Bear lottery results

[JJ]

Lottery results are available on the DNR site.

I got pulled for 41, I'm excited and have someone running baits for the full baiting season. Hoping to take my first bear.

Now the bigger question. 300AAC, or excuse to buy a new rifle? Decisions, decisions...

[Slayer_MN1]

New rifle. Go with something with a little more energy.

[smurfman]

Most bears taken weigh less than 200 pounds. That is about as heavy as a decent buck. That said, the bear will carry that weight in bone and muscle more so than a deer. There is also a layer of fat, a thick hide, and plenty of fur to plug any bullet holes and soak up blood. That tends to mean a more powerful round is needed to not only penetrate to the vitals but also to create an exit hole as that is what's going to give you a blood trail to find your bear.

And that is considering the typical bear. Many bears well over 200 pounds are taken every year and they can show up anywhere. You want to be prepared for one of those as they are great trophies.

Many bears are taken with a 30/30 with 170 gr bullets but I feel that is kind of light. I would start with the 270 with 150 gr bullets and move up in size from there. A 308 with 165 or 180 gr bullets would be a starting point for short action rounds. My preference is a 358 win with 250 gr bullets if the weather is nice (it is blue/wood) or a 375 H&H mag with 270 or 300 gr bullets if the weather is bad. The latter is kind of heavy but it is all I have which I feel suitable that is stainless/synthetic.

I have also taken bears with a 54 caliber muzzleloader with conicals and with 357 mag and 454 Casull handguns. The 357 is light but I wasn't planning to shoot a bear at the time. I made it work. A 41 mag as a minimum is my recommendation. For black powder, 50 caliber and conicals should do fine.

[MnHornet]

Goin with my 450 bushmaster. As long as I've waited to get drawn, I plan to seal the deal.
I like the idea of a bigger drain hole if I need to track it.

[hunterfreakhd]

I'm going with my HOYT carbon. 7mm Remington mag would be my choice if using a rifle.

[cobb]

A Marlin 1895 in 45-70 is always a solid black bear choice over bait.

[MnHornet]

4 preference points and still didn't get a tag. BS

[JJ]

4 preference points and still didn't get a tag. BS

That bites. I had three pref points to get pulled in 41

[yuppiejr]

Just over a week to go, after an initial week of slow activity and some severe mosquito bites I finally had serious hits on 2 of 3 bait piles yesterday morning and got the cameras running on the active sites ... need to get up there at least twice before next Monday to freshen the bait and start figuring out what time these guys are hitting. I've decided on the 18" PSA AR in 6.8 SPC with SSA 110 grain Barnes TSX Tactical loads... with a cold steel boar spear as a backup.

[JJ]

My buddy has three baits set, and all three are getting hit. One station had seven different bears on it last week.

On Friday night my buddy dropped a GoPro in the hottest bait pile, and within 25 minutes Mr. Boar was in there feeding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qntGannzwJo

[OldmanFCSA]

My opinion has been edited or deleted.