Handguns and Attacks In the Outdoors

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I’m posting this because, at times, some of the advice I read seems to belong in the fiction or paranoia section. I’d like to hear about attacks in the outdoors that YOU, personally, have been involved with. Not “I heard” or “I read” stories. On top of that I would like to know if a firearm, including caliber, was involved. I’m not going to pass judgment – I don’t shoot snakes, and maybe you do – I just want to hear about actual encounters and your thoughts on the incident.

I’ve spent a lot of time outdoors. Weather permitting, I just sleep on the ground with no overhead cover other than a bug net. Winter time – I’m usually in a tent.

Critters that have assaulted me that I did not need a handgun for:
ants, chiggers, mosquitoes, centipedes, various bees, birds (largest geese), chipmunks, squirrels, marmot....I’ve been bitten more than once by a snake – I would have been bitten even if I had a handgun in my hand because I did not know the snake was there until after the fact. When I see snakes, I walk around, they can’t catch me. I’ve had snakes come after me while I am fishing, if I could, I would have shot those, but running on water or diverting them with a fishing rod has always worked.

I’ve woke up to coyotes and deer standing around me – I just lay motionless till they walked off. I’ve been threatened by a hissing fox – I wanted to kick him for mad dogging me – but no need for violence or a handgun – I backed off. I’ve had my gear assaulted by unseen critters during the night.
I’ve come across wild pigs that concerned me – they all ran off – they sound like falling trees when they run. I’ve seen several bears – I widely divert my course – but never been attacked.

I’ve come across people that gave me a “bad vibe” and it was reassuring to have a handgun on me.

I have shot more than one dog in the outdoors (don’t pass judgment – you weren’t there): 22 LR – 1st two shots to the head and then just emptied the revolver as fast as I could, dog thrashed for awhile before bleeding out – my experience the 22LR is too small and weak for an attacking dog. I’ve shot dogs with 38 special +P and 9 MM – one shot to the head – dogs down.
 
Ok, I can relate an attack on my camp that I experienced. While I ended up not having to discharge my firearm, I was mighty glad to have it in hand at the moment of confrontation.

I was camping along the Tanana river with a city friend of mine who had come up to visit the wilds of Alaska. I had one of my sled dogs along on the river trip and when we turned in for the night, Pinky was duely chained to a medium sized alder not far from the tent.

About 2 AM, I woke to Pinky barking and growling like you wouldn't believe. In between his noises, I could hear the most horrific snarling you can imagine. Since the poor dog was chained, I felt duty-bound to leap to his rescue from whatever it was. Assuming I had a bear trying to get my dog, I came out of my tent preceded by the barrel of my mossberg 500. Typically I carried the thing loaded with slugs and a couple of cracker shells (bird bombs) on top.

This was in the pre-surefire days, so all I had for light was a dinky AA maglight. Since it was late August, it was getting pretty dark again at night, and I couldn't see much past the wavery cone of light. I could see the dog snarling and barking at the bush right behind the one to which he was chained. He had plenty of slack in the chain, but seemed unwilling to close with whatever was in the bush, so I aimed the light at his focus of attention. Immediately I could see the glint of an eye about waist level to me. I could also hear that horrible snarling noise coming from the same spot. Damnit, I thought it's a bear and he's RIGHT HERE! He was too close to use a cracker shell safely, so I racked the gun a couple of times to get down to the slugs and hollered at the critter to try to get him to move off. The only result I obtained was more snarling from the bushes.

As you can imagine, my city friend was a bit disturbed by all the action and noise outside. My friend had still been half asleep when I left the tent. All they knew is that I had bailed out at high speed with a shotgun in my hand. Apparently all the noise outside did nothing to reassure them that I had things well in hand. I later learned that they had rediscovered their Catholic upbringing while waiting for Pinky and I to be eaten.

Anyhow, the standoff lasted for about 15 seconds, or 2 hours--I'm not sure exactly. When it was apparent to me that I wasn't gonna get the critter to move by yelling at it, I slowly moved in with the intention of getting my dog off the chain and away from the danger. As I closed the gap, my mag light began to illuminate the creature more fully. I could see a dark lump in the bushes, but it didn't seem to reach the ground. As I got closer and closer, I realized that the thing was the size of a bear's head alright, but there didn't appear to be a bear attached. I got Pinky unsnapped from his chain so he'd have a fighting chance and studied the situation a bit longer over my shotgun barrel. Still couldn't see a bear body. I took another step closer and suddenly the situation resolved itself.

What I had was a porcupine about 3 feet up in an alder, growling and snarling at the dog. Since Pinky had had numerous previous porcupine encounters, this explained his reluctance to close the gap. Apparently the two of them had decided they each had a perfect right to be where they were, and neither were going to retreat.

So, I pushed the porcupine out of the tree and encouraged him to wander back into the woods.

When I got the shotgun reloaded properly and crawled back in the tent, my friend was curled up in a knot in the far back corner of the tent waiting to be eaten.

"Just a porcupine" I said, as I slipped back into my bag and went to sleep.

Never did get my friend to go camping with me again.
 
I have been "run up a tree" by bears on two different occasions. Yes, I know bears can climb trees, but these were happy just destroying my camp. They never did get the food, which was suspended 30 ft off the ground 200 ft away from the camp. There was absolutely no food or even cooking utensils in the camp area during the assault.

I am really looking forward to legalized carry in National Parks. While I have no intention of shooting bears just because they are there, or even because they are tearing up my camp, I would like to be able to shoot one out of a tree before he reached me...

I have been camping hundreds of times, many of them in known bear areas. I have respect for bears & mountain lions. However, I do not intend to be eaten by one.

So, this isn't an "I was attacked by a bear" story. I believe it is an answer to your question, nevertheless.
 
I've been charged by angry deer several times, which resulted in me high-tailing it in the opposite direction until the deer felt safe enough to stop. One time I fired a shot from a .357 in to the ground, which was enough to stop the advancing buck.

We once had a pack of feral cats on the farm, that took up camp in a prime deer hunting location just weeks away from season opening. Several of them chased after my mother while she was trying to hang a stand. We went back the following day, only to have about a dozen cats come screeching towards us with teeth showing...... and solved the problem with a .22 long rifle and a 12 gauge. Well placed 22 shots were more than enough, but the 12 gauge was needed for those that were running (towards us).

Had a pair of rabid pit bulls show up one week. They would charge and ram in to our vehicles hard enough to leave dents in the doors and fenders. One day they broke in to our chicken pen and slaughtered quite a few before we knew anything about it. Once again 22 long rifle and 12 gauge were used. The larger male charged me from behind an overturned fence, and I ended up blasting his left front leg off with 00 buckshot. The Remington 1100 I was carrying jammed after the first shot, leaving me pretty defenseless. I had aimed at his head, but he lunged upwards to bite me, needless to say the distance was pretty darn close. The dog continued to advance towards me, at which point my mother unloaded 11 hollowpoint 22's in to its' chest and head. The dog ran away only to be found nearly 3 hours later, at which point it tried to charge at us again but was shot with 2 more shells of 00 buckshot. The other dog was never found or seen.

Last year shortly after having knee surgery a group of stray hunting dogs showed up and decided to make a meal out of one of my cats. None of them had any collars or I.D. tags, and deer season had been over for weeks. I went outside and blasted the closest one with 00 buckshot, dropped dead immediately. A second dog that had been also been gnawing on the cat ran towards me baring teeth, also dropped dead with buckshot. A third dog that had been chasing other cats was pursued about 100 yards on foot, and eliminated as well.

Numerous times have had feral cats, foxes, and opposums show up near the house that cause trouble with our own cats; generally one well placed shot from the 22 is all that is needed. Have also ran in to some stray dogs in the woods that I suppose were a little too hungry, because they definitely wanted a nice juicy steak made out of me........12 gauge.

Stumbled across several bear, but never had any altercations; they just want to be alone and I've never had a reason to shoot. Been charged by buffalo as well, but also have never found reason to shoot.
 
When I was younger, I spent many years in the boonies with bears. I spent many years looking at cougar scat that was fresher than my morning coffee. I spent many years trying not to get bitten on my ass by rattlers when taking a crap on a east slope in the morning :eek:......... but nothing compares to that chilly autumn day when I faced the fiercest animal I have ever seen. Yes folks, I was scared and without a gun, and yes I backed down. I backed down from a very angry and determined animal brandishing teeth with tail frantically waving as if to warn me of impending doom if I didn't leave NOW.

Yes folks, I backed down from the fiercest animal I have ever encountered.......a very angry squirrel that I disturbed as he gathered acorns falling from the oak tree in my front yard :)
 
While out pheasant hunting as a teenager something large could be seen rummaging through the grass so our party investigated to find it was a large wild pig. Moving on 100 yds later I noticed it was running up behind us and when it got too close charging full speed it got a face full of bird shot (all we had chambered). That made it turn around, but it was soon back charging. This time my cousin had chambered a slug and that put it down instantly with a head shot. It would have been a long day if all we had was bird shot.

I recently acqired an S&W 386 in .357 mag. that will wear a lot of hats including hunting sidearm. Depending on where I am at in the outdoors it will be accompanied by a variety of ammo including; low velocity DEWC's, 158 gr XTP HP's for 2 and 4 leggers, and 200gr hardcast for serious penetration, and ratshot. One day I hope to get a Marlin 1894 to accompany this.
 
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You have to remember why many animals charge. It's usually to protect their young. Animal charging.....just move away quickly if needed. Problem solved. No need to kill usually. Only when you are backed in a corner with no way out. Sounds like you had options other than pulling the trigger.
 
This wasn't an attack, so I don't feel bad about posting a second hand story.


A guy I work with took his kids deer hunting for the last couple weekends. The guy I work with didn't draw a tag, so he wasn't armed. He isn't the kind of guy that wouldn't simply carry a gun to be carrying a gun or ever believe that he could be in danger.
He decided to leave the kids on one side of the mountain while he walked around the other side of the mountain to possibly flush the deer towards the kids.
As he was walking along several miles away from anybody else he looked over and a mountain lion was sitting about 30 yards away sizing him up.
Nothing ended up happening. I don't know what he did because at that point in the story we had to shut up and do something (at work) and I never asked him about it again.
 
Take a bow, Fourdogs

We gave the animal half of Nebraska and it covered it with intent. Trust me, there was no piglets around and I didn't get a chance to ask it what it's problem was. :rolleyes:
 
There seems to be more animal encounters happening recently.

I guess we are really moving in on them now.

I am glad to read that people are not waiting for the animals to be knawing on their leg before firing.

Even the smallest critter can give you rabies.

Please continue to post actual stories.
 
For all my years outdoors tromping around I've been very fortunate to have had only had two encounters that required lethal force. In these two instances things would have been VERY different if I hadn't been armed both with a firearm and the skills to use it.

1) A stunningly aggressive copperhead that, due to trail circumstances I was unable to outdistance. Seriously I've never seen anything like it before or since. Someone was watching over me because I performed the most astonishing draw n' fire of my life with a S&W 66 and hit it just behind the head with a .38 special wadcutter.

2) I was on the homeward leg of a three day hike and although I knew I was fairly close to the trailhead and my vehicle I was tired so I decided to make camp and finish up in the morning. Just about dusk three dogs (mid sized domestic) entered my campsite. Two of them held back and #3 went INSANE attacking my backpack (laying at the base of a nearby tree about 30 ft away). When I made noise to chase them off the #3 dog turned on me and I shot it dead (same S&W 66 but with .357 magnum load) and since the other two dogs didn't just run off I considered it strange enough and shot them as well. (Two of the three tested positive for Rabies after the fact).
 
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I think we've all done things we wish we hadn't, at least that's what I'd like to believe. Not singling anyone out, I'm reading posts from two different kinds of people. The first group seems to be sorry they had to kill, the second seems to be proud.

Killing because we're rough and tough with a gun in the woods, and God help any animal who challenges that notion to protect their home or family speaks volumes of the mindset some hunters have. I speak from experience. I started hunting at about age six, and was so good I wanted to test my skills hunting the hunter, and I did that in Vietnam. There is nothing more sobering gentlemen, than to realize you are being hunted. Nothing more sobering at all. I ask each of you, and everyone who reads this thread to please consider all options before killing an animal you feel is a threat. Do not kill out of fear or fun. If you use the most powerful weapon you have ( you're brain ) you can travel the world and never need a weapon to protect life or safety. The only animal I fear is the two legged kind. I don't fear four legged even in Alaska, because I know how to use my most powerful weapon......my brain.

I'm done with this thread before I say something stupid ( again ) and get a warning from the staff.
 
Potential close call

When I asked my wife to marry me, 30 years ago, I gave her a ring with a sky blue agate in a gold setting. These agates could be found in certain areas near where I lived and were sought after for their value as semi-precious stones. She loved it.

After we were married she asked about going out and looking for some more, as she cherished the one I gave her. She wore the ring daily. I told her I knew of some good places to look, but the best time was after spring run-off when the snow melt had exposed agate-bearing stones. Most of the land where such agates could be found was private, but there was some public lands intermixed, and I intended to look there. So, we borrowed my parents small Winnebago and took out for a weekend.

We parked the RV up a short spur road near a perennial stream and spent the afternoon poking around in the stream bead. We found some thunder eggs, but did not crack them open, putting them in a plastic bucket we brought along. Towards evening we filled our bucket and headed in. My wife was making dinner in the RV and I was gathering dead sagebrush wood for a small campfire.

I saw an older model Chevy pickup come up the road toward our camp. It stopped and two men got out. Both men looked to be in their late 30’s and matched the condition of their truck, dirty and rough. They came up to me as I was lighting the wad of paper in the fire pit and one asked’ “Whaddoyou think you're doing?” I stood up and stated we were here looking for some blue agates. The other came up to me and said, “Yer on private land.Yer trespassing!” I could then smell the booze.

I told them I was on BLM lands, and that I had a map that showed exactly where we were. That made the first guy angry and he stepped on my small campfire, putting it out with his boot. The second guy took off his coat as he mumbled something. I stepped back slowly, wondering where this was going to go.

Right then my newlywed wife stepped into the door of the RV with my S&W Model 19 in her hand. She asked me if everything was all right as she had heard the conversation from the RV. I told her, I did not know as I watched the two. But, both our drunken visitors were walking rapidly back to their beater truck, and quickly left. We broke camp and left as well.

At that point, I had no idea if my wife had ever even picked up a pistol before, let alone fired one. Turned out she had.

Thirty years later, I still have that Model 19... and my wife. She still has the blue agate engagement ring.
 
I had an encounter with 3 drunked-up 'deliverance' types some years back when I was camped out after rideing a M/C into the Natl Fst near a mountain fishing stream. they sized me up at my camp and apparently decided I wasn't worth tangling with due to a hatchet I had close by me (my size may have had something to do with their decision also I'm 6'4").
they went back down the trail leading to my site to their p-up (this was right at dark, I had a BSA 650 Scrambler and had ridden up a rough jeep track to the campsite) and I drew the Ruger MK semi-auto (I had a spare 10 rd clip for) I had hidden in my sleeping bag and lined the sights as best I could on to the interior light when it came on.
I recognized 1 of the toughs as a well-known nerr-do-well of the county that was bad to start trouble, sure enough my suspicion was realized by a hail of .22 shots comeing my way (I had sought cover behind a large boulder away from the campfire when they were nearing the truck) whereupon I returned fire and was gratefully rewarded with sound of slugs impacting metal.
the truck rapidly fired up and backed down the road to a turn around and left, leaving me in fear of them returning with others or more firearms - all I had left was 10 shots in the spare mag. I packed up and moved up the road into another, more remote area and spent a very uneasy night until dawn when I loaded up and hauled ash outta there.
since that happened I always carry 2 pistols (one a centerfire) spare mags/speedloader and spare ammo when heading into such an area alone.
it ain't gonna happen again - at least not without me laying down a substantial return fire.
 
I was attacked by charging prairie dogs one time in South Dakota. I used my Remington 22-250 until I ran out of ammo and then when to my AR15. Thank god for hi-cap mags.
 
Mouse attack!

I had a mouse run up my pant leg once. :eek: After jumping around like a madman for about 10 seconds I dropped my trousers and the beast scurried off. The fellow I was working with at the time was flopping around on the ground laughing. I was unarmed at the time or I may have shot him.

(Insert mouse gun joke here.)

When I carry in the woods around these parts it does give a certain peace of mind. I've had bears approach me on several occasions out of curiousity. I've never been seriously charged.
 
Wild horse, (stallion with three mares) scared the karapp out of me. He repeatedly charged as close as 10 feet from me before hitting the skids, rearing, kicking, and generally freaking me out. I was armed with a shovel not a gun, or I believe I may have shot him. The shovel may have been better in this situation. As we've seen in many of the above posts, it isn't always bears, cougars, and such that rear their ugly heads. jd
 
There is a sunny side to my experience....

..well a sunny side up anyway. Breakfast on my Uncle's farm the next day was a ham steak feast to say the least. :D
It looks like the dreaded drunken two-legger is the dominant nuisance aside from rodents.
 
Three of us were riding dirt motorcycles on trails in the Owyhee mountains of southwest Idaho. We rode up a small box canyon where we found the remains of three poached deer (a day or so old, two months before deer season). Just as we were ready to turn around and retrace the trail out, an old pickup moved in to block us in the canyon. From a hundred yards away, I saw two guys get out and fumble behind the seat. One came out with a baseball bat and another found an ax handle. They started up the trail toward us. The canyon narrows so we could not pass them wide enough to stay outside their swing radius. At about 50 yards away, I turned my bike around so they could see my right side. I put my hand on the Beretta 92FS on my hip so they could plainly see what I had. They stopped, mumbled something to each other, turned around, and smartly headed back to their truck. They quickly loaded and left. They were too far away for a license plate check but we did phone in the poach site to the Fish and Game.

Like auto insurance, you don't need a firearm all the time in the woods, but the one time you need it makes up for packing it all the other times.
 
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