Another 'What Gun For Bear'

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DaleA

New member
A bear attack in Wisconsin notches up another vote for the trusty shotgun. A gal wielding a shotgun used it to save her husband who was being attacked by a bear but she used it Louisville slugger style and hit the bear over the head with it because she didn't know how to load or shoot it.

Husband and wife made it back into their cabin okay and a LEO was called. The bear was still circling the cabin an hour later when the LEO arrived. The officer killed the bear with one shot but the story doesn't say what the officer used.

You can read about it here:
http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/field-notes/2013/05/woman-clubs-bear-shotgun-saves-husband

or see a video report of it here (which includes pictures of the bear at the window of their cabin.)
http://gma.yahoo.com/video/woman-clubs-bear-shotgun-stop-141442311.html

P.S. Another reason to teach your significant other how to use your guns and hats off to a pretty gutsy gal.

P.P.S I wonder if I should get MY wife a heavy barreled varmit gun...
 
That attack happened very near where I will be spending the holiday weekend. It was a young male. The poor bear probably spent the first month of being awake with his food still covered with snow. The guys dog probably chased the bear for while until the bear had enough and went after the dog. Well, the rest is in the story.

One thing to keep in mind is that Wisconsin black bears are not the same as their massive grizzly cousins out west. Guys routinely hunt and kill these black bears with bow and arrow. I know many guys that do not even carry a sidearm while bear hunting for 'just in case' scenarios. A well placed arrow can drop a 350# black bear in a few yards. It stands to reason a well placed shot from a gun of almost any caliber would do the same.

This weekend I will have a mossberg 535 in the cabin loaded with 3 1/2" #4 shot, 6" tauras .357 on my hip while in the woods, my wife will be carrying a sr-40 at all times like she always does. Luckily she knows how to use it very well, polymer frame and short nature would make it a poor club.

I do wonder which way the lady in the story swung the gun. Did she grip the barrel or hit with the barrel? :D
 
Sometimes you gotta use what you have.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3306263

Black bear incidents have been pretty common in the North GA and SE Tennessee area within the last 10 years or so. Few full blown attacks, but a child was killed just over the state line in TN a few years ago and a woman killed in the Smoky MT NP. about 10 years ago. There have been several incidents with no injuries including one bear who learned how to sneak up on hikers from behind and steal packs for the food.

One bit a hiker on the foot in the SMNP about 3 years ago and was put down by park rangers. The guy actually stood there ane took photos of the bear sniffing his foot. It eventually bit his foot and ran off when the hiker kicked him in the face. The Park service made a poster of the photo and have it at the trailhead as a warning.

Wisconsin black bears are not the same as their massive grizzly cousins out west.
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Actually black bear are pretty close to the same size as inland grizzlies in Alaska, Wyoming and Montana. It is the coastal Brown bears that are a much larger cousin to grizzlies that get huge. Most black bear we see tend to run around 200-300 lbs, but they can easily double that size. They don't live long enough to get that big by hanging around where they are seen by humans though. Grizzlies do tend to be more aggressive. A typical black bear is far more likely to run if confronted, even with young or if you get too close to food. Not a grizzly.

Almost all black bear attacks are from either very young immature bears who are struggling to make it on their own the 1st year after their mothers have chased them off. Or very old weak bears struggling to survive 1 more year. Even then most are not actually attacking the humans. Almost all are just trying to steal your food. You have very few problems with full grown, healthy bears.

This weekend I will have a mossberg 535 in the cabin loaded with 3 1/2" #4 shot,
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I still say bear spray is the best deterrent. The 535 loaded with #4 shot will only succeed in making a bear mad. Even buckshot is a poor choice. Buy some slugs for bear use, buckshot if you are concerned about humans.
 
A rare case of a Blackie that didn't run. One almost wonders if the bear hadn't already been harassed by the dog and it's escape was blocked by the older gent thinkin' he needed to save his dog. The bear may well have been after the table scraps in the dog dish or the fish guts in the garbage. Runnin' out blindly to get in the face of a bear without any type of protection, and then being surprised you are injured does not make sense to me. Odds are the dog really didn't need to be saved. Being driven off by a old lady with an empty shotgun shows me the bear was only momentarily defending itself from what it perceived as a threat, not aggressively attacking unprovoked....and it suffered the ultimate punishment for those actions.
 
I still say bear spray is the best deterrent. The 535 loaded with #4 shot will only succeed in making a bear mad. Even buckshot is a poor choice. Buy some slugs for bear use, buckshot if you are concerned about humans.


When I worked in Alaska, we spent a lot of time "in the bush" on ATVs. We carried the big cans of "Bear Spray" backed up with model 500s with slugs.
 
Jmr- I never said I wanted to kill the bear because my family and I decided to invade its space this weekend. The bear spray would probably be a good alternitive howevever I don't like getting them close enough to spray. A nosy bear becomes far less interested in coming closer after a deafening shotgun blast in his general direction. I've used the shotgun technique hundreds of times.

Buck- I believe you are spot on with your statement.

I would have much rather seen the bear hunted legally in a couple years than put down by a uniformed LEO for being a bear.
 
Huge kudos to the woman who saved her husband. Took a lot of nerves to swing a gun club style at a bear in such close proximity.

However, when incidents like these happen you don't often get lucky enough to stay off the bear from a 10lb club swing. I would never have my wife NOT know how to use my firearms, even if she wasn't a fan.
 
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