264 win mag for elk?

[SJB358]

Add the fresh grizzly tracks you just saw and the darkness gets even more interesting

I remember one especially fascinating hunt with friends. They hiked back into a lick while I settled into a brush pile in a logging slash. About thirty minutes after they walked in, I heard a shot. I waited until I was assured there wasn't a second shot and no animals running out of the woods into the slash to walk into the lick. As I moved in, I found myself stepping over steaming grizzly scat covering their tracks. Closer inspection showed a big board tracking the boys. I hustled on into the lick to discover they had dropped a fine young bull. I mentioned the grizzly scat. Neither of the fellows had seen any sign of bear on their way in, but they were definitely shaken when I pointed it out to them. I stayed with the moose while they went out to get the quad. I never saw the bear, but I assume it was the same boar that charged me and another friend a month later in that area when we walked into another logging slash and stumbled upon him on a gut pile. He was a pretty good specimen of mountain grizzly, measuring about eight feet and in his prime. After a bluff charge, he loped back toward his gut pile and we stepped back out to the road about a quarter mile behind us. All the while, he was circling and trying to wind us. It was moose hunting at its finest, and that boar thought it was hunter hunting at its finest.

Man, that is great Mike! Sounds like a 1st class hunt. I've gotta hunt grizzly. That makes my hair tingle just reading that.

 

[DrMike]

For what it is worth, Scotty, it makes my hair stand on end recalling the adventure. I've gone into thick brush while tracking bears, and I've had them come down to the water when I was fishing. I've found their tracks as they investigated my footprints while I was armed with four pound test line and a single barbless hook. The best estimate was that I had missed a bear by a matter of minutes. He was, perhaps, lurking in the brush streamside, watching me as I looked down at his tracks, wondering where he might be and weighing how to react should their be a charge.

Having one of these fine specimen facing me one bound away, stomping his paws and popping his jaws while he huffs can only be deemed extremely exciting; the intensity of the moment lasts a lifetime. Gerry is right that it is not uncommon to find grizzly tracks at dark as your carrying your meat out. I always try to keep my rifle within arm's reach with a cartridge up the pipe while I'm cleaning my game. I have been surprised a couple of times by bears while engaged in preparing my kill. And I've definitely found fresh tracks and fresh scat fairly frequently while packing out game. It is a rush! Mama tells me I'm an adrenaline junkie.

 

[Oldtrader3]

Maybe that is why you carry something bigger than a .264 for moose hunting around grizzly territory. These 15 yard grizzly-gut pile encounters in the alders, would make me caliber climb in a hurry!

 

[gerry]

I have had a few interesting grizzly encounters two encounters come to mind that happened while moose hunting.
One time I shot a bull very close to home after church one Sunday (35 Whelen 225 gr Ballistic Tip) got out everything before dark except part of the neck so the next afternoon, against my better judgement, I went back to see if I could find the bullet. I took our yellow lab with me and when we got close her hackles went up, it was in heavy brush so I couldn't see the gut pile till I was about 10 yards away it had been buried already, the unmistakeable sign of a grizzly. We got out of there fast but that bear was really close.
The second time I was hunting moose along a river that also has salmon in it there were grizzly tracks all around which isn't unusual I worked up to a point where I could go up a steep hill and get back to the road 50 feet up As I got to the edge of the bush the very strong smell of a bear hit me I remember a very strong thought hitting me turn around and go back the way you came (definitely God speaking to me) I backtracked and there was a fresh set of grizz tracks on top of mine. I had only walked there 2 or 3 minutes previously he had followed me and yes God protected me on this one for sure. Got a lot of respect for them.

 

[gerry]

Maybe that is why you carry something bigger than a .264 for moose hunting around grizzly territory. These 15 yard grizzly-gut pile encounters in the alders, would make me caliber climb in a hurry!

In areas that have high grizzly numbers I use the 35 Whelen or 375 Ruger, in areas where the isn't much chance bumping a bear the 264 WM comes along.

 

[DrMike]

We are drifting off topic, I know. However, it is an excellent point that when hunting elk or moose in grizzly country, a good quality bullet with a large frontal area that is launched at high velocity is a definite asset. Close encounters will assuredly get one's attention. And yet, it is a wonderful experience to live in country that still possesses something of the wild quality that once marked the entire continent. I have to be careful if only because it is so easy to become casual about these bruins. Whilst a 280 or a 260 is better than a stick should one meet a large mountain grizzly, a larger calibre bullet is more comforting still.

I walked up on a sleeping grizzly on one occasion, stepping on it in thick willows. The animals "woofed," jumped and scurried away from me. Consequently, I "woofed," while back-peddling at warp speed. As we circled each other, I realised that the 7mm RM I was carrying seemed terribly small. I knew full well that I might get so much as one shot at very close range should that bear charge. Fortunately, once he winded me he hied out of the area. Nevertheless, I was extremely grateful for what can only be described as divine protection--God was gracious to an incautious hunter. It did point up to me the need to carry something larger when moving through the bush. I wasn't quite certain how I would be able to carry the armaments I felt necessary at that moment.

 

[big rifle man]

All the posts that I have just read have told me what I've known for awhile, too much gun is better than not enough or "what you think will work fine". Any time I head out west my .338RUM sure does feel comfortable.

 

[SJB358]

All the posts that I have just read have told me what I've known for awhile, too much gun is better than not enough or "what you think will work fine". Any time I head out west my .338RUM sure does feel comfortable.

Same here, I don't even hunt in grizzly country, YET, but I do carry a 35 Whelen or 338WM most of the time. Just can't beat them to be honest. I would surely want as much rifle as I could comfortably and bring to bear as fast as possible. Scotty

 

[DrMike]

Come on up and join me, Scotty! The bears are pretty well denned up by this time, but they'll all come out in April.

 

[SJB358]

Come on up and join me, Scotty! The bears are pretty well denned up by this time, but they'll all come out in April.

I can't wait Mike. I'm looking forward to it, alot.

 

[ThatsCustom]

For anyone in question of the 6.5mm cartridges to penetrate an elk. Study up on sectional density (SD) that is the key to penetration. A 120gr 6.5mm projectile has the same SD as a 150gr .30cal projectile with less kick and typically less powder so the 264wm is an awesome elk,sheep,goat etc round

 

[Elkman]

I

remember one especially fascinating hunt with friends. They hiked back into a lick while I settled into a brush pile in a logging slash. About thirty minutes after they walked in, I heard a shot. I waited until I was assured there wasn't a second shot and no animals running out of the woods into the slash to walk into the lick. As I moved in, I found myself stepping over steaming grizzly scat covering their tracks. Closer inspection showed a big board tracking the boys. I hustled on into the lick to discover they had dropped a fine young bull. I mentioned the grizzly scat. Neither of the fellows had seen any sign of bear on their way in, but they were definitely shaken when I pointed it out to them. I stayed with the moose while they went out to get the quad. I never saw the bear, but I assume it was the same boar that charged me and another friend a month later in that area when we walked into another logging slash and stumbled upon him on a gut pile. He was a pretty good specimen of mountain grizzly, measuring about eight feet and in his prime. After a bluff charge, he loped back toward his gut pile and we stepped back out to the road about a quarter mile behind us. All the while, he was circling and trying to wind us. It was moose hunting at its finest, and that boar thought it was hunter hunting at its finest.

This is exact reason, that I have "never" applied for/or hunted in any area where these bears are known to frequent. I want nothing, repeat nothing to do with them. I have seen a couple in my lifetime. Never real close, they have an attitude, they have a trememdous disdane for most any other animal, and a chip on their shoulder the size of an anvil. No thanks, not now, not ever, I stay well away from them.

 

[Oldtrader3]

I had reservations to hunt these bears on the peninsula years ago and my dad cancelled out. I could not afford one-on-one for a brown bear hunt and lost some of my fees. That was a close as I came. Since then, I have seen one mountain grizzly in Wyoming mountains south of Yellowstone around Hoback. He was half a mile away in a meadow and I did not get any closer.

Washington has an estimated 40,000 black bear and my wife is stepping all over them on her hikes in the North Cascades. I suppose if I want a bear rug there are lots of black bear candidates here in Washington. That is more my speed in old age anyway.

 

[Elkman]

Charlie,

Pacific county west of Longview, has one of the highest densities of Black Bears in the lower 48. When I hike in the summer there I see them frequently. Lots of hunt areas with general seasons for bear.

 

[wildgene]

...hunting around grizzlies is a fact of life around here...

...worse yet, the bears are learning gunshots= dinner bells, they are more aggressive & there are more "encounters" each year, but rifle caliber isn't as much a concern as being "Bear Aware". Keeping good situational awareness, avoiding or being prepared in case of an "encounter", having time & space to react is a lot more important than a "big bore" you won't have an opportunity to get into action...

 

[Oldtrader3]

Bill, Pacific County would be a good place to start looking for black bears. I have heard that they are really thick over there. I have hunted bear quite a bit in the cascades and just never connected.