Advice needed on choice of weapon

[baileyroux]

My friend and I are going on our first bear hunt. We will be hunting behind dogs. I have an open sight M1, an open sight .30-30, a scoped 30-06, a scoped 257, and a scoped single shot H&R Ultra Slug gun. Which two guns would be best to take and why? Thank you.

[Lives2Hunt]

Personally I would take the 06 and the 30-30. I would take my 06 because it has the most knock down power out of the ones you listed...other than the slug gun, but I dont think you need that one. I shot a 300 lb-er bout 3 weeks ago with my 06, 150 gr e-tip...love em!! One shot she went down quicker than a 2 dollar...well you know what I mean. If I found a bear treed that I wanted I would put the scope on lowest power and ka-boom. Or take the 30-30 for a bear that will be treed, no real need for the scope at that point. Perhaps the only time you will need the scope is if you see a bear not treed a little distance out there.

Just my 2 cents, good luck, be safe and be ethical.

[Common Sense]

Any of them should work. Take the one you want in the picture with you and your bear.

[quack_head]

160 grn and better.

[Jagermeister]

Leave the scoped rifles at home. You will shoot at close range in a tree or on the ground. Especially on the ground with dogs around, you need the peripheral vision to pull the trigger in the right moment. Also, you will hike through some nasty terrain and stowing an open sight rifle in your pack or beating it around in a sling is a lot easier. A 30-30 is plenty of medicine for any black bear. I like the slower bullets, as they leave more meat to eat!

Jagermeister

[ABSHUNTS]

You might want to ask the person who owns the dogs. He/She might have something to say about which one you bring. Although I don't personally hunt behind dogs, if they were my dogs, I would certainly have a say in what the hunters I took had as a gun.

[m57jager]

Leave the scoped rifles at home. You will shoot at close range in a tree or on the ground. Especially on the ground with dogs around, you need the peripheral vision to pull the trigger in the right moment. Also, you will hike through some nasty terrain and stowing an open sight rifle in your pack or beating it around in a sling is a lot easier. A 30-30 is plenty of medicine for any black bear. I like the slower bullets, as they leave more meat to eat!

100% dead on. 30-30 is more than enough and a scope is a burden more than an asset on a treed bear. The 30-30 is light and short and quick. We've shot bayed bears on the ground at 10-15 feet. Not a good distance for a scope. Put a sling on it and cross it diagonally across your chest because more than likely you'll need both hands and a shorter barrel to avoid hang ups on the brush. I hunt with a revolver only but when I used to take my 30-30 I had the 16.5 inch barrel because the shorter the better on the chase. When Jaeger say plenty of medicine for any black bear, he means ANY and ALL, and I totally agree. Boone & Crockett monsters fall to 30-30s and 44s more than anything else. If you're the shooter, once you put a couple in him and he hits the ground the houndsmen will probably put a couple more, too. An injured bear in his last moments could put a quick hurt on the tied up dogs if not dispatched quickly when grounded. Good luck and good luck on not becoming addicted to the sweet sounds of the bawling hounds. Truly, my favorite type of hunting.

[Jules]

I'll add to the 30-30 chorus. You really don't want a scope to get in the way. My first bear, I only had my scoped .243, and didn't have time to get a sight picture (I'm not real fast with the scope) as the bear was coming out of the tree. Fortunately, I can shoot that gun without it, and nailed it between the eyes.

The guides I run with carry a 30-30 and a lever action .45-70 (I think - it's new) when they're going to shoot one for sure, and they'll have backup. Last time, the hunter shot with an unscoped .44 revolver and the houndsman held my .45 as backup. I run the camera. He didn't need to use it; the shooter made an excellent shot, but like m57jager says, they almost always put more shots into the bear on the ground. It's unusual to *know* they're dead before they hit the ground, or for them to die that quickly.

You're not going to need two guns, one will do.

[Jagermeister]

I shot my boone & crocket 20 2/16 bear with my win mod 95 in 30-30 with ghost ring open sights. When we got there it was on the ground, fighting the hounds. First shot through the boiler room. It started walking off slowly. I moved in closer, second shot to the neck - done.

Jagermeister

[baileyroux]

Thanks everyone. Hopefully I will have a good story and pictures to share in a couple weeks.

[m57jager]

Same exact scenario with my dad's B&C bear. It was either 21 13/16 or 21 15/16, but on the ground fighting shot two in the boiler from 15 feet with a win mod 94 3030, started walking and his neck ran into a 454 casull round.