Grizzly/Brown bear

[Thebear_78]

This is a 6.5’ grizzly that my buddies wife shot last spring on a snow machine based spring hunt. Two shots with a 180gr Partition in her 30/06.

 

[Thebear_78]

a sow with cubs at my buddies bear bait

 

[Rem Jim]

I know Dr. Mike and Gerry have both taken grizzlies. Who else has hunted that mighty beast?

Hunt details please?

Thanks, Guy

2 for me - Both smallish Bears - 6 & 6.5 - a long time ago (70's-80's) - both uneventfull hunts one a spot an stalk on a powerline - shot him ( 7mm Rem Mag) and he ran about 50 yards and piled up -the other i shot ( 264 Win Mag ) across a creek canyon at about 250 yards - he never moved after the bullet hit him ! Sold both hides at the time to pay for Stuff ! RJ

 

[Guy Miner]

Thanks for all the input guys.

I've got some limited familiarity, particularly with the coastal brownies. Frequently share a salmon stream with them. But... That's a lot different from deliberately poking a hole in a bear and starting a fight.





Looming up out of the mist, watching us throw out fishheads & guts.


Guy

 

[Elkman]

Great post all, I am really enjoying the pictures and write ups. I have seen a couple in the wild, they are a fearsome animal.

 

[6mm Remington]

Thanks for all the great pictures guys. It makes me want to experience the adventure of hunting one of these incredible animals some day!

 

[SJB358]

Great pictures and stories!

 

[Thankful Otter]

Guy, we have on several occasions hunted the grizzly. We are able to hunt on First Nation Lands as well as the North Slope, which is closed to all hunting, put we are able to get special permits. Since we hunt for substance, we dont hunt the Grizzly that much as they are a more difficult hunt than the Caribou and on average dont taste as well. We have had a few "oh ****" encounters with both the brown and white bear. Guns of choice was first a 30-06 as that was all I had and then a 375 H & H, and now the 45/70. My husband has used the 340 Weatherby and 45/70. The 45/70's are basically used for emergency protection and not specifically for hunting the big bears

 

[Palouser]

Guy is that a custom stock on that Model 70? It is something else!

 

[Guy Miner]

Palouser - Thanks, not a real good photo of the rifle. It's a whole doggone custom rifle that I managed to pick up at a great price about a year ago. I no more need that rifle than anything, but dang, it's purty and shoots great.

Walked into my local gun shop and there it was on the rack, at a ridiculously low price. I looked it over, confirmed that it was a high quality custom from a well known rifle builder, and snapped it up.

I guess the shop owner didn't really know what he had. Then again, whoever sold it to the shop didn't understand either. As many custom rifles do, this one has a bit of a history to it. I tracked down the builder and we had a very pleasant conversation about the rifle. He remembers it well. Apparently on its first trip to Africa, it was used to take 22 head of big game.

Walnut stock, Douglas barrel, sights & quarter rib made for the rifle, custom scope mounts for the Talley QR rings. Action & trigger were worked over.

Really is a nice rifle - and I still have no real use for it since I'm firmly convinced that anything I want to hunt can be hunted with either my .25-06 & .30-06 rifles - but doggone, I like it.

Regards, Guy

 

[Guy Miner]

Very interesting YH.

I sure wouldn't expect grizzly to taste as good as caribou!

Re the .45/70, yes I had a couple of different Marlin lever action .45/70's over 9 years and learned to respect that big, fat cartridge.

Thanks for your input. I know you likely have far more experience around the great bears than most.

Regards, Guy

 

[DrMike]

FWIW, Guy, I'm aware of a few guides that carry Marlins chambered in 45-70 when going into the bush for bears. They appear to have quite a bit of respect for the old warhorse.

 

[Palouser]

Beautiful rifle! What a find!

 

[Guy Miner]

FWIW, Guy, I'm aware of a few guides that carry Marlins chambered in 45-70 when going into the bush for bears. They appear to have quite a bit of respect for the old warhorse.

When I was doing all those water-jug penetration tests, nothing beat the .45/70 with the appropriate bullet.

Oddly, some 300 gr JHP bullets for it rapidly over-expanded. Performance really varied depending on the bullet. If I was taking one for big bear up close, I'd grab some 425 gr Piledriver Junior cast bullets and load them to about 1925 fps. They were accurate and unstoppable by my water jugs...

Guy

 

[Vince]

There's something about a .45 caliber hunk of lead moving at slow to moderate velocity that seems to persuade, even the most reticent to turn, be it man or bear.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

 

[Anonymous]

I've hunted griz on several occasions and am almost always hunting for them as a target of opportunity while moose and caribou hunting. We've had a few encounters- a coupe years ago my wife was calling a wolf to take a photo and we had a bear come in from behind. The dog lost his mind and the bear skidded to a stop. He came very close to getting blasted with my .375Ruger but decided we weren't what he thought we'd be and split.

This year I had a bear sniffing the raft outside the tent at 0 Dark Hundred. Pretty exciting but a loud "Hey Bear!" and he ambled off. Not sure how I went back to sleep, but I did. I'm thinking pure exhaustion. We saw him the next morning a mile down the river but he took off before I could get the rifle out.

I stalked a wounded one for 2 miles through the alders a couple years ago with a buddy. Pucker factor was not even close to adequate. It escaped but being in that green tangle with a known bear is pretty humbling. The .375 feels pretty small then.

 

[Vince]

I was in the SCI museum last year, looking at C.J. McElroy's trophy room where he has his Kodiak life size mount.
Marksmanship aside I don't see a .41 or .44 Mag as being enough gun for a close encounter and would want something akin to a .77 caliber. Puny, and this is a dead mount we are talking about here, doesn't even describe most rifle calibers, let alone handgun calibers, when looking at these magnificent species.

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[alaska100]

I stalked a wounded one for 2 miles through the alders a couple years ago with a buddy. Pucker factor was not even close to adequate. It escaped but being in that green tangle with a known bear is pretty humbling. The .375 feels pretty small then.

+1 Hunting a coastal bear,,in the alders, is a totally different experience than hunting a grizzly in the mountains. Hodgeman, adequately described it--"pucker factor was not even close to adequate"

 

[Africa Huntress]

Mr. Miner

I saw this the other day but forgot to respond to it.

My mother and father hunter the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia and said the bears were big and plentiful.

This may be another option for some to consider when deciding where they want to hunt the big bears, in addition to Alaska and Canada.

Jamila

oh btw, they did not take me with them )-:

 

[DrMike]

Bummer that you weren't able to accompany them. One of my friends locally hunted Kamchatka a few years back. He spoke very highly of the experience, indicating that it was a bargain in his estimate.