25-06 for Bear

[Sourdough]

Like Drilling man and The Bear, I've seen small women take Alaska Brown Bear every year with .243s.  I've also seen Native men kill Polar Bears with .223s.  So I have no problem carrying my 25-06 in to the woods with me.  I live in Grizzly Country.

I still want to take a Grizzly with a .17.

[drdougrx]

Also...in case I missed it...are we discussing taking a bear from a stand over a bait???  It matters....

[Lloyd Smale]

correct answer. Black bears being some kind of dangerous game hunting is something dreamed up in the imagination of guys ont he internet not from guys that acutally have and do hunt them. Many Many bear around here are killed treed by dogs by hutners using 357 mag pistols or handgun chambered carbines. . A black bear at least in my expereinces is no harder to kill then a whitetail. If anything they tend to lay down faster. A deer will run till it dies. A hurting bear will find cover and lay down imediately. Probably more bear in this country are killed with 3030s ever year then any other round. A 2506 is a pretty big step up from a 3030 and is PLENTY of gun for black bear.

  Is that REALLY a fair comparison to you???  Come-on, any 25-06 with a decent bullet loaded in it will flatten any blk. bear!!  AT LEAST it would in MY hands, maybe not your's though??
 
  DM

Well then, if what you say is true, then a 25-06 should be no problem on a Alaskan Brown with the correct bullet? 100 gr TSX get the job done? The ability of a cartridge depends more on the danger provided by a wounded animal. That sort of blows the shot placement theory away too doesn't it? If shot placement is everything then a 223 with a TSX type bullet becomes an all around cartridge where it would be legal.

And I do understand what your saying, you are a great shot. Bravo!

  I agree, the 25-06 will work on brown bears and i knew a guide that shot quite a few with his's...  BUT, i've hunted brown bear quite a bit over the 25 years i lived where THEY live, i shot several and for me,  it's NOT about killing them, it's about dropping them in their tracks.  If needed, i can then always walk up and put a finisher in them.
 
  For dropping a brown in it's tracks, i don't choose the 25-06, so once again you make a poor point.
 
  The biggest blk. bear i ever killed was just over 500 pounds, i dropped it with one shot out of my .243 loaded with 100NP's.  I don't consider blk. bears dangerous game, especially the way they are hunted these days.
 
  DM

[SHOOTALL]

Any gun/bullet combo for bear ? It is all about the hunter. His ability and the time he has. Back in the day or in places where time(seasons or time off to hunt) is not limited the hunter has more time to get that good shot. When time is the limiting factor then many try to go magnum and take poor shots. So as a hunter will you wait for a killing shot ? or take any shot to come along ? Will you practice until you can call your shot at any range you shoot at ? Are you willing to learn where to shoot a bear for a kill ? Can you hold down the shakes and make the shot ?
 A 2506 would kill a bear dead if the shooter does his job. Now if the hunter is charged he must shoot fast and straight to save his own life or have someone along to help who can stop the bear.
 So if hunting from the safety of a blind or such I might hunt with the 2506 but if going out among them I might opt for more cubic inches to be safe.

[pastorp]

You guys would argue about anything.  the few that have been there and done that, know. The rest of you just are fantizing  Just like your opinions on a gunfight. 

If you think Alaska natives are exceptional marksmen you've never been there. They do shoot quick and throw a lot of lead with their mini14s & AR15s. They seem to depend more on multiple hit than pinpoint accuracy. Of course pinpoint accuracy is hard to achive while driving a snow machine at speed and shooting one handed. 


Regards,

[SHOOTALL]

it must be great to know everything 

[pastorp]

Shootall, 5 years a member and 21,000 posts. You have a opinion about everything. Right or wrong. At leat the things I comment on I have been there and done. 

  regards,

[Dee]

It's ok to hunt'em with a bow and arrow, but a 2506 with a Nosler partition bullet at 2800fps? Good grief, what are you thinkin.

[charles p]

With an angry grizzly headed your way, a shot into each eye might work with a 25-06.  The last one I saw was in Denali.  Glad I was on a bus.  Its head was larger than a steering wheel.

[FPH]

The OP never has stated which species of Bear he was asking about.  Big differences.

[SHOOTALL]

Shootall, 5 years a member and 21,000 posts. You have a opinion about everything. Right or wrong. At leat the things I comment on I have been there and done. 

  regards,

And you know what everyone else has done ? The times I was up north the locals were very concretive with ammo and more so with American made ammo as the stuff from Canada was not so well made or dependable. As for opinions why not ? But your statement is not accurate as I read but don't post on many topics as I don't either have an interest or plain don't care.
 As far as we know you have not been anywhere or done anything , it's the same for all. 
 
Of course your experience difference vs.  mine may have been in the company you keep. vs. the company I keep.

[pastorp]

I believe that's the problem we were talking about Alaska and you were talking about Canada.  a lot of the Alaska arctic villagers are national guard members and get free M15 ammo so their not worried about shooting it up like your Canadian friends. I believe bear aluded to the use by them of ball ammo for hunting.

Even though I've traveled through & in Canada many times over the last 50 years I never hunted there. So I can't comment much on Canadan hunting. But I did live and hunt Alaska for a few years.
How much Alaska hunting have you done there Shootall? 

[SHOOTALL]

I believe that's the problem we were talking about Alaska and you were talking about Canada.  a lot of the Alaska arctic villagers are national guard members and get free M15 ammo so their not worried about shooting it up like your Canadian friends. I believe bear aluded to the use by them of ball ammo for hunting.

Even though I've traveled through & in Canada many times over the last 50 years I never hunted there. So I can't comment much on Canadan hunting. But I did live and hunt Alaska for a few years.
How much Alaska hunting have you done there Shootall? 

6 trips to Canada none yet to AK. but hope to. Where I hunted most of the locals used slug guns over bait.

[fatercat]

a 120 gn. nosler partition will go through a black bear from end to end and turn him inside out..it is plain to see most responding people here have absolutly no knowledge of what their talking about

[SHOOTALL]

Never shot a bear with a 25-06 but have a lot of deer and a 100 gr BT is all I shoot in mine . I have never had one stay in a deer. Even if it hit bone.

[Dee]

a 120 gn. nosler partition will go through a black bear from end to end and turn him inside out..it is plain to see most responding people here have absolutly no knowledge of what their talking about

Yes fatercat it will, and your also correct on that later part of you post too. I started reloading and shooting the 2506 in 1971, and have owned 7 of the rifles, and have not owned a bad one. The 2506 is an inherently accurate round, and has been used for years at the Camp Perry matches. A 100 grain Nosler will destroy the heart AND lungs of a deer, or decapitate it, depending on your choice of shots.
A petitioned bullet at 2800, or 2900 fps will take a big bear. Have I shot a bear? Noooooo, but I've shot some big damn hogs and a 2506 was way more than enough. Works good on elk also. It will do anything a 270 will do, and further out to boot.
Most people badmouthing a round, have never actually used the round, but someone in a gun magazine said this, or that. I hear the same thing about that "pretty good out to about 100 yards" 3030 story to. Have been hearin it for about the last 30 years. Been shootin my particular 3030 for 55 years, and that group doesn't know what their talkin about either. But that's for a different thread.

[Savage .250]

My thoughts ?    If I were bear hunting I make sure I had enought gun/cal to get the job done!  I`m not into the ,"maybe" or "I wonder." 
 
   
 
 

[Dee]

My thoughts ?    If I were bear hunting I make sure I had enought gun/cal to get the job done!  I`m not into the ,"maybe" or "I wonder." 
 
   
 
 

Me either. That for other folks.

[Lloyd Smale]

me too and with  the 2506 i have that level of confidence for black bear. If your talking brown, grizzly or polar i dont have a clue as there isnt to many of them in michigan!

 
My thoughts ?    If I were bear hunting I make sure I had enought gun/cal to get the job done!  I`m not into the ,"maybe" or "I wonder." 

[pastorp]

Well Lloyd you just wait a little while and you'll be over run with those white bears. What with global warming & all they keep moving south. A native hunter killed one in Fort Yukon a few years ago. They usually don't get that far south. 

[Dee]

I don't think that will ever happen here. We have enough poachers here, that the whitetail have had a hard time coming back, so a polar bear would really be needin a vest to make it more than two or three nights here. And then there's the tornados for'em to worry about.

[SHOOTALL]

If the p bears make to your place Dee forget the tornados think blizards

[Dee]

I never thought of that. I need to get a coat.

[SHOOTALL]

I hear P bear skin makes a good one.

[Dee]

That'll never happen. We got poachers.

[Lloyd Smale]

hmmm polar bear summer sausage!!!! but then id have to get a new gun as some here probably will educate me in the fact that my 300ultra or 8rem mag will probably bounce off of them. 

Well Lloyd you just wait a little while and you'll be over run with those white bears. What with global warming & all they keep moving south. A native hunter killed one in Fort Yukon a few years ago. They usually don't get that far south. 

[pastorp]

Naw Lloyd, a 300 mag of any flavor is plenty for the biggest bear that walks.  you'll be fine.

Before the gun writers started the magnum craze the 30/06 was the gold standard for bear guns in Alaska. 

Regards,

[Dee]

And before the 3006 the 3030 was.

[pastorp]

Pre WW2 you are right Dee. But after the war you'd be surprised how many M1 were used for hunting. Availability of cheep surplus ammo is a strong reason to choose your caliber. It's the biggest single reason for the popularity or the 223 in arctic Alaska today.

And actually pre war a lot of springfields  were used in Alaska.

[geezerbiker]

My old pappy used to say the way to get a polar bear was to pick a big hole in the ice.  Then put a ring of black-eyed peas around the hole.  When the bear comes up to take a pea, you kick him in the ice hole... 

BTW, I don't think the original poster will be hunting bear with a .25-06 since he traded it to me...

Tony