“You never wake up in the morning going on a hunt and say to yourself, ‘I am going to go out today and take a world-record animal.'” Roger that. If nothing else, I don’t use the word “take.” I favor “shoot.” But hey, you can’t blame the have-muzzleloader-will-travel eponymous host of Steve’s Outdoor Adventures TV for using the PC term for ending the life of a 26 1/16″ B&C Z (a.k.a., big ass) Grizzly bear. There are people who get ALL kinds of worked up over ANY kind of hunting. Check out the death threats Tweeted to Bronze Medallist Trap Shooter Corey Cogdell. [Note to the uninitiated: the bear is dead, not chillin’.] Meanwhile, West made the 49-yard shot with a Burris FastFire sight-topped CVA .50 Caliber ACCURA V2 loaded with 405 grain Copper Powerbelt Bullets propelled by 150 grains of IMR whitehot pellets. Just so you know. [Click here for one of Steve’s Grizzly hunts and product promos galore.]

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54 COMMENTS

  3. Hunting bear with a muzzle loader… That sounds like a terrible idea. If your first shot misses/doesn’t stop him… Well, your SOL

    • It’s not much different than hunting Cape Buff in Africa with a double gun.

      It focuses the mind. You’d better make your first shot count.

        • Here’s a tip about that .44 Magnum backup:

          File off the front sight on the revolver.

          That way, when the bear mows you down, it won’t hurt so bad when he shoves that revolver up your backside.

          Here’s another tip about hunting dangerous game:

          Make your first shot count.

        • Uh, if you’re hunting something that will kill you with a single shot gun, isnt it smart to carry a backup weapon to possibly save your skin if you fail to “make your first shot count”? You sure as hell wont be reloading that muzzle loader in time.

        • @ Josh in GA – I think Dyspeptic Gunsmith was making reference to the fact that people are more likely to survive bear attacks when armed with bear-spray than with firearms…

          That, plus a .44-Mag isn’t necessarily a “bear stopper”, esp not when hunting in “world record” territory. I’d be more inclined to carry a 454-460-500 with a 4″ barrel. If you don’t kill it, you’ll at least make it deaf!!

        • I referring to the fact that, while the .44 Mag is fabled among movie-goers and so on, it’s well below what a pedestrian rifle like a .30-06 can deliver for energy, and is nowhere near in the class of what a 12ga shotgun with a Brennke slug, a heavy muzzle-stuffer (per the article) or a real dangerous game rifle (eg, .375 or larger) can do on dangerous game.

          Most people, even in calm situations, don’t shoot a handgun well enough at static targets to make their first shot count. Now have them try to make their first shot from a handgun count on a target that’s moving at them and they’re under duress, and then give them a weapon with mediocre kinetic energy and projectile mass?

          Yea, that’s not a winning formula.

        • that 44 is a good idea, keep calm and make sure the muzzle is making contact. fire when the bears about 10 feet out and you’ll never feel his teeth and claws. course, this option is out if you’re a devout catholic.

      • i haven’t hunted in many years and i’ve never hunted anything as dangerous as cape buffalo, but your comment about making the first shot count got me to thinking. i can’t remember more than maybe twice that i ever fired more than 2 shots at a given animal. the speed of the encounter, the terrain, obstacles all combined to make that first shot the telling one.

        • Almost certainly he was hunting with a guide that was carrying at least a .375 H&H and very likely a .416 or .458. The same goes with cape buffalo except most of the guides (called PHs there) carry at least a .458 Win. Mag.

          Although it is called dangerous game hunting it is only dangerous compared to other hunting (actually I think there are more fatalities waterfowl hunting). One really has to screw up to end up dead hunting dangerous game and it very rarely happens.

          I have shot a few cape buffalo, one in a charge that some else screwed up by wounding it. I wasn’t at all worried, not with a .458 in my hands. It dropped like a rock with a 500 grain Barnes solid traveling at over 2200 fps that went up through the chest and into the spine.

          I have never shot a big bear but have worked my whole life in Alaska where seeing and dealing with them is not uncommon. I have chased them out of camp many times, again with a .458 in my hands. Without the rifle, you’re damn right I would be scared.

          As far as a .44 Mag be useless, well that used to be the case and it still isn’t the best defense. However ADF&G used to say that although bear attacks have been stopped with a handgun there had never been a case where one has been prevented. That is no longer true. It was a woman working for USGS that dropped a grizzly with one shot in the head. It feel on clipboard! There is much better ammo now available for the .44 mag. It isn’t the best but sometimes it is the only practical thing to carry and as a friend says it beat begging.

  4. It took me an awfully long time to realize that that picture wasn’t fake and this article wasn’t satire.

    Jesus H. Christ. That is a gigantic bear.

  8. Absolutely pathetic the lengths some people go to to compensate for their other inadequacies.

    Hunt to eat by all means – but trophy hunting some of the world’s most beautiful and endangered animals with a gun because it makes you feel like a big man is pathetic. There is no great battle of wits or abilities when you can drop something stone dead in a split second from 500ft.

    • Maybe he eats bear meat. I know people that have. And it takes a big brass set to go out and hunt dangerous game. Especially with a muzzleloader. I imagine the adrenaline rush was incredible, and he has a story that he’ll remember for a lifetime. Sounds worth it to me.

    • Let’s try some arithmetic: There are three feet in a yard. Forty-nine yards times three equals 147 feet.

      Perhaps you’re unaware also that hunting is carefully regulated to assure the survival of the bears. Perhaps you’re unaware that hunting is a part of being human. FLAMED DELETED

      One of the many differences between you and me is that I support your right to make your own choices.

        • Oh Ralph – does every post you make have to be an example of why it’s better to keep you mouth shut and people think you’re an idiot, than open you mouth and prove it?

        • “My point was that if you want to ACTUALLY risk your life for a thrill then there are ways to do it without killing endangered animals, at a distance, at little or no real risk to yourself.”

          Taking a shot at a grizzly with a muzzleloader at 50 yards certainly qualifies as risky.

    • Just so ya know, grizzly bears are NOT an endangered species, and hunting for them is strictly regulated anyway. Also, the blurb says he took it at 49 yards, so >150 ft is damn close, thats dangerous range, considering grizzlys can run around 30 mph.

      • Of course they’re not endangered – that’s why they’re not on the endangered species list.

        Oh, wait, they totally are on the endangered species list. Just so ya know.

        • They’re endangered in China and Italy, THREATENED in the lower 48 (which, IMO is applied dubiously), UNDEFINED in Alaska. This is according to the US Fish and Wildlife website.

      • IIRC, they’re considered “threatened” in the US (except Alaska) and are “endangered” in Canada. Populations and population changes are very much location dependent. Yellowstone NP removed the “endangered” title from grizzlies, but the courts reversed that decision due to some pine tree being also endangered (the pine nuts are top food for some grizzly populations).

    • Gizzlies are FAST…147 feet with a muzzleloader…holy crap. It’s not like you can just, you know, pop in another shell if you wounded the bear. He/she’d be on you so fast that you’d only have time to pour the powder…

    • Kinda a late comment but just have to do so. First the guy was NOT out trophy hunting, second he was using something you obviously know nothing about it was a BLACK POWDER MUZZLE LOADER. .50 cal which is not accurate at 500 yards unless you have a very special gun and a very special person behind that trigger. THE CVA he lists is not the gun for that kind of distance. If you think its a one way deal with the animal losing I challenge you to take that same gun out and shoot a similar sized bear. I would almost guarantee you and most folks like you will lose that battle and the bear will burp after eating you and poop the rest of you right out. You buy meat from a store? duh where do you think it came from?

  9. bajeebus, that’s a big bear. i’ve only seen black bears in the woods. no where’s near that impressive.

  10. 49 yards?! Is that a typical distance for hunting bears? I always imagined just a little more distance…

  12. Someone put a beer into that bear’s mitt. The bear looks like he is just kicking back after a big lunch and enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon .

  14. He shot a bear with a muzzleloader? What the bear was doing with a muzzleloader I’ll never know.

  15. 49 yards with a muzzleloader? Talk about living dangerously…

    Just looking at the size of the bear, I’d probably say “I respect nature” and put some more distance between myself and bear before risking a shot.

    Wonder how many guys it took to pick up the carcass and pose it for the “lounge” shot.

  16. “[Click here for one of Steve’s Grizzly hunts and product promos galore.]”

    I went over and checked out that video as well as some of his other feeds. His comments sections tend to breed discontent, as the anti-hunters and pro-hunters square off. He’s pretty heavy-handed with the deleting of comments, but not unreasonably so, in my opinion. There were at least a couple occasions where he’d responded along the lines of “please control your language” and “Instead of emotional profanity filled rants try a little thoughtful education…”

    Anyway, the best one was this exchange:

    “could have been a five minute video 20 minutes of ads and product sales” – slipnsldnaway

    “I’m sorry we wanted to offer this video without ads for free on You Tube. But then we found out that not only did camera equipment cost money, but so did hunting equipment! I was like we should call slipnsldnaway he said he’d pay for the whole season of shows out of pocket so we can keep it ad free! But I lost your number, so I’m glad you contacted us here. Please contact our offices to arrange a payment, or you could just watch for FREE here on YouTube. BTW slider @ bottom = skip ads. enjoy!” – SOAonline

  17. Where exactly is the danger?
    I missed the part where he was alone, without any other firearms/protection.
    Is that like me, poking at a rattlesnake, through a hole in a covered fishtank, with a stick, in the doctors office?

    FLAME RELATED COMMENT REMOVED

  20. If Yogi is gonna be kicked back out on the lake, trolling around,,,for God’s sake, give him a hat, Coors Light and a Swisher Sweet…

  21. Thanks for not posting my original comment, as a defender of (2nd) amendment rights, I think you should abide by the 1 st!

    My comment was far from inflamatory.

    Good luck.

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