Where to place a bullet in a bear

[blackbear]

My son-in-law is a professional guide / tracker. He hires out to recover wounded bear. He has some pretty amazing tales of tracking and recovering wounded bear. Much of what I know about bear I learned from him. I agree with you on large bore rifles and now have a .450 Marlin. With a lot of time on my hands I do a lot of research and field study on bear. My research is almost exclusively on mature boars. They are unique and are in ways a completely different animal in my opinion. They are too often the bears that end up wounded and never recovered. If you know a butcher who cuts up bear (many don't) ask him about old wounds he has seen on bear. Many mature male Black Bear take what should be fatal wounds and recover. It is my opinion that given sufficient nutrition and adequate fat reserves, a mature boar may recover from otherwise fatal wounds during "hibernation". 4 To 6 months of hibernation where they are inactive in a state that we don't completely understand yet seems to give them this ability to heal. During this period Black Bear loose the rough skin on their pads and emerge in the Spring with fresh soft skin on their pads. Black Bear meat is extremely high in cholesterol and I imagine this has something to do with them not waking to eat for months and in some cases recovered from the previous years injuries. God made an amazing animal in the bear.

[bearfat]

  Or maybe I will try the shoulder shot and break the spine. With all the shoulder blade bone flying around inside it might hit the spine and blood veins. I don't know but I never want to almost loose a bear again!

I wish I could tell you where to place the bullet exactly and the exact position the bear should be in for the shoulder shot ihookem but I've never taken it. Perhaps someone that has taken this shot could tell us in the pictures I have posted if the red dot should be higher, lower, left, right, and what angle the bear should be facing, quartering facing away, facing towards us or broadside.
 

[Snowman366]

This thread has been a wonderful read. Thanks to all who have taken time to participate.