Black bear shoulder shots

[black dawg]

Always surprises me how far back the lungs extend.

 

[thedutchtouch]

Newbie here, but reading up as I'll be joining my brother for a black bear hunt this spring. Seems like middle middle middle, center center center or half half half is an easy thing to remember, meaning center of the bear vertically and horizontally, and then center between the crease and that spot. For me that's easier to get into the same spot you guys are describing instead of thinking about inches or hand widths or any of that, and what I've been repeating/visualizing when target shooting and watching YouTube videos/imagining where I'd place my reticle. Hopefully that makes sense/is accurate enough, just an alternative in wording/thought process

 

[MDR]

I habitually shoot for the shoulder, but I wait until the onside shoulder is back covering the vitals, if quartering I aim for the opposite shoulder. This puts my bullet through the vitals and takes a shoulder. Not a fan of tracking critters with sharp teeth and claws through thick stuff.

 

[Tikatack]

I agree with double lung shots. They simply can’t go far with blown lungs. In coastal BC, I’ve seen too many shoulder shot bears lost in thick rain forest timber. They can go far with broken scapulas and the shoulder joint is a small target.

 

[7mm-08]

100% ^^^^^^ and here is a description and a picture to help. Here is the carcass of my 2021 fall black bear. If you take the two red dots as being just inside the legs then the red hashed line transecting the body is the “MIDDLE” of the bears body. Now take the middle of the bears body from left to right (the red dashed line) and the middle of the body from top to bottom. Where they both transect is the far left blue X. Now take that left blue X and put a blue X to the right behind the bears front shoulder and now split the difference, the YELLOW CIRCLE (aka my bullet entrance). That is MY interpretation of the “Middle of the Middle” (middle of the body further divided by the half way point from the middle of the body to the shoulder crease). This placement put my bullet straight through both longs and dead center on the heart. Hope this helps.

View attachment 522344

Best explanation I've ever seen for bear vitals and shot placement. Thank you!

 

[majorbam]

Two dozen plus bears taken here and I've been there for many others, both black and grizz. Archery gear to subsonic 300 blackout up to 33 Nosler and lots of stuff in between. The best shot for a broadside bear is half way between the bottom and the top of the back and 4 inches behind the shoulder. The half way from top to bottom helps account for the up to 6 inches of hair hanging below the brisket. For various other shot angles, think of the bear three dimensionally and make your bullet pass through that same center point. The vitals on a bear are set slightly further back than what people are used to on deer and other ungulates.

This is great advice!!!

 

[Cameron.25]

I prefer not to but shot my bear last week through one shoulder due to him being quartering to me and having a brief shooting window. 300 prc shooting a 200gr copper CEB lazer at about 300 yards. He was on a steep slope and when I hit him he immediately started rolling super hard down to the bottom where I found him. Pretty sure he was DRT but had zero blood that I could find, despite having 2 holes. Here's the entrance/exit and a screenshot of him right before I shot. He was a nice one for that area

 

[92xj]

some interesting replies on this.

2 weeks ago, my gun killed two bears.
300wm 180gr hammer hunter at 3130fps mv

bear 1 was at 90 yards perfect broadside. I was in grizzly country and shooting at very last light. I purposefully aimed for and hit the ball at the lower scapula. I did not want this bear to take a step. Shot fired, bear dropped in his tracks, not even a single step. I did lose a bit of meat in the off side as the exit hole was rather large.

bear 2 was at 105 yards perfect broadside. Same grizzly country but had a few hours of daylight left and in a 2 acre opening. Shot was perfect center lung. Bullet entered, petals did their thing, and have a complete pass through. Bear sprinted 20 yards, faced planted and was done in all of sub 10 seconds. Lost about 2 golf balls sizes of meat.


Before these two, a shoulder shot has been purposefully taken on 2 other bears and 3 deer, all the same results as bear 1 above.

I feel like if you aim for and shoot a shoulder shot on a bear and it does not drop or drop within 10 feet, you are under gunned or have a real horrible performing bullet.