only1harry - 6/21/2009 3:02 PM
I think not having a backup when going after bear is plain insane. If one loses their life or gets hurt it would be a shame because it could have been completely avoided. Safety comes above all unless you have no regard for your life or another hunting partner that might be with you.
My feelings exactly. A 400+fpe airgun shooting a fairly heavy boolit will kill a bear just fine with proper shot placement. Some tracking is to be expected.
I feel that having a repeating centerfire that is capable of STOPPING an angry bear as back-up, rather than simply killing it, is necessary when specifically hunting animals that can easily kill you. I have been stalked between stands by a black bear while predator hunting here in Oregon, without having a gun capable of reliably stopping one on hand. Not fun, and I felt pretty darn stupid.
People want to talk of the old pioneer days when bear were shot with muzzleloaders all the time. Well, back then pioneers with muzzleloaders were killed by bears quite often. Had they had the ability to have a back-up centerfire on hand, they certainly would have taken advantage.
I don't feel that the idea of hunting a bear with a single shot airgun was ever being "ridiculed" per se. Hunting them with a single-shot weapon of any kind, without having true stopping-power on hand for back-up, is what I consider to be "foolsih".
It's a matter of having the proper respect for the ability of the game to kill the hunter. We aren't talking about deer hunting here. More people have been killed by black bears, than brown bears since 2000. Take into consideration, that the bodies left over from bear maulings/predation aren't usually in the best of shape when the families receive them for burial/cremation.
Sniperdad69, since you are bringing enough gun for the kill, and plan to have enough gun for a "stop" on hand, you seem good to go IMO. Hunting black bear with only a single-shot gun (of any kind), is what I find to be "ridiculous".
You could still be the first to kill a true "buffalo" (the most dangerous animal in Africa is the Cape Buffalo) with an airgun. So far, only American Bison have been killed with them. Might be tough to find a PH that willing to allow it, though.
