Posted on 11/15/2022 5:00:57 AM PST by marktwain
On March 5, 2005, two people were attacked by a polar bear in the remote area of Kapp Lee, Edgeøya, in the Svalbard archipelago.
The .500 Smith & Wesson revolver had been on the market for just over two years when this occurred. The individual responsible for security had one of those big revolvers on his person.
This story was uncovered as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by AmmoLand. The names of the individuals involved were redacted. The original account is a translation with some grammatical and spelling errors.
What follows is the account, edited for readability. The names Paul and Sally have been substituted for the redacted names. This is what happened.
Paul, Sally and two more people were airlifted from Longyearbyen to Kapp Lee, Edgeøya, and landed at 2:21 PM. The helicopter flew the two other people a bit further away to install a digital camera to take pictures of Storfjorden.
Paul was responsible for the security of the research and security against polar bears.
He was very experienced with polar bears. He had numerous encounters but had never had to kill a bear. Paul and Sally had a dog with them, for additional protection against polar bears.
As the helicopter took off, Paul loaded their two weapons. He loaded the 30-06 rifle magazine with four cartridges. Then he loaded the handgun with five rounds in the magazine (cal. 50) and took out the flare pistol. (The handgun magazine almost certainly refers to the revolver cylinder, because of translation effects).
Paul had the handgun and the flare pistol. Paul and Sally both took bags/cases/material and went directly to the middle one of the three cabins of the station. There had been one trip there before them. Some material was left by the door.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
Guns cause global warming. Therefore the polar bear is another victim of climate change.
IMHO too close for a heart shot. I’ve tracked heart shot animals for over 100 yards.
This bear must have been starving to ignore the flares and the commotion it made.
Way too many warning shots. Lucky it ended well despite his being well prepared with firearms.
Seven warning shots, counting flares? The guy really really did not want to kill the bear.
Double taps with full power 500 S@W loads are not very fast.
.500 Magnum. Jeezus. I would hope so. That thing is a wrist breaker. It would probably stop a dump truck.
1.5 m away? That is way, way too close.
“Paul and Sally had a dog with them, for additional protection against polar bears.”
BearS? That’s not right. The dog is just a snack. If the bear got to within 5 feet, what happened to the dog?
The bear would have been eating 30/06 slugs long before it got that close.
50 yds and I shoot if it keeps coming.
Longyearbyen is an interesting place. It’s got the world’s northernmost ATM as well as the world’s northernmost pickup bar.
The dog did its job. It alerted the humans to the approaching bear.
The dog was busy barking at the bear as it closed with the humans. The bear ignored it.
“..1.5 m away? That is way, way too close....”
Absolutely!!! Even a drugged-up human RAT/MK-Ultra zombie can cover 20’ in less than 3 seconds. A big bear like that is waaaayyy too close at 1.5 meters for anyone’s entertainment (that’s about 5’away!!) .
As one poster posted above; I’ve also tracked heart/lung-shot animals that have quickly covered a lot of ground before dropping.
And 7 warning shots??? Wow! After the first two, it should have been hammer time.
The dog’s job is to sense the bear, and warn people before it gets close.
Plus be a distraction to the bear.
Warning shots are a huge mistake. Always fire for effect or don’t shoot. Period.
Passed a Salvation Army Bell ringer yesterday outside a Farm supply store that had a bear claw on his key ring !
Chatted him up a shared stories about
Bear attacks and he told me he Hunted Them .
Wow,,,
I was talking to a Real Live
‘Hatchet Jack!’
.
Yup
I threw a few coins in the
Red Bucket.
The shooter has to face the government investigation.
After surviving the bear attack, they have to survive the government investigation.
Too bad that handguns are now illegal to buy or trade in Canada. That will work just fine I am sure.
Did she win? Lauren Boebert?
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