Buckshot for black bear...really??

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black bear in nebraska, iowa, kansas, or south dakota. I live in iowa.

Wow, I just looked up black bear on wikipedia. I had no idea they were so widespread in canada. And when did they become so sparse in the old south?
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They were completely hunted out of arkansas during the depression, along with much of the rest of the game animals. However, they've been making something of a comeback here in the ozarks. I bought a coach gun in 12 ga. just for camp defence with bear in mind. This thread makes me wonder if maybe I should load both buckshot and slug in my sxs. :what:
 
I don't doubt it'd work - but many of us live in states where you can't use buckshot on deer because it's not reliable for clean kills
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Spoken like most people that have never used buckshot on deer. Buckshot range is about the same as compound bow ranges 40 yards or less with in that range it kills as good as anything I've used. I have taken the head off deer with buckshot. I would not think twice about using buckshot if legal on a black bear at 40 yards or under
Of coarse growing up in the hills we took deer regularly with a .22. guess the deer didn't know .22's bounce off them according to the internet
We grew or harvested from the wild 50%-60% of our food back then As long as you were local and didn't waste it nothing was said
 
Went hunting with an old guide and all he ever carried for bear was an old 30-30 Winchester, and he killed more bear with that gun than I have seen so I could believe in OO taking a bear.
 
Spoken like most people that have never used buckshot on deer. Buckshot range is about the same as compound bow ranges 40 yards or less with in that range it kills as good as anything I've used. I have taken the head off deer with buckshot. I would not think twice about using buckshot if legal on a black bear at 40 yards or under
Of coarse growing up in the hills we took deer regularly with a .22. guess the deer didn't know .22's bounce off them according to the internet
We grew or harvested from the wild 50%-60% of our food back then As long as you were local and didn't waste it nothing was said
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Amen brother. I was 16 before I ever saw a game warden. Back then just about everyone used a .22, or shotgun. Of course now we all know it takes a 20 mill cannon to take game animals the size of small deer. :cool:
 
a couple of quick shots ended his career
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That might be the key right there, I would go with a .30-30 or bigger. Admitting, I have only seen a few bears, and not a one in Missouri.

HB
 
We have a very large black bear population here in eastern North Carolina. Most here are taken with deer rifles (.308, .270, .3006, 30-30) as you cannot hunt over bait but you can hunt with hounds.
We also deer hunt with hounds here and deer hounds do tree bears. An old bear will tree quick a young bear will run for miles. I see no reason why buckshot would not work on a treed bear.
 
I suggest anyone interested in the material shooting ability of a shotgun read the box-o-truth.

Good real-world examples of what a shotgun can do (00 Buck ~ 7 sheets of drywall...not what I would think is humane to kill large game but thats just my opinion).

http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot3.htm

Be safe.
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I prefer ballistic gelatin for a more realistic test of the capabilities of 00 buck.

This is the test results of 2-3/4" 00 buck, unplated from remington. twelve pellets, .33" wide, penetrating 16 inches into the ballistics gel after going through four layers of denim.

Or 3" magnum 000 plated buckshot, going through two pieces of 20 ga sheet steel(to represent a car door), then through two more layers of denim and then penetrating an average of 9.6" into the gel. Thats ten .36" wide pellets.

I think those loads would easily kill a bear, given that they are fired at a close range.
 
There isn't much that swims, crawls, walks or in any other way motates around this earth that won't be stopped by a load of 00 buck at 10 or so yards.
 
NC only has black bears. Some of them pretty darn big. A sow bear with cubs is a dangerous critter. I wouldn't be afraid to go against one with 00. It is deadly. Believe it.

A mad bear that has been run for an hours by hounds is also an angry critter. We have killed quite a few with 00 over the past 50 years.
 
Moyock, NC and the Great Dismal Swamp Bear. Used to be stationed at NSGA Northwest (Rt 168) right at the VA/NC border right down the road. The base actually spanned both states and we could hunt either side depending the season. Anywho, one day in the treestand the dogs were running a small swamp blackie that tried to get into the tree with me. I shot it as it started to climb the tree. 20 Guage with buckshot. Not sure what ever happened to the bear, it just dissappeared back into the woods. Told the game warden who went tracking for it, never found it. Moral of the story, it did the trick but not sure if it would have been enough under different circumstances. Of course 3" 12 guage is a far cry from the 20 guage single shot I had at the time. I would still want more even though the bears are small in that area because of the dense swamp, they are also called pigme bears. Bill
 
Black bear are also found through out New England and the Middle Atlantic states.

NY does not allow big game hunting with shot, slugs only.
 
Use Bigger Buckshot!

As currently factory loaded in the U.S., these buckshot sizes actually measure:

1B: .295"
00B: .325"
000B: .350"
Tri-Ball II .600"

I recently patterned some of the Dixie Tri-Ball II Buckshot loads from Dixie Slugs at ranges out to 50 yards. With nothing more than a bead sight on the 870 Express, the paper plate size patterns centered just above the bead using a Briley extended full choke tube.

00B = 1/8th ounce per soft lead pellet.

Tri-Ball = 3/4th ounce per hard cast lead pellet.
 
Just make sure your gun isn't a full choke. Full choke sucks with buck. I myself prefer number one, as it leaves less gaps in the pattern. I don't prefer buckshot for bears, but have killed with it. Where I live, it rains 240 inches a year, and it gets dang thick. The last place I want a wounded bear. Bears have tons of hair and fat to clog up wounds. You can trust your life to it, but I won't if I can help it.
 
Ive taken bears that weighed 400 lbs,, with 18 inch skulls. Down the road from my place, a fellow killed a 670 sumthin pounder. We grow them big up here.
 
I'd like to add that pretty much the only way buckshot would work would be straight from the side. A quartering shot would be a real bad idea. If it's charging straight at you, pray.

Sure, people have felt safe with buckshot to protect them against big cats in Africa. Those that have actually attempted it discovered the hard way that even a 12 ga Foster slug sometimes won't make it through the ribcage of a 200 pound leopard, from the front.

Soft lead projectiles with a very low sectional density vs. very thick, strong muscles, which are tensed, is not a good combination.

If I wanted to use buckshot on black bear, I'd stick with copper plated 000, and direct broadside shots only. Maybe even try to shoot when the near side front leg is raised, like some professional hunters and guides recommend for elephants, if you're using a somewhat marginal caliber.
 
dixietriballiiqc1.jpg




Tri-Ball Buckshot 40 yard Pattern Test

One shot - three hard cast .60 caliber 315 grain buckshot!

Shotgun: Browning Gold Stalker, 3" chamber, backbored with a extended Briley Full choke.

The problem is most folks don't associate the word "buckshot" with tight patterns and shoulder blade busting -complete penetration at 40 yards.

From the responses to this thread, very few shotgunners can envision any factory loaded buckshot other than "traditional" sizes!

For example, RyanM wrote:

"If I wanted to use buckshot on black bear, I'd stick with copper plated 000..."

Why limit yourself to:

"Soft lead projectiles with a very low sectional density vs. very thick, strong muscles, which are tensed, is not a good combination."
 
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It all comes down to how far away the bear is. Round balls have a very poor balistic coeficient and loose velocity rapidly no matter how fast they are started. Provided you are close enough and all the shot hits the target, buckshot is devistating. Once the pattern expands beyond the size of a dinner plate it looses much of its effectivness.
 
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