Which to carry hunting elk in grizzly country?

[2ndtimer]

My son is leaving in the morning for Montana to hunt elk. There have been 11 grizzly sightings the past few weeks where he and his buddies are hunting. He had planned on taking his .300 Win Mag loaded with either 210 gr Accubond Long Range handloaded to about 2750 fps, or 180 gr Partitions at 3000+ fps, but the front action screw got stripped so now so he has to go to either plan B or C.

Plan B:. .270 WSM with 160 gr Nosler Partitions at 3,000 fps out of the 27" Lilja barrel. A little unwieldy in cover with the long barrel.

Plan C:. .338 Federal with 210 gr Nosler Partitions at 2400 fps out of a Ruger Hawkeye stainless or the 200 gr Remington core-lokt at 2540 fps.

A grizzly encounter is unlikely, but I do want him to come home in one piece. I am leaning toward the .338 Federal with the Partitions, since he doesn't anticipate any shots over 300yards. I believe both his buddies will be packing .300 Win Mags.

Opinions?

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[FLYPNW]

Your first line of defense for a bear encounter needs to be bear spray. Look to firearms as a second line of defense. Unless rifle is in hand with a round in the chamber, the bear spray is your better, safer bet.

In addition to my hunting rifle, I always carry bear spray on my chest and a .45 on my hip. Bear spray is ALWAYS at the front of that line.

That said, I'd go with the .338 for both the elk and God forbid the bear if it were to get to that point. I use a 30.06, and if I were to go bigger I would skip the 300WM and go to 338 Win.

 

[KKG]

.338 for Both.

 

[ditchtiger]

Plan D,
From Wikipedia: The .577 Tyrannosaur or .577 T-rex is a cartridge developed by A-Square in 1993 for the hunting of large game in Africa. The .577 contains a .585-inch (14.9 mm) diameter 750-grain (49 g) Monolithic Solid Projectile which when fired moves at 2,460 ft/s (750 m/s) producing 10,180 foot-pounds force (13,800 J) of energy

 

[Certaindeaf]

Probably a rifle.. which everone leaves by a tree while crapping in a hole. So probably a hard stoked 9mm Hi-Power. lol

 

[DizzyJ]

Good question.

 

[Argonaut]

My son is leaving in the morning for Montana to hunt elk. There have been 11 grizzly sightings the past few weeks where he and his buddies are hunting. He had planned on taking his .300 Win Mag loaded with either 210 gr Accubond Long Range handloaded to about 2750 fps, or 180 gr Partitions at 3000+ fps, but the front action screw got stripped so now so he has to go to either plan B or C.

Plan B:. .270 WSM with 160 gr Nosler Partitions at 3,000 fps out of the 27" Lilja barrel. A little unwieldy in cover with the long barrel.

Plan C:. .338 Federal with 210 gr Nosler Partitions at 2400 fps out of a Ruger Hawkeye stainless or the 200 gr Remington core-lokt at 2540 fps.

A grizzly encounter is unlikely, but I do want him to come home in one piece. I am leaning toward the .338 Federal with the Partitions, since he doesn't anticipate any shots over 300yards. I believe both his buddies will be packing .300 Win Mags.

Opinions?

Any of those rifles would be adaquate. The indigenous Alaskans love a 30-06 and kill more large bear than anyone. My buddy that lives on Kodak island uses a 338 Winchester for everything. The most important thing is to stay aware (and not to argue with the bear) they are looking for food to store for the winter right now. If challenged, best to let him have the elk.

 

[elsie]

Bears like hunting season. GPS study tracks grizzlies as they follow hunters

I would carry bear spray and a .44 Mag. Either one might be quicker to bring on target than a rifle if you get surprised.


elsie

 

[MrElectric03]

.338 and a glock 20 packed with some hot loads would be my vote. A good .44 mag would be fine in place of the glock but carries about 1/3 of the rounds.

 

[Crohnos01]

Has anyone had a close encounter with a bear? I have.... in Idaho with a black bear, not even a griz.... I was elk hunting and had a bear tag,... its a long story but I had two of them on me with one about 20 feet away and the other 10 feet away. I managed to kill one in self defense with an 06, and scared the second one away. I don't know much about bear spray, but I doubt that would be my first line of defense based on my experience. If your son can carry a 50mm or anti-tank rocket launcher I would go with that.

I haven't hunted bear since this experience 40 some years ago....I didn't think I had any luck left to use. The other handy item for such an experience would be clean underwear

 

[Argonaut]

I don't know you are the guy I want next to me in Afghanistan. My people pioneered west central Idaho. My grandmother was a longtime teacher in Grangeville. She would volunteer to cook at a church camp near Riggins. Some of my earliest memories are of her chasing bear (multiple) off the back porch (near there garbage cans) with a broom at night. There were many stories about bear encounters while picking huckleberrys.........mostly comical. My great uncle had a photo of a bear in his folks front yard plumb tree (probably 120 years ago now) his hide resided on my uncles bed. My concern would be defending myself from a grizzly while dressing an elk. A gut pile is irresistible to a hungry gorging fall bear. I killed my first bear at 18 and have shot several more through the years including a Kodiak Brown about 10 years ago. They are tough, can be very stealthy and quick but hardly the mythical abomination portrayed by adrenaline infused city people.

 

[thorborg]

Thankfully not validated by me, but paraphrased, sage advice from some old time hunters 40's and 50's is to not shoot at a bear up hill from you, if you don't kill him, and he is vindictive, his up hill advantage may make short work of closing in. You should always try to shoot a bear broadside at the center chest vitals. Don't shoot at a charging bears head, the forehead, besides being thick has an angle that can glance off a fast moving projectile. It also is moving up and down farther and faster than the chest. Aim for the chest on the up bounce and let the fast moving fast expanding projectile do its work. The neck is too small an area to cope with in an emergency like that. Stay calm to place your shots well and empty your magazine in his chest. The first well placed shot may have killed him, surly the second in the chest, but shear tenacity for life and anger numbing pain may keep him going for a while. then again, he may run the other way.
As for rifle-, either will kill either handily making the one you are most familiar with the go to rifle for emergency situations. the less you have to worry about the rifle mechanics the more time and attention you can pay to the bear.
As long as you have a rifle, packing the weight of a side arm for anything other than camp meat would be unnecessary. If you cant stop them with your rifle it is not likely a side arm will afford you much help. Packing anything that has a loud report will stifle other big game hunting efforts. a 22 will provide without blowing up the camp meat.

 

[Crohnos01]

I don't know you are the guy I want next to me in Afghanistan. My people pioneered west central Idaho. My grandmother was a longtime teacher in Grangeville. She would volunteer to cook at a church camp near Riggins. Some of my earliest memories are of her chasing bear (multiple) off the back porch (near there garbage cans) with a broom at night. There were many stories about bear encounters while picking huckleberrys.........mostly comical. My great uncle had a photo of a bear in his folks front yard plumb tree (probably 120 years ago now) his hide resided on my uncles bed. My concern would be defending myself from a grizzly while dressing an elk. A gut pile is irresistible to a hungry gorging fall bear. I killed my first bear at 18 and have shot several more through the years including a Kodiak Brown about 10 years ago. They are tough, can be very stealthy and quick but hardly the mythical abomination portrayed by adrenaline infused city people.

I'm ok with that... I am not sure how many bears they have in the sandbox anyway, but since I have no burning desire to go there ... yeah, whatever.

If you are trying to say I have an irrational fear of bears, then let me assure you that you are quite correct. I could probably seek therapy for metus ullamcorper, but I think I will just stay a healthy distance from our furry cousins instead unless they are stuffed and standing in Cabelas.

I am not sure I can explain what a thrill it is to have one charging from 10 feet away and the only thing you have is a 30-06 with a 10 power scope. Ever try to get a good image of a target with a 10x scope at 10 feet away? It doesn't work so well.... I was literally shooting from the hip. Maybe it was because I was such a young and tender age at the time, maybe I am just a chicken bubblegum, but whatever. My hat is off to you and yours that tamed the West and beat off bears with nothing but a broomstick.

 

[Argonaut]

Your comments are fair and well stated..........with the exception that an armed Muslim fundamentalist (in Afghanistan) is about 1000 times more dangerous (and scary) than any bear on earth.

 

[Crohnos01]

Your comments are fair and well stated..........with the exception that an armed Muslim fundamentalist (in Afghanistan) is about 1000 times more dangerous (and scary) than any bear on earth.

I will happily take your word on that

Thank you for your service to our country! We are fortunate to have guys like you who cut ther teeth on battling Bruins to defend us from the aforementioned fundamentalists.... at least bears don't shoot back