Interesting take on response time. (Bear/human defence)

Dogleg That's what happened at work, there were a number of people actively trying to get the bear off the person air horns, rocks hitting it with sticks and anything they could lay there hands on only thing that worked (and way too late) was a fire truck and a fire hose and the bear didn't go away very far. And off course not a firearm to be had on site. which is the norm on most sites.

I've heard that story too. Heck, he did the same thing as me if I've the right story. ##### the oil companies...I pack in the North country.
 
We are not so different, you and I. "You can change your stars...................................";)

Is it true, father? Can a man change his stars?

I have watched both of those dozens of times... and I don't need the kids around as an excuse...
 
the key to the whole thing is being prepared , being aware and practice , practice , practice .....

many of us at one time or another have picked up our hunting rifle , fired a few rounds through it to make sure the scope is still zero'd , and set off hunting .

that does not cut it with the firearm you may need to protect a human life with , practice is everything , having a flawlessly functioning gun and flawlessly functioning ammo can be life or death for a human .

but being aware of your surroundings is even more important .... bears aren't leaping out of tree's like ninja's ..... they leave markings of their presence before you even encounter them .

if your aware of your surroundings 99.99999999% of the time you will never need the firearm you have been practicing with .

something that has always been drilled into me by several people ,always make noise , always have enough ammo , always aim for the biggest part of the body , and , if possible always put something between you and the thing that wants to eat you ( large trees , 4 wheeler , big rocks vehicles , ect....) the idea is to slow them down and make them turn their body to hopefully present a better shot .....and finally don't stop shooting ..............

personally , besides other humans , I think horny bull moose during the rut are a bigger threat most of the time than bears .
 
With all these black bear attacks I'm surprised our papers aren't full of stories of bears killing people. Like two or three years ago there were stories about a man in Quebec who was killed by a bear. In an attempt to point out how dangerous bears are, one newspaper article pointed out that this was the second person killed by a bear in Quebec in the last twenty years!
I don't think there has been a person killed by a black bear in BC for the last, maybe three years. At that time a woman tree planter, I think it was, was killed by a black bear, in what was described as a predatory attack, where the bear stalks the person, taking its time, to make sure it is safe for the bear to have a feast.
And, in spite of what you read on the inter-net, black bears do not defend their cubs. Two different times I have encountered a sow black with once two and the other time three cubs. In both cases I made a charge at the group and in both cases the cubs ran up a tree and the sow stood back a safe distance and just watched.
I once knew a family that lived in the bush on a homestead. The dad told me that every fall for twenty years he had shot a spring black bear cub, for the fat on it. He said there was never once that he had to shoot the mother bear! He said, "Oh, they would stomp around and snap their teeth, but I just paid no attention to them, and they never even came close to attacking."
I have never, ever, heard or read of even one genuine case of a black bear that was wounded, attacking a person. When a bear is wounded with a hit from a bullet, it takes off in the direction it is pointed, when it was hit. If this direction is somewhat in the direction of the shooter, they will claim to high heaven that the bear was attacking, but in reality, the bear didn't know where the shot came from and were just trying to get away.
I once stood up on a pile of waste material from a logging operation, about six feet above the ground. I saw a bear, took an off hand shot at it and made a poor hit. The bear made a mad dash in my direction and crawled into the brush I was standing on! I got down moved some brush to see the bear, then finished it off.
So, if anyone can send me a link to a genuine news media event of a wounded black bear attacking the shooter, I will eat crow, with pie in my face!

One example that comes to mind is described in James Garry Shelton's first book "Bear Attacks, The Deadly Truth". In the chapter about predatory black bears, a tree planter was attacked, by what was described as a normal, healthy, large male, black bear in good condition, and suffered significant injuries. His foreman and a co-worker shot the bear with rifles. While there is no description of the actual shooting, or bullet placement, the CO, who flew in to investigate, observed a bear carcass with 9 bullet holes in it. To my way of thinking, 9 shots from 2 rifles suggests a bear that wasn't running away, but it is reasonable to assume that at least some of the shooting occurred in the heat of the moment, after the problem was solved.
 
Maybe not quite an ROUS but I've been preparing for a while.

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I'm not super worried about bears but..

They can be mean, when I was 5 living in the Chilcotin a grizz broke my teeter totter(a plank nailed to firewood) just as I was trying to get mom to come see the "really big doggie"

We've had a bear follow us and the bear banger worked...it ran off... Shouting etc didn't work

They're often scared, I approched a blackie who was unaware of me(I was code red) and when I talked to him he stood up saw me and did a backflip A over T and went painfully down a super steep bank of loose rock and trees. I felt bad for ruining his day when I had no intention of shooting him.

I'm not as prepared as I think, in the above situation after the bear was gone I remembered I had been riding the motorbike so I checked and yes the the rifle was unloaded... Now thats a stupid way to go surprising bears!

Fun thread, just be calm and aware
 
One example that comes to mind is described in James Garry Shelton's first book "Bear Attacks, The Deadly Truth". In the chapter about predatory black bears, a tree planter was attacked, by what was described as a normal, healthy, large male, black bear in good condition, and suffered significant injuries. His foreman and a co-worker shot the bear with rifles. While there is no description of the actual shooting, or bullet placement, the CO, who flew in to investigate, observed a bear carcass with 9 bullet holes in it. To my way of thinking, 9 shots from 2 rifles suggests a bear that wasn't running away, but it is reasonable to assume that at least some of the shooting occurred in the heat of the moment, after the problem was solved.

Actually I have all of Garry Shelton's books, plus I have had email contact and a long telephone conversation with him.
That story is different than a hunter hitting a bear with a bullet and the bear attacking him. This was defence after a preatory bear was attacking.
I will stick to my guns about no record of a hunter hitting a black bear and the bear then attacking him.
 
Actually I have all of Garry Shelton's books, plus I have had email contact and a long telephone conversation with him.
That story is different than a hunter hitting a bear with a bullet and the bear attacking him. This was defence after a preatory bear was attacking.
I will stick to my guns about no record of a hunter hitting a black bear and the bear then attacking him.



Plenty of these occurrences...... Here is one example....

http://q13fox.com/2015/09/21/bear-that-attacked-hunters-is-found-dead/

And another.....

http://bringmethenews.com/2014/09/27/hunter-attacked-by-wounded-bear-in-east-central-minnesota/
 
I think that what Bruce is getting at is, after being shot and wounded, the black bear will run, not attack. However, when the hunter tracks the wounded
bear and catches up with it, the bear will attack at that time.
 
^ aint that the truth

had a good talk at a gun counter today about how bears aren't especially dangerous with a guy who had lived in the same area of the NW coast I worked in.
 
^ aint that the truth

had a good talk at a gun counter today about how bears aren't especially dangerous with a guy who had lived in the same area of the NW coast I worked in.

It's about being aware of the bear before see it and staying calm panicking will only get you into trouble
I was taught a old Haida prayer to say well Berry picking as a boy roughly translated
Grandfather Pleas don't eat me.
I Want Lots of berries too
 
It's about being aware of the bear before see it and staying calm panicking will only get you into trouble
I was taught a old Haida prayer to say well Berry picking as a boy roughly translated
Grandfather Pleas don't eat me.
I Want Lots of berries too

Prayer may work but i was cutting a caribou with two hunters a black bear came to charge us downhill and the 300 savage was a better medecine than praying ....
 
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