self defence from animals?

S

Sum1_Special

New member
let me start off with a scenario.

your taking a walk in the woods one day and you stumble upon a very angry animal(dog, pig, bear, whatever) that proceeds to charge or harras you. your in a pair of jeans a t-shirt and jacket, the only protection you have is a small .22 caliber pistol in your coat. how many shots from that pistol do you think it would take to drive away or kill that animal?

the reason why i am asking is because either a .25 caliber raven or a .22 pistol chambered in hyper velocity stingers or velociter is what is usually take with me when i go on my day long walks through the woods or urban exploring, so far i use it to plink around when i'm bored or bring home the occasional rabbit and i carry it for peace of mind. i'm wondering what type of power it would have in a real encounter, like a stray dog or a wild boar?

i dont hunt as often as most of the people on this board so i'm turning to you guys for help. i'm curious to know what this little round can do.
 
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The .22 may work for a dog, but anything more than that and you'll be SOL.
I've been charged by a wild hog before and it was pretty wild, but a dose of 000 buck solved that :D
Anything above a dog is going to be a pretty tough animal, and you need an according caliber. If you want pig protection I'd go with either a .45 (what I carry when pig hunting), a .357 Magnum or .357 Sig possibly.
As for bears, I have no clue, other than get the biggest gun you can handle.
The .22 is a great round for lots of things, but if you ask more of it than it can give, you will be disapointed.
 
With an angry animal, your 22 would be a tad small and ineffective on the kinds of animals that are more likely to hurt you. I would look for a tree and climb it. Then you can shoot from your perch if the animals continue to harrass you. That said, 22's have killed every animal in the lower 48 states. It just takes a while for the larger animals to die unless you penetrated their skull. You up to that with a wild dog that is trying to attack you?

If I was truly worried about being attacked by an irrate rabid animal, I would lean toward the magnum revolvers such as the 357, 41, and 44 for the lower 48 states and still have some ease of carry holstered. Go bigger in Alaska.

If I believed there was a 50-50 chance of attack, I would carry a rifle!
 
A .22LR is far from ideal, but as 22-rimfire said, it has killed every animal in the lower 48, including grizzly bears and moose. I would use hot FMJ ammo, and aim for the head. Try to hit the soft spots, such as the eyes and ears (into the brain). Most animals are going to be considerably tougher than a human, due to thicker skin and muscle on the surface. I heard a report (can't remember where) of 9mm rounds only penetrating 1 1/2 inches into a grizzly bear.
 
Yeah, I've read those stories about the hunters walking back with their rifle slung and suprising bears, lucking out with a head shot from a MKII. Sure they did it but it was a fluke or they was some seriously Godly men!

I wouldn't count on a .22LR.

I was small gaming with my 10/22 and was standing still, heard a twig snap and swiveled my head to be staring at 3 mtn lions, a momma & two yearlings at about 25 ft. I drove em off but never felt so undergunned in my life. I lug that redhawk around now when small gaming.
 
.22LR is going to seriously P - off quite a number of aggressive animals. Best approach in respect to Bear would probably be to play dead- try shooting it with a .22LR and you are asking for trouble- unlikely the round will get past the animals fat reserves to do any damage.

With cartridge round it will work on snakes and may scare off dogs- will kill a dog at low range.
 
Used to have a Para P-12 that was very "concelable" and quit comforting to know that I had 12 rnds. of .45 at my comand. Fit in my jeans hip pocket yet was very easy to get to. Gotta get another one. :cool:
 
a bear killed with .22lr? What the F&%#!?
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Eh, that was in one of the hunting rags awhile back. Some hunter was dragging his deer down a frozen creekbed with his rifle slung and come around a bend to suprise a sow & cubs and she charged him. No time to unsling the rifle so he grabbed his MKII and popped it once in the head. Must've got it in the ear or eye.

Doesn't mean it would work for you or I. I think a 45 is too light for woods walking too.
 
yea gun selection depends heavily on what you expect to encounter. no bears in illinois, and near the family place in WI bears are so rare that i don't ever expect to see one and would _never_ bother putting in for a tag. so what i'd be worried about is coyote and maybe the occasional cat. for that purpose 9mm is plenty. i don't often carry into my own woods but when i do i go with a 40. any premium defense round would comfortably dispatch the most likely thing i'd run into, a coyote. i'm still on good terms with my old girlfriend and want to get up to hunt bears with her brother well north in WI one of these years, so if i was going to spend some time up there i'd probably cave in and spend the money to go for the .44 mag sidearm, along with whatever rifle i'm actually doing the hunting with. wolves are making a pretty strong comeback up there too. ammunition selection's as important as firearm selection, if bears are what you're worried about you want to stay away from JHPs/JSPs from what i'm told and just go with the heaviest, slowest-expanding chunk of metal you can throw at them. and of course we should make the obligatory "shot placement is the most important thing" remark - once i get one of those chew suits they use to train attack dogs i'll try and bring a polar bear down with my .17 pump airgun to beat out mister long-rifle :P
 
down here in SE Texas a Piney Woods Rooter can be encountered...say at least a .38. or a .357 or a 45LC should do the job. I dont think you could go wrong with a .44 magnum in most cases.

In case of angry grizzy bear I would want a S&W 500, 45 Casull, ect... and still probably piss my pants and scream like a girl...lol
 
The only two N. American animals I worry about are wild boar and dog packs. Bears (including grizzly) are usually no problem if you're making noise. Bad encounters with grizzly usually occur when you surprise them. I know some backpackers that have a cow bell attached to their packs in bear country. Dog packs are a different thing altogether. They have no fear of humans, and you're dealing with more than one. I was driving the back roads of E. Kentucky a few years ago and came upon a dog pack in the process of taking down a goat. Got out of the car with my Smith 19 and yelled at the dogs, who promptly turned their attention to me. I picked out what seemed to be the leader and put a .357 round in the ground right between his legs. He still didn't yield and just when I was about to shoot him, he (and they) finally turned and ran. Long story, but in the end the farmer that owned the goat also owned the dogs, and thanked me for not shooting the dogs. Maybe the bang from a .22 might have done the same thing. Maybe not. For wild boar though, forget the .22... period. A friend was hunting boar in E. Tenn. a few years ago with a .44 mag. He hit the boar from (what he said) was about 20 yds. away. Instead of dropping, the boar charged and split him to the bone from calf to thigh. He's lucky to be alive. Boars are tough critters! :eek:
 
a .22 wont do anything to a larger animal, even a large dog I would believe. You would need to carry something a bit larger, like a .40 or .45.
 
i dont plan to put 100% faith in my .22 pocket pistol. i just want reassurance that it would at least weaken the animal while i find a nice big rock to club him with :). I must admit that in north georgia i dont see many bears... as a matter of fact i've never seen a bear in the 10 years i lived here. but you never know. boars and dogs are a real issue though, i am pretty sure i could take a large dog on bare handed, but a boar? i'm not sure, i've never been attacked but i know their power. i have heard stories of them flipping cars on the freeway and running off unharmed, breaking bones and killing hunters. still, i am not exactly sure how tough they are.

i usually find a nice, thick, walking stick in the woods and walk around with that, would that do any good?
 
How many shots would it take? All of 'em. At least.

A .22 may be good enough to hunt small game with, but when it comes to stopping those same critters quick, I think you'd be better off with a tomahawk or stout machete. Or a good walking stick. No kidding. The .22's only advantage is range, and we're talking about situations where the critter will practically be on top of you before you know it.

I'd still bring the .22 just in case you have time to scare them off or take them down from a distance. But honestly, I'd practice shooting it a bit with my weak hand, so I could keep my big Bowie knife ready in my right hand, for the serious work up close. But that's just me. Then again, I can't remember the last time I only had a .22 in the woods...

Just saw your last reply.
I don't think a walking stick is a bad idea, as long as you can weild it with one hand, and it doesn't seriously interfere with your draw.
Also, my comments above were more about smaller thin skinned critters- dogs, cats, etc. For boar, I can only make educated guesses, since I've never hunted 'em. Only butchered domestic hogs.
 
In case of angry grizzy bear I would want a S&W 500, 45 Casull, ect... and still probably piss my pants and scream like a girl...lol
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ahhhh, so you've discovered the ancient native ways of fending off attacks from grizzly: the screaming urination.
:D
 
I've seen a domestic pig shot between the eyes with a .22 and.... Nothing.
It made a small black dot on the skin and did NOT break through the bone. The pig made an awful noise and was very, very angry until someone pulled out a .44 mag. Don't even think of it with wild boars.

I've also been attacked by wild dogs. Once a dog was killing chickens and when I went to stop it, thought I should be next. Ten shots from a .22 pistol turned him around, did not kill, but ran him away. Don't count on being able to get much shot placement if an animal jumps you, you'll miss shots you can't belive.

Get a bigger gun if at all possible. Remember, safe not sorry.

JRLaws
 
i have a friend who kills his domestic pigs with either a .22 to the head or a hammer. between the eyes is the worst place to shoot a pig, the skull is re-enforced with a thick layer of bone. shoot it there and you'll end up running :rolleyes:.

and about the dogs... dogs are not that tough when you compare them to other animals of there size. if you can kill a domestic pig with a .22, you can certainly kill a large dog with one. i agree a .22 is not enough to kill it reliably but like i said, i could probably take on a dog bare handed and i would be prepared to do so.

a wild boar is what i am afraid of... if i stumble onto one with piglets i will probably end up running like hell or climbing a tree. i usually carry a walking stick later in the day but i wonder how much power and energy it would take to drive him off or, at the very least, bash its skull in :barf:. boars are mean, and will sometime run you down for no reason. getting in trouble with a feral pig is a real possibility.

i have carried a .22 for years and i'm not going to go out and buy a .44 magnum just because of the animals around here. my only weapons with me is a walking stick, a small knife, and a .22lr pistol. like it or not its all i have and its what i feel comfortable carrying... and if i ever get into trouble, the police might think my .357 is for hunting rather than self defence.
 
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