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....