Hey Andy,

I wasn't upset at all, i was just giveing my opinion just like all the other posters here. That's what makes the world go around... :&gt))

When i was gutting or skinning in the field in bear country, i ALWAYS kept the same rifle i hunted with in the first place close. I stayed alert and continued to look around. If i had someone with me, then i asked them to stay alert one way, (behind me) while i did the other. If i was working in the open, i never was too worried.

I've always believed in useing decent bullets (mostly Nosler partitions) when hunting, so i could handle a bear or ?? even though i wasn't always hunting bears. If i wasn't loaded with NP's then i used a heavier bullet than normal to make up for some of the difference to get better penetration.

I never had a bear problem after putting an animial down and walking up to it. ALL the problems begin once you LEAVE that animial, and come back later to get another quarter to pack. I carried my rifle, or if there was more than one of us packing, we would at least have one rifle between us.

My buddy had a "wolverine" run him off when he came back for the rest of his sheep!!! They can be one mean SOB!!!

Drilling Man

I would take that small little wolverine by the tail and slap him against the rocks and teach him a lesson.

You know I am kidding. Anyway, whats the deal with those critters. Did the wolverine chase your buddy down?

bigcountry,
One of my brother-in-laws {6}, killed a large Black Bear in Alberta Canada with
a WIN 94 carbine .35REM. He had the bear full body mounted.I'm not saying the .35REM
is THE bear gun,all I'm saying is it did a clean kill.The black bear in Alberta are bigger
than Florida,but it is not uncommon to use .35REM here.

I agree. A 35 would be fine. But I have been around black bears my whole life. I never worried about one ambushing me while gutting a deer. And never worried about one charging me.

Ditto!

But then again I can't say I know much about griz or brown. I hear stories. I seen them in Yellowstone. but never worried about them where I hunt.

DM, is it a serious threat? I got a good friend in Utica that goes to Kodiak all the time with a longbow. He said he was stalked by a big bruin last year and finally dropped his blacktail and the bear walked past the deer and kept coming slowly behind him. He said he finally turned around and started tearing into the blacktail. Sounds like my bud kept his head pretty well.

I personally would't use any cal. less than .338MAG, above black bear.

What happened was my friend went back for a second load of sheep meat. He left his rifle at camp (7 Rem. mag.) so he could carry everything that was left there. When he got back to the sheep, there was a wolverine on the kill, and it wasn't giving it up!!! My buddy tried yelling but the wol.. would lunge at him if he got too close, so he gave up and went back to camp for his rifle...

When he got back to the sheep, the wolver... was gone, but it had eaten a lot of meat that he now didn't have to pack out... :&gt))


Anything is possible, but nothing like that has happened to me, not that i know of anyway.... I've had guys tell me all kinds of stories though, even when i'm hunting with them they were seeing and hearing things. I think most hunters have a bit of an imagination when around bears, and locals and guides like to play that up a bit! After all, they have to jusyify that big $$ hunt somehow...

It's not what i'd call "unusual actions" for a bear to follow someone, (some call it stalking) and now that it got a deer for it's efforts, what do you think it will do next time it encounters a human????????

I've been so close to brn. bears in thickets that i could smell them, and hear them move off (many times) and none of them bothered me. Maybe i smell worse to them, than they did to me???? :&gt))

Bear problems are so overrated it isn't even funny!!!! Over the years moose have killed more people than bears have!!!!

Drilling Man

BC, I agree with you, but here it is thick. You might stumble into a MaMa with Cubs,it could get
Nasty! Plus we have FL. Panther and they pick up on a gutted deer real quick.
Most of the hunters take it to the ranger station.
Plus one time I was on stand in a Washington Palm thinking there were no bears in the area,WRONG!
Black bear eat the berries on top of the palm, and that day he wanted some.Luckly I did'nt have to
shoot it.He got tired of trying and climbed back down. I never saw it again,but it ruined that hunting
spot.

A former college roomate of mine that liives in Johnston PA told me two bear stories one bear was shot with a 7mm but it took a 338 mag to finish it off. The other one was berserk during a turkey hunt took 1 copper turkey load from a shotgun, 6 from a high handloaded 357mag to stop, by the way they guy with the 357mag needed a change of shorts after the charge. My former teacher had success with a 300win mag all of these were on black bears. I gues its all in momentum and were your person is located when you shoot at any bear.