Man kills charging bear with 1911

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‘Bears always run away'

Published: June 4, 2008

Joshua McKim of Halfway shot and killed this approximately 400-pound black bear on May 28 when it ran at him while he was picking mushrooms in the mountains north of Halfway.
Submitted photo

By JAYSON JACOBY

Baker City Herald

When the bear just up the hill roared, Joshua McKim's first thought was that he had never heard a bear make a sound like that.

His second thought, almost instantaneous with the first, was that he was awfully glad he had brought his pistol on this mushroom-picking trip.

When he first glimpsed the bear through the thick brush, McKim had cocked the hammer on the .45 caliber semi-automatic Taurus, a copy of the famous 1911-model Colt.

The bear didn't move.

McKim, 22, who has picked mushrooms and hunted deer and elk in the Wallowa Mountains above his hometown of Halfway since he was a boy, has seen maybe 20 bears.

And every one had fled, rumbling away from him in that awkward but oddly efficient gait peculiar to bears.

But this bear just stood there, no more than 35 yard away, staring down at McKim.

"I was saying, why isn't he running away — the wind's blowing right at him so he must be able to smell me," McKim said, recounting what happened a week ago today, on the evening of May 28.

"This is really weird. Bears always run away. Maybe I should holler at him."

The bear hollered first.

Then, finally, the bear started moving.

Right at McKim.

McKim yelled.

"He kind of hesitated for a second," McKim said.

"Then he came on. Faster."

McKim fired the first of the eight bullets in the .45's clip.

"The first shot hit him in the shoulder."

The bear tumbled, rolling for about 10 feet until it came to a flat place.

The bear righted itself and kept moving, not directly at McKim but in his direction.

The bear was closer now, 15 yards or so.

McKim pulled the trigger until the clip was empty.

"I knew I was hitting him; I didn't know where," he said. "I wasn't about to let him get any closer."

The bear careened into a patch of brush and McKim couldn't see the animal.

"I wasn't about to go into the brush with a wounded bear in there," he said. "I couldn't see much."

Besides, he was out of bullets.
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Entire story:

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Aggressive bears are uncommon here in Oregon but we've had two bear incidents in the last couple of weeks, and a cougar stalking 2 young girls as well. Stay safe out there!

STAFF EDIT: When I clicked on the "Entire story" link, I got a "404 Not found" indication. Doing a name search on the publication's min page yielded
a new link
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Thanks for the post. I might have to re-evaluate my nonchalance about black bears. Cougars scare the c**p out of me.

On the west side, it is the mushroom pickers you have to be afraid of...
 
When he first glimpsed the bear through the thick brush, McKim had cocked the hammer on the .45 caliber semi-automatic Taurus, a copy of the famous 1911-model Colt.
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1911 with the hammer down on a live round!:eek: Not good.

Predatory Black Bears are scary critters by all accounts. From what I have read and seen though they are rarely loud, preferring to simply close and kill you with no demonstrations such as vocalizing.
 
Next time he needs to take a loaded XD .45ACP and a .357 mag 6" with speed loaders or strips. Oh!! By the way, there's nothing like a Pt1911 Taurus, but it only holds 8+1! He he he he.
 
Sad the bear had to be shot. When it comes to the lives of Oregon Mushroom Pickers and Black Bears - it's sometimes a very difficult decision to make in regard to choosing the appropriate side.:rolleyes: Black Bears get talked about sometimes as if they're wimpy little things. I guess it's because they are always compared to the big Brownies. Yet, if you've ever encountered a big ol' Black Bear, it's not unlike a street encounter with a big ol' Rottweiller - can be kinda scarey. They can look at you in a way that suggests they truely know you are the smaller, slower, weaker creature. It's their territory and they're to be respected. I would never want to shoot one unless it was a life or death situation. When I was a child I had a young black bear chase me - scared me to death - but it was because people were feeding the bears...and the bear was just being 'playful.' Looks like the mushroom picker didn't have much choice. Sounds like he was encroaching on the 400lb.'ers territory...and/or the bear was under survival stress ie. needing food...
 
As .300H&H said... I fell into the 'wimpy black bear' mentality in Florida.

Last year I spent 32 days straight, with every spare moment scouting for the upcoming whitetail hunt.

Having seen 14 ragged and weak looking bears in 3 days, that all ran away from me... I dropped my guard a bit.
The next weekend, I was charged by a 300-400lb mother protecting her cub. The only thing that saved me was the cub squeaking out a strange grunt, which stopped the mother. There were about 50 yards between us, and she covered at least 40 before the cub turned her around. Even if she had kept coming; my only weapon was a 2" pocket knife. It was illegal to carry a weapon in the area outside of a hunting season.

A week later, the same female charged my truck while I crossed the stream I had been walking to the first time.

One month after seeing the 14 bears in 3 days, my count was up to 39 bear sightings.

Deer season was now open. Same stream, same place, same bear. Heavy rains had changed the flow of the stream, and created a washed out bank. I stopped, looked around for the bear and cub, figured it was clear, left the truck running, and got out to check the stream for crossing options. Everything looked good... I decided to look around for deer tracks, and got cornered. Against the locked passenger door of my truck, 15 feet from the mother (hiding in some scrub), 5 feet from the stream, and no weapon.

My 9mm was in the driver's door pocket with 10 rounds in the magazine. My 8x57 Mauser was on the passenger seat with 4 rounds in the magazine. All of my knives were in the truck.

This bear WAS going to charge me. She had done it before. She would do it again. I didn't think I could make it around the truck faster than her, so I did something stupid. Dumbest thing I've ever done... I picked up a big muddy stick and charged the bear.

She and the cub took off into the woods. I cleaned my shorts, drove straight home, and called the manager of the WMA I was on - to report the sighting again.

Had the passenger door been unlocked... I would have fired until the threat was neutralised. I would have felt terrible for the cub, but it was me or her.

I learned these things as a kid, and this reinforced them again.
Never get out of the vehicle without a weapon. (preferably a high-speed lead injector)
Animals are unpredicable. (she let me pull up in the truck, 15 feet from her!)
If you know there is a bear in the area, don't go back. (game animals are probably staying away from the area, anyway)


Even having been charged by the same bear three times... I am still leary of these stories of others being charged. I know some are true, but... I always have to wonder if it was simply human fear that lead to firing, and killing the animal; with the story coming later. I was terrified the second I saw 'my' mother 50 yards away.

38 ran away from me. Only 1 charged. It works out to <3%, in my experience. (Though I understand it doesn't apply to everyone.)
 
I have read a few times that a black bear charging a human has one of two things on its mind: scaring you away from its cubs, or turning you into a meal. If the sow with the cub had wanted to attack you, she would have done it the first time, and with relative ease. You did the right thing chasing her away like you did, although at the time you were probably wondering if you were close to death.
 
Hey so get this, Josh McKim is my brother, his middle name is Daryl, and yes we were picking Morels, they are delicious and wonderful with butter you should try it. Anyway......
 
Read Kanutt's "Bear Tales"

And cougars are a problem.I saw a pretty good size cougar near a hiking trail a couple years ago.Maybe a hundred yards,but he wasn't real concerned.I pop riveted a holster to the side of my 2 qt canteen cover.A not concealed but discreet carry of my little 5 shot .44 snubby.Comforting.
 
I learned my lesson once. We were packing a moose out approx 800yds uphill to the truck. Decided the rifle was too heavy for the multiple trips. 3rd trip in there was 500lb boar on the kill, I had a .38spl smith. Fired off to the side once and he ran about 20ft and sat down on his a09, like "that didn't hurt" and just stared at me. I fired once more and he didn't move. My Dad, always the joker, leaned over and said " save the other 4". Nonetheless, we did the jump and scream method for about 5min and he got nervous and moved away, probably not very far. We got the front shoulders of the moose and hauled butt. Never again, even in the summer time I now carry my old iron sighted 06 w/ me. Especially important w/ my teenage girls if you know what I mean.
elkman06
 
Where do you get those 1911's that use clips?;):D


How can they tell that "the first shot hit him in the shoulder."? Seems like a tough call on a bear charging straight at you.

Makes for a dramatic story though.
 
peetza, I have often watched the tell tale signs of impact on various game. Actually seeing the impact shock wave from the entrance is a phenomenal sight! The other aspect I look for is the lurch which isn't a perfect science as different individual critters may not lurch the same... front on, a 400 pound bear has about a foot of shoulder or so to each side of their head.
Brent
 
peetza, I have often watched the tell tale signs of impact on various game.
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Oh, I know, I've seen it too. It's just that seeing it on a charging bear from a .45 handgun seems more about making a good read that actually seeing it. I do suppose it could easily be one of those things that is just "burned" in your memory. Your eyes happened to see it while your brain was saying "AAAAAGGHHHH!" so it decided to remember it.
 
Likely, as with other high intensity situations, the shooter is in a super slow motion condition... and like you said the image is well burnt in his brain...
Brent
 
I carry a Para 14.45 with 15 rounds for my mushroom picking in bear country, and keep it cocked an locked! After reading this article it makes me want a second mag with another 14 rounds. I've seen where hunters will kill one bear and another one, probably it's mate, will charge you from a different angle. Good thing that didn't happen here.

Wonder what kind of ammo he used? I carry 45 ACP full metal jacket for tough skinned bear. I've heard stories of people using expanding bullets, shooting the bear ten times with 45 ACP right before the bear eats them.

:eek:
 
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