Closest a bear can get...

I have hunted lots in Griz country and never been charged.
I have been charged by a moose once and that changed everything for how I hunt in Griz country.

I had a moose come at me full out down a path. I had a scoped rifle and at about 75 yrds put it to my shoulder. I found the moose only once in the field of view of the scope aand that was only a split second. I ended up firing to the side 3 shots and he stopped and staarted kickin his feet. I walked away with him walking behind me.

I will never hunt in Griz country with a scoped gun unless I have access to my irons, see thru mounts. Irons are on at 50 yrds, and I start shooting when it starts coming.
Either that or carry my quick release, mount it for my game shot, and remove it just as quickly, back to the backpack.

I am useless at finding game running towrds me with a scope. bad enough a distant broadside run that i can occasionally follow. add in recoil, and I am quite sure I would get at most, 1 shot from 50 yrds, and after recoil would not get the bear in the scope again.
 
I'm kind of a scardy cat, so if I see a bear come within 300-400 yards of my position I start to unload on it. I'm not a very good shot, so chances are I won't hit it, but I'll sure scare that sucker. If its brave enough to try and charge me while I'm shooting at it, I just hope it gets close enough for me to hit it before I run out of ammo. I hate bears, they're such scary beasts that they give me nightmares.:redface::(
 
In my books there is no such thing as a "bluff" charge, and I am not prepared to play chicken with any breed of bear. A charge is a charge, and I would start pulling the trigger as soon as I was fairly certain of being able to make a killing or stopping shot. A charging bear presents a somewhat different target, and creates considerably different adrenaline conditions than say a moose or deer standing broadside, or an immobile group of concentric circles staring back at you from a downrange piece of paper.
 
crazy_davey said:
....Eltorro, how many grizzly bears have you been charged by? I have been on the sh!tty end of a pissed off grizzly more than once and have also had bluff charges and they did nothing like what you explain above.
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None. My experience is strictly related to black bears and brown bears (Ursus Arctos Arctos) . I never had an encounter with a grizz..... does this put me off your Christmas list? :cool:
 
eltorro said:
None. My experience is strictly related to black bears and brown bears (Ursus Arctos Arctos) . I never had an encounter with a grizz..... does this put me off your Christmas list? :cool:
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Just proves my point. Don't make generalizations about bear behavior, no two bears are the same and no two bear encounters will be the same either.

Your still on my Christmas list, for now :D
 
sealhunter, I was just wondering if you shoot with both eyes open, when you use a scope. I live in an area where I can shoot from my portch and use my scoped 22 and a swinging metal target about 3 or 4 times a week. I make a point of keeping both eyes open so it's easier to find a target and keep track of a moving one. Just a thought.
 
Once we shot a black 300yards from our camp, turned out it was on a moose gut pile that had been claimed by a grizz (buried with grass). We drug the bear to camp skinned it out and drug it back to the moose gut pile, in the mean time (20min) a grizz came along and drug the moose guts off into the bush and was without a doubt guarding them, only a short distance away.

One time I was hunted by a black bear that sneaked around trees and hid in the grass.

Once I was quadding alone and passed a few feet from a black bear hiding in the shadows.

Another time I had a Griz paralleling me at 10 yards in bush so thick that I did not even know it was a grizz until I saw the tracks the next day.



You can't put a number on the yardage because the chances are you don't get to pick the situation the bear does.
 
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Cordur said:
.375 or "your caliber of choice here"?
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What is the gun caliber combo you would want .... seriously, we all want the "biggest" gun but ...

Let's say you were planning a walk thru Black Bear country in Ontario what would your defense weapon be ... I like a Marlin 1895 in 45-70, "loaded for bear". What is a good Marlin 1895G (18.5") 45-70 bear load?
What powder bullet etc would you use against Ontario Black Bear to shoot at 25yards with Marlin 1895G?

I've got some 45-70 that I must load for exactly this eventuality.
All helpful suggestions gratefully recieved.
thanks.
 
What the F do you know about anything other than screwing people in the EE forum anyways. Guys....check this looser's trader rating before you take his rebutals seriously. :mad:
 
sealhunter said:
nope. one eye closed. hmmmmm, something else to practice!!! :)
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Oh, sorry. In my last post I forgot to "quote" Sealhunter. Man you need to learn good trading ethics. If the mods won't teach you, maybe at least I can warn others about the BS you pull off on here. And I don't give a #### about being suspended or banned, just as long as my gunnutz friend don't get burned by you. :mad:
 
i had a grizzly take a run at me when all i had was a 22-250, i always have my guide gun 45/70 around today when i am in the bush, even gopher hunting, fishing etc, that bear give me a new respect , he was scared off by a passing truck, lucky for me and my daughter , wade
 
I've never had a Grizzly hassle me as yet, touch wood, and I've spent a fair amount of time in the bush hunting. A small black bear, years ago was giving me a hard time and I spooked him off with a loud yell. He just lost interest and went away.

An agressive Grizzly Bear attack would most likely be on the spur of the moment with little time to react, so measuring out a distance wouldn't be an option anyways. If he's just wandering by, cool'in his hoofies and going the other way and I didn't have a tag, I'd be just as happy to leave him be. But if I confronted an agressive Grizzly coming my way, he'd be as dead as I could make him as soon as I could.

I've always been cautious when dressing out an animal and I keep my rifle as handy as I can. Especially when I'm alone as a bear can pick up the smell of blood quite a ways off.

This thread reminds me of that "Bob Joke" that was going around 9 or 10 years back. The one where the third time Bob tried and failed to shoot down that Dirty, Big, Black Bear and the bear having had his way with Bob two times before and Bob being a real man and all, the bear said --- "Bob, Bob, Bob you didn't come here for the hunt'in, did ya Bob?"

Rod
 
Wallace said:
What is the gun caliber combo you would want .... seriously, we all want the "biggest" gun but ...

Let's say you were planning a walk thru Black Bear country in Ontario what would your defense weapon be ... I like a Marlin 1895 in 45-70, "loaded for bear". What is a good Marlin 1895G (18.5") 45-70 bear load?
What powder bullet etc would you use against Ontario Black Bear to shoot at 25yards with Marlin 1895G?

I've got some 45-70 that I must load for exactly this eventuality.
All helpful suggestions gratefully recieved.
thanks.
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A .45-70 with any bullet weight of 300 grs or more is adequate for a run of the mill blacky, and the Marlin is a nice walking around gun. To load the cartridge to it's maximum potential, look for a heavy for caliber wide flat nose hard cast bullet. PM Ben Hunchak for suggestions, his 480gr. .458 bullet looks pretty good to me, and works well in a pal's .458. I've bought a few bullets from Ben, and he provides great service and a good product.

As for what I would carry, I would carry the same as I carry here, my custom Brno 602 .375 Ultra or my 590 12 gauge.
 
As Rod said above, there is often not much time to react. I've talked to a couple of guys who have been attacked and to an ER doctor who looked after a guy who killed a grizzly with a knife. That fella was just standing up with his rifle in hand, after putting his boots back on after crossing a stream or beaver pond. Next thing he knew his rifle was flying, he was on his back and a grizzly was on him. He pulled his knife and while he bear was trying to get a grip on his stomach, he stuck the bear in the throat and sawed till he got a gush of blood. (I bet he would have traded his knife for a handgun if he could have). He then stabbed the bear in the eye, which caused it to break off the attack. The bear died from the neck wound.
Another guy was a student in a 1st aid class I was teaching years back. He was working in the bush with a couple of other guys when the next thing he knew there's warm stuff running down his neck and something gnawing on his scull. He lived to tell the tale with the help of some brave but unarmed co-workers. The rest of our lunch break was spent talking about what hand guns and slug guns they all carry since then.
They don't all start with so little warning, but they sure can. I'm always uneasy when gutting a moose, especially when the sun is going down. Kinda makes me feel like bait.
 
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If the bear has seen me and is still comming my way its time to start shooting. I dont trust those little buggers and I've been stalked a few times too many. Now its shoot first answer questions later.
 
A charge is a charge, period, I don't bluff and shoot to kill. If a bear get's too close and does not go away when I talk to it and make some moise, it's dead.

Mind you, last year on my moose hunt a black bear sow charged me after her cub treed itself when we came nose to nose on a trail. She stopped as she came out of the bush and was no farther than 6 feet from the end of my barrel. Lucky for both of us she turned around as I was starting to put pressure on the trigger. No dead bear that day, but if I had seen her sooner as she charged she would have been shot!

Troutseeker
 
There was a good point made about optics and sights in a dangerous situation and I for one would rather have good irons than a scope for a quick situation, thare aren't many scopes out there that would work under a close encounter. I always favor low powered scopes for big game hunting no matter what the range happens to be and I have never felt underpowered with any scope I have used in the field( usually low powered variables). Remember that a 3-9 scope has less than 40' FOV at 100 yards if you extrapolate that for a 25yd range it would only have 10' FOV :eek:, try picking up something coming at you quickly in the woods with a scope like that.
bigbull
 
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