bear shot placement

[EatSleepFish]

my fist year bear hunting and was wondering, since a bears vitals are smaller and more forward in the chest area than a deers, what should i aim for?

[JEV]

Aim right behind the front shoulder. Shot my first bear last year and that's where I held. Drilled him with my muzzleloader. He didn't run 20 yards after I shot. You'll hit plenty of vitals in that area.

JEV

[BobT]

Of course, this is for broadside or quarering away. You may have to adjust for other angles.

Bob

[woodview]

This is a bit funny considering I'm a bit of a computer nut but I've got a decent image showing the vitals for both deer and bear but don't know how to post the image. It's pdf and I'll gladly send it to you. Had some better ones stored on an old memory stick so I'll see if I can locate them

paaatus at yahoo (Contact Us Please)

[marine_man]

Send them to me... [email protected]

marine_man

[marine_man]

Here is woodview's image:

marine_man

[Fish to Win]

What do you guys think about head shots- I went to 2-3 bear classes and all the pros said NO head shots- Well just yesterday I read that a head shot is 1 of the best kill zones but it also did not recommend it but never said why- I know all of are are going to say to not shoot a bear in the head but if it is a deadly kill zone why not take it???

[BLACKJACK]

Good diagram!! I've saved it for future reference.

One thing to notice that was pointed out on another bowhunting website is that the shoulder blade is actually higher on a deer than it looks, it doens't cover the whole shoulder, meaning you can actually shoot a few inches farther forward than I had thought. As a guy that has gut shot more than one deer, I plan on starting to aim farther forward.

[Gissert]

The kill zone on a head shot is tiny, and no margin for error. If you are a little low, it is in the jaw, not immediately fatal. Same thing goes for the snout. All it takes is for the bear to move his head just a little and your point of aim has changed.

Not to mention, if you shoot a big bear in the skull, it will mess up any chance of getting it scored. Bears skulls make a nice European mount, and a head shot would ruin that.

Plug them in the heart/lung area, and you should get your bear.

[charliepete2]

I've only taken bears with my bow, but a good heart lung shot can't be beat. I position my baits so that the bears present a quartering away shot. I actually wait for them to put their near leg forward before I shoot. You don't have to worry as much about the shoulder and with a high poundage set up sometimes you break the off leg on the exit. Another tip for the bow is to let the bear get into the bait before attempting a shot. Bears are pretty cagey when coming into a bait, but tend to settle down once they start eating. It also gives the shooter some time to get himself together.

[woodview]

The shoulderblade positioning was a bit of a surprise to me as well. It wasn't until I started butchering my own deer that I realized that what appears to be solid leg/shoulder is largely muscle with the bones farther forward than I'd thought.

I used to aim farther back on them to the point that being off just a few inches would be borderline gut on deer.

How many of you (firearms) take them in the shoulder?

I don't take head or neck shots anymore. I've done it but was lucky and hit "exactly" where I was aiming. Now I preach and practise strictly cavity shots. To much potential for wounding the animal and likely horrifically so.

[SpecialK]

I always aim for the upper portion right behind the shoulder and have not wounded a deer or had to track one farther than 150 yards. I try to half the upper half if that makes sense.

Lung shots tend to leave lots of blood to follow as well, it's bright red and bubbly and usually around hip high so not a lot of crawling around looking for drops of blood.