- Location
- Behind a large rock
Oh... and a follow up post... awesome, just awesome.
Miss? I take it you've never patterned your shotgun with buckshot.
Looking for a bear defense gun
- Thread starter Rifter
- Start date
Miss? I take it you've never patterned your shotgun with buckshot.
Never have myself , but you should come fishing when the salmon start running, come see why bear defense is a legitimate concern for some.
I hear ya. Ive just found at the distance that I encounter let alone would have to engage a problem bear with the way my shotgun patterns buckshot, a slug would have scored a hit as well. Not to say a load of larger sized buckshot wouldn't ruin a bears day from at close range, just not what id use in my gun.
- Location
- Behind a large rock
No. A person experienced in bear defense... trust me. Your buck, slug idea (although no yours) is idiotic. Your accuracy improvement with the buck shot is even more so.
A little research will tell you so... or you can call names whatever floats your boat.
Buckshot, great for Cougars positively useless on big bears - for that matter, most slugs aren't enough for big bears. Use Brenneke slugs, or Federal slugs marked "Deep Penetrator". Both are hard to find, Brenneke's tend to magically show up in spring around here and disappear quickly when they do. Brenneke's are made by RWS Rottweil and I believe the importer is MD Charlton - if you're looking for some, they'd know where they are.
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My experience with bears and guns is limited but valuable to a degree. I was with a friend when he shot a black bear at about 20 yards with a 30-06. That bear ran so deep into the Vancouver Island thicket that we couldn't follow the blood trail any further. The following week he used 00 buck on a 300 lb bear and it dropped on the spot.
Last year I was walking a road under power lines in high wind. Everything was noisy but suddenly I heard a stick break right beside me. At about 15 feet to my left, a big black bear (one I had seen in the area before) popped his head up out of the bushes. I immediately shouldered my 308 Ruger Scout and carefully stepped back to the other side of the road and up onto a small embankment. The bear disappeared while doing so, but if the bear had decided to charge me I would have had very little time to react.
Lessons learned? Your ability to react quickly and place a good shot are just as important as ordnance used.
Last year I was walking a road under power lines in high wind. Everything was noisy but suddenly I heard a stick break right beside me. At about 15 feet to my left, a big black bear (one I had seen in the area before) popped his head up out of the bushes. I immediately shouldered my 308 Ruger Scout and carefully stepped back to the other side of the road and up onto a small embankment. The bear disappeared while doing so, but if the bear had decided to charge me I would have had very little time to react.
Lessons learned? Your ability to react quickly and place a good shot are just as important as ordnance used.
- Location
- Behind a large rock
A bad shot with an ought six is... well... a bad shot.
Indeed...I wish we would have known where the shot landed because there was certainly a lot of blood. Our guess was that the bullet may have passed right through without expanding.
G.Mitchell
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Grande Prairie Alberta
I carry only Brenneke style slugs in my 12ga for woods protection. From my research these as the best.
I'm not using buckshot of any kind on a bear.
As the post above says gun has to be ready and in hand for best chance of survival.
I would like to get training on bear protection with a firearm, I wonder who puts courses like that on in northern Alberta?
I'm not using buckshot of any kind on a bear.
As the post above says gun has to be ready and in hand for best chance of survival.
I would like to get training on bear protection with a firearm, I wonder who puts courses like that on in northern Alberta?
We have found that the best training is to observe bears with and without them knowing you are there. See how they react to your presence and how they act when they don't know your are there. Know their anatomy, draw a line that you will not let them cross( this depending on how they are acting ). Aim you firearm at them at the place you want to hit in case you must shoot ( this gives you a sight picture ) the more you do this the more it becomes second nature. Keep your firearm in your hands slung on your back is useless. The more you know about them the less chance you will have to shoot. They are never predictable but do show some signs of what they might do be prepared for that. Practice with your firearm be confident in it and yourself to stand your ground if you must , running does not work if there is nowhere to run to. Bears run crazy fast. Random targets at bear range 30 yards and in is our rule if defending yourself on a head on shot ( you most likely will only get one shot make it a good one) 50 yards on a broadside shot if the bear is going after someone else. The worst bears that we deal with are the young males ( teenage boys ) 2-4 years old they can be a$$holes. They tend to be more aggressive than young females. Females with cubs if given a way out will generally take it and the big boys well up here they seem to not care about you and wander off and will give you the stink eye. This does not mean that they are not all very dangerous just observations I have made over the years as a bear guard up here. So never let your guard down. Well enough rambling.
stay safe
pounder
stay safe
pounder
Indeed they are crazy fast pounder.
The one I had to take out was at 15 yards. I already had my SG aimed in it's direction when I hit the flashlight to confirm what it was. It instantly turned and started directly at me so didn't hesitate and dropped it at 9 yards. It covered that 6 yards in a flash.
I don't care what it was doing, maybe it was looking for a way out, maybe it would have turned away within the remaining 9 yards. Frankly I don't care, there wasn't time to do anything other than what I did.
The things are insanely fast. You better be locked & loaded, you better not hesitate, and you & your gear better be up to the task.
The one I had to take out was at 15 yards. I already had my SG aimed in it's direction when I hit the flashlight to confirm what it was. It instantly turned and started directly at me so didn't hesitate and dropped it at 9 yards. It covered that 6 yards in a flash.
I don't care what it was doing, maybe it was looking for a way out, maybe it would have turned away within the remaining 9 yards. Frankly I don't care, there wasn't time to do anything other than what I did.
The things are insanely fast. You better be locked & loaded, you better not hesitate, and you & your gear better be up to the task.
madashell & pounder;
Good morning gentlemen, I hope the weekend has been treating you and your respective yours well.
On the "crazy fast" note, I'll share the following tale.
In the late '80's my good wife and I along with our hunting partner and his significant other were out in late August doing some scouting. We were glassing across a good sized canyon, perhaps 500-600 yards across so far enough not to be noticed but close enough to glass.
One of us noticed a young black bear in full stalking mode - down like a cat sneaking up on a bird - inching its way down the side of the steep opposing slope. We all were watching the bear when one of us spotted the mulie doe - a heifer aged animal I'd say, but dry as far as we could tell - which was either feeding or bedded, can't quite recall that detail and that was down hill of the stalking bear.
When the bear was perhaps 25 yards from the mulie it went into a full charge - all down hill. The mulie must have sensed or saw the bear and headed down the side of the mountain full tilt - clearing what looked like 25' with each jump like they do. Mulies can cover ground at an incredible rate for those who've never seen it. Some say they're slower than whitetails, but that's not my experience.
Here's the thing though, that bloody little black bear almost caught the mulie... We were all gobsmacked at how fast the bear was. A blur of motion is my best descriptor.
We'd all heard black bears weren't that fast, that they couldn't run down hill.........
Unless one has seen them go, then it's difficult to grasp what madashell means when he says "insanely fast" - but they are.
Anyway all the best to you all this Christmas Season, may none of us ever need to use our bear guns and may we always have the latitude to carry them legally.
Dwayne
Good morning gentlemen, I hope the weekend has been treating you and your respective yours well.
On the "crazy fast" note, I'll share the following tale.
In the late '80's my good wife and I along with our hunting partner and his significant other were out in late August doing some scouting. We were glassing across a good sized canyon, perhaps 500-600 yards across so far enough not to be noticed but close enough to glass.
One of us noticed a young black bear in full stalking mode - down like a cat sneaking up on a bird - inching its way down the side of the steep opposing slope. We all were watching the bear when one of us spotted the mulie doe - a heifer aged animal I'd say, but dry as far as we could tell - which was either feeding or bedded, can't quite recall that detail and that was down hill of the stalking bear.
When the bear was perhaps 25 yards from the mulie it went into a full charge - all down hill. The mulie must have sensed or saw the bear and headed down the side of the mountain full tilt - clearing what looked like 25' with each jump like they do. Mulies can cover ground at an incredible rate for those who've never seen it. Some say they're slower than whitetails, but that's not my experience.
Here's the thing though, that bloody little black bear almost caught the mulie... We were all gobsmacked at how fast the bear was. A blur of motion is my best descriptor.
We'd all heard black bears weren't that fast, that they couldn't run down hill.........
Unless one has seen them go, then it's difficult to grasp what madashell means when he says "insanely fast" - but they are.
Anyway all the best to you all this Christmas Season, may none of us ever need to use our bear guns and may we always have the latitude to carry them legally.
Dwayne
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
Yeah they can move plenty quick, I've run across a couple black bears last spring while out and about and they all ran in the opposite direction real fast. Watched the biggest black bear in the fall running uphill along the power line road off about 6-700 yds across the valley, man he was moving and he had no clue I was there.
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
Nothing that I saw, he was walking slowly up the road at first. Then high tailed it up to the top of the road and ran off into the woods, when I saw him with my naked eye I noticed his size. Then I got a look at him through my binos and said to myself I'm glad we have 6-700yrd between us. He was the biggest black bear I've seen yet and he was a big lad...
