Black bear shot placement

[rayporter]

i have shot moose. elk and an awful lot of deer facing me every one dropped at the shot. muzzle, shotgun and rifle all dropped them with authority where they stood.

 

[7718Sallee]

Spot and stalk bear hunting typically gives you time to watch them for awhile and get the shot you want

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

i have shot moose. elk and an awful lot of deer facing me every one dropped at the shot. muzzle, shotgun and rifle all dropped them with authority where they stood.

I've only shot one whitetail that was facing me, and it was from the ground with a bow. The Rage 2 blade skewered him through and poked out his hindquarter. Deer bled out in seconds, but not before barrel rolling down a bluff and into the river. Gutting that guy was a real mess.

When you shoot facing with a rifle, are you typically aiming center mass, or do you cheat up towards the base of the neck?

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Spot and stalk bear hunting typically gives you time to watch them for awhile and get the shot you want

That is what I'm hoping for...

 

[rayporter]

i shoot for the center of the center......grin

 

[7718Sallee]

i shoot for the center of the center......grin

This is the opposite of the infamous Texas heart shot?

 

[rayporter]

yep!
but i took a texas heart shot once. fired right up the tail pipe and found the bullet in the heart sack.

the elk had 2 shots through the lungs and turned to run so i shot once more and that dropped it.

 

[Ron.C]

I line up with the back of the shoulder blade and down mid height of the body. You'll be right in the middle of both lungs.

The only heart shots I ever made on bears were on shots that my bullet impact was lower than I wanted. Yes, did the job but if I had of been a little farther back, would of missed the vitals completely.

Quartering away is in my opinion best when you can put your bullet through the center of the lungs and smash the offside shoulder.

I took one bear with a straight on chest shot with .50 muzzleloader barnes TTSX at 30 yards and witnessed my buddy take a chest shot on a bear with a 7mag at about the same range. In hindsight, we both regret those shots as neither bear expired as quick as we would of liked.

I don't advocate for head/neck/texas heart shots on anything. Very little margin for error when compared to shooting for the lungs.

 

[tdot]

If the bear is broadside, I prefer just slightly forward of Middle of the Middle, it won't drop the bear, but you will definitely have a dead bear. Bears have different anatomy then a deer, every lost bear I've personally seen was shot too far forwad, not too far back, actually haven't seen a gut shot bear.

If bear is quartering away, aim for the offside front leg.

If bear is quarter towards you, aim for the onside front leg.

High shoulder shots are definitely effective, but I have seen 2nd shots required to put them down.

Fastest I ever killed a bear was a younger boar that stood up at 15 yards after I stocked up on him and he'd fed directly towards me while He was out of sight. He dropped and ran away a few yards, stood back up and when he started to drop the 2nd time he squared up to me and was clearly coming at me. I shot him in the center chest, tore the top of his heart off and severed his spine, there was several liters of foamy blood pooled beneath him w/in seconds. I still would have preferred to have not taken that shot, as effective as it was, there was zero room for error.

 

[7718Sallee]

Just seen this

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Thank you for all the replies guys. This has helped me out a lot. As a newb to Rokslide, I am really impressed with the site and its members. Thank you again!

 

[mackparrish]

Thank you for all the responses guys. I appreciate ALL the feedback. I'm hoping for a quartering away shot where I can simply let the near leg clearn and line up on the far leg, similar to my ideal bow shot on a whitetail. In that position, a well placed bullet should hook both lungs and smash the far shoulder. However, I want to be prepared for a straight up broadside opportunity as well.

Thank you also for the guidance on neck/head shots, but I am not confident in my ability to hit such a reduced target, plus if I'm fortunate to take a bear, I plan to preserve the skull.

Now the final question... Is it worth the risk to take a quartering to or straight on shot? Again, I'm not excited about wounding and potentially losing a bear or any animal for that matter.

I shot a 6' boar frontal/quartering-to last spring. It presented a brief broadside shot at 350yards, but I waited too long and it walked into the thick brush before I could shoot. I was kicking myself for the next 10 minutes for not taking the shot and vowed if I got another chance there would be no waiting.

To my surprise it came right back out to the same spot and sat on its butt facing me nearly straight on, but slightly quartering-to. I wasted no time and held between his near shoulder and the crest on his chest. I could tell he was hit hard but he went straight down hill moving fast and out of sight.

I was second guessing my shot placement, but after a scramble down to get a view into the bottom he was laying there dead along the creek. Upon inspection the bullet entered him nearly center of the chest and lodged in the hide in front of his back hip; scrambling everything in between. However, he didn't bleed a drop and if I wouldn't have seen him laying in the bottom there was zero blood trail to follow.

I would be hesitant to take that shot again just because of the lack of blood trail and how far he made it before dying. Food for thought though, I was shooting a 6.5PRC... I would be more confident to do it again with a .308 & 180 gr. bullet.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

I shot a 6' boar frontal/quartering-to last spring. It presented a brief broadside shot at 350yards, but I waited too long and it walked into the thick brush before I could shoot. I was kicking myself for the next 10 minutes for not taking the shot and vowed if I got another chance there would be no waiting.

To my surprise it came right back out to the same spot and sat on its butt facing me nearly straight on, but slightly quartering-to. I wasted no time and held between his near shoulder and the crest on his chest. I could tell he was hit hard but he went straight down hill moving fast and out of sight.

I was second guessing my shot placement, but after a scramble down to get a view into the bottom he was laying there dead along the creek. Upon inspection the bullet entered him nearly center of the chest and lodged in the hide in front of his back hip; scrambling everything in between. However, he didn't bleed a drop and if I wouldn't have seen him laying in the bottom there was zero blood trail to follow.

I would be hesitant to take that shot again just because of the lack of blood trail and how far he made it before dying. Food for thought though, I was shooting a 6.5PRC... I would be more confident to do it again with a .308 & 180 gr. bullet.

Thank you for sharing your experience and feedback.

 

[lang]

I lost a bear I filmed what I thought was a perfect shot half way up right on the shoulder on a broadside bear. I researched and found Canadian bear guides will all tell you to aim farther back. I told my bear hunting buddy...well after tracking his would be best bear by a long shot (and he has killed lots of 3oo lb plus bears) for over a mile and loosing the trail he said he would listen to me. I later killed the bear that was with the one he shot and it was a 350 lber. His dwarfed the one I shot. He had aimed just like we would any ungulate...half way up right on the shoulder line. Anyway I aim 4-6" inches behind the shoulder now. I have yet to have a bear go 30 with archery gear since aiming farther back! My last bear only went 10 yards and couldn't even death moan it died so quick. The video shows the shot placement very well.

Father Daughter bear video

This was my 14-year-olds first time hunting. She did great packing bait, crossing a rough spring creek, sitting in a tree stand. Hunting with her was by far my favorite part of 2020!

www.rokslide.com

 

[Short Track]

I studied this non-sense for a week before my bear hunt. Front Leg position equates to shot placement, blah, blah, blah, blah, read the article 30 times, had it all figured out.

Bear comes out of the woods, sniffs me from 50 yards away. He stands up on its hind legs to get a better sniff. Looking directly at me in the stand, on it's hind legs. I'm like,... ok, the article didn't mention this. 1 shot though the chest, from bottom, to top. Exited just next to the spine. Nosler partition destroyed the heart, literally shredded. Bear still ran 80 yards, and piled up.

 

[Jbogg]

I think the middle of the middle expression is accurate for where to hold when talking about north/south. A bear can easily have 4 inches of hair hanging below the bottom of its chest, and several inches above the top of the back, so halfway between the top and bottom is a good bet. However, when talking about where to hold from right to left I find the center of the bear and then slide 4 - 5 inches forward towards the shoulder. This still puts the bullet or arrow well behind the large shoulder bone and in the vitals.

 

[micus]

On a broadside, aim for the opposite shoulder. Visualize a laser beam exiting his far shoulder and you will do great.

Also, a TBT is a great bullet. But it wouldnt be in my top 5 for your setup.

your 308 isnt pushing a TBT hot enough to have it open/perform properly assuming a normal 308 MV with a 180 of about 2500-2600 fps. The bear will still die for sure, but you would have more dramatic / effective killing with a softer bullet in your 308. Buy a box of NPT's in 180 or even just plain old Hornady Interlocks.

Just my opinion having killed many bears with many diff bullet / rifle setups and examining the carcasses.

Best of luck and have fun.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

On a broadside, aim for the opposite shoulder. Visualize a laser beam exiting his far shoulder and you will do great.

Also, a TBT is a great bullet. But it wouldnt be in my top 5 for your setup.

your 308 isnt pushing a TBT hot enough to have it open/perform properly assuming a normal 308 MV with a 180 of about 2500-2600 fps. The bear will still die for sure, but you would have more dramatic / effective killing with a softer bullet in your 308. Buy a box of NPT's in 180 or even just plain old Hornady Interlocks.

Just my opinion having killed many bears with many diff bullet / rifle setups and examining the carcasses.

Best of luck and have fun.

Thank you for the suggestions on aim point and ammo. This is a combo elk/deer/bear hunt, and I selected the TBT (and now TAs) to make sure I had a really tough controlled expansion bullet with high BC for longer range if necessary. I also wouldn't want to carry two different kinds of ammo.

Regular 180 grain power shoks shot pretty well out of my rifle, but finding them is like finding a walleye in Iowa or a unicorn these days. I wont even say what I had to pay for the 2 boxes of 175 TAs from Bud's the other day. However, the TBTs have been out of stock forever now, and the ballistics of the TAs is virtually the same at the ranges I plan to shoot. However, the proof will be in POI downrange. The ammo shortage is really put a wrench in everything.

 

[Coveyleader]

On a broadside, aim for the opposite shoulder. Visualize a laser beam exiting his far shoulder and you will do great.

Also, a TBT is a great bullet. But it wouldnt be in my top 5 for your setup.

your 308 isnt pushing a TBT hot enough to have it open/perform properly assuming a normal 308 MV with a 180 of about 2500-2600 fps. The bear will still die for sure, but you would have more dramatic / effective killing with a softer bullet in your 308. Buy a box of NPT's in 180 or even just plain old Hornady Interlocks.

Just my opinion having killed many bears with many diff bullet / rifle setups and examining the carcasses.



This means you'd be aiming at onside shoulder to exit offside on a broadside bear. I'd avoid the shoulder completely, no matter the weapon, broadside, hand with off the crease about center up down slightly lower dead, most likely won't get out of sight.

 

[Wigeon kryptonite]

A friend of mine lost a big black bear a couple years ago...shot placement was great, but the bullet didn’t penetrate enough. Bears are fat and have long hair, if your round doesn’t pass through the far side of the chest cavity, your blood trail will be almost non-existent because the hair and fat will plug the entry hole, and the bear will be hard to find. I’m sure his bear was dead, but we never found it. He was using a .308 with 165 barnes ttsx, shot was at 300 yards.


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