Good luck on your bear hunt! I got my first and only bear so far on a trip to AK a couple of years ago and I used a plain old .30-06 to get the job done. Really was a fun trip even more so because I made a new friend and hunting partner for life.
This year I'll be hunting pronghorn, mule deer, and elk. As far as what cartridge to use that is my problem. I have several rifles that I can use so I don't know which one to pick. For pronghorn I'll use either my .243 or .270 Win unless my .25-06 or 6.5x55 makes it back from the smiths in time to hunt with. I have two pronghorn tags one for buck in regular season and a late season doe in Dec.
I have a 2nd season deer tag and 4th season either sex elk tag. I have several rifles that I can use here as well but my five main choices here are rifles I haven't killed any game with. .30-40 Krag, 8mm-06, .358 Win, .35 Whelen, and .375 Ruger as well as a rifle I bought for elk hunting my .338-06 which has only taken a little pronghorn since I've had it. I'm really leaning towards the .30-40 for elk and .358 Win for deer mainly because of the rifles, my Krag is a mannlicher sporter and ideal for hunting dark timber, and my .358 is in a Savage 99 lever action.
Then I do have a new Encore pistol that I could use as well in .280 GNR (7mm-.405 Win AI) or 7mm-08 both cartridges are very capable of taking anything on my list of tags. The biggest problem for me is having too many choices in what I can shoot. I really don't mind having that problem!
