My Next Black Bear Rifle - Larry Weishuhn

“Drats!” I will not be hunting spring black bear this year as has been the case during the past

few years. That makes me a bit sad. I dearly love hunting black bear especially as their breeding

season approaches, when big boars are on the prowl. During each of the past two years I have

hunted bear in Alberta. I have taken a bear each year. One of those bears squared 7-feet 7-

inches and the other 7-feet 8-inches, both measured without stretching the hides their skulls

measured in excess of 20-inches. Big bear in just about anyone’s book.

Alberta allows the taking of two bears per spring. After taking a big bear each of the past two

seasons I hunted for a bigger bear or a mature color phase. I passed up some really nice bears,

including a couple that approached the size of the bears I had taken, as well as an immature

blond bear.

Unfortunately, last fall I committed to several projects that would and will keep me horribly

busy during the spring (2025) this year preventing me from going black bear hunting. I

know…not good planning on my part! Not being able to do a spring bear hunt, I set up a black

bear hunt this coming September with Randy and Sharon Flannery’s Wilderness Escape Lodge

(www.wildernessescape.com) in far northern Maine. I will be in camp with the hunter who

buys the bear hunt donated by Randy to our DSC Foundation Gala (www.dscf.org), July 17 thru

19 th, 2025 at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine, Texas. Hopefully you’ll be able to attend.

If not, you can still bid on the hunt and numerous other high quality hunts and hunting items by

going to www.onlinehuntingauctions.com starting most likely in early June. Randy’s Wilderness

Escape Lodge hunt package includes not only the hunt, lodging and meals, but also bearskin rug

taxidermy by Double Nickle Taxidermy (www.doublenickletaxidermy.com) and a Rossi R95 .45-

70 lever-action rifle (www.rossiusa.com).

Flannery’s expansive area produces some huge black bear. Hunted over bait the bears will be

hungry, preparing for a long winter’s nap. While I have not hunted with Randy and his crew, he

and I have been friends for a lot of years. And, I’ve know him via reputation even longer. Randy

is no stranger to hunting and is especially known far and wide for his whitetail deer tracking

abilities in the North Woods, and, for his clients taking large bears.

Several years ago hunting just across the southern border from Randy’s territory I had an

encounter with the biggest black bear I have ever seen, one that exceeded the 563-pound bear

I shot several years ago on Arizona’s White Mountain Apache Reservation. On that hunt I was

using a Thompson/Center .50 flintlock muzzleloader. Unfortunately, it did NOT go BANG when I

pulled the trigger, the gun merely “sizzled”; a flash in the pan. The bear of a lifetime, of several

lifetimes, walked away unscathed. That bear would have squared over 8-feet! I have taken a

couple of black bears that squared 7-feet 10-inches. I have never seen a black bear of that one’s

equal!

Hunting with Randy’s Wilderness Escape Lodge my hope is to take a mature boar, one that has

a luxuriant black coat! I have been fortunate to hunt black bear for a long time, have taken a

fair number and am a reasonable judge of bear size, so I’ll be a bit selective.

One of my bucket list animals is a huge color phase black bear. I know bears in Maine are black.

I am not aware of any color phase bears living in that State. Oh well, I’ll simply have to plan

another hunt for such a bear.

My quandary regarding hunting bear in Maine is what gun to use. Knowing I will be hunting

over bait, there is no need for a long-range rifle. Shots should be 50-yards or less distant, likely

closer. My last two bears were taken over bait. The first of those bears was taken with a

Mossberg Patriot Predator chambered in 7mm PRC shooting Hornady’s Precision Hunter, 175-

grain ELD-X. I shot that bear at 12-steps. Even at that close range the Hornady ELD-X bullet

performed perfectly!

I shot last spring’s bear at 75-yards with a Mossberg Patriot Tactical rifle in .308 Win, using

Hornady’s 178-grain ELD-X Precision Hunter and topped with a Stealth Vision 3-18x44 SVT

scope, which has an operational lighted reticle. The bear came in during a rain storm during

very poor light conditions. Because of the lighted reticle I was able to make a precise, killing

shot. He ran about 30-steps. That bear was an old sly boar. He would look from a distance to

see if anyone was in the treestand near the bait. If there was a hunter in the stand, he would

leave and not show up again until after dark. We set up a ground blind and fooled him. I talked

to Randy about possibly doing the same, should we need to do so.

In years past I have taken black bear with a wide variety of calibers and rounds, on the upper

end being .375 H&H Mag, .375 Ruger, .450 Marlin, .45-70 Govt, .450-400 NE 3-in, as well as

with .50 muzzleloader and 12-gauge shotgun slugs. I have also taken bear with .44 Mag and

.454 Casull handguns and with a variety of lesser rifle calibers and rounds as well. To me, any

rifle caliber and round used for big mature whitetail deer should be sufficient for black bear.

But that said, I would suggest using a .270 Win and up. I like the idea of larger caliber rounds for

black bear that create big holes going in and coming out, creating a substantial blood trail

should the bear run away.

I have taken black bears with single-shot, bolt-action and lever-actions. All have worked well!

Black bear vitals, heart and lungs, sit back a bit farther behind the shoulders than our other

North American big game species. If you have not hunted black bear, before doing so I highly

recommend finding an anatomy chart to learn where a bear’s heart and lungs are positioned in

their body and how to make killing shots from different angles.

Even though my September bear hunt is still nearly half a year away I’ll soon start setting up the

rifle I intend to use in Maine. Randy Flannery hunts with and is a huge proponent of lever-

action rifles. He knows whereof he speaks! In his honor I plan on hunting with a lever-action. I

am currently awaiting the arrival of a Rossi R95 chambered in .45-70 Govt with a 20-inch barrel

to Schubert’s Firearms in the small town where I live in Texas. Once it arrives, paperwork

completed I will add a Picatinney rail and a Stealth Vision red dot sight. I will sight-in at 25-yards

using Hornady’s LEVERevolution 325-grain FTX ammo which should be a close to ideal, if not

perfect black bear hunting load. That load in the R95 produces in excess of 2,500 ft-lbs. of

energy at 25-yards. Based on my past experience with Hornady’s FTX bullets, they do

considerable tissue damage and kill quickly!

The primary reason for adding a red dot sight is the “red” dot. Open or “iron” sights can be

difficult to see against a black bear’s dark color, especially when light conditions are less than

perfect. Often times the biggest bears come to bait very late in the evening when light is far

from ideal to see open sights, or for that matter black crosshairs against a near black

background.

Once I get my rifle set up, before taking it bear hunting I’ll spend some time hunting hogs in

North Texas. That way by the time my September bear hunt gets here I’ll be real familiar with

my new “bear rifle”! I can hardly wait!