Charging animals.

T

The Terminator

New member
Lots of talk going on in the current bear thread of the week.

Charging animals. Now, I wonder who has ever been charged by an animal? I hear that moose are pretty good at charging, I've yet to have one come off the internet and get to me. You know, I can admit that all my moose hunting is done vicariously. Same with most other really dangerous game. I'm just an old working boy in Georgia, not a whole lot of dino-fauna here. I hear that we have big foots in North Ga, but they don't come around here.

I was kind of charged by a black bear in 1987. I shot him with a 300 mag, hit him in the snout. He chased his tail, working his way toward me. I bent the bolt on my rifle when I went to chamber another round, and could not shoot it again. He worked his way pretty close to me before he finally died. You know, back then, we did not have to take a full "load out" to go hunting. Even today, I rarely take more than one gun into the forest. I will take a pistol if I am hog hunting with my single shot 45/70 Ruger.

Another time, I shot a hog in the face, emptied an 18 round clip of 22 lr onto its head before it turned and ran, it got after me while squirrel hunting. I don't know how many times I hit it. The only animal that ever got ahold of me was a squirrel that was not quite dead when I shot him with a 20 gauge. He didn't get to bite me, but gave my 15 yr old heart a real palpitation. :) You?
 
I bent the bolt on my rifle when I went to chamber another round, and could not shoot it again.
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A bit excited were you? :rolleyes:
How did you bend it? On opening, bent up or back? trying to close it before in battery, bent down?
Please describe the gun or the thread if this is already discussed.

I did have a Moose do a short charge while Elk hunting in Colorado. I was looking for a tree and there were none close that I could climb and the what-to-do's start to overwhelm one very fast. I sure didn't want to shoot him and I didn't want to fire my one shot, so I looked down and he stopped about 25 yards away.
This was my fault to start with as he was peacefully browsing in a willow thicket and I did a few UUuuuggs with cupped hands and then regretted it. :eek:
 
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The rifle was Lh Savage. I ejected the spent round and that is all she would do. I could not get the bolt back into battery. Savage repaired it. Seems that they had problems with their bolts back then. Yes, I was excited.
 
I once had a large sow come straight at me when we started shooting at her sounder. I don't know if she was charging or just decided to run in my exact direction. I didn't wait to divine her intentions. I'm not normally a fan of head shots but I made an exception on this occasion.
 
Yeah Terminator, I’m with you. I ain’t been charged by anything but a couple of geese and a sow or two with shoats, a stick took care of those problems. We’ve got a few black bear here that occasionally eat the seat off a four wheeler left parked in the woods, but a good loud “git” scares the hell out of them.

No Moose, Grizzly, Dinosaurs or others of that ilk either. We couldn’t hunt them anyway, decoys would be to big to fit in the pirogue.

I did get bit by a coon and a squirrel in my younger days. Thought they were dead and they weren’t. Got tularemia from the squirrel and was a sick kid for a few days. That’s when I learned what common sense was.

Good Lord if I carried as much ammo and firepower as some posters on here I’d be stuck in the mud and never get to hunt. I guess that I’m just not prepared for a swamp monster, or whatever attack, but I’ve managed to get by.
 
When I was 15 or 16 we were on a dog drive and an evil 80lb doe came straight at me. I was sure she was bound and determined to do me in before those Walkers ran her down. I had to shoot her with a load of #1 buck from about 10ft away. Phheeeewwww, talk about close, those 15 pellets took her head off from mid snout right between her ears. It was a purely defensive kill, no way I'd shoot anything smaller than a 10 point.:D

I did have a hog get after me once but an uncle of mine shot it before there was any great danger.
 
Stupid as it is.
I honked the horn at a Moose group once crossing the road. He came at truck and put a few scratches in it but that was it.Company truck,so no big deal. I learned that day do not honk at a moose 10 feet in front of you.:D
Damn ,,,Those things are big up close.:eek:
 
:D

Back in the 60's when I was young and stupid, I was playing tourist at Smokey Mountains NP. This was before the Park Service really discouraged bear/tourist interactions and I really wanted some close-up, impressive pictures of a bear.

I came to a pull-off with several cars pulled over there and stopped to see what was going on. A large sow was busy preparing dinner from a garbage can smörgåsbord, and I saw the perfect opportunity to get my pictures.

I moved to get a better angle, and didn't realize I'd moved between her and a cub (heck, I didn't even see the cub.) That's when she charged (and when I finally realized that I was young and stupid :D.)

Fortunately, someone left the windows down in their car and I dove head-first through the window. I think it was a bluff charge, but for that few seconds, I swear I could feel 10-foot long teeth biting my backside off :eek:.

She obviously didn't follow through, and I switched to a LONG telephoto lens for the remainder of the trip. I never did find out who owned the car so I could apologize :o.
 
I got charged by a raccoon once, in my bedroom, when i lived in midtown Memphis. I blame his death on the aluminum baseball bat that hit his skull.

(all misspellings are the responsibility of vbulletin ;) )
 
I have been charged twice by a black bear protecting her cub (same bear, several weeks apart).

Both times, I was armed with nothing more than my truck keys. I was lucky - they both turned out to be mock charges (not that it mattered much, at the time...). Having a 250+ pound sow barreling toward you does not induce warm fuzzies.

Had I been armed, I would not have fired for either charge, for the following reasons:
A) My life was not yet in mortal danger, and Black Bears are protected in Florida.
3) The holster I use for the .380 I would have been carrying does not lend itself well to fast draws. I wouldn't have had time to get the pistol out.
F) I had so much adrenaline pumping through my system, I wouldn't have hit the animal, anyway. (I'm still amazed my feet managed to stay under my center of gravity while sprinting back to the truck {and the .380}).


A few weeks later, a bear turned up again, while I was checking a deep water crossing (had some massive rain, and it had changed the crossing / fording). It grunted, and stood partially upright about 15 feet from me, just behind some vegetation. I tried to sidestep each way, but the bear moved like it would follow.

Being backed up against the locked passenger door of my truck, and unarmed again... I didn't have an easy way out. I picked up a big muddy stick (small log, really), and launched it at the bear. By the time I made it into the open driver's door, evidence of the bear was nothing but swaying vegetation, moving at lightning speed through the swamp.


So, my personal thoughts are:
1) Pepper spray is a better choice.
B) I'm not going to even think about shooting.
2.5) If I fire shots at a charging predator, my finger won't touch that trigger until I know there is no other option.

I'm more afraid of angry Moose, than I ever will be of predators (including those stealthy cats).
 
I have been. Many hogs try to run us down when doggin' them. Never had a gun with me and if I did, I doubt I would have ever had time for one well placed shot on any that have charged at or by me...

Brent
 
I was in a canoe one time and a nautical squirel attacked me. All I heard was jaws music. I beat him off with a paddle.

WildthatsreallynotmebutmaybesomeoneremembersAlaska ™©2002-2011
 
I got run over by several does when I was a youngster, never even had time to get my firearm up to get off a shot at them. I wound up sitting on my backside in the mud on a trail with deer foot prints on my jacket, and a seriously bruised ego. My father saw the whole scene and still reminds me of the incident 20 years later....I am glad that I could provide amusement for him..
 
Wildalaska said:
I was in a canoe one time and a nautical squirel attacked me. All I heard was jaws music. I beat him off with a paddle.

WildthatsreallynotmebutmaybesomeoneremembersAlaska ™©2002-2011
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It wasn't a squirrel, it was a swamp rabbit. Unlike other rabbits, swampers are territorial, which may have had something to do with the "attack." Or not. It was probably almost as scared as that guy in the canoe. They (swamp rabbits, not Presidents, necessarily) are also coprophagous... :eek: These and other fun facts about Sylvilagus aquaticus may be found at this page from the Nature Conservancy... which also has the picture of the incident in question.

:D
 
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They all look alike to me especially when I am terrified. A pig is a dog is a cat is a boy.

WildcarnivorousguppiesAlaska ™©2002-2011
 
when i was young i was out airgunning wth my trusty benjerman and i saw a groundhog out in a field. so i snuck up the woodline to about 20yards from it took aim and pink hit him right behind the head. what i didnt know is that a goundhog is really hard to kill. he turned and started running right at me as i was standing infront of his hole befor i could get reloaded he was right there with me. i had to use my gun as a golfclub and swang away. needless to say i got my frist groundhog at the cost of a pellet and a stock on the benjermen all in all not worth it .
 
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