Originally posted by bertwert Sounds like fun times.
Only now are the Canadian Rangers (military branch up north) are having their Lee-Enfields replaced and many a polar bear has been shot with them. I think with such a large animal you need to hit it in the CNS (brain or spinal cord) to stop it dead in it's tracks rather than a heart shot. Also these animals are so large and heavy that one should move to the side really quickly as the momentum of the animal may still result in a very heavy dead pile of meat hitting you.
Yes, head shots for polar bears. Too much muscle and blubber on the body to be sure you'll reach heart and lungs.
Good point on the momentum, too. When we had an elephant trotting towards us our guide pulled us behind a big tree. As she put it "The bullet will kill the elephant, but not stop it. The tree will stop it." It never came to that, though, as the animal veered off when he heard the sound of the bolt action. That was about 5-10 m away - hard to judge accurately when the adrenaline levels are high