I usually get in on 5-10 bear kills every year between Silverwood and Johnsondale. I've spent more than a dozen years as a camp cook, packer, and photographer during the 4-month bear season here in CA. Usually there are two or three, but as many as four or five packs of hounds and groups of houndsmen in my camp at any given time. They seem to like my cooking. Think grilled steak and dutch oven chicken. I think lunch and dinner for 19 was about my largest meal.
The clients bring everything and anything, shotguns, bow and arrow, muzzleloaders, and rifles of every type and caliber. The houndsmen all carry .44 revolvers. A man named Dan, hunting with Joel, used a .280 to kill a ~900lb monster in Cherry Valley about a decade ago. But Chuck and Dale, both longtime houndsmen, used a single shot from a .44 to kill one around ~700 at Chimney Peak a few years back. No I didn't bring a scale, and the weights are very approximate, but both bears were equally dead. After witnessing about a hundred kills, I'd say half were taken with a .44 magnum.
The biggest mistake I see are hunters that not ready for a follow up shot, regardless of the weapon they shoot. On a treed bear, after the dogs are tied up, I always like to see bang, plop, bang, bang. Then the dogs can get back to the woolin'. A smart houndsman is not going to let most clients shoot a bayed bear anyway. Occasionally, the dog's owner might get between the dogs and the bear and take the shot, but generally, a client shooting around a man's dogs is a no no. And most bears will eventually tree, unless there are no trees. If you decide to shoot a treed bear, there's usually plenty of time to get lined up, and anything, in the right hands, works.
