Posted on 06/27/2017 5:50:16 AM PDT by marktwain
A 16-year-old was killed by a black bear on a organized race in Alaska yesterday, on 19 June, 2017. The runner had plenty of time to use a defensive firearm. He had called family members to text them that he was being chased by a bear. From adn.com:
The runner had apparently made it to the halfway point turnaround and was on his way down when he used his phone to text a family member at 12:37 p.m. that he was being chased by a bear, Precosky said. The family member approached Precosky, who was then in the middle of handing out awards.This has all the hallmarks of predatory black bear attack. The attack was well telegraphed, because the runner had time to phone and text people about it. After the runner was killed, the bear stayed near the body and would not allow rescuers near it. The bear was finally driven off when a park ranger shot it in the face with a shotgun slug, wounding it.
"I went off and talked to him about it, trying to get a straight story," Precosky said. "He was very shaken and had received this communication."
A search was launched immediately, Precosky said. The family member had GPS coordinates from the missing runner's phone that helped guide searchers to the area where his phone was. But the searchers, including runners that were part of the race, couldn't get closer.
"This young man didn't do anything wrong. He was just in the wrong place," Crockett said. "You can't predict which bear is going to be predatory."Exactly so. Which is why prudent people carry arms.
The face is not a vital area, the brain/cns/major vascular structures are.
"...texted..."
To all who have pointed out my folly, not being experienced with bears, I guess there is much of his face that isn’t vital. It is hard to imagine a shotgun slug landing anywhere in the vicinity of the face not completely discouraging further perseverance on the bear’s part, but I can see how anything less than a kill would make for a risky situation.
Alaska Ping.
Dean Weingarten is certainly no gun-hating journalist
Just got a Remington 870 Tactical the other day. Now for a good carry sling.
AK-47 = design/adopted 1947
AK-74 = design/adopted 1974
Just my $.02 worth.
Now that's just plain stupid. A little pop gun like that is highly unlikely to save your life in this type of situation. If I'm in bear country, it's a shotgun with slugs as the primary weapon and a .45 semiauto as the secondary.
You can do THAT?
There are 2 predators that I truly fear in my area: humans and black bears. There was a mama and cub within a few hundred feet of the cabin. My little dog was barking hysterically but did not pursue the bears. The cub showed up days later 40 ft from a neighbor’s kitchen door. She was able to get picture of it. Haven’t seen them lately. Thank goodness. Rather be watching the wild turkey strutting and carrying on. No bears please !!
Not likely a 16 year old would be carrying a firearm but just damn...I run and that’s one of the few times I’m not armed. Probably wouldn’t carry anything bigger than a .380 while running
16-year-olds can carry in Alaska, with parental permission.
awww... look at da cute lil black bear dere in da blackberry bushes. Uh-oh, I think she wants to EAT me!!!
Bear mace. And I wonder how well tasers work on bears.
Oh okay...that’s definitely a good thing. Thanks!
Bear mace. And I wonder how well tasers work on bears.
I have been told they work well on moose. But you have to be very, very close. Too close for comfort, about 15 feet.
I wish he had called for help (rather than texting), while simultaneously setting his personal best finishing time for that run or for any run or race he would ever participate in. Adrenaline and feet don’t fail me now!
Tazer a moose...
Cracks Me Up!
"...you can do THAT?..."
You are asking a very good and pertinent question- all too many folks think that a hit is a kill. It is not the case- well, many gunshot wounds will kill eventually. If this bear was busted int eh snout with a 12 ga slug- it likely would die from either infectionor starvation.
A frontal brain shot at most mammals is a shot that usually requires precise placement- between the eyes and not any higher than that- you have to actually visualize the path of the bullet through the skull and the brain- if the bullet will pass generally even with the bae of the skull you will achieve a fatal effect. lower and off center and you miss everything but jaw and neck muscle, higher and you simply are shooting through a plane of skull bone.
While CNS shot if executed with aplomb, drop the critter in its tracks, a miss of the brain stem and or spinal cord in the neck will result in rather upset and quite alive critter.
One pig hunter stated “ stick it in his mouth and aim for the ears” if the hog we were hunting charged...
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