Guy Miner
Master Loader
- Apr 6, 2006
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I know Dr. Mike and Gerry have both taken grizzlies. Who else has hunted that mighty beast?
Hunt details please?
Thanks, Guy
Hunt details please?
Thanks, Guy
Grizzly/Brown bear
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Guy Miner
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A few in Washington, time to time, but not legal to hunt Al. Up in the North Cascades, or in the Selkirks, near the Idaho & Canadian borders.
Lots of black bears though. Something like 30,000 of them. Can take two a year if wanted.
If I go for grizzly/brown bear, I'll have to go to Alaska or Canada.
Guy
Lots of black bears though. Something like 30,000 of them. Can take two a year if wanted.
If I go for grizzly/brown bear, I'll have to go to Alaska or Canada.
Guy
6mm Remington
Ammo Smith
- Feb 27, 2006
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I'd sure like to some day and they are really trying to delist them in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming.
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Guy Miner
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They need to be de-listed in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. The bears from Yellowstone have really multiplied and spread!
Can you imagine the competition for tags to hunt grizzlies in the lower 48? Wow...
Can you imagine the competition for tags to hunt grizzlies in the lower 48? Wow...
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Guy Miner
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I've seen a lot of grizzlies/brown bears up in Alaska over the years. Will never forget one though...
A few of us were headed out on a stormy day to fish the Tsiu River for silver salmon. We had seen several bears, but at a comfortable distance. Came around one grassy little hillock, and no more than 20' away a bear suddenly stood up on all fours! Big, dark, broad headed. He'd been completely invisible until he stood. Probably napping after a big salmon breakfast! He glowered at us and watched as we continued towards the river, then he settled back down, apparently to continue his nap. A few hours later, on our return trip, we stayed well away from that grassy little hill!
Had he been so inclined, he would have been upon us before anyone could react, even if we'd had rifles in hand.
Guy
A few of us were headed out on a stormy day to fish the Tsiu River for silver salmon. We had seen several bears, but at a comfortable distance. Came around one grassy little hillock, and no more than 20' away a bear suddenly stood up on all fours! Big, dark, broad headed. He'd been completely invisible until he stood. Probably napping after a big salmon breakfast! He glowered at us and watched as we continued towards the river, then he settled back down, apparently to continue his nap. A few hours later, on our return trip, we stayed well away from that grassy little hill!
Had he been so inclined, he would have been upon us before anyone could react, even if we'd had rifles in hand.
Guy
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Guy Miner
Master Loader
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A grizzly hunt is the only semi-decent reason I've actually got for hanging onto the .375 Model 70 and all those 300 gr Nosler Partitions in my shop.
So it makes perfect sense for me to spend $10k - $20k so I can make use of that rifle and those bullets! :mrgreen:
So it makes perfect sense for me to spend $10k - $20k so I can make use of that rifle and those bullets! :mrgreen:
gerry
Ammo Smith
- Mar 1, 2007
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If you can ever do it, it will certainly be an adventure you won't forget. Your 375 H&H will obviously work well Guy but your 30-06 or 300 WSM pushing a good bullet will work great too. Scotty, It is hard to imagine a better gun for grizzly than your 35 Newton and your Whelen is no slouch either 
Thebear_78
Handloader
- Sep 30, 2004
- 3,098
- 865
I have been in on a coupe kills, I have been charged twice, and hand shaking close to more than I can remember. It has been my experience that a griz/browny tag is THE #1 form of bear repellent!!!
One of these days I will take one but as I don't really have wall space or money for a rug I haven't made a point of it.
My "bear" rifle is the bigger of my twin remington rums. Bit is a 375 rum topped with a 3-9 ziess, tipping the scales at 7lb 9 ounces. 270gr tsx and 260gr AccuBond at around 3k fps are the standard load. It's currently in need of a new stock as the original one got broken while hunting this spring
Top one in this picture
I also have the 9.3x62 scout
They both wear irons and light mount on forend.
I have a 458 Lott in process that will be an iron only or iron scout scope sited rifle with big bears in mind. My buddies griz this year was a bang/flop with his 458 Lott. That doesn't happen very often.
I almost stepped on this guy while fishing
And nearly shook this ones paw we hold baiting a Blackbear site.
One of these days I will take one but as I don't really have wall space or money for a rug I haven't made a point of it.
My "bear" rifle is the bigger of my twin remington rums. Bit is a 375 rum topped with a 3-9 ziess, tipping the scales at 7lb 9 ounces. 270gr tsx and 260gr AccuBond at around 3k fps are the standard load. It's currently in need of a new stock as the original one got broken while hunting this spring
Top one in this picture
I also have the 9.3x62 scout
They both wear irons and light mount on forend.
I have a 458 Lott in process that will be an iron only or iron scout scope sited rifle with big bears in mind. My buddies griz this year was a bang/flop with his 458 Lott. That doesn't happen very often.
I almost stepped on this guy while fishing
And nearly shook this ones paw we hold baiting a Blackbear site.
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Guy Miner
Master Loader
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SJB358":1oa7g7nq said:
Indeed!
DrMike
Ballistician
- Nov 8, 2006
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I've been charged a couple of times and gone into the alders once of twice to push out a wounded bear. Whatever I was carrying at the time didn't seem big enough. Truthfully, Gerry is correct when he points potential hunters to the 30-06 and/or the 300 WSM. Loaded with a stout bullet that carries a bit of mass, it will do the trick on a mountain grizzly. I could wish that each of the regulars posting here get opportunity to do a grizzly/brown bear hunt. It is the spice of life.
gerry
Ammo Smith
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I have had my share of grizzly encounters, been stalked by one while packing out goat meat, been bluff charged by another, had a sow come into our camp at midnight and cause lots of problems, she charged us a few times but our bright headlamps stopped her from coming in all the way where she would have been shot. My most recent grizzly encounter happened in July where my Wife, 9 year old nephew and myself walked into a sow with 2 cubs in the thick brush while leaving the river while fishing, no gun of course. That was a bad one, the sow charged another fisherman a couple of days later. My goat and sheep hunting friends have all had interesting grizzly encounters as well.
The sow and cubs who invaded our camp the next morning 440 yards from our tents :shock:
The skin of my first and only grizzly so far taken on the same hunt from the pictures above after the sow left
My nephews first chum salmon that he was packing out when we ran into the sow with cubs I mentioned, to his credit he didn't drop his fish and let the bears take it
The sow and cubs who invaded our camp the next morning 440 yards from our tents :shock:
The skin of my first and only grizzly so far taken on the same hunt from the pictures above after the sow left
My nephews first chum salmon that he was packing out when we ran into the sow with cubs I mentioned, to his credit he didn't drop his fish and let the bears take it
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Guy Miner
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You Canadians are pretty smart when it comes to bears and salmon! :mrgreen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9Bc_ZcvLsM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9Bc_ZcvLsM
truck driver
Ammo Smith
- Mar 11, 2013
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When I was in my 30s I did something really dumb. I was camping with my very young family on the Sky Line Drive in Va. at the Big Meadows camp ground. I had the family out in the the old farm meadow which was being allowed to revert back to wood land and chanced upon a doe and 2 fawns and managed to get the wife and children in position for some close up experience and close enough to the doe for my son to grab here ear and pull on it. I had been circling and cutting here off when she stepped out of the bush right beside me. My son was 3 or 4 at the time and riding on my shoulders. When we got back to the camp ground a Black Bear had raided a tent camp site and gotten a snack after destroying the tent. I asked the children if they wanted to see a Bear and they said ya. So I started tracking the Bear still with my son on my shoulders with only a Buck folding knife on my belt. I got close enough to the Bear that he had stopped to relieve his self and the spore was still steaming. At that point I knew he was watching us and I was looking for him and couldn't see him. This is when I knew it was time to turn around and go back the way we came with my wife and 3 children in front of me in case he charged from the rear. My wife had our son and I was free to react if necessary. I latter thought about what I had done and was glad he had a full belly. We all do some dumb stuff when we are young and fearless.
gerry
Ammo Smith
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Guy Miner":3ni74bxq said:
That was great Guy :lol:
Thebear_78
Handloader
- Sep 30, 2004
- 3,098
- 865
I think that the 375 is the perfect caliber for big bears. It shoots flat enough for any reasonable range and has enough frontal area to let some blood out.
I know an eskimo guy who has killed several polar bears with a 22-250. I almost shot one with the 22-250 myself one time. I have seen them killed with a bow and several 30 cals but the few times I have been front and center with a wounded or also angry bear my 375 RUM felt more like a 17 HMR.
I have only been a part of one lost bear. My buddy and I were up north in his airboat when a good sized bear was sitting on the bank as we came around a bend. He shot it with his 300 win mag loaded with 180 partitions. The shot looked ok, maybe a touch back. At the shot the bear ran straight into the thickest brush you could imagine, Large tag alders, filled in with red willow and tall grass.
We let him sit for about an hour hoping he would just go in there and die. There was almost no blood anywhere. the only way we could track him was where he drug wet, mud and pushed over brush. It was so tight that I couldn’t have swung a rifle if I wanted to so I went in with my super redhawk 454. We only made it in a few yards when the bear started to growl and brush started shaking. I can’t begin to explain the way that makes you feel. There is nothing capable of being shoulder fired that would have felt adequate, an airstrike would seem more reasonable.
We made a quick tactical retreat back to the boat. We gave him two more hours. There is nothing I have done in my life that I wanted to do less than crawl back into that brush looking for that bear. But we did.... It was much the same story as the first time, slowly worked our way in making it probably less than 40 yards this time before the brush started breaking and growling started. Out we went until the next morning.
It rained all that night and the next day it was foggy until close to 10am. we went back and tried to find where the bear had entered the brush but all the brush had stood back up over night and it was really crawling blind in there. We looked for over an hour but it could have literally been laying right at our feet and be hard to see. I did find where it had layer for some time, there was very little blood and what was there was up 30 “ or so up on some grass. I”m guessing that my buddy shot high, and the bullet found the void above the lungs and caused mostly muscle damage. Either way we never saw him again.
After that point I never considered shooting a bear without a plan. I have passed up several opportunities because I didn’t like the situation. I want to know where the bear might end up and be extra sure of my shot.
I passed up a beautiful blond griz up in the mountains because I couldn’t get a good broadside shot, I had numerous quartering toward angles but the proximity of some heavy steep brush made me hesitant to take the shot with my 300 win mag, I would have been more likely with a bigger rifle. Even if I had popped that shoulder a bear on three wheels is nothing to be trifled with especially in that kind of terrain.
A buddy of mine told me a story about one of his brown bears. He was hunting out of illiamna running up and down the salmon choked rivers when he spotted a very nice large brown bear. They stalked in on foot until they go to the area that they had seen the bear feeding on the river bank. It was classic peninsula brush lined river with defined bear trails that burrowed thru the willows. They were sneaking their way in to these trails, bear sign everywhere, bit and pieces of red salmon strewn about the trail, piles of salmon carcasses, when their plentiful the bears eat and skin and eggs but leave the rest.
As they snuck in they got to a point where they could hear the bear “snoring” . He was trying to kill one with his bow. They got closer and closer hoping to see him at any point when his buddy stepped on a dried out salmon skull causing it to break like a twig. at the noise the “snoring” stopped. He said they sat there absolutely still for over a minute. It was one of the most terrifying minutes of his life. They were close and now the bear knew it.
After that minute the bear slowly raised up out of the grass less than 20 yards away and his buddy shot it with a 458 win mag.
I can imagine how that felt to see those little pig eyes raising up and peering at you. They way they look at you can’t really be explained in those situations. They say that cape buffalo look at you like you owe them money, an angry bear looks at you with an unsettling intensity, half way between a lab with a tennis ball, and a pit bull growling thru a car window. Popping their teeth, hair standing on end, the woofing, and spittle.
The other side of the same coin I have been around bears that show absolute indifference to my existence. Usually while fishing, Time and again you almost step on them and they don’t seem to care. I’ve had them wander thru camp leaving these foot prints between my tent and my buddies, probably less than 2 feet from edge of my tent.
here it is compared to my size 15 boot.
I know an eskimo guy who has killed several polar bears with a 22-250. I almost shot one with the 22-250 myself one time. I have seen them killed with a bow and several 30 cals but the few times I have been front and center with a wounded or also angry bear my 375 RUM felt more like a 17 HMR.
I have only been a part of one lost bear. My buddy and I were up north in his airboat when a good sized bear was sitting on the bank as we came around a bend. He shot it with his 300 win mag loaded with 180 partitions. The shot looked ok, maybe a touch back. At the shot the bear ran straight into the thickest brush you could imagine, Large tag alders, filled in with red willow and tall grass.
We let him sit for about an hour hoping he would just go in there and die. There was almost no blood anywhere. the only way we could track him was where he drug wet, mud and pushed over brush. It was so tight that I couldn’t have swung a rifle if I wanted to so I went in with my super redhawk 454. We only made it in a few yards when the bear started to growl and brush started shaking. I can’t begin to explain the way that makes you feel. There is nothing capable of being shoulder fired that would have felt adequate, an airstrike would seem more reasonable.
We made a quick tactical retreat back to the boat. We gave him two more hours. There is nothing I have done in my life that I wanted to do less than crawl back into that brush looking for that bear. But we did.... It was much the same story as the first time, slowly worked our way in making it probably less than 40 yards this time before the brush started breaking and growling started. Out we went until the next morning.
It rained all that night and the next day it was foggy until close to 10am. we went back and tried to find where the bear had entered the brush but all the brush had stood back up over night and it was really crawling blind in there. We looked for over an hour but it could have literally been laying right at our feet and be hard to see. I did find where it had layer for some time, there was very little blood and what was there was up 30 “ or so up on some grass. I”m guessing that my buddy shot high, and the bullet found the void above the lungs and caused mostly muscle damage. Either way we never saw him again.
After that point I never considered shooting a bear without a plan. I have passed up several opportunities because I didn’t like the situation. I want to know where the bear might end up and be extra sure of my shot.
I passed up a beautiful blond griz up in the mountains because I couldn’t get a good broadside shot, I had numerous quartering toward angles but the proximity of some heavy steep brush made me hesitant to take the shot with my 300 win mag, I would have been more likely with a bigger rifle. Even if I had popped that shoulder a bear on three wheels is nothing to be trifled with especially in that kind of terrain.
A buddy of mine told me a story about one of his brown bears. He was hunting out of illiamna running up and down the salmon choked rivers when he spotted a very nice large brown bear. They stalked in on foot until they go to the area that they had seen the bear feeding on the river bank. It was classic peninsula brush lined river with defined bear trails that burrowed thru the willows. They were sneaking their way in to these trails, bear sign everywhere, bit and pieces of red salmon strewn about the trail, piles of salmon carcasses, when their plentiful the bears eat and skin and eggs but leave the rest.
As they snuck in they got to a point where they could hear the bear “snoring” . He was trying to kill one with his bow. They got closer and closer hoping to see him at any point when his buddy stepped on a dried out salmon skull causing it to break like a twig. at the noise the “snoring” stopped. He said they sat there absolutely still for over a minute. It was one of the most terrifying minutes of his life. They were close and now the bear knew it.
After that minute the bear slowly raised up out of the grass less than 20 yards away and his buddy shot it with a 458 win mag.
I can imagine how that felt to see those little pig eyes raising up and peering at you. They way they look at you can’t really be explained in those situations. They say that cape buffalo look at you like you owe them money, an angry bear looks at you with an unsettling intensity, half way between a lab with a tennis ball, and a pit bull growling thru a car window. Popping their teeth, hair standing on end, the woofing, and spittle.
The other side of the same coin I have been around bears that show absolute indifference to my existence. Usually while fishing, Time and again you almost step on them and they don’t seem to care. I’ve had them wander thru camp leaving these foot prints between my tent and my buddies, probably less than 2 feet from edge of my tent.
here it is compared to my size 15 boot.
