Caliber and effective humane range

[demontang]

I agree with the others  bears are tough animals and the one I shot took a 338win round though the heart and lunges and still ran. I would break them down with a shot though the shoulder especially if theres a lot of cover around. My bear didnt leave a drop of blood anywhere either

[BULLBLASTER]

gonna bring that up are you?

nope leaving it at that.

oh come on... can't leave us hanging! You been posting about your bears for a while now. Got me ready to see pics and all... 
anyways I hope it works better for you next time.

[deerslyr]

Shedkid....you know a guy goes by Bildo?

 

[h20hunter]

Sshhhhh.....

[Bofire]

  killed 17 so far, I do not think they are any tougher than a deer. Make a good shot they die, bad one they do not. Ralph Flowers killed his first with a 22 rim fire. Yer 308 is fine at any range you can hit a 6 inch target EVERYTIME. I use a 300WM cause that is what I hunt with. I have seen many more than 17 killed. BTKR uses a 270 he has killed many. I do not use the shoulder shot, I shoot for heart lungs, trailed a few, most died in their tracks.
Carl

[shedkid]

I agree Ralf Flowers knows what he was talking about and he has some great books on bear hunting.

[rasbo]

here is my go to gun on the wetside for bear,.308 bolt action carbine open sites 150 grain core-lokt does just fine

[CAMPMEAT]

I will probably get flamed for this but here goes. If an animal is downrange, any animal, I try to put it right on the shoulder and break em down. Most times you will get the heart and or lungs at the same time and they don't run so good on two legs. 

I'll get flammed too then. That's what I was gonna say exactly.

[johnr060]

I killed my first bear with a .308 at 140 yards. Aimed for the shoulder and dropped it in its tracks. That same year my best friend shot his bear in the same area with my .270 wsm. The bear was at 304 yards and we put two shots in him. He dropped like a rock, the second shot was just for good measure. In my opinion all it takes is a good shot and they are no different than deer. Other than the fact if your tracking a wounded one they are gonna have some bad anger management.

[threedwizard]

I agree with all the posts on shoulder shots. While heart and double lungs are dead animals, bears tend not to leave good blood trails. A good double shoulder should lung them and slow them down from running too far and hours of tracking.

[Wazukie]

2010 bear I used a 25-06 117grn bullet.  No problem with blood trail.  Dropped dead within 10 yards.  2011 bear with a .243 87 grn bullet and again no problem with blood trail.  it dropped dead in its tracks.  As far as I'm concerned its all about shot placement.  If you want to spoil the front quarters, go for the shoulder, me  hunt for the meat and like the front shoulder meat.