Canadian Hunt with pictures

2

22-250

New member
Have a chance to hunt black bear in Saskatchewan, Canada. The hunt will be for a week period from June 1 to June 8. Will be hunting over bait. Maximum range will be 50 yards. I am planning on taking a 454 Casull lever action 18 ½ barrel shooting 360 grain Flat Point Penetrator, 1900# of energy. Do not exceed to see a bear over 300 lbs. Is the 454 enough gun? I have a 300 Savage, would that better that the 454?
What would the best parts of the bear meat should I try to bring back?
 
I have shot a 300 bear over bait with a trusty .30-.30. I think a good quality bullet will help lighter caliber’s meet the task of taking down a 300+ lbs bear. When I am calling bear I like to use my "varmint” (aka .375 H&H) rifle. I am thinking about buying a .454 , so you will have to let us know how it works. Good luck.
 
Don't know about the 454, but almost any 30 cal over bait would work. At that range a 12 ga. slug works. Sounds like that's what you're using. I've taken bears with my 25.06, with no problem. I know the gun and my limitations. I prefer the 7mm Rem mag. It flat out kills everything I shoot with it. Check with your guide for his recommendation. He should be best qualified to advise you.
As far as which meat to bring back, that's easy. Bring the back strap. That will give you steaks or roasts or stew or all three. Trim all the fat off. Good luck!
 
Thanks Redfrog, this my first bear hunt, and I am already primed with two more weeks to go. The 454 in the 360 grs FPPN has great penetration power. It is a little low in energy at 1800 to 1900 pounds, but I think it a lot better than a 12 ga slug for penetration. Compare to the 25.06 at 2380 pounds, the 454 is also a little short. But the bullet placement is the key.

On a 200 pound bear what would be the estimated weight of the backstraps? What would be your recommendation for transporting the meat? I am planning to take a largest cooler that I can find. How would you wrap the meat? Double plastic bags? Again, this is my first bear hunt, so I may be asking dumb questions.
 
Actually all of the bear is worth keeping. Bear meat can be extremely good!

Your guide should know the best way for you to transport or ship your meat. Some folks butcher, debone and freeze the meat then ship the entire thing home in a cooler. That's most likely what I'd do.

Your 454 should do just fine while hunting over bait. I've shot bear with everything from a bow to a 12 gauge slug to a .243. Shot placement is what it's all about. Bears don't die hard. But, it's also no fun trailing a wounded bear after dark. But, it does build those muscles responsible for the pucker factor.

Randy
 
Randy's right, it's all good. I assumed you were limited to weight restriction. A live weight of 300 Lbs will give you about 80-100 lbs of boneless meat, depending on the shot damage, and the fat trimmed.

If it were me, here's what I would do.

I usually make sure the bear is dead before I start the process. I begin skinning. Standard procedure....A leg at a time. I do NOT gut it.
As I skin a leg, I cut it off at the joint. [Hip in rear, shoulder for front.] After four legs are skinned and removed from carcass, I filet the back straps. I'm done.No muss, no fuss. Lost meat=ribs[probably shot] and neck,

I would then take an hour or so and bone the legs.Cut the backstrap into steaks and the legs into roasts. trim is packaged for stew or grinding later. It can all be freezer wrapped as you do it.It should stay frozen for a couple days in a cooler.

This whole operation can be done on the ground, on a tarp, with a hunting knife and a butcher knife. No meat saw required. Batteries not included. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
You bet. Hope to have some pictures of a successful hunt. Buy the worst day of hunting is a lot better than a work day.
 
Well, Canada is just plain beautiful. A little cold on a couple of the days. But 10 hours in a tree stand each day will put a lot of wear on an old body like mind. Lots of Canada is still untamed, without going to the Northwest Terrorties. The hunt was for six days, Monday thru Saturday. There were four hunters in the party. All of us saw bear. Three bear was killed in our party. The guides had four other hunters the week before with the same results.

Two bears were at my stand on the second day of the hunt. First, a 300 pound boar came in first. He walked within 15 feet of my stand. What a rush that was. He settled in at the bait stations and a second bear came in. It was a smaller female. The boar did not seem to be upset with her at the station. They ate for about 15 minutes and then they got a little frisky with each other. The female left first (crosswind) and the boar when (upwind) about 15 minutes later. Since the hunt was for another four days, I decided to wait and see if a larger bear would come in later in the week.

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Well after 32 hours in tree stands without seeing another bear, Tuesday’s decision was looking like a wrong one. However, around 7pm on Friday, my bear came in. She was around 200 to250 pounds. Her approach was from crosswind and she was very nervous. She gave me a good broad side at 30 yards, and the 454 Casull did it job. She ran about 40 yards in total. However, she ran in a half circle, so she end only 20 yards from the initial shot.

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Left the hide in Canada. With the Canadian dollar so low against the US dollar, will have it completed there. Will have a rug made, haven't not got a price yet. It will be interesting to compare to California prices.
 
Congrat on your bear.

You have more nerve than I do. A three hundred pound boar is a nice bear. I'd have shot that one on Tuesday night. But, a 200 lb sow is decent too.

Congratulations! Thanks for the story and pics.

Randy

PS, I got drawn for bears again here in Minnesota. Going to start baiting in August.
 
The boar was nice, if I had shot him on Tuesday, there was little else to do for the balance of next four days. However, after all of that stand time, if the decision was a do over, he would the one.

Handguns are a restricted firearm in Canada. All of the new restrictions pass by the central government is somewhat of a question. Most of the provisional governments have say that they would not enforced them, nor could the central goverments use their courts.

All that said. The bear was downed with a 454 lever action rifle made by Puma.
 
FREEPOP, If you read the first post on this thread again, you'll see it was'nt a handgun.
Canada is beautiful... but they suck. Was fishing St. Lawrence river last summer, went to get Canada licence. Routine check at customs, asked for ID's, my buddy had a drunk driving offense 5 years prior on his record and they would'nt let him in to get canada licence. Unless he paid some $500 fee for so called rehabilitation!
 
I was wondering what brand of ammunitions you used and the bullet preformance. Did you get a full pass through or were you able to recover the bullet. I was going to buy a .454 hand gun for bear and the more information I have the more comfortable I feel.
 
Hey NiteFright,

Not only do we suck on the Canadian side of the border but the you guys suck on the other side of the border too when it comes to "Customs and border patrol" I have been turned around trying to cross into the US from Canada more times than I can recall for many different and "stupid" reasons.

Once a person understands that it is a privilege to cross the border into a different country and not a right, then they will understand why they are being turned around.

I am not trying to start a big fight here because I use to live on the border that seperates these two great countries and the Cabelas store keeps sucking me in to buy hunting and fishing gear. I am just trying to say it is on both sides of the border that this problem lies. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Now, on to more important things, congrats 22-250 on your bear. There are plenty of big bears up in our country that await you on your next hunt. I do hope that you come and visit us again. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Greg

berneticg@shaw.ca
 
Lemme re-phrase that ..."Some of Canadas' policies suck, the country is nice though".
If you dont like crossing the border, Greg, Cabelas' does mail order /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
Pomoxis,

Corbon ammuntion, 265 grs bonded core. I waited for a good double lung shot. The shot placement was perfect, no expansion, just in and out. No big exit wound. same size hole both sides. I am sure that the bullet would have gone thru both shoulders if the shot placement was off.

Corbon also makes a 325 grs solid pentrator round. That will ring your clock.

I had no problems with the border crossings. In fact, the Canadian custon officer did not even open the gun case.
 
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