Fitz wrote:As long as you take ethical shots a .22 will do the job. People keep sayin a .44 is too small.
I'm a licensed guide. I've seen bull elk taken with a .25-06 to a .30-378. Guess what caliber was the most effective!
There wasn't one that was more effective than the other. But I have seen more elk lost with a .300 than anything. You know why? Because the shooter was afraid of the damn gun. Shoot what you're comfortable with and you will be a better hunter then any one of the size queens that recommend the retarded ass large calibers.
If you shoot the gun well then hunt with it. Don't listen to anybody else's opinion.
chilcotin hillbilly wrote:Fitz, your bang on with your advice, that is exactly what I tell my clients. As far as handguns go most guys can't shoot well even at 5 yards let alone 25 yards when the going gets tough. In a way i am glad we don't hunt with them in Canada.
I myself pack a 12 gauge when rinning the dogs.
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Thank you. It bugs the hell out of me when I hear people say "You use that to hunt deer or that's not a big enough gun to cleanly kill a elk" the 30-06 has taken every big game animal on this continent and will keep doing so for as long as we have the right to keep our guns. Yet people think they need more "take down power" than a 06 produces. I have no clue why people think that. I've personally killed hogs that weighed over 300 lbs with a .22 LR! Here's a picture of one that I shot with a .22 LR.
The one gun I will not allow anyone shooting a bear when my dogs are present is a 44 mag. Pistol or rifle it's a poor choice. I imagine someone can load a decent load..but I'm not checking ballistics when I'm running dogs. I prefer a smaller gun, and always a head shot.
I see this is an old thread but I wanted to add my 2 cents.
The worst thing is a shooter that doesn't use the gun enough to be effective. Most guns come out a week before season to get shot a few times and go right back into the cabinet after season to sit for a year.
A .44mag is more than enough gun for a black bear, even big ones. Heck, a .357mag will do the job very well if the shooter knows his firearm.
"Beware of the man with only one gun, he probably knows how to use it".
I don't see how people consider a .44 mag as "not enough gun". Until this year the only thing we used was a Ruger .44 Carbine and have NEVER had an issue with it. This year my cousin got a 45-70 and killed a bear in a cave with it Monday and had to shoot it three times to kill it. Nobody is gonna make a perfect shot every single time. It's just like training dogs. You're gonna screw em up at some point. But I can take as big a gun as I want to the woods and say I've got the knockdown power, but if the guns gonna knock me in the dirt when I shoot it and I'm aware of that then I'm probably gonna be pretty uncomfortable and make a bad shot. Whatever you're comfortable with and can shoot pretty good is whats gonna keep you and your dogs safe. Not the gun that's got the most knockdown power and will knock you down too.
