Fall 2009 Bear Hunting

[tyson129]

Season on Bear opens August 31st here so next Monday will be the start of what I hope to be a great Maine Black Bear hunt. Anyone else excited about bear hunting this fall?

[tyson129]

I was going to be using my brothers 7mm mag but I'm going to be in a blind I set up on bait at about 25 yards so after doing some research I decided that the 7mm mag is not going to be optimal for that close of a shot, not to say it cant be done, plus I want to use slugs out of my SuperNova. I have a line up of slugs that I want to use and was wondering if any of you had recommendations on any of these slugs listed below. Please give advice on performance that you have had with them so I don't go crazy trying to find the best slug for black bear at 25 yards. Thanks.
1. Winchester Supreme Parition Gold 400 gr Platinum Tip
2. Brenneke Black Magic Magnum 3" 1-3/8 oz
3. Remington Core-Lokt Ultra Sabot 50 Caliber 385 gr
4. Hornady SST 300 gr (One that I already love for deer but not sure if its a good choice for bear)
5. Remington AccuTip Bonded Sabot 3" 385 gr

[tucker301]

The bear population is exploding in central VA recently.
As a result, we will have a week of muzzleloader and a bonus week of rifle/shotgun season this year.

The second week will occur in the middle of our regular firearms deer season, so there should be decent number of bears taken during that week.

We could have killed several last year as they were pushed out on deer drives.

Looking forward to it!

[tyson129]

The bear population is exploding in central VA recently.
As a result, we will have a week of muzzleloader and a bonus week of rifle/shotgun season this year.

The second week will occur in the middle of our regular firearms deer season, so there should be decent number of bears taken during that week.

We could have killed several last year as they were pushed out on deer drives.

Looking forward to it!

Good Luck on your hunt, I hope you get one. Up here in Maine we have a baiting season that starts August 31st that you need a tag for, but during deer season in November you can take a black bear without an additional tag. Do you have any recommendations for the slugs I mentioned above?

[tyson129]

I decided that I'm going to be using the Brenneke Black Magic Magnum 3" 1-3/8 oz 600 gr slugs (as long as they perform well from the first couple boxes when I test them out). I hope they perform well out of my SuperNova with the red dot sight that I'm going to install; http://www.truglo.com/content/produc...icle_opent.asp (although I might just go open sights)
This Coming Monday afternoon the hunt begins!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Checking my bait site tonight...hope there are some big scrapes and footprints!

[tyson129]

Anyone tried Dixie Terminator slugs?
http://www.dixieslugs.com/products.html

[NYHUNTCAMP]

Hi Tyson, during our Southern Tier here in N.Y., it is pretty much shotgun only. I use a Rem 1100, 16 Ga. smoothbore that is like new even if it is older than me. I have been using Brenneke Magnum Slugs for over 20 years and honestly dropped all but one doe on the spot. I might be just one of those lucky people who has a gun that shoots like a miracle. But almost everyone who has switched to brenneke I know agrees. They will be devastating on bear, and as you are aware it all goes back to shot placement and being comfortable with ones gun.

Good Luck Hunting

T

Season on Bear opens August 31st here so next Monday will be the start of what I hope to be a great Maine Black Bear hunt. Anyone else excited about bear hunting this fall?

[tyson129]

Hi Tyson, during our Southern Tier here in N.Y., it is pretty much shotgun only. I use a Rem 1100, 16 Ga. smoothbore that is like new even if it is older than me. I have been using Brenneke Magnum Slugs for over 20 years and honestly dropped all but one doe on the spot. I might be just one of those lucky people who has a gun that shoots like a miracle. But almost everyone who has switched to brenneke I know agrees. They will be devastating on bear, and as you are aware it all goes back to shot placement and being comfortable with ones gun.

Good Luck Hunting

T

Thanks NYHUNTCAMP, I'm def going to try them out soon. Glad to hear that others are having a good time with them. The company has been around for 100 years so they should know what they are doing. I emailed the president of Dixie Slugs, just out of curiosity and hoping he gets back to me soon, I was reading his comments in a forum that focused on slug hunting in Alaska on dangerous game and he was pretty much doing the Pepsi challenge against any company who made slugs. He claimed that no other company would come forward and test their slugs against his. It will be interesting to hear what he has to say.

[tyson129]

Sad to say that last night when I checked the bait there was no evidence of bear going there . The strangest thing was that the coyotes and raccoons had not even gotten to the rotten meat I put out around for them to start making the scent trails with (you know how dogs love rolling around in nasty crap). I placed some more molasses feed out and in the bait barrel and the whole place reeked of vanilla extract that we poured all over the trees.... I'm going to check it again next Wednesday, meanwhile I will test the Brenneke Black Magic Slugs out of the Benelli at 25-30 yards.

[NYHUNTCAMP]

Bear Baiting, I like that, here in NY you can not even put out one ear of corn for anything and BAIT is a four letter word. Most of the bear hunting is done either in the Catskills (south) or Adirondacks (north). I have never been fortunate to take a bear in all of the years I have hunted here but my father has on numerous occassions. Wish they would transplant some of the bears wreaking havoc on Jersey up here it would be nice to take one. As far as the Brenneke Slugs go, over 100 years old and invented the rifled slug. Check out thier web site and see what they say about sabot slugs. Pretty interesting. Have a great day

T