With North Carolina’s black bear season coming up in a few weeks many hunters are scouting their hunting areas and test firing their guns to be prepared for the season. There’s a lot to do.

For the newcomer to bear hunting in eastern North Carolina, it’s a good idea to remember that our bears tend to be considerably larger than the black bears that are found in other areas of the country. The largest taken in the state weighed 880 pounds and biologists have seen some that they estimated to weigh over 1000 pounds. That’s a lot of potentially dangerous animal.

The usual question of “what’s the best gun to hunt bear with in our state” will come up over a dinner table and, as usual, there’s a lot of diversity over which one is best. Perhaps the most universal answer to the best bear gun controversy is “if it’s good enough to kill a whitetail deer, it’s good enough to kill one of our bears.” A very famous North Carolina author and big game hunter, Robert Ruark, summed up his ideas about guns for hunting larger animals in his book titled, “Use Enough Gun.”

Most bear hunters agree that the most important thing in shooting a bear is placing the shot in the proper place at the right time.

It’s no secret that the largest grizzly bear on record for many years was taken by a Native American woman who was out picking berries with her children. When the big grizzly attacked she grabbed her little single shot .22 rim fire and let the bear have it right in its mouth. Even that miniscule little .22 short bullet found its way into a vital area of the bear’s brain and its attack ended very quickly.

Most bear hunters prefer to use a gun that allows for a good deal of hunter error in placing the bullet while at the same time, disposing of a potentially dangerous animal as quickly as possible.

In spite of the fact that many bear hunters keep saying that a black bear is no more dangerous than a whitetail deer, these same bear hunters usually “pack a little more heat” than they’d carry when they’re hunting deer. Obviously a black bear’s teeth and claws are more of a threat to your well being than a deer’s antlers, hooves and grazing teeth.

Limiting a North Carolina bear hunter to one gun is like limiting a golfer to one golf club. There are a lot of different terrains and conditions for each of these sportsmen and there’s a different tool that’s needed for each set of circumstances.

The hunters who use dogs to bring a bear to bay or a tree will frequently be following those hounds through some pretty thick and hilly country. Sometime our southern winters tend to be on the warm side and, when the hunter arrives at the scene of the baying or treeing, he’s sweaty, winded and anxious to either call off the dogs and let their bear go or, if the bear’s harvestable, take it out as quickly as possible. A wounded bear on the ground and surrounded by a bunch of very excited dogs and hunters can get tricky. I sometime think that the bear hunters I know would rather have a wounded bear “whup-up” on them than on some of their prize dogs.

In the case of hunting bear over dogs, my personal recommendation for guns is a shotgun, rifle or handgun that’s small and light enough to be carried through rough terrain yet powerful enough to kill a bear as quickly as possible. The hunter needs to be proficient enough with whatever gun he’s using to be able to pretty well put the bullet into a small target area while the hunter’s gasping for breath from his run and shaking with excitement.

No doubt a handgun is the easiest gun to take for bear hunting with dogs but is the hunter proficient enough to accurately place a bullet in a quick-kill area of the bear while he’s shaking like a leaf?

Most bears that are killed while hunting with dogs are taken at a really short range of maybe 20 yards or less. It would take an unusually proficient handgunner to place a bullet from a .44 magnum revolver in a 6-inch circle while he’s shaking like the proverbial “jackass eating briers” and the bear’s head is poking around a limb 20 yards away. If the bear’s bayed with several dogs swarming all around it, accuracy and using enough gun becomes even more important.

Basically there are two types of bear hunters who do not hunt over dogs. There are the hunters who wait for the trophy bear to come into range in thick cover (such as over bait---Illegal in North Carolina) and the ones who watch for that bear they’ve scouted all summer to show up crossing a relatively clear area at long range.

The bear hunter who hunts in the thick will probably not have a shot at more than 100 yards. The hunter will probably not be exhausted when he’s taking aim at the bear so they should be able to take steady aim and place the bullet more accurately. No one likes to track a wounded bear through bear “tunnels” in a briar patch after dark so, again, putting the animal down as quickly and efficiently as possible is paramount.

There’s no question that a lot of bear have been taken with rifles in the .243 or 30-30 Winchester class. They’re classic whitetail deer cartridges and, with a well-placed bullet, will get the job done on our black bear. On the other hand, I’d rather follow the old rule of the Boy Scouts of America that cautions one to “Be Prepared.” For that reason my personal preference for a bear gun in thick cover is a Marlin Guide Gun in the classic old cartridge, the 45-70 Government. Many years of use have proven this to be a deadly bear gun within its limited range. As rifles go it’s relatively lightweight, versatile, easy to carry in cover and, with proper sights, ideal for my purposes.

Not to be forgotten as an effective bear gun within that 100 yard, heavy cover is a good 12 Ga. Shotgun. Using slugs and one of the relative new rifled shotgun barrels and in the hands of a practiced hunter, this is certainly a viable option.

The “bean field hunter” has a wide selection of modern and efficient long range rifles available. Such cartridges as the flat shooting 7 mm STW or the even newer 300 Remington Ultra Magnum (if you can stand the recoil) will certainly reach out there and get the job done.

Without a doubt, in the case of long range shooting over open fields, being an accurate shooter is the most critical factor. Accomplished bean field hunters spend many hours practicing, tuning their rifles and learning to “dope” the wind and other conditions. They are usually confident in their shooting ability and don’t take shots that might result in wounding an animal and having to go through a late night search through thick cover.

Choosing the caliber and type of the “proper” hunting gun and ammunition is the subject of many late night discussions over a campfire. Everybody has their personal favorite and, no doubt, if they’re comfortable with that particular gun and can use it efficiently, it’s the one they should stick with. Personally I do feel that Robert Ruark (and I feel sure Elmer Keith would agree) it’s a good idea to “use enough gun.”