Have a back up plan!

ALWAYS have a buddy, friend, guide, someone to back you up with a good firearm. Also, carry a side arm! .357 or better. .45 if you can and use magum rounds. Semi-Auto!

Chances are your first shot, although it is a leathal hit will just piss him off. Also, if it is a sow with cubs near by, and she scents you, she might charge and she can close that 30 yards in a blink of an eye.

A bears nose it just as good as a white tail, but you have, at best, a 50/50 chance i it turninh tail and running, or deciding that YOU are thnksgivving dinner!

Personally, I have never hunted bears, but once I was hunting deer in the smokeys. My friend was packing heat and we both had a muzzle loader. We surprised a bear and he dropped the muzzle loader in exchange for the .45. We stared each other down and I started to back off. The bear did the same.

Sorry for the long story, but that situation made me reallize the irony of the hunter becoming the hunted!