Shot placement has been and always will be key.
L
If only that pesky bear would hold still so I could get a better aim...
Yeah, a 22 in the eye will do the job on most anything.
In addition, the 45 was DESIGNED to be the minimum caliber that will drop a cow with one shot. This was experimentally done as part of the design process of the 1911. Yes, they shot a series of cows with various calibers until they got one that did the job consistently.
A bear or moose, I dunno. But, hit any of them inna head and they will go down.
Shot placement is key. I have large black bears around my home in the mountains and when I am out I carry a Ruger GP100 .357 magnum or a Virginian Dragoon in .44 magnum both with hunting loads.
The one time I have fired a weapon with a bear involved was a 400 lbs black bear that walked out of the woods into our front yard and our Irish Setter about knocked my oldest son who was 9 or 10 at the time down to get between him and the bear and he came running inside screaming as the dog and bear squared off in a growling match. I went outside with a Mossy 500 in .12 gauge with 5 rds of .00 buck and the two were about 10 feet apart the bear snapping its teeth and roaring and Katie hackles up, showing teeth and growling back in a stand off.
I told my wife Katie runs toward the front door or garage when I shoot any firearm get ready to grab her and drag her inside and I put a round into the ground and sure enough she broke and ran right at my wife who dragged her inside. The bear stopped it’s growling and just looked at me like yeah what are you going to do now? I racked another round into the chamber and fired again into the ground and chambered another round quickly preparing for a charge. The bear looked for a few seconds at me and slowly turned and ambled off into the woods with no great speed or desire so sound didn’t deter this cat.