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Best slugs to use plain old Brenneke Classic, Winchester or Remington in any smooth bore 12 ga. with 18" barrel and sights preferably....I left out Federal slugs because of bad experiences with the brass near the base cracking on the rim when firing shooting out gasses in your face in many guns especially if your left handed shooting a right hand gun like me....
Using these slugs will put a 70 caliber hole braking bones and letting out a lot of blood and knocking the fight out of a bear....for many years I used a Remington 870 with a 18" smooth bore and sights about the last 15 years a Benilli M1 with pistol grip 18" barrel trillium sights and shell extension tube to hold 7 shells....

Running baits using a shotgun even tho its better if you get into a fight they are a pain having to load and unload at every bait even carrying with two buckets and using a sling over your shoulder....the only reasons a handgun is preferred is with a CPL just keep it loaded and under your jacket when riding in a vehicle or ATV and it very easy to get to if you need it....but just don't have the stopping power of a shotgun slug....

I always when picking up a hunter at a bait site carry a shotgun....

For many years I hunted in Canada and a handgun was out of the question shotgun with slug was the only choice....

Wow. 70 caliber. When you put it that way......

Escape Pod wrote:Wow. 70 caliber. When you put it that way......

And a full ounce or more weight. There is a reason the 12 gauge is so popular among guides in brown bear country.

If I was just starting now guiding I would try a AR-15 in 450 BM with a 16" barrel....with peep sights loaded with Cutting Edge Bullets 240 gr. bullets....I've had several hunters shoot bears with the load and I shot one myself none of them even moved ....DRT....
Just wish someone made a 450 BM pump like Remington 7600 or a semi-auto like the Remington 7400 with 16" barrel and peep sight would be perfect when doing baits.....with a scope it would be the best made sitting on a bait.....

coyote wacker wrote:If I was just starting now guiding I would try a AR-15 in 450 BM with a 16" barrel....with peep sights loaded with Cutting Edge Bullets 240 gr. bullets....I've had several hunters shoot bears with the load and I shot one myself none of them even moved ....DRT....
Just wish someone made a 450 BM pump like Remington 7600 or a semi-auto like the Remington 7400 with 16" barrel and peep sight would be perfect when doing baits.....with a scope it would be the best made sitting on a bait.....

Interesting point about the peep sights. I had actually just installed some of these off the left side of the Picatinny rail on my Ruger Ranch (16") as a backup in case the dangerous game got too close for me to aim effecively with my scope at 2.5x. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D1GJ1CP?ps ... ct_details



But I'm having second thoughts. I got thinking about your comment that in so many years guiding you only had to shoot a bear twice. Right now I'm thinking "why clutter up my hunting rifle on the chance that

1) A bear attacks
2) It's in so close I can't place a shot well enough with a 2.5x scope.
3) I have enough time to deploy my peep sights.

Curious what your reaction is. I know the answer is to cary a pistol. But again, see point number 1. Given that I'm not a guide out servicing bear bait.....

Black Bears are hunted in most of there territory by humans they are have a built in fear of humans....odds are very low having a problem with them unless the encounters they have changes them....only time that I've encountered bears that had little to no fear of humans is in wilderness areas only access is fly in or by boat where there's little to no humans interaction they are the king of the forest and some will act like it....

Really the only time a attack is really possible if a bear is wounded odds go way up.....

Just always remember if you think a bear is attacking it's better be hunting season with a tag in your pocket other wise you better not shoot until there blood on you....I've had many bears "bluff" a attack within 20 feet....once they figured out who I really was I never saw them again....odds are a real attack is not going to ever happen....

Thanks again for the perspective, Coyote Wacker.

I was listening to Steve Rinella's audiobook, https://store.themeateater.com/products ... lose-calls

One interesting bear story was about a guy who was living and guiding in Alaska brown bear country and was accustomed to having bears around his cabin. One day, while working around the cabin, one of his usual brown bears started acting aggressively towards him and eventually had to be shot. What changed? The guy was wearing a cast. He thinks that his being wounded triggered an instinct in the bear that he was "fair game."

I'll have to remember not to hold any dance parties in bear country. I probably look like a wounded caribou .