Just how fast is a grizzly bear.

Grizzly Adams said:
I had a doctor , of all people, tell me a grizzly skull is virtually bulletproof. I was tempted to look him up and show him the bag of bones I got back from F&W after putting a 7 mm round in mine. :redface: Nothing special there.

Grizz
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Yes I think a rifle round would likely do the trick...but would a 12ga slug be up to the job?
Does anyone here have experience with a 12 ga headshot on a Grizzly?
 
front shoulders and the spine shot is what I was taught and load the shotgun with slugs and never try for a head shot on a charging animal.
I worked on a grounds maintenance and hiking trail building crew for a back country adventure group when i was much younger.
Bear safety and shotgun training were part of our orientation and it was a difficult session to pass.

I also have all of J.G. Sheltons books and I highly recommend his Bear Encounter Survival Guide to anyone who is serious about this discussion.
Another great book that i really enjoy is Grizzlies in Their Backyard by Beth Day.

I have only been in reasonably close proximity to a grizzly bear once and that was fishing the Upper Dean river in BC. The bear was more interested in his own fishing and never bothered us, Black bears I have had to go into defensive mode twice and both times it was a mother and cubs.
 
I had a black bear come at me once. The right barrel of my 4570 stopped him at 12' he was about 30 yards when he came. Im fast enough to shoot low gun international skeet with a pump and while skinning this bear i realized the bruise on my bicep. I didnt even get the gun to my shoulder. Some say grizzlies are faster than blacks that i dont know. I do know i aint ever gunna out run one so im prepared for the fight in bear country



Ps i know a white tail can run 80kmh when in front of a truck. Animals can run faster than what books say
 
brybenn said:
I had a black bear come at me once. The right barrel of my 4570 stopped him at 12' he was about 30 yards when he came. Im fast enough to shoot low gun international skeet with a pump and while skinning this bear i realized the bruise on my bicep. I didnt even get the gun to my shoulder. Some say grizzlies are faster than blacks that i dont know. I do know i aint ever gunna out run one so im prepared for the fight in bear country



Ps i know a white tail can run 80kmh when in front of a truck. Animals can run faster than what books say
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i clocked two whitetail in the BC Pine river valley running parallel to me in an open field trying to cut across in front of me. I pinned my 550 yamaha grizzly (dumb in hindsight) and hit 90km before i wisened up and backed off the throttle so i would agree that whitetail can run at least 80km an hour
 
It was about 30 years ago, but I remember doing close to 60km in my truck on a dirt road with a black bear running in front of me for about 50 yards before it veered off the road into the bush.

Saw another black bear years later that was several hundred meters away but was aware of my presence and huffing and puffing and putting on a show of dominance then turned and hauled a s s up a steep slope... it was impressive to see the power of such a big animal running up steep terrain! He stopped at the top of the climb and looked at me again just to make sure I had witnessed the show.
 
Grizzly Adams said:
I had a doctor , of all people, tell me a grizzly skull is virtually bulletproof. I was tempted to look him up and show him the bag of bones I got back from F&W after putting a 7 mm round in mine. :redface: Nothing special there.

Grizz
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The grizzly skull on my mantle shows head on a .22 would make the brain in the nose or eye socket....both are like a funnel.......pin point just don't miss.
 
CZ Shooter said:
Where would be the best spot to aim on a charging Grizzly?
Would the slug have enough power to penetrate it's skull, which based on what I read is about equivalent to level 3 armour?

I would not have any confidence, that a clean heart shot or a lung shot would drop a pissed off charging grizzly in it's tracks before he had a chance to rip me a new ####### (if we are talking 0-40 feet distance).
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The bear's head is sloped, as it approaches. The shallow angle makes the bone thicker and can deflect.

Bears are fat and well muscled, with big bones. You need penetration. A hollow point slug tends to flatten out and break up very quickly. You need a strong slug, as opposed to one designed to expand.

I would use my Brennike slugs, not the soft foster slugs and never the buckshot.
 
It's been my personal experience that Bears, whether Grizzly or Black are extremely fast, when the curiosity wears off and they decide to charge.

I have a standard method, I point the firearm I have in hand at the ground, in front of the route the Bear has to take to get to me. Usually it's straight on.

When I see fur in the sight, I pull the trigger. What I really want to happen is that the Bear is temporarily disabled, so I can finish it with an aimed shot.

That spot is approximately 15 meters away.

When a bear is charging at full run, there isn't time to calmly aim that firearm. All there's going to be time for is one shot, bolt/pump/semi, at that distance.

You're first concern is to stop it. Then, if you've managed to hit it hard enough, place your shot where it will slow it down some more. When their adrendilan is shooting through their veins, they recover very quickly. A Grizzly heartbeat is appx 12 beats per minute.

As for slugs, they work, if your first hit is a good one and you can get another into the chamber on on target very fast. I prefer 000 buck shot.

I want to maim and mangle, so that I have enough time to finish the job properly.

Anyone that's been charged by a Bear knows that it's an extremely stressful moment in their lives.

I've been charged by Grizzlies more time than I can count. They have a great sense of smell, but are very near sighted.

Charging is an aggressive tactic they learn at a young age and it's as much an intimidation action as anything else.

I had one Grizzly stand on its hind legs about 50 meters down the trail from me. I had a camera, instead of a rifle in my hand. I won't make that mistake again.

He was swinging his head back and forth, while making loud coughing noises and slobbering all over himself in the process.

I ducked for a small Pine tree, appx a meter on the side of the trail, when his head was at the end of its swing.

That bloody Grizzly charged when it brought its head back and ran right past me. I was scared to say the least.

The Bear stopped about 10 meters past where I had been standing. Its hair, which had been all fluffed up, which made it appear twice its real size, started to flatten out and he sat down on his haunches, looked to the right and left, then got back onto all four paws and started walking down the trail, in front of him as if nothing had happened.

Why he didn't turn around to look back I have no idea. I wasn't complaining and it took me close to an hour to quit shaking enough to head back to camp.

One of the old timers there, told me a similar thing had happened to him on a previous hunt a few years before.

It's nerve wracking to say the least. I couldn't pull it together enough to go out on a before dark hunt. Even the next morning I was apprehensive.


Grizzlies charging is their biggest mistake and gets them killed when there isn't a reason for it.

They have a habit of charging, especially young/aggressive boars, until they can see what they're actually looking at. As often as not, when they see or smell HUMAN, they turn and run in the opposite direction.
 
Ganderite said:
The bear's head is sloped, as it approaches. The shallow angle makes the bone thicker and can deflect.

Bears are fat and well muscled, with big bones. You need penetration. A hollow point slug tends to flatten out and break up very quickly. You need a strong slug, as opposed to one designed to expand.

I would use my Brennike slugs, not the soft foster slugs and never the buckshot.
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Would it be safe to assume, that a non-expanding FMJ rifle round would be best to achieve this task?
I'm thinking 7.62 NATO might be a good option to have?
 
I was told hollow/soft point or segmented projectiles are great on bear due to their soft skin. I'm no hunter yet but that is advice from a seasoned hunter, is he blowing smoke?
 
Soft bullets are great for broadside lung shots. Not for punching thru heavy muscle and bone

Hard wide flat nose bullets are best for smashing thru thick hide muscle and bone.
Fmj nato rounds are easily deflected and if they do enter they tumble. They tend to not travel in a straight line
Ive finished off a wounded deer for a cop on the side of the road with a sks and fmj as it was what i had. 2 shots facing me into the chest left a bent bullet in behind a rib and the other existed out the other side of the rib cage
Not what i expected at all
 
It's quite obvious most of the posters have never been charged by a Bear up close and personal.

You just don't have time for pinpoint accuracy. You want to do as much mangling, blinding, inflicting pain as possible as quickly as possible, usually less than 5 seconds.

Bears are FAST, the only reason they won't follow through on a charge is when it's being used as an intimidation tactic, which it mostly is.

When they get within 15 meters, your firearm better be up and ready or you're out of time.

IMHO, best Bear defense is a shotgun, either a SXS or a pump action that the shooter is intimate with and can get off a round instinctively, instead of having to think about it or aim for a shoulder/skull etc.

A legal/short Cylinder bore barrel, maybe even over Cylinder bore, load with 000 buck will open up about 6 inches at 15 yards.

Go for anything in the frontal area. Hopefully it will be a full face hit. They notice that immediately, especially if it takes out an eye or one hits it on the nose.

If its head is down and you miss the head, your chances of taking out the spine are very good.

A round under the head will allow the big pellets to penetrate very deep into the airway and maybe, if your lucky take out an artery along the way.

It's next to impossible to accomplish that with a single, solid projectile.

As I'm typing this, I just looked at a 6ft+ Black Bear rug on my living room floor. He was taken at 5 meters, with the second shot from a Mossberg 500 with a 16 inch barrel, loaded with 000 Buck.

This all went down beside the Prophet River, where I was sitting in an Elk blind and this bear decided it didn't like what it was seeing. I have no idea why it attacked,

Lovely black phase, wide headed boar with a brown snout.

The first shot took out its left eye and the tip of its nose and the rest of the shot grazed the left shoulder. It stopped him just long enough for me to work the action and take a fast aimed shot at its face.

I would like to say that I was dead calm and took careful aim. That just wouldn't come close to the truth.

Adrenalin was pounding and my blood pressure must have been off the charts.

About the only thing I can say that went properly that had REAL effect on the outcome, was that I didn't go into panic mode. That would have been the kiss of death.
 
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I was charged by a Black Bear from a distance of roughly 25/30 yards...I felt no fear, panic or any other emotion.

I simply reacted and got off 2 quick shots (had a semi-auto 308)... the second shot dropped the bear at no more than 12 inches off the end of the gun barrel.

To say they are fast is an understatement.

This happened in Alberta in the mid 80's on a cut line bordering the Cold lake air weapons range.

I've also got a different story of a black on the Prophet river from about 2005 while calling for Elk
 
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This thread has made two things apparent for me.

1) I would really like to see a grizzly move at full speed (from a distance)

And

2) I’m really glad there aren’t grizzlies in the areas I hunt.
 
[QUOTE

2) I’m really glad there aren’t grizzlies in the areas I hunt.[/QUOTE]

Then you haven't really Lived. :redface: I still remember when My Ontario brother in Law was out for an elk hunt and I explained about Grizzlies. His eyes just glazed over. Oh Sure.

Grizz
 
The guy in the footage is a Contractor for DFO in the Bella Coola Region.
This video was taken couple years ago and has made the rounds since.
Just a reminder to those who think just because I carry a bear defense gun I am good to go...thats only one part of the of the puzzle.
The second part is having the where with all to follow up dealing with Grumpy Mamma Bear in your front yard.
Regards,
Rob

** edit, you'll have to click on the underline where it says watch on you tube.
 
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