Ed Prefers Big-Bore Handguns Running Bears With Hounds Or Hunting From A Stand

We were on our way to remote, mountainous Vermont bear country when the hounds struck as we passed a small orchard just north of Bennington.

We stopped, checked the smallish tracks and decided to give the bear a pass. But after two weekends of not finding a decent bear to run in the mountains, when the hounds struck again at the orchard, we decided to give them some exercise and cast them on the track.

The hounds ran the bear a mile to where it treed in the upper branches of a tall pine. Dan Longo and I were well ahead of the rest of the party as we approached the tree, and we were shocked to find a 400-pound bear looking down at us—clearly not the one that had left the smallish tracks.

The bear began to climb down, and Dan began waving his arms and yelling. The bear reclaimed its upper position, and I headed for the other side of the tree, to also yell and wave. We wanted to keep the bear in the tree for our designated shooter, but as I ran I unholstered my Smith & Wesson .460—just in case.

I could not see the bear swing to the backside and then slide down as if the tree were a fire pole (or so Dan later told me). But I did hear a loud thump, looked, and found myself face to face with a very unhappy standing bear.

I threw up the revolver and double actioned a shot from the 8-inch barrel. There would have been no room to raise much less shoulder a rifle, and I certainly didn’t have time to align sights. It was a purely instinctive shot that hit the bear in the face, 2 inches under the right eye. The 395-grain Cast Performance bullet put the 10-year-old beast down in a heap.

Such handgun loads are more than adequate for bears, and at times like that, a handgun can be a much better bet than a shoulder-fired rifle

That bear now stands tall as a full-body mount in my living room.