through hole makes tracking a bear a whole lot easier due to a larger blood trail. Yup you put a good shot on that bear, right where you know it is/was supposed to go and where you have been told to place that bullet, and...then when you recover from the recoil and expect a dead bear, <em><u>that bear has disappeared!!</u></em> Now the chase is on. Of all the bear that I have shot, only one dropped right where I shot it!! My last bear was hit with a 300gr Barnes TSX FB bullet out of a 45-70. The hollow point on these bullets looks like a Home Depot five-gallon bucket sitting on top of some brass. That one ran 30-40 yards into some thick woods that it took us over an hour to get to him; and...it took us a lot longer to drag him out due to where he died. There was a good blood trail due to the size of the through and through hole so he was easy to track in the dark. Where we hunt if you shoot a bear close to dark and have to leave it overnight because you cannot find it due to the lack of a blood trail, there's a very good possibility that half of that bear will be eaten by coyotes.</p><p></p><p>Now getting back to your question about bullet weight and bullets in general. One thing that I can answer for you is that "if" I were using a .308 Winchester I would be using a heavier bullet over the lighter bullet as some have suggested here. And despite what some replies have stated, black bears are "not" that easy to kill. Well let me rephrase that, they don't always remain where they have been shot and "will" die eventually. My experience has been that bait sights are cleared out areas that are set up close to very dense woods. With some bears, depending upon what the seasonal weather has been like, are stocking up on fat and carrying a lot of that around with them. From my perspective a bullet that is light, going at a high muzzle velocity and hitting that fat (I've seen up to 8 inches of it) that fat will absorb the energy from that bullet and you will not get the penetration for a through and through shot, or even get into the vitals with that light bullet. I recommend using a Barnes, 180gr TSX bullet in your .308 Winchester and would not recommend anything lighter than the 180gr bullets,<em><u> and this recommendation is <strong>"only"</strong> based upon my experience with the Barnes bullets </u></em>, how they perform, and this is based upon what I have written and described here. For me personally if I were hunting black bear over bait, at close quarters and I was hunting with a .308 Winchester with 180gr Barnes TSX bullets, I would be hunting with the confidence and the knowledge that I was hunting with a rifle/bullet combination to get the job done properly. The first photo is one showing the fat from a 235 pound sow that I shot with a 35 Whelen and also the bear that dropped where it was shot. The second photo is of the first bear that I shot using a 30-06 and a Barnes 180 grain TSX bullet showing the exit hole. I don't have a photo of the opposite side of this bear showing the entry hole, however it was as large as the exit hole. Have a successful hunt, shoot straight and bring back some photos of your hunt in Canada. Oh....and if you'd like to bring along a "long winded ole guy", I could be available.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Alibiiv, post: 2766073, member: 69192"] First I would like to apologize for your post getting sidetracked by people who want to argue BS about whose bullet is better than whose bullet. After about six or seven pages of the bickering, I stopped reading and decided to address your post. I black bear hunt over bait in Maine, and have been doing this for around ten-years now. During these years I have hunted with outfitters who will have anywhere from six hunters to twenty hunters, so I've seen a number of bears hunted and shot, and heard a lot of "good" and "not so good" hunting stories. None of this makes me an expert on killing bears from close shots, but.....it does give me a lot of experience of hunting them. Between my son, another hunting buddy and myself we have taken 12 bears over the years. I hunt from a ground blind because my back is blown out, [I][U]getting in and out of a tree stand would take a crane to get me in and out of one; and...I'm a dinosaur to boot!!![/U][/I] Ground blind shots where I hunt run from 30-50 yards, I prefer some distance from the baits because of the keen smelling abilities and the keen hearing abilities of a black bear. So...30-50 yard shots is what my experience has been. I hunt black bear with 30-06, .358 Winchester, 35 Whelen and 45-70s. My first black bear went around 160 pounds, was shot with a 30-06, using a Barnes 180gr TSX bullet and shot from a Remington 700, 1:10 twist. That bear was quartering away from me, the bullet entered just in front of the left rear-quarter and exited just behind the front right shoulder. Was it the best shot that I have ever made on a bear, "absolutely not!!!" That bear ran about 60 yards straight away from where it was hit, then started back toward where it was shot and it died. But that 180gr Barnes went through 35-40 inches of bear, and exited the opposite side. My experience has been that when a bear is hit you want a "through-and-through hole" and the bigger the better. A through-and-through hole makes tracking a bear a whole lot easier due to a larger blood trail. Yup you put a good shot on that bear, right where you know it is/was supposed to go and where you have been told to place that bullet, and...then when you recover from the recoil and expect a dead bear, [I][U]that bear has disappeared!![/U][/I] Now the chase is on. Of all the bear that I have shot, only one dropped right where I shot it!! My last bear was hit with a 300gr Barnes TSX FB bullet out of a 45-70. The hollow point on these bullets looks like a Home Depot five-gallon bucket sitting on top of some brass. That one ran 30-40 yards into some thick woods that it took us over an hour to get to him; and...it took us a lot longer to drag him out due to where he died. There was a good blood trail due to the size of the through and through hole so he was easy to track in the dark. Where we hunt if you shoot a bear close to dark and have to leave it overnight because you cannot find it due to the lack of a blood trail, there's a very good possibility that half of that bear will be eaten by coyotes. Now getting back to your question about bullet weight and bullets in general. One thing that I can answer for you is that "if" I were using a .308 Winchester I would be using a heavier bullet over the lighter bullet as some have suggested here. And despite what some replies have stated, black bears are "not" that easy to kill. Well let me rephrase that, they don't always remain where they have been shot and "will" die eventually. My experience has been that bait sights are cleared out areas that are set up close to very dense woods. With some bears, depending upon what the seasonal weather has been like, are stocking up on fat and carrying a lot of that around with them. From my perspective a bullet that is light, going at a high muzzle velocity and hitting that fat (I've seen up to 8 inches of it) that fat will absorb the energy from that bullet and you will not get the penetration for a through and through shot, or even get into the vitals with that light bullet. I recommend using a Barnes, 180gr TSX bullet in your .308 Winchester and would not recommend anything lighter than the 180gr bullets,[I][U] and this recommendation is [B]"only"[/B] based upon my experience with the Barnes bullets [/U][/I], how they perform, and this is based upon what I have written and described here. For me personally if I were hunting black bear over bait, at close quarters and I was hunting with a .308 Winchester with 180gr Barnes TSX bullets, I would be hunting with the confidence and the knowledge that I was hunting with a rifle/bullet combination to get the job done properly. The first photo is one showing the fat from a 235 pound sow that I shot with a 35 Whelen and also the bear that dropped where it was shot. The second photo is of the first bear that I shot using a 30-06 and a Barnes 180 grain TSX bullet showing the exit hole. I don't have a photo of the opposite side of this bear showing the entry hole, however it was as large as the exit hole. Have a successful hunt, shoot straight and bring back some photos of your hunt in Canada. Oh....and if you'd like to bring along a "long winded ole guy", I could be available. [/QUOTE]
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