Hmmm......
I see Bell mentioned.
FWIW, I have never seen Bell's marksmanship rated at anything less than "excellent". More often "superb". However it's also said that you could fill a modest village cemetery with those who sought to emulate Bell's use of small calibres on dangerous game and missed just once....
I also recall that his meat-hunting in the far north was done with a handgun (.45LC?) "running down" game in deep snow while wearing snowshoes. The man was also very, very fit.
I also agree that for
most able-bodied males, the recoil level on a .375 is such that the difficulty is mostly mental, and that learning to shoot a rifle in a more reasonable calibre is a part of the price that we should be prepared to pay if we wish to hunt big critters.
The cross-sectional area of a projectile is proportional to the
square of the diameter.... thus a .375 has a CSA of approximately 50% greater than that of a .308. If you're trying to let blood out or air in, that is
not insignificant . Of course that doesn't guarantee anything, but a man who hasn't missed anything, hasn't done much shooting. If you miss by just a little (and most misses are.....) then that difference may be what you need. Again, no guarantees, but it tips the odds a little more in your favour, and I'm not so arrogant that I want to ignore the percentages.
While I haven't shot any bears (Drop-Bears excepted
), I've spent my life amongst bushies. We tend to "make do" and use what is available - even if it isn't what is best for the job. We also tend to accept a slightly higher degree of risk (rural industries tend to be high-risk occupations) as a matter of course. Point being that just because you know a "local" who does something in a certain way, doesn't mean that it is a good idea for you to imitate him.
Regards.......... Peter