Bears in Texas

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We don't have a trail cam. All of our photos are taken with a camera from our front or rear porch.
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Patchouli said:
@DrHenley those are videos you took?!!
First time I ever saw bear was in Virginia, Skyline Drive, I was probably 4 years old. Ha. Second and third time, same general location. Always thought there were a lot of black bear in Virginia.
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Those are videos that my camera took. I wasn't there.
I have a game camera set up near the entrance to the property set to record video. It doubles as a security camera to catch trespassers.

Yes there do appear to be a lot of bears in Virginia. But they are hunted hard enough that they retain their natural fear of humans, so they usually avoid populated areas. The first picture (cub) and the videos are within 50 yards which hasn't happened before. I do get a lot of pictures and videos of deer and turkeys that close all the time.
 
At some point one of the bears is probably going to end up on the floor as a rug and in the freezer because my wife wants to shoot one. She has no interest in shooting a deer, just a bear. Just speculating, but I think maybe if she knew for certain that she could kill one she would feel safer with bears around, LOL.

She has an 5.56 AR that she bought from a friend that was moving to Italy.

Here in Georgia you can use that for deer (not sure about bear) and many do. But in Virginia where we bought the property last year, there is a minimum caliber requirement for deer and bear of .23 caliber.

So I had to get her a 350 Legend upper for the AR.
I took it out last deer season to see what the terminal ballistics were like so I could decide whether it was suitable for bear or not.

I was mightily impressed. It went through both shoulders, a rib, and the spine and made a nickel sized exit wound which indicated that the bullet expanded well and stayed mostly in one piece. I've had one instance in which a 30-06 bullet did not do that well. And multiple instances where a 270 Winchester bullet did not either.

Recoil is surprisingly mild for the power of the cartridge. I would say it is very close to the 35 Remington as far as killing power and recoil go, but more range. Some compare it to the 30-30 but I think it has a tad more killing power, recoil and range than the 30-30.
 
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Necessary or "Sport Kill"...?!?
 
With GOD's Blessing...?!?
 
No "TRUTH" in bait, You should know by now...!!! and Speaking of "bait", You certainly Use Lots...!!!
 
on texas bear...use to be a bunch of bear in big thicket...i know they declined for awhile but have bounced back now...old guy use to hunt there left and went to new mexico where hunting was better at the time..he was a legendary houndsman named Ben Lilly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Thicket
 
dademoss said:
Wrong forum for me to take up that discussion.
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Why... just "With GOD's Blessing...?!?" can only posted in a Certain Section...?!? Some make too much about some things and maybe some should "Leave Things Alone" when stuff wasn't pointed at certain someones...!!!
 
Seems some get testy with this :


Necessary or "Sport Kill"...?!?
 
Um... My experience with 2 kinds of bears has been they are not hard to puncture, but you would want something with a minimum of power, like 30-30, 303, and the like to break them down to put them down quickly..
My 5 cents of experience..
 
Not that I expect to use it, but one never knows. Handgun is a Ruger GP-100, loaded with
HEAVY 357 MAG OUTDOORSMAN
180 gr. Hard Cast LFN-GC (1,400 fps/M.E. 783 ft. lbs. from Buffalo Bore.

The lever gun goes bigger:
45-70 Magnum - Lever Gun Ammo
405 gr. J.F.N. @ 2,000 fps/M.E. 3,597 ft lbs
20 Round Box

i REALLY hope I never have to go there.
 
Snowman said:
Why... just "With GOD's Blessing...?!?" can only posted in a Certain Section...?!? Some make too much about some things and maybe some should "Leave Things Alone" when stuff wasn't pointed at certain someones...!!!
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Feel free to start a thread in religion if you want to discuss God and his blessings.
 
The main thing I am concerned about is startling a sow with cubs. I have started carrying a Ruger Super Blackhawk Hunter in the woods now that the bears are getting close. It's in 45 Colt using Speer Deep Curl bullets, which are the hunting version of Gold Dots - huge gaping hollow point (they call them "flying ashtrays") and bonded so it opens up fast but stays in one piece.

Statistically any self defense handgun, even a 9 mil, can thwart a bear attack. AmmoLand has been running a series on handguns actually used in bear attacks, and they are now up to 146 cases in which only a handgun was used (a rifle and a handgun were used in some other cases). Handguns ranged from 22 rimfire up to 460 S&W Magnum. There were three cases that were deemed failures to stop the bear attacks, one using a 22 against a polar bear, one using a 357 Magnum against a grizzly bear, and one using a 38 Special against a black bear. Only the polar bear attack was fatal. The other two failures resulted in severe, but non fatal injuries.

But I would rather not shoot one with something that would cause it to die a slow painful death, that would make me sick. The last time I had a wounded buck run off (it was a while back) I spent several days looking for it, and that pretty much ended my hunting that season.
 
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But I would rather not shoot one with something that would cause it to die a slow painful death
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No one wants that.. For any animal.. From bear on down to bunny rabbit.. However.. Unfortunately.. When dealing with bears, especially ones bothering people, livestock, or damaging fences, buildings and the like occasionally the only safe shot you may have is not a good shot.. For instance the bear broken half in and half out of the chicken house, the only 1st shot I had was through the hind quarters.. I took it to ..intervene.. in its bad behavior and then follow up as needed...

Luckily even most long time ..bush people.. regardless of the number of bears they have seen, have not witnessed there power, speed, agility and destructive ability.. I hope they never do..

Yes.. Sport, trophy hunting as opposed to subsistence hunting has its place in wildlife management.. To me it was a wonderful bonus to have both a nice mount and the meat.. And to me the little fork horn bull was as nice a mount for me as the 11 point I got.. Both were good eating..
 
I don't know about other places but here in Montana all games animals must be eaten unless the meat is determine by the FWP to uneatable. Even hunters who don't eat what they shoot must process the animals and the meat can be given to the numerous food pantries we have. So there is no real "sport" hunting as such. Varmints aren't considered game animals so it's not necessary to keep them and eat them.

In Montana you can hunt big game with .22 centerfire rifles. You would be amazed at the number of deer, antelope, elk, bears, moose, etc. that are killed with the .223 Remington/5.556, 22/250, and even the .220 Swift. Most of these animals are DRT.

Another favorite with the Ladies are the 6MM and the 6.5s.

Now the men who have to prove just how big it is use the biggest baddest magnums they can find and more often then not wound their animals whereas those with smaller caliber rifles drop their animals DRT.

I never felt the need to shoot the biggest baddest gun I could find. Some men do not need the biggest baddest gun also as a friend of mine at the time shot a big Black bear with a Mini-14 in .223 at about 75 yards and the bear was DRT. Hit the bear in the sternum as the bear stood and the bullet broke the sternum and blew up in the bear. The bear let out a woof and fell over backwards dead. My friend was specifically hunting for that bear as it was killing cattle.

Animals do not wear body armor.
 
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Quark said:
Now the men who have to prove just how big it is use the biggest baddest magnums they can find and more often then not wound their animals whereas those with smaller caliber rifles drop their animals DRT.
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This is my primary deer cartridge. 6.5 wildcat based on the 6.8 SPC. This and 30-06 are what I've killed most of my deer with. It actually has a better track record than the 30-06.
Edit to get back on subject :): - But I will not be using it on bear.
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DrHenley said:
This is my primary deer cartridge. 6.5 wildcat based on the 6.8 SPC. This and 30-06 are what I've killed most of my deer with. It actually has a better track record than the 30-06.
Edit to get back on subject :): - But I will not be using it on bear.
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Why not? The 6.5 X 55 was used to kill elephants. That should do the job just fine unless your bears wear body armor.
 
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