Posted on 06/11/2017 7:39:12 AM PDT by marktwain
On 10 May, 1953, Bella Twin was hunting small game with her partner, Dave Auger, along an oil exploration cutline south of Slave Lake, in Alberta, Canada. She was 63 years old.
They saw a large grizzly bear coming toward them. Wishing to avoid an encounter, they hid off the side of the cut.
But the bear kept coming closer and closer. The bear got so close that Bella Twin thought it less risky to shoot the bear than to not shoot it. It was probably only a few yards away. Some accounts say 30 feet. Perhaps she saw it stop and start to sniff, as if it had caught their scent. We may never know.
She shot at the side of the bears head. Knowing animal anatomy very well (she was an experienced trapper, and had skinned hundreds, perhaps thousands of animals) she knew exactly where to aim to penetrate the skull at its weakest point.
She shot, the bear dropped. It was huge. She went to the bear and fired the rest of the .22 long cartridges that she had, loading the single shot rifle repeatedly, to “pay the insurance” as Peter Hathaway Capstick said. She made sure the bear was dead, and not just stunned. My father taught me the same lesson when I was 13.
Here is a picture of the bear's skull and the .22 caliber holes in the left side.
For those curious about how to place that shot on a live bear, the place to aim is half way on a line from the center of the eye to the ear hole.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
Read Richard Meinhertzhagen’s bio of hunting in Africa. He killed everything, elephants, rhinos, all of it with a 6.5 x54 Mannlicher.
Basically shot it in the temple then.
She executed that Grizzly, execution style. Then she septuple tapped it.
Read Richard Meinhertzhagen’s bio of hunting in Africa. He killed everything, elephants, rhinos, all of it with a 6.5 x54 Mannlicher.
...
According to Wiki that has a lot more stopping power than a 22lr.
Looking at the skull, the bullet holes make the perforated bone appear paper thin. She knew where she was aiming.
Wonder what became of the bearskin? That was 64 years ago and it’s probably long since succumbed to moths.
Read Richard Meinhertzhagen’s bio of hunting in Africa. He killed everything, elephants, rhinos, all of it with a 6.5 x54 Mannlicher.
Karamojo Bell did the same with a 7X57 (.275 in British nomenclature).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._D._M._Bell
That was 64 years ago and it’s probably long since succumbed to moths.
She sold the skull to another collector, who sent it in to be measured. That is how it made the record books. It is at the North Shore Homestead at Slave Lake:
Great story.
Thanks for posting
Goes to show that the Best GUN to have
Is the One you Bring!
And Bullet placement.
I know a professional full time predator and varmint hunter. He uses a 22-250 Remington Cartridge full time. Mountain lions included. Of course, he can probably hit a prairie dog I can’t even see and do it from horseback.
Yes, thanks for posting the story.
One smart lady. One huge bear.
I had an uncle who was a professional trapper and varmint hunter. He told me no one ever needed anything more that a .243 for elk.
He was an expert woodsman. Get close and pick your shot.
My youngest sister (an excellent rifle shot, far better than me) uses a .243 for elk. She has killed at least 6, all with neck shots.
Bella Twin...
She is getting a place of Honor,
next to
Aunt Jenny Brooks.
Heartless simply heartless! .....pretty good shootin’ too.
That’s another round much more powerful than a 22lr. I can understand why a professional would use it due to the high velocity. From Wiki:
Typical factory-loaded .22-250 Remington can propel a 55 grain (3.56 g) spitzer bullet at 3,680 ft/s (1122 m/s) with 1,654 ft·lbf (2,243 J) of energy.[9] Many other loads with lighter bullets are used to achieve velocities of over 4,000 ft/s (1,219 m/s), while still having effective energy for use in hunting small game and medium-sized predators.
The .22-250 is currently the fastest production cartridge, surpassing the .204 Ruger. This round is loaded by Hornady under their Superformance line and is a 35 grain, non-toxic, fragmenting varmint bullet at 4450 feet per second (1356 m/s) from a 24” barrel.
It is particularly popular in the western states of the USA where high winds often hinder the effectiveness of other varmint rounds in prairie dog hunting. Many states in the USA have minimum caliber restrictions on larger game such as deer, although most states do allow the cartridge to be used for big game.
Sam Kinison Fan?
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