Thread: Hunting Rifles / Handguns - New, Old, Restored

I never had Bear. Is it good eating?

I'd samply bear.

Originally Posted by sharptonn

I never had Bear. Is it good eating?

Black Bear is very tasty, Think Zesty Pork, Makes great Smokies, Sausage, Chili Verde etc:

I have never had Brown/Grizzly so I can't say

I support the Bear habitat every year LOL, I buy a tag but never actively hunt one, but just in case I have to drop a nuisance one, I want the meat and hide without any issues ...

Elliot Lake where I lived before moving to Southern Ontario started life as a Uranium minining camp.

The mines basically built the houses for their miners and the town of Elliot Lake was born.

It was just built in the middle of the backwoods with a 20 mile road connecting it to the Trans Canada between Sudbury and Sault Ste Marie.

Before the town appeared the bears lived there and saw no reason to change their habits just because we all showed up.

I remember that if I needed to go out the side door of the house where the Garbage cans were, I had to crack the door open just enough to make sure there wasn't a bear in the drive because they loved the garbage. We had teeth holes in the lid.

Often we would be woken up by the noise of the bears in the back garden where they had dragged the Garbage can and were having a picnic or scrambiling around in our apple tree.

When I first came to Canada I was really keen to see a bear, I'm cured of that now

Black bears can be a nuisance but normally can be driven off by making lots of loud noise. Black bears attacking and/or killing humans in Ontario has been a rare occurrence but does happen.

Personally, I have never considered eating bear meat for some reason. I do hunt them but with a camera.







Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

Black bears can be a nuisance but normally can be driven off by making lots of loud noise. Black bears attacking and/or killing humans in Ontario has been a rare occurrence but does happen.
Bob

You're right of course Black bears don't usually attack people but I wouldn't want to open my side door and walk straight out, they probably don't have much sense of humour if their startled.

The OPP had these flash bang things that looked like road flares but we never called them because we had a wooden fence in the back and a terrified bear would probably charge straight through it.

The potentially less expensive way was to wait until they wandered off then just clean up the mess.

OOH, I'm a blabbermouth since just now, not sure if that's a good thing or not

Originally Posted by STF

You're right of course Black bears don't usually attack people but I wouldn't want to open my side door and walk straight out, they probably don't have much sense of humour if their startled.

The OPP had these flash bang things that looked like road flares but we never called them because we had a wooden fence in the back and a terrified bear would probably charge straight through it.

The potentially less expensive way was to wait until they wandered off then just clean up the mess.

If you are in bear country, most of Ontario is bear country, the common sense thing to do is to announce your impending presence by making loud noises so you don't startle a bear. That gives them the chance to retreat and avoid a confrontation. Keeping in mind that does not always work with a bear that has become habituated to humans or a sow with cubs. Bears were there first and the onus is on you to avoid conflicts. By you I mean people in general and not anyone specifically.

A typical example foolishness with a black bear happened in our area a few years ago. Some tourists in a car spotted a black bear beside the highway and stopped to see it. One of the group started to feed the bear. All was well and good till the person feeding the bear stopped feeding it. That was when the person feeding the bear got mauled but survived. The incident was caused by humans and was totally avoidable.

Bob

Since we were talking bears.

https://www.nwonewswatch.com/local-n...edium=referral

Bob

I have not hunted since about 2008. I used to hunt Pheasant every weekend for a while, but gave it up after a few years. I sold most of my hunting guns except for my 12 gauge pump and 22 rifle. But I'm not in the market for a Lever Action.

Bears and Cougars are the primary reason I decided NOT to hike the Appalachin Trail about 15 years ago. On that trail, you have a good chance of running into Black Bears. I'd rather not run into them withough a 357 magnum on my hip, and I don't think you can hike that trail in most states with a gun strapped to your hip. I realize Black Bears can be shy, but as mentioned, if you startle them, it can turn out very poorly for you. People have died on the trail because of Cougars and Black Bears. So I bailed out of a hike. I don't mess with bears. Black, Brown or Grizzley. I give them a very wide margin to avoid running in to me. And if you're hiking over a thousand miles, sooner or later you are going to get tired, preoccupied, and careless. That's when Murphy and his law is going to introduce you to a startled Black Bear or a Cougar on the hunt.

The first post in this thread reminded me of my abandoned reloading bench. It's a mess. It's going to take me a week to clean that up if I decide to reload again. I am in the market for a 357 Lever Action Henry firearm. I may pick one up very soon. I had a Marlin 44 magnum lever action about 15 years ago, but it was too large of a caliber for my use, with a little too much kick in my shoulder. I have a permanent hematoma on my shoulder from all the skeet and trap shooting I did in my 20s and 30s. No need to aggrivate that.

And besides, I could reload 38/357 in my sleep. Its a pretty versatile cartridge. I have a wheel gun in 357 from Taurus, so a 357 lever action rifle would be a nice pairing. I don't like to reload necked cartridges, so the 357 would be a nice long range rifle caliber for me. I'd do some target practice with 38, and if I ever hunted again, I'd go 357 magnum.



I'll post some actual pics if I get the rifle this weekend. They are not easy to find lately, but not impossible either.