big-bore rifles ‘n bruins — part 2

Turkey hunting is just a few weeks away, and I saw a couple on the edge of a field as I was returning from my favorite bear-hunting area last week. Not that bear hunting is just around the corner, but that’s where my thoughts always are come springtime. I’ve no prejudice against hunting turkey in May, but my heart isn’t into it. There are turkey everywhere, by the dozens come March. I passed by one field about a month ago with at least 50 scratching around in it. A short time later, my wife and I passed by another field with 22 birds counted and, since we were driving in my van, we must have missed another 20 or so.

No offence intended, but turkey don’t interest me… they’re TOO numerous! And everywhere! No mystery… and no challenge. Ducks likewise… they’re too greasy and too plentiful. With Canada geese not going south anymore (from our area), our city and town parks are hazardous to stroll in because of geese and their turds about every other foot!

The only bird I hunt is grouse in the hardwood, because their breast meat is yummy. And they are still a challenge because their natural predators (wolf and coyote) keep their numbers limited.

Bear, on the other hand, don’t fill parks and open farmland with sheer numbers. They are still big, bad, black and beautiful… AND mysterious. They are secretive as well as very intelligent. Just when you get lax in hunting them, they will steal your lunch! They also learn from experience… the older they get, the smarter they become. Their memory is terrific. They remember smells, sights and sounds… and the way to the “grocery store”.

As I was arriving one morning at 8 am with “the groceries”, my bear was standing on the blind he’d just torn down! He was 40 yards away, on the knoll above me, and gave me “that look” before disappearing into the thick bush while I was left standing there with a bucket of “delicious goodies” in each hand, and the rifle slung over my shoulder!

In the same location, that same bear snuck in behind me, within fifteen feet, without my awareness of it, while I was concentrating on the bait location. When I turned around in my seat to check things behind me in the bush, THEN, he took off crashing through the underbrush! That was the second time he’d done that, checking me out BEFORE going to the bait.

“That same bear”? Yes! He was the dominant bruin of the area, and nothing living would come within 1/4 mile of that location, including moose, deer, other bears, racoon (the appearance of coons at your bait-site is proof positive that NO bears are in the vicinity — at that time), coyote, wolves, or any other small game. It’s “his groceries” and everything/everybody else best pay close attention to that!! The notion that the biggest male will allow subordinates to eat first is NONSENSE in my experience. Yes, IF he is roaming elsewhere, for his own reasons, maybe others will sneak in early before he returns. But, IF he claims that site as “his own”, and likes it there, he’ll not be far away as long as there is plenty for one… and he’s that ONE! If he catches another bear, even a female with cubs, at “his” site, they must pay the penalty! Sixteen months ago, while deer hunting, I found a pile of bear scat… it was mostly fur and bone from another bear.

All of which brings me to the real point of all this: bears are predators. In other words, they ARE dangerous! That’s why I hunt them. I’ve been hunting them continuously for the past 23 years. I don’t shoot one each year — because I don’t want to, and don’t have room in my freezer — but I bait them every season, sometimes in different locations, because they are dangerous and I learn more about them every year through experience and observation. And that includes their “signatures” left by their scat, tracks, fur fibers, claw marks, bites in buckets and other containers, and trees/shrubs, as well as woofs, trees pushed over, logs ripped apart, the slamming of plastic buckets with their paws to intimidate (while out of sight, but not out of sound) and on I could go. No doubt there remains some bear strategies I’ve not witnessed or experienced, but that too is my reason for hunting them.

And their meat is delicious when cared for correctly, especially when having been fed pastries and honey for two to three months!

I get a chuckle whenever I read the comments of some “experts” who declare that all one needs to kill a bear is your favorite deer rifle. I even talked with another “expert” on one of the bullet making websites, and he too affirmed that moose bullets weren’t needed for bruins. Well, to be honest, I don’t know how many bear or moose he’s killed, or IF he’d effectively shot either. Then, there’s the deer cartridge that supposedly is adequate for ANY bear!! Now, I don’t know about the deer in mind, and I don’t discuss, or argue, with anyone who makes such ill-founded sweeping statements. Why?

Because there are deer and then there are DEER!!! A big Northern whitetail can easily go from 300 to 450 lbs. That’s not the same sub-species as an itty-bitty Texas “trophy” ten pointer that barely goes 150 lbs, walking cautiously along a trail in the 10X scope sight of a tower hunter at 75 yds away. A 350 lb Northern whitetail has a thick mantle of hide and hair for conservation of heat during the blistering cold of November through March. And he may very well be bounding five feet off the ground as he motors at 35 mph through trees that are two-feet broad! Be my guest, if you think your “itty-bitty” .243 Winchester is going to bring him down with a single, well-placed shot. If you think, from that kind of experience, that it’ll equally work, under all conditions, on 500 to 600 lbs of bruin with 4″ of hibernation fat, plus hide and hair that surpasses the Northern whitetail’s, then again, be my guest!

From experience, and theory, a medium to large bore works best when loaded with appropriate bullets, driven at appropriate velocity for the anticipated range.

“Appropriate bullets” at “appropriate velocity”. And, oh yes, when aimed correctly.

The one-time bear hunter who want’s a trophy, will ask the outfitter what he/she should bring for a rifle, should it be a rifle and not a bow or handgun. In Canada, handguns aren’t allowed for hunting. Bows are. Recently, I was conversing with a friend who works at a gun shop. He’s also an experienced hunter of moose, bear and deer. He was lamenting how many bear were being lost, to eventually die a lingering death, to bows. In an area where he hunts bears with a .45-70, he said the stench of decaying bears lost to bow hunters was overwhelming.

Any outfitter is paid to accommodate hunters and their preferences. All I know is that the somewhat renowned outfitter with whom I hunted for eight seasons, saw hunters mostly from the USA and Europe. They brought what they wanted… anything from .270 Win. to .458 Win Mag (that was myself). He didn’t object. But, I’d also toted a .45-70 on numerous occasions, and a .300 WM, a 300 WBY Mag., a 7mm WBY Mag., a .338 Win Mag. and a .375 H&H. Many hunters, like myself, became habitual clients. As time went by, the power and size of calibers increased… never went the other way. Why? Again, like myself, they were learning the game… that bigger and more powerful cartridges gave better results on average. There was less chasing after lost bears! And those who became aficionados learned to shoot more powerful cartridges with precision, and without fear of recoil.

What was the most popular caliber used? An informal survey would suggest .30-caliber… the majority being magnums. A particular lady hunter ALWAYS used a 12-gauge with slugs! But her range was restricted to 40 yards or less. Others included: .444 Marlin, .338 Win Mag, 9.3 X 74R, 9.3 X 62, 7mm Rem Mag, .375 H&H and .35 Whelen.

What styles of actions? Levers, semi-autos, bolt-actions, single-shots, over-under and side by side. Semis are fastest, followed by doubles, then levers and pumps, bolts and finally, singles, in that order more or less. Did anyone ever lose a bear (or their life) due to the action type? Not that I’m aware of.

The point is, whatever style of action and rifle you choose, be so familiar with it that it becomes an extension of mind and body. Learn to shoot it by practice to the point that under stress you do not need to think about it… it has become an auto-response. Then, bullet is second, and finally, the cartridge that contains the fuel is third on the echelon of importance.

A 400gr/.458″ bullet may be the same bullet if fired from a .45-70, a .458 Win Mag or Lott. It’s only a matter of degree. And impact velocity is a function of MV and distance. The same thing applies to a .30-caliber.

Whatever you choose, use it wisely and well, and no harm will come to you!

Shalom

BOB MITCHELL

big – bore rifles ‘n bruins — part 1

To get rid of winter blahs, I recently dug out some old 35mm glossy photos of some bear hunts, a moose hunt, an Africa trip, and my motorcycles. I had recently lost a pile of my digital pics somewhere in my computer. So I thought it might be a good idea to try and redeem the situation, somewhat, by taking pics of some of these old photos with my digital camera. You can be the judge of how well that worked. While it’s obvious that they are not as sharp as the originals, yet they turned out well enough (I think) to help create a story line about hunting bruins, baiting them and bullets used.

This first black bear was shot by a fellow hunter at a bear camp that I used to go to each spring until The Premier of Ontario, Mr. Harris, had the spring hunt shut down for political reasons. The spring hunt was something that I looked forward to during the long winter months.

That particular bear was the largest taken at that camp that year, and is larger than many grizzly! As you see it here, it had lost it’s innards somewhere in the neighborhood of Algonquin Park, Ontario. If you Google Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, you might be surprised by what you discover (But NOT the bear guts!)! The next 4 photos are of my first bear, and the first one shot with a Marlin in .45-70 — but not the last.

Location is Algonquin Lodge meatpole. The bear had been hanging overnight in a downpour! The story behind this bear is memorable!

The early morning routine at Algonquin Lodge was to rise in time for a good, hearty breakfast… somewhere between 8 am to 9:30 am. After that, if you wanted to offer a hand to the outfitter in checking baits, and replenishing any that needed it, you’d ride around with him in his pickup to visit a dozen or fifteen locations (he had up to 85!). Sometimes, depending on how busy he and his guides were, he’d send you off to check your own bait and refresh as needed. These bait sites were remote, and we had to travel over old, and sometimes new, logging roads. At times, ATV’s had to be employed to access more difficult areas. Many lakes, and streams, thick brush and mixed forest, as well as steep ridges and ravines created the landscape. In other words, rough country inhabited by all species of wildlife.

The stand that I chose for this bear hunt was a moose hunter’s platform built of sawed lumber and log poles… at about 15 feet above ground level on the side of a ridge with a moose trail about 30 feet to it’s right. The fall before, the moose hunters, at season’s end, had dropped the ladder, made of log poles, into the crotch of a mature twin maple.

This site interested me because I would be the first ever to use it — being a new site that had never been disturbed by bear hunters previously… and it was being hit regularly! But, there was a problem — that ladder! We replenished the site, and in driving away, I asked Norm, the outfitter, if “I could manage to get the ladder back in it’s place” to access the platform? “No problem”, he assured me! Those proved to be the most famous last words in my entire hunting career! So, around 3 pm I made my way, in the rain, to this remote, untouched, nouveau bait and stand setup. Did I mention the rain? Yes, I did, because everything… rocks, 2″ “sticks” from fallen branches piled 1-foot deep at the bottom of the tree, where they had collected over the past millenia, were as slippery as wet ice!

After struggling, in the rain all alone, for 2 1/2 hours, balancing on my little 8″ square plastic seat-backpack, I finally got the 150 lb ladder in place… and it was 6 pm, in the rain, when everything appeared “ready” for whatever. AND, I was dead beat, steaming hot with rain gear on, and fogged up glasses! I said out loud… “I’m here, and I’m gonna stay here until pitch dark if need be!” I’d expected any bear in the neighborhood to have long gone to the Province of Quebec due to all the racket from tramping around on the collection of broken wood at the bottom of the tree… the slipping and sliding, the grinding of poles on sawed timber, etc! (Why didn’t I remove that pile of “timber”? Without a photo, you couldn’t imagine it! With a diameter of 20 feet and one to two feet deep? Then, I was worn out by futile efforts to de-wedge the ladder from the crotch of the tree, which was growing, jamming the ladder in a vice-like grip!)

I leaned my 1895 Marlin over the rail (log pole) and aimed it at the bait setup… in about 5 minutes a big black bear walked out of the bush and started up the trail in the direction of “my tree”. He was gonna check out what all this noise was about… that had suddenly gone quiet! Where he appeared, there was an open area of green grass and he was silhouetted coal black against it at about 75 yards. Coming directly toward me, his head was up, swinging from side to side, his mouth open with his tongue sticking out testing the air. With eyes glued on him, I never exhaled! Then, satisfied all was well he did a 180 and lumbered directly back to the bait and turned broadside, as though all this had been previously rehearsed for a movie. I was watching him all the while through my scope set on 6X… and, yes, I was breathing again! Crosshairs were planted tight behind his right shoulder, trigger squeezed and the 400gr Speer left the muzzle at about 1865 fps, traveled the 100 yards in less than 1/3 second and impacted at just over 1500 fps…right where the crosshairs said it would.

There’s more to the story, but you see the photo of my son slightly lifting the right front leg to reveal a 3″ entrance hole! The bullet was too soft for that velocity, but it did the job anyway. The bear went 10 yards before piling up on his back in the alders with all four paws flailing the air. I gave him another in the neck-shoulder juncture from an offhand, standing position. A cloud of steam arouse from the alders.

(A younger Bob with “the bear”)

The rifle on the right was the one that made me a firm believer in the efficiency and effectiveness of a Big Bore.

In all, I attended The Algonquin Lodge bear camp for eight seasons. That’s where I learned how to hunt bear over bait, starting in the late 1980’s through to 1995. I also learned how to bait them. Beginning in September, 1995, I commenced baiting bear on my own in the Haliburton Highlands, 1 hour’s drive from my home. There were two teachers: 1) Norm, the outfitter, and 2) experience.

(Algonquin Lodge: L to R: son Brent with his M94 in .356 Winchester; friend Mike with his .308 BLR; me, in the orange hat with my trusty .45-70, and friend Bob with his .270 Win.)

You’ll note the variety of firearms and cartridges used in them, any one of which is adequate for most black bear under most circumstances. Notice too, that 3 are lever-actions and only one is a bolt-action. There are valid reasons for that — which we’ll take under review next time.

Brent went back to Africa, but on his next furlough he went with me to Algonquin Lodge again and shot a smallish bear with that rifle — a handload I’d put together for him: 220gr Speer at 2300 fps+. Here’s a pic of the rug he had made from it:

Not all bear rugs have to be gigantic! Especially, if the wife has anything to say about it!

Next time, more stories about bears and bear bullets.

Shalom

BOB MITCHELL