What went wrong?

[Leadfeather]

Well fellas, I just returned from Colorado for the last week of the September bear season . The trip was bitter sweet , on the first evening I shot the largest bear I have ever seen in the wild. The shot was broad side facing to my right at a ranged 312yds . at the shot the bear twisted to bight his right shoulder then bailed off the ridge down hill into a scrub oak thicket. Dark was closing in and I was unable to find blood until the next morning nearly a hundred yds. from the shot . After 2hrs of grid searching the area I have no bear. I am not an experienced bear hunter but I have hunted deer , hogs and elk for 40yr. My rifle was a 308win with a hand loaded 150 gr. Ballistic tip at 2800fps . In all honesty I was expecting a 150-200 lb. bear and a 200yd or less shot . I kill deer at that rang and beyond most every year ,oh and my holdover was on the shot was top of the shoulder inline with his leg accounting for the 10" of drop. Fellas let me have it !

 

[KenLee]

I love me some 150 gr NBT.
Probably in the rifle I'm holding 80% of my hunts the last 4 years.
Don't think I'm slinging them at the shoulder of a big bear though.

 

[Thebigbaby]

Maybe spend more time searching?

 

[AKBorn]

321 yard shot, on a big bear, with a .308, and ballistic tip bullet, from an inexperienced bear hunter...lot of chances for things to go wrong. Over 300 yards with a .308 is a long shot on any animal, let alone a big bear. Ballistic tip bullets probably aren't the ideal choice for breaking down a bear, 180 grain more robust bullet probably would be better. Bears don't typically die after 1 shot and often don't leave big blood trails, so slinging lead from a lot closer would have been better. Sometimes restraint is the wise option, perhaps rethink the decision process next time...

 

[johnnycake]

Bears, even big bears, absolutely die with one shot if you put the bullet in the right place. My next brown bear I'm going to kill with my .270 and 130gr copper bullets, just to prove this point to the cannon ball enthusiasts.

From your description, you have a dead bear out there, but fur and fat often will clog the wound from externally bleeding, making it hard to find a blood trail.

How long ago was it? Any chance you can find a blood tracking dog to go out and help look (not sure if that's legal in CO)?

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

Here you go...

First, you provided zero useful information on the actual size of the bear. Track width? Not a word. Amount of daylight under the belly? Nada. Heighth against a known target? Again, nothing. How large was the neck? Nothing. Your "largest bear ever seen in the wild" could have been one of the 50 pound "monsters" forum members are now advocating to kill. Most hunters are horrific at field judging bears. If you took the time to get an idea of the actual size of the bear, you could have figured out about where the bullet actually impacted assuming the 10" drop. 10" of drop on Boo Boo will not be nearly as forgiving as on a mature boar.

Second, learn where to shoot an animal based upon its anatomy. There is a very good reason bear guides tend to tell their clients to shoot the "middle of the middle" or a few inches behind the shoulder.

Third, you shot the bear the first night and in the AM spent two hours searching for it. You should have spent the remainder of the trip looking for that bear.

With that said, all of us will screw a pooch at some point. Learn what you can and try not to screw that same pooch again.

 

[SloppyJ]

I'm gonna go with your bullet choice is shit for that application.

 

[DenimChicken]

I’m not an expert and most of this has been said, but here’s my take:

-Poor shot placement. You likely shot too far forward if you actually hit where you were aiming.
-Poor accuracy. Not sure how much you have practiced at range with your holdovers, but not dialing for elevation can be a limiting factor, especially if you’re guessing at your holdovers.
-Poor bullet selection. Ballistic tips aren’t the best bullet for this application.

 

[Leadfeather]

Here you go...

First, you provided zero useful information on the actual size of the bear. Track width? Not a word. Amount of daylight under the belly? Nada. Heighth against a known target? Again, nothing. How large was the neck? Nothing. Your "largest bear ever seen in the wild" could have been one of the 50 pound "monsters" forum members are now advocating to kill. Most hunters are horrific at field judging bears. If you took the time to get an idea of the actual size of the bear, you could have figured out about where the bullet actually impacted assuming the 10" drop. 10" of drop on Boo Boo will not be nearly as forgiving as on a mature boar.

Second, learn where to shoot an animal based upon its anatomy. There is a very good reason bear guides tend to tell their clients to shoot the "middle of the middle" or a few inches behind the shoulder.

Third, you shot the bear the first night and in the AM spent two hours searching for it. You should have spent the remainder of the trip looking for that bear.

With that said, all of us will screw a pooch at some point. Learn what you can and try not to screw that same pooch again.

Thanks for your honesty, the bear was about 36" at the shoulder and had about 6-8" of air under his belly his ears appeared small on his head with a short neck.

 

[Leadfeather]

I’m not an expert and most of this has been said, but here’s my take:

-Poor shot placement. You likely shot too far forward if you actually hit where you were aiming.
-Poor accuracy. Not sure how much you have practiced at range with your holdovers, but not dialing for elevation can be a limiting factor, especially if you’re guessing at your holdovers.
-Poor bullet selection. Ballistic tips aren’t the best bullet for this application.

Thanks for your honesty . I routinely shoot deer with the holdover system i used at the same ranges . shooting from improvised rest is certainly a big variable . I study my trajectory so that i am aware of drop at a given range out to what i consider its effective range ' in this case I was near its max of 350yds
As for bullet selection I'm guilty of leaving a box of unloaded 165gr Nosler partitions setting on the load bench and opted for the BT because it was slightly more accurate. your reply is appreciated

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

The image below does a pretty good job showing the anatomy of a bear.

This is where understanding the actual size of the animal comes into play compared to perceived POA and calculated POI (10" drop). It can provide some insight on the potential impact on search and recovery efforts.

This is where spending literally a few seconds ahead of time to learn species-specific shot placement could have resulted in a successful recovery rather than what actually happened (maimed or unpleasant death).

 

[AKBorn]

Bears, even big bears, absolutely die with one shot if you put the bullet in the right place. My next brown bear I'm going to kill with my .270 and 130gr copper bullets, just to prove this point to the cannon ball enthusiasts.

From your description, you have a dead bear out there, but fur and fat often will clog the wound from externally bleeding, making it hard to find a blood trail.

How long ago was it? Any chance you can find a blood tracking dog to go out and help look (not sure if that's legal in CO)?

Not saying it doesn't happen, just saying it's not "typical" that they die from one shot. Curious if you would take a 321 yard shot at the brown bear with your .270 and 130 grainers?

 

[Leadfeather]

I'm gonna go with your bullet choice is shit for that application.

I now agree ! I will be working something more robust for next year! I'm thinking a monolithic or accubond Maybe something that burns more powder.

The image below does a pretty good job showing the anatomy of a bear.

This is where understanding the actual size of the animal comes into play compared to perceived POA and calculated POI (10" drop). It can provide some insight on the potential impact on search and recovery efforts.

This is where spending literally a few seconds ahead of time to learn species-specific shot placement could have resulted in a successful recovery rather than what actually happened (maimed or unpleasant death).

After studying this I realize the vitals are further back than the hogs I typically deal with.

 

[Randle]

I must say your are taking all this info very well
Good for you

 

[johnnycake]

Not saying it doesn't happen, just saying it's not "typical" that they die from one shot. Curious if you would take a 321 yard shot at the brown bear with your .270 and 130 grainers?

If it isn't typical in your experience, then that is a marksmanship issue with the crowd you are running with. In my group of friends that have killed bears (black, brown, polar, big and small) I know of more one-shot kills than hairy follow ups or multiple rounds. And all of the multi round or hairy followups are due to hunter-errors leading to poor shot placement, and they readily admit that. I know 4 guys that did predator control for bears for years killing who knows how many bears, and two of them preferred .243 for sub 100 yards .270 for over, even on grizzlies--cheaper ammo than .30 cal set ups.

Absolutely I would take a brown bear at 321 yards, assuming its a "good" shot opportunity and I can't get closer--but I enjoy working in closer whenever I can. Bear skin is thin, even on +9' brown bears, like, half as thick as elk and 1/4 the thickness of moose. That set up shoots flat and fast, and the bullets hold up great. It dumps moose in their tracks with one shot at +200 every time I've used it. I've dumped a bunch of elk up to 500 yards with it. That set up at 321 yards is more than enough to put a hole in a brown bear's heart or break its spine.

Leadfeather, good on you for taking a learning attitude with grace here. That is far too rare these days.

 

[Curhunter]

Don't have much to say about your situation. I saw a 250lb bear flattened this year with a 243 at 50yds. I know of quite a few killed with a 25 caliber. All of these were one shot and little to no tracking. It doesn't take much to kill a black bear if hit correctly. I really like the picture that was posted. It would help a lot of people to see it before chasing bears.

 

[JohnJohnson]

Is the scope you're using not something you can dial the elevation for? Holding over for elevation can be done but it does seem to introduce unnecessary error to the whole experience not to mention the crosshairs don't stand out against black bear fur quite as much as other animals.

 

[Jethro]

leaving a box of unloaded 165gr Nosler partitions setting on the load bench and opted for the BT

This could very well be the answer to your question.

 

[PlumberED]

Kudos to you for asking for advice and then gracefully taking the constructive criticism.

 

[CNEdeer307]

first off, Im sorry to hear you did not recover the bear. That said you seem to be making this a learning experience which is awesome! I think there is couple major factors that contributed to not finding this bear...

-Your shot placement was too far forward. There is diagram of a bear above in this thread and as you can see the lungs sit significantly further back on bears. Aiming for the shoulder especially with a suboptimal round and yardage is not a good combination. you likely missed vitals or bearly (Haha) clipped them. the bear may have died but it wasn't going to be very fast If this was the case
-More time was needed searching for the bear. sometimes bears don't bleed, the fat plugs that entrance up and your not going to get a very good blood trail, if any. you should have gird searcher or circled the hell out of the area, there's a chance he crawled into some dark brushy hole and checked out.
-I know you stated that you have shot several deer with the hold over method and that's fine, but bears are not deer. typically when we look at deer we have a pretty good idea of the size of the animal and can more accurately hold over to place the shot well for the distance, Im assuming that's your method. But because bears vary in size, and bear size is so hard to judge, especially for inexperienced hunters, there is a ton of room for hold over height to get misconstrued.

Hard lessons, and ones I've learned myself after shooting and not recovering a very nice bear in BC in 2019. seems like this thread has some great info on things you can change in the future to help connect on your next bear.