Where to aim your bear!

[rattling_junkie]

[rattling_junkie]

Let the debate begin!

[HappyJack]

I just hit them the same as I do with a deer, the don't go far, double lung or front shoulder.

[rattling_junkie]

Exactly, couldn't agree more!

[walks with deer]

Texas heart shots.. all day long.

[Bugle M In]

I would lean more towards the shoulders and bust the blades if it was gbear.
I will say this, get to know the true anatomy of the game you shoot as they actually stand broadside.
I always aimed low on elk and a few inches behind the shoulder.
Everyone one of my shots/ kills I found I just took off the very end portion of the heart but blew the liver to bits.
Its a kill shot, but not always instantaneously.
Looking at actual diagrams of bone location vs muscle appearance, I saw how the joints of and elk/ deer look veg different in location from what you think you see.
To really hit dead centre of a heart on elk, you literally have to hit the back edge of the front leg muscle on the back leading edge.
I was bang on as far as height, just several inches too far back.
So, look at a bears bone structure vs outwards appearance.
Then it’s a debate whether to bust shoulders or go for the heart.
Once the shoulders are gone, they aren’t going far, if at all, imo.
I never aimed for the shoulder of elk because I wanted to damage as little of the good meat as ever possible.

[RyoTHC]

Busting shoulders doesn’t slow bears down from my experience, unless you hit the knuckle of their shoulder socket and not the blade, which is a tough shot! Middle of middle seems to deflate them the quickest and I’ve found that when you take those shots, they “notice” it less and go about their business, you hit them in the shoulder that adrenaline flows and they run like a mac truck..

my second biggest bear I hit broadside .308 from 20 yards and it looked up, attempted to go back to feeding and fell over.

[HarryToolips]

I just hit them the same as I do with a deer, the don't go far, double lung or front shoulder.

This.........

[bc7mm]

We’ve taken over 30 bears in the last 3 decades. Lungs / boiler room works every time. I don’t intentionally shoot out shoulders, although sometimes on a quartering shot it might exit through there. Take out the lungs they don’t go very far. Shoulder shots tend to waste quite a bit of meat. My bear last spring scored 18 7/8, double lunged, never touched a shoulder, went 15 yards. We’ve seen this same thing play out many times. Never lost one, shots on bears to 6 and a half feet nose to tail. Nothin fancy, same thing as any other critter. If they can’t breath, and with massive blood loss it is quick and humane.

[RiverOtter]

Shoulders...can always fall back on a double lung.
Still hunt pretty much exclusively with TSX/TTSX, so I like busting bone.

One thing not mentioned yet that is worth noting, is don't hit them high. Bear hair soaks up blood really good and they can go a fair ways into some nasty stuff.