Some friends of mine went to Quebec a few years back and 2 of them took 00 buck in 3 1/2 mag. I used my bow. But I have to say at the distance they shot the bears under 20yds. The out come was devastating at that range. And about 90% of the pellets exited the opposite side of the 200lb range bears. But anyone that has familiarity with shotguns is going to know you start to push those ranges out to 50yds or more your going to get a whole different scenerio. The shot pattern at the close range was between a 4 to 6 inches in diameter. Keep adding yardage to that and it's going to get alot more spread out fast. So out of a tree stand under 30yards theres not a black bear alive going to walk away from a well placed shot with 00 buck. And they don't run away either. LOL