Predators are a greater risk for suburbia than many realize.
When, in my old neighborhood in CT, a couple dog packs were reported, I decided to carry large.
I didn’t carry large for it’s affect on people, I did it because of pit bulls. Because of course, the dog packs were just pit bulls roaming the streets.
A dog doesn’t know what a gun is. They don’t understand the muzzle or the action of it. They don’t even understand the bang. They are designed for forward motion and nothing will stop that motion until you start breaking the muscles that produce that motion.
People know to fall when they get shot. Dogs have no idea and I’ve seen many cases where a charging pit bull has taken x number of rounds and still charges. You have to actually break the dog so it can’t move forward.
It’s a sad scenario, but it’s reality. I carry large in suburbs and near cities. You know, where “Pitbull americans” congregate.
Out here in the woods, I can carry pretty much anything but I carry a rather remarkable .357 magnum round. IT’s 180 grain, SJHP which is just odd. But it’s case of bears because they don’t know when to stop attacking either. They have no concept of being shot.
I’ve encountered a coyote that I just wanted to go away. I shot at the ground and it did the trick. Bangs make wild animals go away but packs of dogs don’t seem to be effected.
I think that you might be misstating the actual mechanics of what is taking place when a charging animal or human is shot. I suppose if you were able to actually shoot the limbs off of a charging dog that this would stop its forward momentum. But in the vast majority of cases what stops any animal which is charging at you is not “breaking the muscles”, it is either destroying the brain with a projectile, or a brain that has been deprived of oxygen by lack of blood flow.
A projectile that destroys the heart or one of the vessels into or out of the heart will do this quickly, otherwise you must hope that the holes you made will cause blood to leak out of the circulatory system quick enough to cause the brain to be deprived of oxygen. Muscles can function without oxygen by anaerobic means for some time, but the brain stops functioning almost immediately without adequate perfusion.
I have been wondering what handgun to carry in the woods where bears could be a remote threat. Would a .357 or .45 be enough with a lucky shot or would it just make the bear angry?
How many dogs have you killed?