workable plan,243 for a bear ?
- Thread starter jetman
- Start date
2muchgun
New member
Thanks shot him last year. At one time I took 7 consecutive with neck shots. Plus a black bear. Not one critter took a single step.
Also hit one off center in neck shooting offhand while walking with a bud and his custom 270. Luckily I was able to cycle bolt and put one through his lungs as he ran off. One of only whitetails I have ever had to shoot twice.....
Also hit one off center in neck shooting offhand while walking with a bud and his custom 270. Luckily I was able to cycle bolt and put one through his lungs as he ran off. One of only whitetails I have ever had to shoot twice.....
Rocky1
New member
The deer hunter did hit the spinal column, mid-neck, at a distance of about 60 yards, exactly where he was aiming, with a 30-06. I'd call that a pretty solid shot, as he did that night. He swore up and down his shot was good, couldn't believe the bear ran off. About an hour into the chase, both we and he himself, were questioning shot placement. Evening would have likely ended much earlier, but the catch dogs ran over a deer and took after it, leaving us with 2 trail dogs on the bear. Good hounds, simply not enough fight in two of them to push the bear up a tree. He'd back into a bush and fight dogs until we got close, then he'd break and move again. We went round and round in circles for several hours.
Best we could tell in trying to piece together the hunter's story, as he'd never shot a bear before and was little rattled, and what we found when the bear was skinned, the bear was more or less facing him, with his head turned to the right. Hunter felt he was more broadside in telling us about his shot, for whatever reason. Still insisted he was when we skinned him. He couldn't remember if the bear was turning toward him as he shot, we felt that would have likely been the case. Angle of entry, angle of the bear's spinal column, no doubt contributed to the problem encountered, from what we could tell, but it was what one would normally anticipate to be a good solid neck shot. And, there was little doubt in any of our minds that the bear would have recovered from his wound had we not put the dogs on him that night. His wound, while it did slow him down considerably, was by no means life threatening. Had he been shooting a heavier bullet, we all felt he'd have planted him where he stood.
Best we could tell in trying to piece together the hunter's story, as he'd never shot a bear before and was little rattled, and what we found when the bear was skinned, the bear was more or less facing him, with his head turned to the right. Hunter felt he was more broadside in telling us about his shot, for whatever reason. Still insisted he was when we skinned him. He couldn't remember if the bear was turning toward him as he shot, we felt that would have likely been the case. Angle of entry, angle of the bear's spinal column, no doubt contributed to the problem encountered, from what we could tell, but it was what one would normally anticipate to be a good solid neck shot. And, there was little doubt in any of our minds that the bear would have recovered from his wound had we not put the dogs on him that night. His wound, while it did slow him down considerably, was by no means life threatening. Had he been shooting a heavier bullet, we all felt he'd have planted him where he stood.
2muchgun
New member
So you are saying he solidly hit the spinal column, severed it, and the bear ran away?
All I can tell you is that I cannot buy that story.
I dont care if it was a grizzly bear. The neck wound be broken, the bear unable to lift his head and even in the amazing event he could still run, all he would manage to do is run into the nearest tree and pile up.
Critters with broken necks/spinal columns don't run away. Close up shots with 30-06s break spinal columns.
JMO....
All I can tell you is that I cannot buy that story.
I dont care if it was a grizzly bear. The neck wound be broken, the bear unable to lift his head and even in the amazing event he could still run, all he would manage to do is run into the nearest tree and pile up.
Critters with broken necks/spinal columns don't run away. Close up shots with 30-06s break spinal columns.
JMO....
Rocky1
New member
It didn't break the spinal column, that was the problem... A heavier bullet likely would have. To light a bullet, traveling to fast, a minute angle of deflection, the bullet failed to break the spine. It was a solid shot in the respect that it could not have been better placed. The shot was dead on; the lighter bullet simply failed to penetrate the spinal column.
Rocky1
New member
They get down to around 120 - 125 grains over the counter, and that's what he said he was shooting. And, no it didn't. Bear was standing in a feedplot, hunter was shooting out of a stand, wide open shot, nothing to slow the round or deflect it in any nature, but no it didn't break the spinal column.
We were all baffled by what we found as well, and again, we all felt had he been shooting a heavier bullet, it would have likely dropped the bear in his tracks.
We were all baffled by what we found as well, and again, we all felt had he been shooting a heavier bullet, it would have likely dropped the bear in his tracks.
2muchgun
New member
If you say so.
Its hard to say what actually happened sometimes. But when 243s won't break rib bones, and 30-06s won't break neck bones at 60 yards, I generally have to start looking for other solutions.
A 125gr PSP traveling roughly 3000fps is gonna penetrate a neck, hit vertebrae and break it. I have done this stuff too many times with too many bullets/cartridges.
Is the 125 a great choice for bear? No. Would I trust it to break shoulder bones? No. But a neck shot, YES. All day long.
I'm certainly not calling anyone a liar. It is just that sometimes I don't always feel that perception is on par with reality. It is real easy to get mixed up. Nobody knows this better than I.
JMO....
Its hard to say what actually happened sometimes. But when 243s won't break rib bones, and 30-06s won't break neck bones at 60 yards, I generally have to start looking for other solutions.
A 125gr PSP traveling roughly 3000fps is gonna penetrate a neck, hit vertebrae and break it. I have done this stuff too many times with too many bullets/cartridges.
Is the 125 a great choice for bear? No. Would I trust it to break shoulder bones? No. But a neck shot, YES. All day long.
I'm certainly not calling anyone a liar. It is just that sometimes I don't always feel that perception is on par with reality. It is real easy to get mixed up. Nobody knows this better than I.
JMO....