Posted on 01/02/2024 4:04:32 AM PST by marktwain
On Sunday, March 24, 2013, a determined polar bear made a fatal error in the prey selection process. The six-year-old healthy male would not be deterred from getting at two humans in a cabin located on Svalbard (administered by Norway) at Hornsund on the island of Spitsbergen. Hornsund is the most southern fjord on the southern tip of the Island of Spitsbergen in the Svalbard archipelago, about 140 km south of Longyearbyen.
The incident was reported in newsinenglish.no in 2013. The incident is confirmed in the PBHIMS database obtained by AmmoLand, which includes many reports of polar bear attacks that happened in the Svalbard archipelago. In the PBHIMS database, the incident is number 132. It has not been included in the pistol defense database before because the type of firearm used was not mentioned in the PBHIMS.
The couple inside the cabin went to extreme lengths to avoid shooting the polar bear, which was forcing its way into the cabin through a window. They fired four warning shots. Their defensive firearm was a revolver, which most commonly hold six cartridges. After firing four warning shots, they would only have one or two shots remaining before the necessity of reloading.
Reloading can involve considerable stress when a polar bear is forcing its way into your residence. The incident is listed as self-defense by both the Svalbard administration and in the FOIA database obtained by AmmoLand. This was considered to be a predatory attack. The couple, a man and a woman, were in their 40s. The most common revolver caliber used for bear protection in Svalbard
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
I’d start with hanging it outside — as a warning.
I wonder if bear meat is ..... palatable. Gonna be tough regardless.
But, first fours shots as warning? WTH? Yah thought deafening the bear would run him off? For that shoot him in the foot.
A .44 Mag will get your attention, even if you’re a polar bear.,
I’d start with hanging it outside
—
other p. bears would see that as food.
“There are a fair number of predatory attacks by grizzly/brown bears which stalk their prey.”
I think you’re confusing territorial defense and opportunistic feeding with predatory behavior.
How do you distinguish between the two, when the victim/s did not survive?
Grizzly bears often cover up their prey to feed on later. Easier to pull appart and eat after it has decayed a bit...
A number of the attacks are listed as predatory by the investigating authorities.
read an article once said to shoot them in the shoulders...
the skull is so thick it takes the right shot
and their heart only pumps ~12 times a minute, so even wi no heart left, if he gets his mitts on you, well
but if they cant run on all fours, or grab you, you have a better chance of getting away
YMMV...
The skull is fairly tough, but far from bullet proof.
The problem is, most people don't know where the brain is and aim for the wrong spot.
Of all the successful bear defenses done with handguns, Over 90% are not fast, central nervous system hit.
It turns out, bears do not like being shot.
Many of them run away after being shot.
Many of them slow down after being shot.
Glad they made it, but I would not have used 4 of my 5 or 6 shots as a warning.
There is good reasons that the 44 mag. is the most used caliber for bear protection.
I’ve been told that it’s very greasy and it either tastes like berries/pine cones/fish/bambi or pepper spray/little bells/human flesh depending on the most recent or current diet.
I have eaten a fair amount of black bear meat.
Generally, reminds me of roast beef.
A great deal depends on how it is prepared and cooked.
Most of what I ate was roasted. Some ground and cooked as hamburger.
It was highly favored by settlers.
“How do you distinguish between the two, when the victim/s did not survive?”
Predatory behavior isn’t exclusive to humans.
“How do you distinguish between the two, when the victim/s did not survive?”
Predator:
an animal that naturally preys on others.
“wolves are major predators of rodents”
I think that’s the confusion here I’m talking about a hunting methodology and your talking about attacks on human beings exclusively.
If you’re up in the ice and a polar bear gets your sniff you are the target, they will target/hunt and they will ambush/attack.
If you’re down south in Alaska and a grizzly bear gets your scent it just might leave you alone or check you out or you might have pressured the bear into a response, or come between cubs and the sow band then they’ll take action but not necessarily. They are not hunting you they want the invasive presence to back off. Those varieties are opportunistic... they’ll eat a berry bush, or raid a trash can.
I spent a lot of time in Alaska, I lived on Kodiak Island when I was spending time in the Coast Guard, did a lot of fishing, bears would walk up take your fish and you let him have them but they wouldn’t attack humans specifically unless they were pressured.
that’d do it!
was an article here a looong time ago about some guy wi a .45 v bear
problem was, he pushed the muzzle into the bear and forced the barrel out of battery...
he lost
But some grizzly/brown bears still stalk and kill and eat humans.
There are several documented cases.
Hunting is opportunistic, generally.
The vast majority of bears, of all species do not hunt humans. Polar bears, generally do not hunt humans because they are uncertain of humans as prey. They are very dangerous, because they may not be afraid of humans, and can easily decide humans are worth predating on.
The motivation of grizzly bears which kill humans in surprise attacks or of sows with cubs, is not obvious or certain.
Hererro gave his opinion of what he thinks the bears are thinking, but it is just his opinion. The only reason he makes the claim the surprise and sow with cubs attacks are not predatory is because they do not usually eat the human immediately. Leave the body there for a few days, and the bears tend to eat the humans.
Bears are surplus killers. They will kill things, just to kill things. If they are not hungry now, they are likely to come back later to feed.
I tried to find it but Jim Fowler of Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom fame had a list of animals that preyed on humans. I remember him mentioning polar bears and crocodiles but there were more.
Operator error.
Just another myth. During the research of bears defense with handguns no such story has been found.
If you can find that information I am sure marktwain would receive it and add it to the data base,
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