Going on my first black bear hunt in October.

[Daisy]

Going in western NC. I’m gonna use my 375ruger with 275gr raptor. I know that’s more gun than needed. But I have the cartridge and haven’t used it on game yet.

Anyone else done a black bear hunt?

 

[gillettehunter]

Congrats. Hope you get a stud. I got my first one last Aug in Ontario. Headed back next week. Should be a lot of fun.
Bruce

 

[Tanks]

Anyone else done a black bear hunt?

Yep. .500MDM and 325grain raptor at 2,900fps if I remember right.

 

[RLD]

Going in western NC. I’m gonna use my 375ruger with 275gr raptor. I know that’s more gun than needed. But I have the cartridge and haven’t used it on game yet.

Anyone else done a black bear hunt?

Many.

Oddly enough I am trying out my new 375 Ruger on a black bear hunt this Sept. Thought I should try it under field conditions before my first safari next year.

 

[Green Chile]

You should get an exit from that load, which is what you want. Hunting with dogs? Bear hunting is kind of addictive. You will probably want to go again.

 

[WC86]

Going in western NC. I’m gonna use my 375ruger with 275gr raptor. I know that’s more gun than needed. But I have the cartridge and haven’t used it on game yet.

Anyone else done a black bear hunt?

I used to hunt them in eastern North Carolina.

My best hunting story to this day is seeing one in a swamp while walking to where I was going to hunt. It was in season, tag in hand, rifle thoroughly adequate to the task, about 50 yards away, both of us on the ground.

I passed up an “ok” shot to get a better one. I knew the area well and circled back about 250 yards through the swamp to catch him where I knew the dry land bottlenecked.

As I started to make my way to that bottleneck I had a doe and a 6 point nearly run me over, the latter chasing the former. They stopped probably about 10 yards from me before carrying on. Any other day I would’ve been very happy to have either

From there I saw a coyote, by far the largest doe that I saw in eastern NC (many in that area are not much larger than a Doberman), and some bobcats. More game than I’d ever seen in a single day of hunting in the Eastern NC swamps

Got to the bottleneck and followed it all the way back to where I had first seen the bear.

No bear.

I did see him 2 days later—in a text message from another member of my hunting club. He was in the back of the guy’s truck. 398lbs if I recall correctly

Shot from a treestand about 300-400yards from where my interaction occurred

To add insult to injury, the day I hunted him it was pouring rain and several areas of the swamp I had to walk through to get to that bottleneck were up to my waist. I was walking through there with rifle held high like “fortunate son” should be playing in the background

But I had hunted for bear in that area for 3 years without tagging out so I was determined

Never did take one. Prior to the next season I got orders elsewhere and have missed hunting that club

To this day I still haven’t taken a bear

Best of luck on your quest. If you’d care to share any details of your hunt I’d love to hear them. I’m thinking of getting back up to NC to try again in the next few years

 

[Daisy]

I used to hunt them in eastern North Carolina.

My best hunting story to this day is seeing one in a swamp while walking to where I was going to hunt. It was in season, tag in hand, rifle thoroughly adequate to the task, about 50 yards away, both of us on the ground.

I passed up an “ok” shot to get a better one. I knew the area well and circled back about 250 yards through the swamp to catch him where I knew the dry land bottlenecked.

As I started to make my way to that bottleneck I had a doe and a 6 point nearly run me over, the latter chasing the former. They stopped probably about 10 yards from me before carrying on. Any other day I would’ve been very happy to have either

From there I saw a coyote, by far the largest doe that I saw in eastern NC (many in that area are not much larger than a Doberman), and some bobcats. More game than I’d ever seen in a single day of hunting in the Eastern NC swamps

Got to the bottleneck and followed it all the way back to where I had first seen the bear.

No bear.

I did see him 2 days later—in a text message from another member of my hunting club. He was in the back of the guy’s truck. 398lbs if I recall correctly

Shot from a treestand about 300-400yards from where my interaction occurred

To add insult to injury, the day I hunted him it was pouring rain and several areas of the swamp I had to walk through to get to that bottleneck were up to my waist. I was walking through there with rifle held high like “fortunate son” should be playing in the background

But I had hunted for bear in that area for 3 years without tagging out so I was determined

Never did take one. Prior to the next season I got orders elsewhere and have missed hunting that club

To this day I still haven’t taken a bear

Best of luck on your quest. If you’d care to share any details of your hunt I’d love to hear them. I’m thinking of getting back up to NC to try again in the next few years

Using blue ridge outfitters. I lived in NC for a while and have a lifetime license there. Was easy to add a bear stamp to it.

The outfitter has sent me probably 50 pictures of good size bears he has on his cameras. The hurricane they had must have lessened hunting pressure causing an uptick in the already large bear population.

 

[RLD]

Using blue ridge outfitters. I lived in NC for a while and have a lifetime license there. Was easy to add a bear stamp to it.

The outfitter has sent me probably 50 pictures of good size bears he has on his cameras. The hurricane they had must have lessened hunting pressure causing an uptick in the already large bear population.

Consider sneaking up here to Canada for some bear hunting in the future. Lots of bears, good size and your dollar goes far up here.

 

[The creed]

yes with the 375ruger with 275gr you are good to go.

 

[Daisy]

Consider sneaking up here to Canada for some bear hunting in the future. Lots of bears, good size and your dollar goes far up here.

Man it’s on the list. Did Africa. Then elk last year. Now black bear.

I’m trying to do a big hunt yearly if my wife doesn’t stop it. Ha

 

[revturbo9967]

I’ve hunted black bear many times. It’s a lot of fun. Liked it so much I booked an Alaska interior grizzly/ black bear hunt for 2027.

I’ve hunted bears with handgun, bow and rifle. One of my favorite North American hunts

 

[Daisy]

I’m working up toward a grizzly for sure.

 

[Wade J VanGinkel]

I'll be in Minnesota for the opener September 1st. Took 6 points to draw the unit we're hunting. I took my first bear last year in Upper Michigan. I should also have enough points to draw northern Wisconsin when i decide to hunt there.
I moved to Colorado back in 85 from Upper Michigan so these bear hunts are a reason to go back up north.

 

[CJNJ]

Will be on a black bear and whitetail buck hunt starting the day after Thanksgiving in PA, as always. Trying to decide between my Henry 45/70 with 300 grain Buffalo Bore or my Ruger No. 1 in 300 H&H with 180 grain Accubonds. Can't wait. Good luck to you on yours!

 

[CJNJ]

I used to hunt them in eastern North Carolina.

My best hunting story to this day is seeing one in a swamp while walking to where I was going to hunt. It was in season, tag in hand, rifle thoroughly adequate to the task, about 50 yards away, both of us on the ground.

I passed up an “ok” shot to get a better one. I knew the area well and circled back about 250 yards through the swamp to catch him where I knew the dry land bottlenecked.

As I started to make my way to that bottleneck I had a doe and a 6 point nearly run me over, the latter chasing the former. They stopped probably about 10 yards from me before carrying on. Any other day I would’ve been very happy to have either

From there I saw a coyote, by far the largest doe that I saw in eastern NC (many in that area are not much larger than a Doberman), and some bobcats. More game than I’d ever seen in a single day of hunting in the Eastern NC swamps

Got to the bottleneck and followed it all the way back to where I had first seen the bear.

No bear.

I did see him 2 days later—in a text message from another member of my hunting club. He was in the back of the guy’s truck. 398lbs if I recall correctly

Shot from a treestand about 300-400yards from where my interaction occurred

To add insult to injury, the day I hunted him it was pouring rain and several areas of the swamp I had to walk through to get to that bottleneck were up to my waist. I was walking through there with rifle held high like “fortunate son” should be playing in the background

But I had hunted for bear in that area for 3 years without tagging out so I was determined

Never did take one. Prior to the next season I got orders elsewhere and have missed hunting that club

To this day I still haven’t taken a bear

Best of luck on your quest. If you’d care to share any details of your hunt I’d love to hear them. I’m thinking of getting back up to NC to try again in the next few years

That's a hilarious but classic story. I've had a 10 pointer poke its head out of the swamp just as I put my gun down to sneeze, black bears walking among the trucks at the cabin but seen nowhere in the woods, etc.

 

[93marlin]

I have harvested 8 or 9 Canadian bear over the past 14 years.
The prettiest one was a 260lb boat dark chocolate color phase with blond hilites.
Remarkable hunting.
Photo of the mount was prior to putting up on the wal.

 

[Boyd Brooks]

I’m sitting in bear camp right now as our fall season in central Ontario opened August 15th. Taken a half dozen bears in the last few years the largest was 350lbs. The bears here are excellent table fare, as there is no landfill for 30 miles. This year’s bears should taste of blackberries as there are lots, but not many blueberries this season.
I would also recommend Ontario black bear hunting as we have some big ones.

 

[SafariCurious]

I’m actually on a ranch in Northern California on a bear/deer hunt right now.

Saw a very small bear close up and a very big one very far away so far.

I brought my .375 Ruger and used it to drop this nice 4x3 blacktail buck deer yesterday, the copper Hornady bullet obviously passed right thru, lol.

 

[Moe324]

Good luck. I hunted one on the Ontario Quebec boarder back in 2019. Killed it with a lever action marlin in .35 rem over bait. Would love to hunt bear again someday.

 

[alexwyo307]

Good luck, keep us posted! I live in Wyoming and am lucky enough to hunt black bear every year with archery equipment. It can be addicting!