Shot placement.....shoot this bear

[h20hunter]

So, I poached this off of Bearpaws post. I think the "pose" of the bear could make for a good discussion. I'll use me as a first opinion. I shoot a .270, 130 gr Barnes X bullet as my go to. I made a little reticle on the bear where I would aim.

So....DRT?

Remember....this is for discussion and eduaction for newbies like me that are still looking for that first bear.

[johnnyaustin44]

Hammer him

[h20hunter]

What do you think of my shot placement? Short tracking job?

[D-Rock425]

How fars the shot?  When Bobby shot his bear it was a complete different angle the bear was quartered away looking back at us but the 180 bulletin from his 30-06 stop him in his tracks.  I would shoot after watching that bear get shot.

[CAMPMEAT]

I say good. Broken front shoulders means it ain't runnin' !

[Pathfinder101]

I say good. Broken front shoulders means it ain't runnin' !

   My favorite shot on anything with a rifle.  Point of the shoulder.  Concussion from the bone will knock him down, and with broken shoulders he probably wont get back up.  Also, bears carry their vitals a little farther forward than ungluates.

[gaddy]

i'd say BOOM.

[Dhoey07]

I shot a bear 3 years ago that was standing like that.  I aimed lower and ended up breaking his arm in half and not touching vitals  Luckily he ran up a tree and I finished him off

[Ripper]

I was thinking a couple of inches lower, but I'm sure that would do the trick.

[johnnyaustin44]

That's where I would aim. Probably be DRT but who knows for sure. You should be gettin all of the good aspects of a shot with a bullet placed there. bone and vitals 

[Machias]

That is probably a 125 pound bear, maybe a little less.  I'd pass, pretty coat, but there are some nicer bears coming out.  I'd also personally wait for a better angle, I never like a quartering to shot, just me.  With bears perfect shot or I pass, even with a rifle.  If you miss to the left even just a couple of inches, you may nick the one lung and you may actually miss everything vital.

[carpsniperg2]

His eye socket on the right would work just right for me It is a nice colored bear but I agree I would guess that bear in the 100-120 max range.

[bearpaw]

Good idea H2O
This bear was roughly 35-40 yards when we were closest for this photo. I estimated the bear at 130 to 150 tops, but probably on the lighter side since it's springtime, probably about a 5'3" to 5'4" rug. I loved his color and must admit several bear similar to this color are in my trophy room. I have a 5'3" rug that is almost identical size and color to this bear. Some of you think he is smaller than that, maybe I was wrong, it certainly wouldn't be the first time, but I am usually pretty close when they hang from the scale. Through the years I will admit that we walked up to a 150 pound bear that weighed 75 or 80 and I can remember walking up to a bear just last fall that I told the hunter I was sure would go 250 and when I found him dead in the brush he was a 7 footer, my first comment was "Oh $hit" cause we were quite a ways from the road and that bear was a full foot bigger than I thought. Bear are hard to judge, the same bear will change weight as you watch him. We passed on this one so I guess we'll never know. 

Rifle
With a rifle shooting well built bullets like a barnes TSX this bear is DOA, that shot is perfect in my book, break a shoulder and take out vitals, perfect medicine for dropping a bear, the barnes would exit the other side leaving a blood trail if the bear did go anywhere, but I doubt he would. I would even take the shot with a corelock or partition, the shoulder would be broken and vitals hit. FYI - I would not take this shot with a ballistic tip or similar type bullet, they would explode on the shoulder and possibly not penetrate the vitals causing a wounded and likely lost bear.

Archery
This is not a shot I would take with a bow, I would wait for the bear to turn so I didn't risk the shoulder stopping the arrow.

Blackpowder
Depends what projectile. Past experience has taught me the hard way that roundballs would likely be stopped at the shoulder so I would wait for a broadside and then shoot since it's not too big of bear. Bad experiences have also taught me that if this was a big bear I would not use roundballs at all. If I was shooting a well built heavy projectile I think this bear would be DOA with 1 shot exactly as shown.


Picture of the rug I mentioned.

[Machias]

Beautiful!!!!!

[iRem]

Beautiful color on the bear and the rug!! Shoot right there and bust up that shoulder and he will be DRT while hitting vitals....

[LoneArcher]

Just remember. Shoot him till HE THINKS HE's dead.

[shoot-em-dead]

learned something new- good topic.  Before reading I would have shot just a little behind that shoulder to avoid breaking it. I'm guessing that would not be the place to shoot from the angle. Would my shot have missed vitals?

[Kowsrule30]

learned something new- good topic.  Before reading I would have shot just a little behind that shoulder to avoid breaking it. I'm guessing that would not be the place to shoot from the angle. Would my shot have missed vitals?

From that angle behind the shoulder I would bet it missed everything but maybe a little gut.... Lost bear.....

[Kowsrule30]

And last year I took a shot very similar to this on a bear @ the same size at 135 #..... I used my .50 muzzy with Copper Areo Tipped PB..... 295 grain.... 130 grains of Pyrodex..... I don't really like to hit shoulders with this set up closer then 50 yards.... I aimed just to the right to miss the shoulder @ less then 35 yards..... Think it was 32 or 33.... Bear never blinked.... Just dropped..... I'd take the same shot as I described with my 243 out to 350 yards on a bear..... 

[gasman]

The only difference between the bear in the pic and the one I shot 2 weeks ago is the angle of the face.....Took out the shoulder, both lungs with a clear pass through. The bear went 25 yards and dropped like a rock 

[Special T]

BOOM! 2 reasons you can get 2 bear tags, so if he's a little small for your taste go buy another one and do the deer population a favor.  I shoot an 06 so i'd anchor him and be ready for a follow up IF i didn't snap his sholder.

[rebal69972]

My first thought was you where alittle high but since I haven't killed a bear I'm learning to. I shoot an 06 with 150 grain soft tip, so for me I think blowing the shoulder would be best with a quick follow up