Bear shot placement advice?
I normally only hunt whitetail and turkey. But this year, I plan to also shoot a bear if I get a shot. I didn't shoot bears in the past because I'm not particularly fond of the meat (and didn't know anyone who did who didn't shoot their own bear meat) and the female half of my friends who own the property where I do most of my hunting asked me not to shoot them (the male half didn't care). This year, both these thinks changed. I found out a friend of mine LOVES bear meat and rarely gets to cook it and there are now so many bear near my friends’ home that they are getting concerned. Oh yeah, and a bear mauled their Australian Shepherd. THAT really changed things! I also wouldn’t mind having a bearskin rug.
I searched the threads and mostly found what I already knew: Shoot in the boiler room (lungs) broadside and any setup I use for whitetail should be OK for bear. Also some info I didn’t know: bears generally bleed less on the trail than whitetails. What I have NOT seen is much specific advice on actual shot placement on a bear. I know generally where the lungs are, but bear do have more fur and I would like to see diagrams, pictures, or similar advice (including helpful descriptions) of a bear’s anatomy relative to shot placement. I figure this would help me understand how much real estate I have to work with (8 inch pie plate?) and how much leeway I have with angles. There are a lot of bears in the area. I see one about half the time when I hunt whitetails. So I’m not really looking for advice on how to find or attract bear (baiting is illegal in VA anyway).
Also, for reference, this is in western Virginia (Rockingham County), so we are talking about black bear, probably in the 200-400 lb range. There’s a huge sow in the area (~400 lbs), it’s the one they think mauled the dog, but it has cubs with it, unless they have left recently. A few years back I saw one up close and personal (less than 10 yards and I was on the ground) that was 500 lbs., but I think it was taken or left the area.
Any help on this?