You need to remember that the .308 was only designed to be used for one reason and that was to replace the 30-06 in a military rifle.
The benefit was that the action was shorter and the shell used less powder, was shorter - was lighter - so you could carry more ammo.

The downside to it was that it was only designed to be shot with a 150 gr bullet, not a 180. When you move up to a 180 gr bullet, you are getting into 30-06 territory and the .308 just doesn't have it to propel the 180 gr bullet down range as good as the 30-06.

I'm not putting down the .308, I am just saying that if you wanted to hunt bear, you should have thought about it before you plunked down your hard earned money on a gun that is marginal at best with anything but a 150 gr bullet.

The advantage you have is that the technology today in bullet manufacture technic's is 100% better then it was 20 or 30 years ago so the bullets you buy today will retain more of their shape and energy downrange and using a larger bullet is not always necessary.

Bigger is not better, the bigger bullet uses more case space, which leaves less case space for powder. That also translates to more recoil and less expansion and less range - because the bullet will not travel as far or go as fast as will the 150 gr bullet.

For regular old deer hunting, you can't beat a economy round such as the Remington Corelokt's or the Federal Classic.
If you felt the need to hunt bears, you could try to the new light magnum loads. The funny thing is - if you wanted a magnum - you should have bought a magnum in the first place.

I bought several boxes of Nosler Partitions 180 gr for my 30-06 and my .300 Winchester Magnum and have never shot any of them, because the cheaper bullets does the same thing for less money.
@where I live, you have a better chance of getting hit by lightning then getting a bear in our 3 day bear season.