Ontario Bear Hunt

M

mnhunter3030

New member
Hello hunting friends,

I joined the site about 3 weeks ago, just haven't had the chance to post any as of yet I hoped your combined knowledge might help me out.

I was a 1 gun owner and shooter until about 4 years ago when my godfather bought me a browning bar (1983 Belgium made) chambered in 3006. My Marlin 336 Glenfield 30a has been my primary rifle for minnesota deer for over a decade and ive piled up plenty over the years and have left a gold mine of brass at the range since first getting from Grandpa. Since ive owned that '06 ive only punched holes in paper with it i just cant seem to take to the woods with it, i just like the fit of that 336, the bar is beautiful and balanced but seems long and doesnt seem to fit right when dressed up for cold ya know gotta kinda search for the right line up in the scope.

so here is the question, is the 3030 a reliable over bait black bear hunting rifle? i get nickle size groups from a good rest at the range with federals 170 rn soft point loads (100 yd). can i expect pass throughs? what about blood trails? should i "man up" as ive been told by some at the range? i really torn :confused:

on hand boxes of ammo for the 06 include federal soft points, remington winchester and sierra 165 btsp, trophy grade accubonds,trophy bonded tip and a box of the old school silvertips with aluminum noses. all but the sierras are 180 grain

for the 3030 its 170federal blue box, 150 corelokt and 150 hornady american whitetail and hornady leverevolution 160 gr. all shoot 2 inch groups at 175 yds off a rest of course .:cool:
this will be for an Ontario bear hunt with bears from from 100-300 lbs and a few 500 lbs being taken ranges 10-50 yards

thanks in advance for any input on the two
 
You should be fine either way. I'd with with 165 or 180gr in the 06, and a good HUNTING bullet with a bonded core and controled expansion. I'd put it through the shoulder and through the lungs if at all possible. That will put him down quick.

With 30-30 I'd go with a heavier bullet, 170gr, keeping in mind 30-30 bullets are made to expand at much lower velocities. With 30-30 I'd be more inclined to get a shot behind the shoulder, as I just wouldn't have the same confidence in a 30-30 bullet staying together well through a bear shoulder, though I am open to being re-educated from body who has actually done so.

If you are going through the trouble and expense of planning a trip for a hunt in Ontario, don't skimp on the ammo. Better to have better than what you need than less. This isn't practice ammo.
 
thankyou for your reply i appreciate it. As far as shot placement I have aways been a behind the shoulder not in it type of shooter, That being said a few years back I made a shot on a small doe at 100 yards on the trot and did hit the shoulder blade and it was indeed a bang flop the autopsy showed a small enterance hole lungs were turned to mush and the off side leg was non functional as in broken shoulder that was the leverevo stuff.

so i gather from your input, to stay with the heavy load and come back from the shoulder.

any thoughts about the 170 partitions from federal? ive not made up my mind, if the front wipes clean leaving the rear shank half of the weight is already gone:eek:
 
Welcome to TFL!

First off don't over think the whole bear hunting thing, while I don't have a whole lot I am talking from experience. Back in May of 2007 I traveled to Petersburg Alaska to bear hunt with a buddy on a DIY hunt. This was strictly a spot and stalk hunt done from a small boat.

We were both successful and we both shot about 300 lbs. bears around 200 yards each. I used a M700 .30-06 with 200 grain Nosler Partitions (NPT) and he used a .358 JDJ Contender Pistol and 225 grain Nosler Accubonds. However, I can tell you that just about any bullet for deer will work well on black bears and never be scared of using a NPT bullet.

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225 grain Accubond recovered from my buddies bear against the base of the skull impact velocity 1600 +/- fps.
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Above is a picture of how the Nosler Partition will perform at varying velocities. Your .30-30 is going to have a bullet that will look like the last one. Your front end of the bullet isn't going to wipe away, and you're going to retain the majority of the weight of the bullet.

Now when I went hunting for bear I chose the NPT for a number of reasons. First one mainly being I had a lot of them on the bench, as I bought several boxes of the 200 grain when a local shop went out of business. Second was I wanted a bullet that I knew was going to exit, when I hit heavy bone and I had gained that experience hunting elk with the NPT out of my .270 Win.

The area I hunted black bear in was coastal rain forest with very dense vegetation, so I didn't want to track any wounded animal that had very sharp teeth and claws and knew how to use them. So I decided early on my preferred shot was going to be a high shoulder shot hopefully taking out both front shoulders and the spine. I luckily got that shot on a nice bear and managed to punch through both shoulders and he never moved after the shot.

My 200 grain bullet left the muzzle of my 06 at roughly 2400 fps and at 200 yards would impact at roughly 2000 fps, about 100 fps faster than your .30-30 at 100 yards. So you can expect nearly the same performance from your .30-30, which was a complete pass through with about a dime or nickle sized entry wound to the onside shoulder and about a silver dollar sized exit in the off side shoulder. I'm assuming you'll be hunting fatter fall bear and you might have to worry about the fat plugging the entry and exit wounds limiting your blood for tracking, another excellent reason for a high shoulder shot.

What I discovered after shooting my bear is that black bear doesn't have any heavier bone structure than a mature buck deer. Black bear aren't any tougher to kill with proper shot placement than any deer I've ever shot. Any medium to heavy for caliber bullet at a modest velocity will more than likely put the bear down in quick fashion.

I'd take either rifle, but choose the one you're most comfortable with. Use whatever ammunition is shooting the best regardless of what weight it is. Learn how to sex a bear, mature boars have big blocky heads and little round ears. Sows and young bears have a more triangular shape to their heads and ears. So study a lot of pictures of black bears, and don't be in a rush to shoot the first one you see.

My best advice to you though is to have fun and enjoy the experience!
 
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Taylorce1,

Thankyou for your well written post it was encouraging. The noslers punched a 3 shot group of about 1.25 inches off a bi-pod in 10 mph wind conditions here at the gravel pit. i'm transferring pictures to the computer so i can post them, that will be interesting challenge. Im looking at shots not more than 50 yards says the owner and he was comfortable with the set up, i had some 150 corelokts zeroed at the time i spoke with him. I am always far more consistant with the 3030 as far as groups and ive had 3 other 3006 in the past put i never seem to do more than punch paper with them its always the marlin that goes out. you know what they say about the man with just one gun :D

I saw your post before i joined up i did hope id have a chance to talk, heck of nice blackie you got there i envy your alaskan diy hunt. thanks for the pep talk :)

happy hunting
3030
 
I went black bear hunting ONCE and fired ONE shot from my Rem 742 in 30/06. Range was under 50'. The outfitter(primarily a bowhunting camp) put me on a stand where a big bear had scared off the archers and told me to kill the aggressive bear. My 180 grain softpoint blew a 2" exit hole and the bear expired within 100'. I've never shot anything with a 30-30 but your's should be adequate-just don't shoot a big bear in the shoulder or any bear in the butt.
 
Long before I learned to rifle hunt I was archery hunting (and still do curret set up includes a bear encounter lefty bow 60 lbs draw 26 inch draw goldtip 400 kenitic arrows tipped with 125 grain mangus stingers) proper shot placement has been well installed in me. I wouldn't want a bald butted bear running the woods on those cold mn winters :p

I am trying to load a picture of my partition grouping from the other day ,says picture exceeds the size limit? How do I shrink this to fit?:confused:
 
What software are you using to edit hour pictures? I'm cheap and use the "paint" program because it is free on my computer. Resize to 800X600 pixels as that is a good size for most forums.

Then upload to a hosting site like Photobucket, once uploaded select the picture you want to post. Once selected look for the link button (it looks like a chain), once inside the link screen look for the box that list web forums. Click on that box and the link will be copied to your clipboard, then paste it into your forum post.
 
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