60lbs liberty chief longbow, tapered doug fir arrow 2 blade zwickey eskimo....double lung didnt penetrate the off side shoulder, rolled the tip, bear ran 75-80 yards.  Shot on sept 17th 2011.

QuoteOriginally posted by AkDan:
60lbs liberty chief longbow, tapered doug fir arrow 2 blade zwickey eskimo....double lung didnt penetrate the off side shoulder, rolled the tip, bear ran 75-80 yards.  Shot on sept 17th 2011.

What a bear  
Congratulations!

Now that's what I like to see, results!

Way to go, beautiful hide !

I'm lovin' that too.nice job and great picture,AkDan.

thanks for the help guys with the way the times are now it might never happen but keep shooting till one day i go for the hunt of a life time

Fred Eichler wrote a article about taking bears with a bow in bowhunter mag. He took his bears including griz and polar with a 54 lb palmer recurve. If you pick your shot and are close and have the right arrow, broadhead you should not have a problem. Go read his article and take his first hand knowledge on all the bears and you will see it's all about placement, bears are thin skinned and can be taken with the lighter bows.

This is a great thread with a ton of good info  

Great thread and good reading. AKDan, that is a beautiful bear!      

Having hunted black bears for many, many years with 46-48 pound recurves, I'm not sure what to think. Every year there a tons of huge blacks taken with very light trad bows, yet blacks don't have the reputation and temperament of the grizzly (for the most part anyway).

I guess my gut feeling is 50 is enough if, like everyone else has mentioned, it's put right in the boiler room. Just like almost any other animal, if you were shooting a 80 pound bow and didn't put it where it needed to be, it's not going to have done you much good either.

Very interesting thread with lots of good advice offered by some very experienced hunters.

Make sure you take someone with you, that you can out run.

QuoteOriginally posted by amazonjim:
Make sure you take someone with you, that you can out run.

Man you guys are making me want to go hunt bear.

50 pd bow with a sharp broadhead will do the job just fine; its shoot placement . How calm a person can remain under stress is the key.

I think I'm not goin there!

I'd say your setup is plenty if shots are kept close, I would go with the heaviest arrows that will tune in your bow, and a stout 2 blade single bevel broadhead. I took a grizzly a couple weeks ago with a 60# recurve, 750 grain (total weight) Easton FMJ arrows, and a Grizzly broadhead. 14 yard shot, broadside with the far leg back. Complete penetration, both lungs, came out through the front of the far leg, and he only went 40 yards. Green scored 25 7/16", squared 8'9"

Here is a photo of that bear:

Congrats on the trophy of a lifetime! Great picture!

I want one. Maybe two.