had a great handgun hunt with my daughter amanda, her first handgun hunt and my cousin, his second. She was using a performance center 44 mag with a load of hs6 under a beartooth large meplat 250 grain hollow point at 1250 fps. my cousin michael was on his second handgun hunt and using his srh 454 casull with a sierra 300 gr softpoint at 1250 fps.
amanda got on her bear the second night after a large thunderstorm rolled thru. luckily enough the bear treed closed to the road and amanda made a nice shot behind the front shoulder and out the opposite shoulder, the bear shimmied up the tree a bit and she put a shot straight up 90 feet as the bear was climbing the tree after the first shot but hit some branches. it was a tough shooting scenario for her due to the angle and how many branches were in the way. the third shot was a texas heart shot, then the bear tumbled down and was hers. it was a great bit of shooting and i was impressed she kept her head seeing how excited she was. it was later found that the bear had been run the previous two days in the same area and killed a couple of dogs the day before. the other outfitter said the boar was into it with a couple dogs and they had a grip on the bears left upper lip, then killed some dogs, this bear she shot had a large laceration on the left upper lip and fresh war wounds with the dogs. it was quite salty and almost 300lbs. according to the warden that checked the bear in, the bear was very very old.
michaels bear was treed the next morning and we had quite a hike up the mountains. it was worth it. he put a picture perfect shot behind the front shoulder and out the opposite shoulder on his bear. the bear tried to go up the tree but couldn't with a blown out shoulder and in rapid fire he through the hip and the bear fell dead in less than 5 seconds.
both had a great hunt and it was interesting to compare the two loads at about the exact same velocity. it was interesting, here's the pics



the photo is amanda's 44 mag. great gun, and very unique. never posted a pic of this before i don't believe. has one of the greatest triggers i've yet sampled on a handgun.

the 44 mag load penetrated fully and killed the bear well but took almost a minute and a half, penetrated the far shoulder but didn't shatter it. the 454 load was about the same velocity and annihilated the offside shoulder, we skinned it and the shoulder almost fell off. complete penetration as well. the bear was dead in 5 seconds, both shots went thru the lungs, no heart shot. i post this comparison as many appear to be contemplating a black bear hunt and i'd thought i'd share the results. no danger of losing bears due to the dogs being there, but to quote the guide (4th generation bear hunter and guide) "an elk though, could go a long long way in a minute and a half." oddly enough they use 3 main calibers, 44 and 356 gnr for bear and lion, and 44 mag and 454 for elk. the preferred loads are all xtps/barnes or a frames. they use 180 gr xtps on elk. many would criticize but i know of no one that's shot more. just an interesting take. next time we'll be using a frames or 240 gr xtp's on the bear.

Well done, well done indeed. Congrats to the both of them!

Good shooting, and congrat"s to you both.

Another successful handgun hunt Mark! You, my friend, are living a handgun hunters life. You talk the talk & walk the walk. You hunt with your handguns, test bullets on "live" game, and share your "real life" details with us. You have also passed along the handgun hunting lifestyle to your family.......well done man....well done! Your daughter is quite the handgun huntress, she has taken a lot more handgunned game than most! & yes, this is her first handgun kill

she is a chip off the ole' block. In the words of the great JFJ, "I'm glad I don't owe her any money"

Good job on the bears and thanks for the bullet info. BTW what state were you in?

Congrats to them both!

Thanks guys. They were in new mexico. I return for mountain lion in december so dad gets to shoot something too! I feel fortunate to hunt with a guide that killed a full grown boar with his bare hands and a rock

Markie, Its amazing what a good JHP bullet at good velocity will do to a black bears lungs. Like you said you had the dogs and there was no chance of them getting away but what happens when there are no dogs and you can`t see more then 20 yards its so thick. Great hunt with your trained eye making some exact observations on the different bullets terminal performance...

Congrats!!!

Congrats for sure.With bears I always try to take both shoulders on that first shot and let the bone slivers do the hole poking in the lungs and heart.Fine looking bears for sure.Our ten month season starts sept 1st

Mark,

Congratulations on a successful hunt for both Amanda and Michael! Looks like some rough terrain - what area of NM?

Huge congrats on fantastic hunts!

Congratulations Amanda and Michael, and Dad. Looks like you taught her well. Memories to last a lifetime there. Good luck on your cat hunt later.

Excellent; congratulations to both!

Very cool. Tell them congrats!

Mark, my friend, nicely done! You are spreading this affliction to as many folks as possible. Congratulations!

Congrats all-around! Well done.

Way to go. Congrats.

Very Cool. Way to go both of you.

Nice,I can close my eyes and here those hounds,looks like a pretty good crew,congrats to all