Originally Posted by
Camosteel
My goodness there are alot of people on here that think black bears are hard to kill. I wouldn't hesitate to use any "deer caliber" including a .243 on a black bear. Of course I've never killed or even seen a 400-500 pounder but the ones I've seen from PA and Maine sure were not wearing Kevlar. Can't comment on Elk as Ive never hunted them but if I did and only had a .243 I would load it up with a heavy, premium bullet and go get em.
I think where you're hunting black bears can matter greatly, a black bear in the lower 48 vs. some in canada, BC, alaska...a true 500lbs black bear vs. some of these 100 lbs bears I see taken are a huge difference.
But I agree most hunters, most bears, a deer rifle is plenty gun, esp a 270 or 30-06
I took 2 bears in BC, both with a .300win.mag, one dropped dead on the spot, the other soaked up quite a bit of lead, the 1st shot probably killed him, but put a few more rounds in him.
I recently heard these black bears have been reclassified as coastal bears, and have a larger variation from black bears, than grizzlies/browns do.