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.
This often presents excellent opportunities for use of a defensive firearm.
Bella Twin, a tiny Cree woman, shot and killed a world record grizzly bear with a single shot .22 rifle in 1953.
http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2017/06/bella-twin-22-used-to-take-1953-world.html
The bear was finally driven off when a park ranger shot it in the face with a shotgun slug, wounding it.
OK, that bear was either the most badass bear out there or this reads wrong. How does any creature just get wounded by a shotgun slug to the face?
Kudos to Bella. Also, obviously, someone was looking out for her.
Angle of the bear skull versus the slug causes the slug to glance off.
But such a slug has plenty of bear kill power barring a fluke angle.
A bear’s skull is very thick and strong; shots often just bounce off.
OK, that bear was either the most badass bear out there or this reads wrong. How does any creature just get wounded by a shotgun slug to the face?
1. The slug only hit a glancing blow to the face, just grazing the skin.
2. The slug hit a non-lethal part of the face, perhaps the nose.
3. The ranger thought he shot it in the face, but the bear moved, or he jerked the trigger, or the slug hit a sapling on the way there, and he missed.
....How does any creature just get wounded by a shotgun slug to the face?...
Hit in the side of the cheek?
Useless against bears unless the noise scares them away.
Easily, if it isn’t a brain shot they do not die very quickly. Ask any hunter who has shot a deer with half his face blown away, that deer can run for miles.
Many years ago we shot a ring tailed cat in the nose (unintentionally).
He ran off. We found him hours later still alive but near death.
I spend several weeks a year on the Yukon alone with the Bears. Suspended from a shoulder holster around both shoulders is a .500 S & W Magnum at all times. Nearby is a Remington 870 Tactical chambered for 3 “ Magnum rounds. Mines loaded with the triple ought.
Anyone in the outdoors of Alaska un armed is crazy, in my opinion.
It took a deer slug to the face just to get the bear to back off. I think a little pistola would just have pissed it off.
“with an AK74.”
AK47 ??
"...47 v. 74..."
Bella knew about Shot Placement...
In The Temple,
Between the Ear and Eye.
I've got one of those, and I guarantee it wouldn't stop a charging bear. I put four .380 hollowpoints into the head and neck of snapping turtle, and he was still alive four hours later, just sayin'...
A .44 mag would be better protection, but they are a little heavy for a runner to tote along with him; not to mention he's a teenager, he may not be allowed to carry a handgun.
Having adults stationed along the route of the race with high powered rifles would be more practical.
I’ve got one of those, and I guarantee it wouldn’t stop a charging bear.
Lots of black bears, and a few grizzlys have been killed with .22 rimfires. A .380 is more powerful than a .22 rimfire.
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