Ok. Just my $.02 worth. I live in Eastern Washington, just barely. (Pun intended.) Leavenworth, actually. Went eyeball-to-eyeball with one of the rascals this Spring on my front porch. As I couldn't tell looking out the front room window if it was A) the neighbor's dog, [a no shoot] B) a raccoon [shoot], or C) a cougar [shoot] I had my 586 in hand. It hadn't even occured to me that it may be a bear until I saw him. This is my living room 'at hand' piece. It's loaded with Corbon 125 gr. hollow points, and in retrospect I think this would be a great load to address a bear, if I so chose. Black bear are not thick skinned and they're not heavy-boned. Mostly if they're coming around your place they're just hungry. In all the years I've lived in bear country, and I've seen plenty of bears here, I've never seen a black bear be in the least aggressive. They have always been intent, solely, on eating. For that reason I will keep the trash cans in the garage, the bird feeder well up on the deck, and hope that I never have to shoot one. But if I do I think any high velocity 125 h.p. will do the job, as it certainly has on any number of 250-300 pound varmints with less hair than a bear.
