What handgun do I need to kill a black bear?

Any bear hunters out there? I'm trying to decide what kind of pistol I need to go bear hunting. I am planning on using a wounded deer call to lure them in and will need a powerful handgun to take them down at close proximity. No scope desired. Do I need hollow point, metal jacket and what caliber? In case your wondering a bear killed my bird dog. Price should be less than $1000 used.

you call that hunting? unless u need to eat that bear for food, then use your hands o mighty hunter. Tricking a bear in close to shoot it with a high powered handgun is cowardice. Does it make you feel like a big man after?

The Weaponry forum is for the discussion of "Military weapons technology past, present, and future". For this reason I will be moving this thread to BTS.

You will need a large caliber rifle or one of those Contender single shot pistols chambered for a rifle cardridge...

if you really intend to take it down with a pistol you need at LEAST a .44, but i'd recommend a Smith and Wesson revolver in .500S&W.

Bears are VERY stealthy and can sneak up on you, I would advice EXTREME CAUTION, if you can use a large rifle instead, a .45ACP won't cut it on Grizzlies, if it's a brown or black bear, you don't have to go all out I don't think, but I would still recommend the largest caliber you can get your hands on.

Good luck!

Its sad your dog was killed (

But really going out and killing a bear is not on,

I just dont get it i guess i never will,

I feel so sad about your poor dog and im sure you loved him alot, ut killing a bear is not going to solve anything,

its not all bears faults,

I once read in the newspaper about this lumberjack who killed a charging bear in one strike with his axe to it’s head.

Originally posted by Umbrax
I once read in the newspaper about this lumberjack who killed a charging bear in one strike with his axe to it’s head.

He must have been strong, or had a very heavy and sharp axe and he got lucky. Going for the head(rather then the neck) is risky as your very likely to have the attack only deflect of the skull, potentially pissing the bear off more.

I've heard Bear spray is effective for the older ones(not always work on younger brown bears in ontario though)

Thanks for the replies.

Or_die_trying you ever been hunting? I have. I don't hunt deer because its not fair and I don't eat deer meat. Cows are cheaper. In case you've never been hunting the idea is shooting the animal at long distances because it is hard to get an animal close. Another thing oh city slicker, bears are big and mean and calling one in close is not cowardice. Shooting one from say 100 feet might be. However, confronting a bear close enough to shoot him with a handgun is dangerous. Even if I shoot him once or twice I'll probably still have to fight him with a bayonet hand to hand while he is in a rage because he is dying and will attack with all the strength left in his wild body. I know its stupid but a bear killed my dog. Doubt it will be the one who killed my dog but they don't need to be going around killing dogs. You just sit there typing while if I live through it I will have one of the most memorable times of my life. I think confronting a bear at close proximity is pretty fair. Have you ever killed an animal? If you haven't its not what you think it will be.

Ground_zero thanks for the help. I was thinking about a .50 caliber desert eagle. One question though is the auto cartridge smaller than the normal cartride. I know that the .45 auto is smaller than the .45. I also have heard that some famous cowboy shot a bear about 6 times between the eyes and it didn't kill it because a bears skull is very thick. I was thinking about the .44 mag or the .50. It is a black bear. We don't have grizzlies where I'm at but some guy two years ago killed an 800 lb black bear.

Asala I appreciate you opinion and the logic behind your post. Perhaps I'm not thinking logically about it but he was a very good bird dog and he was attacked in the yard. He would not attack any animal. He wasn't that type of dog. His ribs were broken three inches above the breast bone and his breast bone was crushed. He had three fang punctures on his body and nearly bled to death. We rushed him to the vet after hours and he was given 3 bags of fluid. Thats a lot for a brittany. He fought to the end. I had to have the vet put him to sleep. His ribs punctured his lungs and his lungs were huge. They grew larger than his ribs were before his ribs were broken. Yet he still walked to me at the vet showing no fear fighting to live. He lived a week after he was attacked. It was horrible.

such a sad event, and i unhderstand your anger, I would feel so mad if that was my dog,

But i wish you would at least calm yourself before doing something like this,

A bear you just target, will just be as innocent as your dog was, not harming anyone, you are doing the same thing takeing the life of something for no reason,

I think thats just a poor poor thing to do in your dogs name,

just makes me feel sad for your dog and for the target bear

I took my sisters dog a chocolate lab to search for the trail but she was unable to find anything. Granted she wasn't trained to trail but she tried. I have thought about it for a long time. Two years. I don't think that bears help humans so if all they do is going around killing innocent people and dogs perhaps they should be eradicated. Maybe in years gone by bears thinned deer herds or consumed abundant supplies of chestnuts but today there are a lot of deer hunters and the chestnuts died 80 years ago so I think perhaps the time of the bears has passed and there is no need for them. Now is the time of humanity.

I think the other question is why was this bear near your yard?

Is it possible that due to what humans have done, ie feeding them ect that it would wonder your way,

after all a dog is not something a black bear would normally target,
From what im lead to understand its quite rare for a black bear to harm a pet,

See the bear that done it may be the one that would have needed to be put down ect as it may be a danger, but a mere killing it just upsetting,

Your hunting bear...
You said the bear killed your dog, boo hoo...

It just amazes me that people will go out and kill an animal for doing what comes natural to it.
People will go out and kill every bear in the woods if one person is mauled because they start to view them as a threat.

I had a friend taken by a cougar when I was about 11 years old. She was picking black berries at Ahousat B.C. when the cat attacked and dragged her off. People ran from the village to search, men scoured the woods for a few hours, but everyone knew she was dead.

Not one person suggested picking up a gun and hunting down the cat............

The Priest was called, the village mourned, and everyone was more careful in the woods after that.
In many ways it was a lesson to all us kids about how much care we needed to take when we were out playing or picking stuff for meals. Sure a child was lost, but over 30 kids learned a lesson that helped them survive, so her lost life was not in vain.

How could you ever blame the wild animal for getting a meal ? :shk:

First off, I hunt but always for food, and otherwise don't must kill animals unless it is for self defense. Unless it is self defense I leave the bears alone, and I live in bear country, on a historic bear trail, in Alaska. We have had bear eat our chickens on occasion, eat our berries, and eat our bird food, try to climb to our second story deck, and look in out sliding glass door that is in our bedroom. However, we understand that this is also their home, so unless they are a direct threat to my family, they come and go as they please.

I am sorry for the loss of your dog, as I know how important pets are to people, having had many pets myself. However, to kill a bear in this case is just plain sensless and a waste, in my opinion. I hope you reconsider killing the bear for revenge reasons.

If you are going to use the bear for food and the fur, and are hunting during a legal hunting season, then by all means get your self a .44 mag with copper jacketed hollow points, and the job will be done. If you can get a scope mounted on the gun, things go a bit more smoothly, that is of course, if you know how to use the weapon.

Good luck.

[edit on 19-9-2006 by sacrifice]

I have no problem hunting for food or killing animals to feed my family, BUT..............

It was the idea of the "REVENGE KILL" that made me reply to this thread.

I just hope arius can recognize the bear that killed his dog so that he doesn't shoot some innocent yearling that's looking for some late season berries.


Just remember....
Innocent until proven guilty.

Originally posted by arius
Maybe in years gone by bears thinned deer herds or consumed abundant supplies of chestnuts but today there are a lot of deer hunters and the chestnuts died 80 years ago so I think perhaps the time of the bears has passed and there is no need for them. Now is the time of humanity.

Wow. Such intelligence. Such insight. You're right. We don't need bears, lions, birds, and insects - well basically we don’t need anything we can’t eat, ride or use for entertainment. All we need are humans, because, like you said, it's the time of humanity. Animals had their turn.

So you feel all manly killing a bear at close range with a handgun? And possibly having to fight it with a bayonet in hand to hand combat? Wow. So manly. I can smell the hormones halfway down the world... The women must go crazy over you?

Killing another living being makes you feel powerful, doesn't it?

***End Sarcasm***

My brother and father are both hunters - both trophy and to eat. I never could understand how it's "fair" to shoot an innocent animal. So, I went hunting myself. I killed a poor innocent antelope. And I felt even less of a man because I did so.

Want to be really manly? Take on your bear with your bare hands. Now that's what I call fair.

You lost your dog? And killing a bear would make you feel better? Revenge may be sweet but it's far from an effective way of processing loss.

And then we wonder why humanity is in its current state?

Dont use a semi auto if you are serious use a revolver they are much more accurate. thier is no such thing as "depends on what bear you are hunting for gun size" the smallest i would go would be a 44 but if can spend up to $1000 then i would get a 454 that gun will do more damage then most rifles.

As for the non hunting tree huggers have you ever heard of conservation what would happen if thier where no hunting and with our population growing and animal population growing I am sure you wouldnt get upset if the police called you in the middle of the night to tell you a family member just died from a head on collision with a moose right.
with out proper conservation given the habitat size animals have you would have over population problems, it would result in big problems within thier food chain, disease would spread rampant, animals like the coyote's population would go through the roof and if you lived in a rural area you wouldnt be able to let your kids play outside because of the possibility of a hungry bear/coyote trying to attack them. right now the odds of that happening are slim because they dont have to leave the woods to find food but once the woods are over run they will.

Originally posted by MadMachinist
As for the non hunting tree huggers have you ever heard of conservation what would happen if thier where no hunting and with our population growing
...
with out proper conservation given the habitat size animals have you would have over population problems, it would result in big problems within thier food chain, disease would spread rampant, animals like the coyote's population would go through the roof

Fair enough. But does killing a black bear for revenge count as "population control"? And is it up to Arius to keep the numbers at bay? And if it was - which it's not - would killing it with a handgun at close range - and possibly “hand-to-hand combat" be the right way to go?

What the "hunters" and "number controllers" forget is that we are the intruders. If we left nature to go its own way, there would be no over-population problems. We took away their habitat, and then we want to punish them for it? Somehow I'm missing the "fairness" in all of that?

I don't mind the hunting, really I don't. But when it becomes a pointless but emotional, ego trip, then I have a problem with it.

Well, looking at the bigger picture, I would rather take my chances with moose over-population, than a vengeful guy with the most powerful handgun under $100.

Edit: Format

[edit on 20-9-2006 by Gemwolf]

Gave Gemwolf and anxiety disorder "WATS"

I do feel for you arius, and I would probably feel the same if I lost a dog. But just because I feel like that doesn't mean I have to act up on it and go out and blindly kill a similar bear. If this bear is attacking other pets and live stock in your area couldnt it be darted and moved elsewhere by the local authorities.
I would like to say that if someone wants to hunt for an animal that is a proven killer or hunt and then consume what as been hunted, then thats there perogative.


[edit on 20-9-2006 by Kurokage]

Thanks mad machinist. What is a 454? I have never heard of that. I do prefer a revolver to an automatic. I will admit though my P1 is very fun to shoot but as for reliability a revolver is best. I trust my .38 special to fire more than my P1.

Originally posted by arius
Any bear hunters out there? I'm trying to decide what kind of pistol I need to go bear hunting. I am planning on using a wounded deer call to lure them in and will need a powerful handgun to take them down at close proximity. No scope desired. Do I need hollow point, metal jacket and what caliber? In case your wondering a bear killed my bird dog. Price should be less than $1000 used.

Use a rifle. Pistols are only good at a closer range and you want the chance to shoot again. Use a 30/30 Remington. Walmart has them for less than $300. Bullets are about $1 dollar a piece. Happy hunting and make it a clean kill.