Friend in NorCal killed a standing bear towering over his wife planting flowers at close range with a single 44 mag pistol shot to head,dropped like a rock with one head shot.

His Bud killed one in his grove with a 22 rifle,one shot,excellent skilled hunter he was though,and bear surprised him,he wasnt bear hunting.This fellow told me a 357 mag will stop any bear in Calif,I'll take his word for it.When I visited there he always armed me with a 357 and said never leave the house without it (and dont shoot off your toe,first hand advice from him,LOL),they had a lot of problem bears there.

State relocated problem bears to the area yet denied it,they killed bears they called '2 holers',a hole in each ear from where they had been tagged twice before by state before they showed up in their backyards.

So they not only had a lot of bears,they had bears with issues.Nice,eh?