black bear medicine?

[farmbif]

my neighbor came by yesterday and said he saw 4 black bears crossing the road between my property and his the day before. I'm thinking I ought to have the 35 Whelen or 444 marlin at the ready in case they want to try and eat my dog. I never shot a black bear before but he said the big ones were at least as big as his 300lb hog. we have been hearing stories about bears in the neighborhood the past couple years but this is the fist credible sighting. its probably a 1/2 mile between our houses..

[MrWolf]

I keep my Marlin 45/70 loaded as I have had one climb a fence to get at a bird feeder three times and totally destroying two of them. Ruger, my dog in my avatar, at last weigh in was 132lbs so no little guy. Bear does not care.

[brass410]

444 will definetly work cant speak to 35 whelen, I usually carry 12 gauge w 00 buck and slug when out trapping bait at night, because low light condition in bush around swamps means point and shoot at virtually point blank encounters. Your circumstances may vary from a night time raid of garbage bin or uncleaned BBQ by yogi bear to all out daytime stand off in the yard.

[Tripplebeards]

Any caliber that will kill a deer will kill a black bear.

[gumfighter]

I killed a 450 lb black bear with a 35 Whelen back in 2001 in the UP of Michigan. 1 shot at 40 yards through both shoulders with a Trophy Bonded Bear Claw. it fell over backwards and died right there. My buddy used it on a 1000 lb dressed weight Moose in Maine a bunch of years ago. 55 inch spread with the same type of bullet TBBC 1 shot in the hump dropped
drop it right there. It was still breathing and 1 more shot finished him. I shot a lot of deer with the Whelen with both cast and jacketed. I like it a lot. I also use a 45-70 with cast bullets and find it excellent for deer also. Good luck with the bear. Make sure if you get one dress him out immediately, and get the hide off as soon as possible. The meat will spoil quickly if you don't. Mine had 4" of fat under his hide and that was in Sept. Another month and he would have weighted 500+. They pig out before they hibernate and put on the weight to carry them through the winter. The meat was excellent, and as good as anything I ever ate including good beef. Good luck.

[Minerat]

farmbif, I fixed your title. If you want it "back" just let me know. Pun intended.

[farmbif]

thanks for the fix. and all the encouragement, never thought of the smoker attracting anything but flys till now

[quilbilly]

Any caliber that will kill a deer will kill a black bear.
Exactly. Enjoy the meat. It's good unless it has been feasting on salmon.

[Markopolo]

i had one try to swipe my fish the other day... had 11 salmon, and almost one black bear.. about a 250 lb 3 year old... walked right up while we were cleaning fish and wouldn't back off... kept hovering within our perimeter behind where we were cleaning. they have a knack for hovering behind your line of sight.. gotta keep your head on a swivel. the younger ones are especially brazen.. aint got no sense... my older fishing buddy dave was changing a tire and a 2 year old walked right up behind him and latched on to his tricep from behind. good thing he was holding a tire iron and clubbed the young beast.. he had 4 interesting puncture marks and one hella bruise for a while.. they are wild animals... treat them as such.

265559

[farmbif]

there are no salmon that I know of here at the edge of the smokies but lots of trout in the rivers

[missionary5155]

No matter what anyone writes You need at least a caliber 50 (50 Alaskan minimum) to shoot black bears !!! :>)

Whatever you are comfortable with will also work. Your 444 with a heavy slug will do in Mr Blacky. That 35-06 with a 200 grain FN will also.
For pure protection of your dog 12 gauge with slugs will be devastating Soft round ball even more so.
Mike in LLama Land

[444ttd]

No matter what anyone writes You need at least a caliber 50 (50 Alaskan minimum) to shoot black bears !!! :>)

Whatever you are comfortable with will also work. Your 444 with a heavy slug will do in Mr Blacky. That 35-06 with a 200 grain FN will also.
For pure protection of your dog 12 gauge with slugs will be devastating Soft round ball even more so.
Mike in LLama Land


no, they moved the caliber up again, now its the 950 jdj!!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JUiVhM0V7Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVlDzMH4ezU

[white eagle]

No matter what anyone writes You need at least a caliber 50 (50 Alaskan minimum) to shoot black bears !!! :>)

Whatever you are comfortable with will also work. Your 444 with a heavy slug will do in Mr Blacky. That 35-06 with a 200 grain FN will also.
For pure protection of your dog 12 gauge with slugs will be devastating Soft round ball even more so.
Mike in LLama Land

I agree at least a minimum of 50 cal for bear

[smoked turkey]

I shot a nice size male in the Canadian providence of New Brunswick approximately 150 miles north of Bangor, ME a couple of years ago. The rifle was a Ruger M77 in 35 Whelen. The boolit was a 3589 and the distance was about 60 yards. He was dead on his feet, but he covered about 35 yards so fast that it was unbelievable.

[Ozark mike]

460wby
600 and 700 nitro express
50 bmg
30 mm cannon (mounted on a a10)
4ga punt gun

In reality a 357 or 44 mag will deal with blackies if you're good with it i know someone who used a 22mag to take em now a grizz is a diffrent story i got 500 grn pills at 1550 fps out of a 5 shot revolver to change there attitude

[Three44s]

I like the “4” somethings if it’s a handgun. Rimmed cartridges contained in a wheel gun starting with the .41 Rem Mag.

The 44 Rem Mag and better still, the 480 Ruger that I own are my two best in my opinion.

In a compact rifle, I wish that Rossi had stuck with the .480 Ruger in their Win 92 clone as the odds of me landing one of the 100 odd specimens floating around that were shipped is about zero. So my nod goes to the Marlin 1894 in 44 Mag.

I do not own a repeater in 45-70 (yet) so my Marlin in 35 Rem that I do have would have to suffice.

I have studied the .444 vs the 45-70 from a packability vs horsepower and as fond as I am with the .44 Mag. I have to defer to the .45-70 in a Marlin if I were out shopping for one. That does not take away from the .444 for a black bear as I believe that a good slug from one would do the trick. It comes from the fact that when you stand the capability of those two cartridges size by side in the same rifle, rifling twists and bullet availability taken into account, the larger cartridge wins decisively.

In bolt guns, the sky is the limit.

I am very fond of the Remington 760/7600 etc. and though mine is an ‘06, the vaunted 35 Whelen in them with cast would seem ideal, particularily for hunting or home defense.

Out in the brush in a charge, I go back to a tuned Marlin in .45-70 in rifle mode and a Rem. 870 Wingmaster 12 ga. in a smooth bore loaded to your preference.

I see that Wild West has a short picatinny rail that clamps to the Marlin magazine tube for lasers and lights. A green laser for day/night and perhaps a light combo? On the topside, a secure peep sight?

Three44s

[444ttd]

grizzly bears and the 444

https://www.marlinowners.com/threads/marlin-444-grizzly.146926/#post-1800841

https://www.marlinowners.com/threads/the-444-takes-care-of-another-problem-grizzly.179421/#post-2240498


i know the op doesn't say grizzly bears, but as you can see, the 444 is no slouch. mine is a tc encore with 23" MGM barrel in 444. it shoots a 300gr fn gc with 2400/dacron and it goes 1624fps(i know, i'm a wussie). it is great for deer and should be great for black bears. i've only killed one black bear, he was 396lbs and he was shot by my(i traded her) rem m760 in 308 with 150gr hornady rn bullets(i believe it was imr 4350?, i'll have to check).

on the marlin site, a 444 with 1 in 20" twist will shoot up to a 450gr. (check out flat top) the 1 in 38" twist should go to 350gr and less.

[Geezer in NH]

my neighbor came by yesterday and said he saw 4 black bears crossing the road between my property and his the day before. I'm thinking I ought to have the 35 Whelen or 444 marlin at the ready in case they want to try and eat my dog. I never shot a black bear before but he said the big ones were at least as big as his 300lb hog. we have been hearing stories about bears in the neighborhood the past couple years but this is the fist credible sighting. its probably a 1/2 mile between our houses..

Where are you. You have no location on your info. Your neighbor is suspect accused unless a family group mamma and 3 cubs the do not hang together.

I live in NH black bear country and deal with them every year. We use eclectic fences around our protected stuff.

We use rubber buckshot loads for deterrent. Every bear we shoot never comes back.

Get used to them they are not evil. Just need an education.

Before killing them you better be sure of your laws cause you can get into felony level charges for poaching or whatever.

Seem to be a macho thing saying We need to blow them away to protect out dogs, cats . That does not hold in court.

[gumbo333]

Ozark milke, weren't the 4ga punt guns usually mounted on the front of some sort of boat? Seems like that might be a bit difficult to maneuver to get a shot at a bear. Is that enough gun for a muley?

[brewer12345]

I have a bear tag in the area I hunt blue grouse. I am planning to throw a 350 Legend over my shoulder while I stomp around looking for grouse with my 20 gauge. I figure a careful shot with a cartridge that will whack a deer should be good enough for blackies. We have no griz and the state says the average black bear taken here is about 200 pounds.