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How to kill a bear quickly?

mike213

Hello,

I 've bought 150 acres of land in Southern Vermont. As my wife and I were unloading the car a bear came out of the wood. It looked at us for a few seconds then started to trot toward us. The kids were playing on the second floor of an old original barn, which is the only building on the land. As soon as I saw that thing running toward us I locked the car and we both run into the barn. I closed the door and we joined the kids upstairs.
From the window we saw that animal destroy the driver's door to get to the food that was in the car. As soon as he was done eating our food or the whole weekend it left. It took two hours. We no cell coverage I couldn't call anybody. I was furious that the camera was in the car. The animal was shot by a local a couple days later. 460 pounds.

I just can't deal with that. As of today I just don't feel secure there. I'm going to have a bunch of people helping me fix the barn, most of them students, and a few kids will be playing around.

I have inherited a 30-06 from my late father. I've shot that gun a lot at the range with him, but I never hunted or killed anything with it. Frankly, I'm not that knowledgeable about guns.

Is this the right gun to kill a bear?
A few precision. I'm not going to try to hunt bears and shoot them from 200 yards. Unfortunately I have a grimmer scenario that could happen. There is only 50 yards from the edge of the wood to the barn. I need a weapon that can kill a bear that will come out of those woods and start walking/trotting, running towards us. Most likely a front shot.
Is that savage 111 30-06 with a four bullet magazine the right gun to kill a bear before he can cover those 50 yards?
If now, what should I get instead?
A friend suggested a mossberg shotgun loaded with what he called brenekke?
Help!
Click to expand...
https://www.m4carbine.net/editpost.php?p=2907412&do=editpost
 
I live in bear country, there is very little you can do if the bear is predatory, it will be on you so fast you won't have time (to sh!t or wind your watch). One person around here killed one with a knife , as he was attacked while crossing a beaver dam.

Most bears are just interested in what's going on, suggest get out of their way and they will normally move along. That said, make sure you have no food sources for them, including wild sources such as berries and apples.

We have a single bbl shotgun that has a 13" bbl, when hiking it is in my wifes backpack with but sticking out, I follow along and can access the gun real fast . here the issue is surprising a foraging bear so make lots of noise.

A Mossberg 500 with an adjustable stock, leave stock short, is employed while tenting.

We use 00 Buckshot as ranges will be super sort, like 3 bear steps, as they will false charge if they are guarding a cache or have cubs.

9 out of 10 bears will do no harm, trouble is, they are not numbered.
 
Several years ago me and one of my hunting and back-packing buddies were in Turners Outdoorsman. I was purchasing a Browning Buck-mark .22 pistol to take along on hikes, and use as an additional training pistol when I teach. The salesman asked what my primary use for the pistol would be, I replied it was for Bears and Mountain Lions. He looks at me puzzled and said " your not going to stop a Bear or Lion with that .22 pistol" My reply was, my intention was to shoot him ( pointing at my buddy) in the leg, then escape.

Lesson: never be the slowest runner in your group.

True story.
 
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Most bears will leave you alone, I have lived with most of the bears available in NA, coastal browns, inland browns, polar (less time than others) and a lot of time with black bears in CONUS, inland canada, west coastal canada and alaska. I used to spend 50-60 days a year wilderness canoeing and kayaking. The only place I carried persuasion with me was on the coast of BC and alaska as I was alone most of the time and camping in the alders and such at the shoreline so my visibility on land was 10-20 feet so up close and personal encounters was a strong possibility.

Years ago I read a book that documented all of the bear attacks in north america that the authors could find documentation of. The main take away from reading the bear attack book was bears are less apt to interfere with groups of people, the book claimed there was no documented attack of a group of 6 or more. I bring this up as it sounds like there will be a group helping you out on the project. The other thing I learned is they sometimes ID a bear who attacked someone by finding bits of their shoes in the scat.

Alpha male dogs can be the best bear protection you can have as they act as great alarms, assuming they do not bark at the wind or every squirrel that crosses "their" yard. Not only do the dogs act as a good alarm they may engage the bear to protect "their" people which may distract the bear giving you time to decide which mode you want to pursue, fight or flight. The barking dogs may well just keep the bear from entering your space.

Shooting a bear that is charging at you at full tilt is not easy. Think about the geometry, if your lead is off by a little bit you will probably hit the bear on the lower half, gut shot. I was told by a trapper who spent his life around polar bears that he preferred to shoot a charging bear from a seated position. The trapper preferred sitting because the shots that he connected with were pretty much going to enter the bear in head, neck, or chest area.

Were I in your situation I would be able to sleep soundly at night as I think the bear was a one off, black bears rarely attack humans. At some point the bear found food in someone's car and had enough experience around cars to be able to get in. Bears learn very quickly how and where to get food. I had a black bear punch holes in my sea kayak when he rolled it over looking for food, my food was stashed elsewhere, no trees to hang the food. Too many sea kayakers store their food in their kayak at night, this is the worse thing you can do because your mode of transportation can get destroyed in seconds stranding you. All I needed was some duct tape to keep the water on the outside.

Remember black bear attacks are rare and you will probably not have any problem. I would be happy to come up and "stand guard" for room and board, if you need help sleeping at night. I like Vermont.
 
Springtime is the worst when the black bears come out of hibernation they're very hungry. They'll eat the bird food in the bird feeder in the front yard. Rest of the year we don't see them.
 
While deer hunting in the 4 Corners area, we ran across a retired forest ranger from NM. He advised us to Carry moth balls and spread them around where we camped and not to clean the deer too close to camp. Moth balls worked very, very well. Works well for skunks under the house also, just do not use to many or you will be staying with friends and relatives for a while.
 
I’ve shot a few sows with cubs in my campground with RUBBER slugs. We call it spanking the bear. It teaches them this place isn’t worth it, hurts but not lethal. Bears don’t bother me too much really. Did have a momma in the backyard with 2 cubs that popped her jaw and swatted from 50 feet off, but she wasn’t cornered so nothing more. With that said.... I’m a 45 Colt with 325 grain slammers kind of guy.
 
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