Bear hunt gone wrong

dgradinaru

CGN frequent flyer
Rating - 99.8%
412   1   1
Location
British Columbia
Interesting watch and perfect storm scenario. Lots to learn from a video like this. Makes one rethink his reloads, pressure, elevation, temps. Hot loads with several X fired brass and your in for a surprise.

 
My thinking is that with a hot load the primer would have been hammered back in to the pocket at discharge. I have had primer pockets that became quite loose on pistol brass that had been loaded too many times but the primers never fell out after discharge.

Bill
 
Would be interesting to see what the 3, 225gr AB's looked like.

I've had the same misfortune with a primer on my 280 AI (150 TSX and Staball 6.5) one time as well, still to this day I have no idea why that one round "over pressured" and dumped the primer as I've shot many rounds of the same load through that rifle without a hitch both before and after. Possibly a reloading room mistake??

Good thing their government trusts them enough to carry a pistol... if they were Canadian they may have become a bowel movement. :(
 
Actually had this playing today while attempting to clean the basement. Ended up parked in front of the tv to watch it. Seems like they did most things wrong and were lucky enough to survive. Her behaviour while he was going down to check if the bear was still alive showed how screwed up her mind was.
 
When my old man went on a guided sheep/caribou hun t in the territories 30 yrs ago he said the first spiel the outfitter gave them in camp was the " we dont plan on killing any bears on this trip but if the absolute need arises, no-body...and I repeat...no-body will shoot further than 45 yrds at a bear. His reasoning expained as, most every hunter can hit reasonably close to where you need to at 45 yrds even with panic/buck fever and a poorly hit bear will be one you before you get the second shot into him if he is 45-100 yrds from you...less that 45 yrds, your on your own because I'm gonna do what I need to do to survive...end of story.
 
Not to crap on someones story, but they make mention of 3 decent hits with the rifle. How does this jive with the video then? Also, making excuses for their reloads.

This I’m curious about. In the video you can clearly see the bear coughing up blood. Pre existing medical condition?
 
This I’m curious about. In the video you can clearly see the bear coughing up blood. Pre existing medical condition?

Not sure if you're being silly, or genuinely curious here. Hard to know with the internet.

What we observe here, is definitely 3 "hits" on target. The first one seems to immobilize it or cause some kind of shock/stunning effect. Who knows...shoulder, neck, near spine or vertabrae type thing. Maybe even hits the throat or far forward top of lung. Bear seems to spool up and start moving after a bit. The next 2 shots seem to be dog #### to me. Maybe one of them hit the lung area, but what I'm seeing looks like two very high hits. Hard to tell with the perspective, so maybe the one with blood spray was actually alright. But if any one of the three shots was decent, why did the bear keep moving? Bullet failure?

I don't think it had a pre existing condition. I would think damaging the throat or a near miss on the lungs may cause that.
 
When my old man went on a guided sheep/caribou hun t in the territories 30 yrs ago he said the first spiel the outfitter gave them in camp was the " we dont plan on killing any bears on this trip but if the absolute need arises, no-body...and I repeat...no-body will shoot further than 45 yrds at a bear. His reasoning expained as, most every hunter can hit reasonably close to where you need to at 45 yrds even with panic/buck fever and a poorly hit bear will be one you before you get the second shot into him if he is 45-100 yrds from you...less that 45 yrds, your on your own because I'm gonna do what I need to do to survive...end of story.

Beyond 45 yds, not sure why that number, ok sure, it's not a defense situation. They weren't hunting them.
 
When my old man went on a guided sheep/caribou hun t in the territories 30 yrs ago he said the first spiel the outfitter gave them in camp was the " we dont plan on killing any bears on this trip but if the absolute need arises, no-body...and I repeat...no-body will shoot further than 45 yrds at a bear. His reasoning expained as, most every hunter can hit reasonably close to where you need to at 45 yrds even with panic/buck fever and a poorly hit bear will be one you before you get the second shot into him if he is 45-100 yrds from you...less that 45 yrds, your on your own because I'm gonna do what I need to do to survive...end of story.

We worked the densest grizz habitat Canada has, and frequently had run ins with Grizz. The least exciting parts of the job with them were actually when you were purely focused on hunting them, unless the client had a .450 Marlin or the like and you have to follow it into the devils club to make sure it’s down after its death sprint.

Above is sound advice, I’d push the limit for shooting closer too. With grizz, to their credit they’re just bears until they’re feeling threatened or are wounded. Then in an instant they exceed their reputation, they’re wolverines at a dozen or more times the scale. And that’s what makes them so admirable, their first instinct is to fight when grievously threatened in their judgment, as far as they know they’re the meanest thing in the bush. Evolution hasn’t dulled them yet, they’ve yet to fully learn they’re no longer top dog. I can’t help but respect that.

They lean on that reputation with frequent bluff charges too. And holding fire in one of those will save more lives than it costs, a grizz that wanted to communicate you’re in its space will switch to a far more fatal intention the minute it’s hit. Even if it only has ten seconds of fight left, that’s a long time. We had them outside the tent posturing aggressively in the dusk, and held fire watching them through the tent flap, or losing sight of them as they circled and crashed around you.

The best course was to remain calm, talk in a calm voice, and keep the clients from getting their gun in their hands.
 
^ right? The behaviour of a salmon fed grizzly and a half starved muskeg or barrens one are very different

Solid advice from Ardent re spitting distance encounters though. A gun can escalate it from a yelling match to a mauling. 5 seconds is a long time when you are getting mauled; I know two bear attack survivors and have met a couple others; the guys I know the encounters from seeing the bear to it being driven off or shot to death lasted literal seconds
 
for grizzly: the biggest are not the meanest ...

Agreed. The biggest tend to be smarter than that. I’ve been charged twice. One got inside 10 yards. Both were sows and I have encountered FAR more boars than sows. The bigger the boar the less interest they have hanging anywhere near you. At least in my experience.
 
You'd think if nothing else you'd have two rifles for the two people, even if only one had a tag. Never know when you'll need a rifle in big bear country...

She’s way out of shape, huffing and puffing can’t see her carrying a gun. She’s the spotter telling him to take the shot yet she doesn’t know if he hit the bear.

Can’t see a small piece of primer locking up the rifle because it’s sitting in the action screw hole.

Too bad the bear didn’t get its revenge
 
^ right? The behaviour of a salmon fed grizzly and a half starved muskeg or barrens one are very different

Solid advice from Ardent re spitting distance encounters though. A gun can escalate it from a yelling match to a mauling. 5 seconds is a long time when you are getting mauled; I know two bear attack survivors and have met a couple others; the guys I know the encounters from seeing the bear to it being driven off or shot to death lasted literal seconds

Look at the video about Timothy treadwell getting killed and eaten in front of his girlfriend by a starved bear that wasn’t gonna make it through the winter, or stories of bears waking up in the winter because they’re starving, look out.
 
Back
Top Bottom