Bear hunting

[stringstretcher]

What would you consider to be too light of a weight bow to use to hunt bear?  At what weights have you bear hunters used successfully?

[Justin Snyder]

I would say #45 should do the trick. A lot of states require 45# for elk. If it is big enough for elk, it is big enough for bear. However, it also depends on what style of bear hunting you are planning. Hounding, spot and stock, baiting, or calling are completely different and the bow needs may vary. For calling, I want the biggest bow I am comfortable and accurate with. 

[stringstretcher]

Since we can not bait, my bear hunting will be sitting and waiting, maybe some stalking.

[youngbowyer33]

i would never stalk a bear for fear of itattacking me....but i only hunt squirrels

[mullet]

 I sure wish I could stick the one that destroyed my new Pop-up blind this past week.

[Justin Snyder]

youngbowyer, does that mean you wont be calling bears with me? Nothing like using a distress call so you are the wounded animal that they are comming to eat. 

That is what blunts are for Eddie. I like the ones with the slightly concave front. You can stick a paintball to them to see where you hit.

[hawkbow]

I would not try and shoot a bear with anything less than 55# at 28.. they are tough skinned and their hair is a real arrow stopper. I am no expert by any means, but would say that over kill is always better when hunting fellow predators.. and razor sharp points is a must for bears.... happy hunting... Hawk  a/ho

[Indiancharlie]

Eddie, were you in the blind when the bear ripped it up??    

[sailordad]

normally i like to shoot 45-55
for bear i think i would condition myself for a heavy draw of atleast 65+#

[recurve shooter]

id go with a bout a 500 pound BALISTA from a treestand.

i dont really have any predators to hunt down here (at least not the one's that wold like to eat me) so i would be terrified.

Eddie, you have BEARS over there??

[coyote pup]

I never have hunted bar, and probably never will, but if I ever did it wouldn't be anything less than what Hawk said, a good 55# for black, and I don't think I would bother with less than 70# if we're talking grizzly. You shoot a deer with a less than perfect shot or weight, you can still go home to tell about it, but a danged ol bar - I just don't wanna piss him off. 

[mullet]

 Charlie, I was going to get in it Saturday morning and found it flattened and wripped. A 100 yards behind my stand is a cypress tree the size of a telephone pole that looks like a cat scratching post. One of the other guy's had one come under his stand. Said it was the biggest Fl. bear he has ever seen, he said as big as my John Deere Gator.

[Hillbilly]

I would want some poundage, at least 55#-60# or more for a bear with a selfbow, and some heavy arrows-at least 600 grains or more, preferably. Like Mike said, they have thick hair plus a thick layer of fat. We were skinning a big old one once and a good handfull of .22 bullets and shotgun pellets fell out when we pulled the hide off, they had just penetrated the skin and got stuck in the fat layer. They don't die real easy with a .30/30-I've seen some shot bears come down a tree and take a few dogs with'em.

[coyote pup]

Maybe we should take it from Geronimo. In "His Own Words" he says he has killed several cougar with a bow and one with a spear, but mentions only killing bear with a spear and doesn't say anything about a bow. I wonder what was the method most often used by other indian people.

[zeNBowyer]

I've  never  killed a  bar yet  but my  2 cents
tough  dangerous  game  calls  for  heavier  bows, 60+  in  my  book