Posted By: dave thomas
Scored a Minnesota black bear - 11/19/2019 11:19 PM
A recent bear hunt in Minnesota got us three for three on a self guided and self baited trip. all three hunters were carrying handguns,however two ended up shooting them with rifles. One of them being 125 lbs and the other an amazing 400 lbs shot by my wife.
I christened my new Lipsey edition 4.25" ruger redhawk in 44 mag (a present from my son) topped with a burris fast fire 3. I was shooting handloads with speer 240 grn hp deep curls. The accuracy of these loads are just over an inch at 25 yards. The bear was 21 yards away and broadside when I dropped the hammer. He ran 40-50 yards and crashed. No death moan only some gurgling. He weighed about 300 lbs. the deep curl performed perfectly with a pass thru and destroyed the lungs. blood was coming out both sides on the first leap away from the bait.
We submitted the teeth for the Minnesota DNR to age them. It will be interesting to see how old they were. The property we were on hasn't been hunted for bears for over 20 years.
BTW the weights are calculated by using a girth/ length chart provided by a local bear guide that saw them in camp. he said that we shot two very big bears and he helped me measure mine and the smaller one. The chart said 285-314 lbs for mine so he said to take the middle since it was early season bear. no matter the weight it was an incredible hunt. i dont know how to post photos otherwise i would include them.
I christened my new Lipsey edition 4.25" ruger redhawk in 44 mag (a present from my son) topped with a burris fast fire 3. I was shooting handloads with speer 240 grn hp deep curls. The accuracy of these loads are just over an inch at 25 yards. The bear was 21 yards away and broadside when I dropped the hammer. He ran 40-50 yards and crashed. No death moan only some gurgling. He weighed about 300 lbs. the deep curl performed perfectly with a pass thru and destroyed the lungs. blood was coming out both sides on the first leap away from the bait.
We submitted the teeth for the Minnesota DNR to age them. It will be interesting to see how old they were. The property we were on hasn't been hunted for bears for over 20 years.
BTW the weights are calculated by using a girth/ length chart provided by a local bear guide that saw them in camp. he said that we shot two very big bears and he helped me measure mine and the smaller one. The chart said 285-314 lbs for mine so he said to take the middle since it was early season bear. no matter the weight it was an incredible hunt. i dont know how to post photos otherwise i would include them.