Shot placement on a black bear

Newpond0

Newpond0

Active member
Recently a book I was reading suggests to watch the video below and to wait for the bears front leg to be forward before taking your broadside shot at the vitals. I have also heard to shoot the front shoulder instead to make it harder or impossible for the bear to run away. What do you guys think?



Edit: a 2nd question is he said to keep shooting the bear after the first shot. If it’s moving around after the first one, and you only care about the meat and not a rug or mount, where would you shoot those next shots? In the head?
 
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This illustration is an accurate representation, in my experience hunting and helping other black bear hunters. Shoot higher (point of impact) than on deer. Especially from tree stands. And notice the actual way the front leg articulates, you can shoot further forward than what you think. Remember the leg/shoulder are outside the body cavity. Black bear are not tough animals shoot both lungs(much larger than just the heart), bonus if you catch the heart or aortic arch. And listen for the death moan.
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I avoid shooting the shoulder. Why ruin the meat? Shoot behind the shoulder and youll get a clean kill. Take out both lungs it aint running far. Shooting a bear in the shoulders is wasteful imo, and results in them dying more slowly. Just hit the vitals and avoid the shoulders, and youll have no trouble with recovery. No need to cripple them.
 
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Heres a pic that shows my ideal shot placement, just behind the shoulder on a broadside bear. Thats actually the entrance wound. At the shot she sprinted maybe 10 yards, spraying blood all over, and dropped, gave out one weak moan.
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Most of my shot opportunities end up being frontal shots. Typical when calling. A frontal chest shot more often than not drops them in their tracks. Im usually shooting a 444, but this one was with a 308, he ran maybe 30 yards. Entrance wound visible in pic. And really, i prefer the frontal shots. Really puts them down hard. Often dont take a step.
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This guy i shot in the head with a 30-30 at 15 yards. Called him in. Only shot i had. He was peeking around a tree at me, so headshot it was. The bullet went under the skin and came back out an inch later, didnt penetrate his skull, but made a fracture. Really rung his bell though. He started breakdancing and making a godawful noise. I put a few more in him real fast while he was rolling around and somehow didnt damage any meat in the proccess. You can see the followup shots entrance holes. I wont be taking a frontal headshot on a bear again. Too much room for error. Just slightly offcenter and the bullet bounced off.
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As far as bowhunting goes, I prefer a slight quartering away, near leg forward, aim for the off shoulder. A quartering angle gives you gobs of room to take out both lungs, & not having to flirt with a shoulder hit when tucking it in tight on a flat broadside position.

What looks like the middle of the bear, especially in the spring, is not the middle of the bear due to the fur hanging down. Just above that is fine.

Biggest mistake while bowhunting over bait, is not being patient enough for the best shot.

Guys are used to deer hunting & rush the shot worrying over a lost opportunity.

The video above illustrates that, he draws the bow way before the bear gets to the bait.

I tell guys to just sit there, & let the bear settle in, the perfect shot will come.

A good shot with an arrow kills them shockingly fast. I've seen them die at the bait, my closest went 15 yards.

I've never shot one with a rifle, but I'd take out the front running gear if I was.
 
I have read a lot of articles about where to aim on a bear, almost all of them say to aim for the middle of the middle if it's a standing broadside shot. Seems like an ideal shot is when the front leg is forward as mentioned, but virtually every article states that the kill zone on a bear is different than on a deer, and that the reliable behind the shoulder broadside deer shot is not the best shot placement on a bear. The shot placement alf described would be my choice on a bear but may not present itself if not hunting over bait.
We went to a taxidermist who had a bunch of bear mounts in his shop that were shot by him with a recurve bow, he was a short stocky guy and I asked him what pound bow he shot, figuring 70 # or more, was surprised that he used a 55# DW bow and remember him also stating that bear are easy to kill with a bow.
As for the second question; my buddy shot a bear in Maine, it was down on its back with its legs in the air quivering, in an instant it flipped over and was gone, another buddy shot a big buck that was bouncing around after the shot and disappeared over a hump that it was standing on, when he got on top of that hump there was no sign of the buck, just a sparce blood trail going up over the mountain. Both had a chance at a follow up shot that they didn't take, both regret that they didn't, your call on that!
 
Put it in the boiler room. Keep shooting until you know it’s done. If you have a good taxidermist (an advantage I have) they can sew up any frivolous wounds. Shoot it like you would a deer and you’ll be fine. They aren’t what I’d call tough, but their reflexes, foot speed and adrenaline drive make them formidable.

I have a 6.5’ that caught a 338 to its triceps after the initial shot went between its shoulder blades. The first shot killed it, but it moved enough to stimulate me to to cut another loose. It flailed as I shot and caught one in the upper rear part of a front leg. Stuff like that happens.
 
Slagiatt said:
Most of my shot opportunities end up being frontal shots. Typical when calling. A frontal chest shot more often than not drops them in their tracks. Im usually shooting a 444, but this one was with a 308, he ran maybe 30 yards. Entrance wound visible in pic. And really, i prefer the frontal shots. Really puts them down hard. Often dont take a step.View attachment 14398
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Do the bullets usually go thru the guts and end up getting all over the meat with that shot?
 
Surprisingly infrequently. If it does happen, gutless method and forgoe the tenderloins, rest of the meat is fine. Bullets do some weird things when they start going through hide and meat and bone. Ive shot quite a few bears frontal where the bullet exits immediatelybehind the shoulder, or the front of the backstraps, or i never find an exit or a bullet but guts are unpopped. Its strange. Hell arrows can do weird things too. I shot a buck slightly quartering to, and the arrow went in more or less right where i wanted it to, then made a crazy sharp turn and exited from his belly, narrowly avoiding the stomach. That buck ran maybe 50 yards and crashed dead. Never thought an arrow could do that. Wish i still had the pic of the exit wound, but heres the entrance. No joke arrow exited straight down, front of his belly.

Thought i had a better entrance wpund pic but i guess this is all i got.

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I've only ever shot one bear. Frontal shot with a 7mm rem mag and 145gr bullet. Never again whould I take that shot with anything. Bullet went in between the legs and just under the chin. bear went right down and got right up and ran off about 30 yards and down again. Second shot went in just behind the head and bear right down and stayed down. It was a fall bear and when I opened up at the first bullet hole there was a huge fat layer with a huge hole in it. I think it was putting on a lot of winter fat! If I had a similar shot again I'd wait till the bear moved and gave me a better shot. Range was only about 40 yds, little more little less. had I waited till it turned it's head I'd have placed the bullet in the head just below the ear. If the shot had been quite a bit farther, well over 100 yds, I would have waited for a broad side shot. I hunt for meat so would not shoot one in the shoulder.
 
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