Alan Yates with bear rugs and firearms.
Posted on 12/20/2024 5:20:49 AM PST by marktwain
I was hunting whitetail in the early morning. I had my sort-of-trusty 303 Enfield over my shoulder. As I slipped slowly and quietly along, with the wind in my favor, trying to make no noise in the dew-dampened tall grass, a sound caught my ear … “woof, woof, woof”. What happened next occurred in about four seconds.
I spun towards the sound as my rifle came smoothly to my shoulder. The bear rounded a bush and charged into sight. I immediately saw a problem … the bear was much lower to the ground than my 6’5″ frame, and it’s head was bouncing/rolling with the charge. I had no solid target. Without thinking, I dropped to one knee in the tall grass and began to time the bears head roll – to slip a bullet under its chin. Twice I almost pulled the trigger. I was running out of time and room. I decided it would have to be the last jump the bear made. Steadying myself, all thought left my mind, and the world slowed down. I watched the bear make the 2nd-to-last jump and waited …. the bear stopped dead still – staring straight at me, head slightly lowered, huffing. The bears eyes darted around and re-focused on me.
This began the standoff at three yards. The bear was staring intently at me. The tall grass was between us. My finger was on the trigger, my sights on its lower jaw.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
Charging Black Bear Stopped with Rifle and Pistol in Montana 1989...
The nerve. Did they give him a summons or bring him in for illegal possession of firearms?
:)
Alan Yates with bear rugs and firearms.
I’ve read stories about bears being brought down with a 9mm pistol. Guess it depends where in the head you shoot.
Grizzlies are likely the ones with impervious skulls.
Damn! Great story, had me on edge all the way through. Nice rug too. Glad it all worked out.
A lot of the myth has been perpetuated by people who aim where the brain is not. Shoot a bear directly in the eye, if the bear’s nose is pointed at you, and you miss the brain.
Bear’s brains are lower in the head than many assume. Shoot an inch above a line between the eyes, and you miss the brain.
https://www.ammoland.com/2024/03/bears-are-not-bulletproof-dont-aim-at-the-wrong-spot/
That is some story. Thanks for tracking it down.
1989
“35 years later, the bear is back. And he is pissed!”
Wow that’s intense! Thanks for posting this memorable story! What a fantastic campfire yarn lol.
The Good Lord was With this Young Man !
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Awsome.
One doesn’t need a gun to stop a bear from charging. All one needs to do is take his credit card.
I don’t know that much about it - but I wondered about one aspect of the story:
Assuming his rifle was sighted at 100 yards, wouldn’t he have to aim way low at 3 yards?
Like I said I don’t have that much experience, but I’ve missed small game high when I was too close - and I’ve heard of plenty of people who missed way high the first time shooting downward from a tree stand.
I know one guy who was shooting at a whitetail out of an open window of his cabin - he blew his windowsill to splinters because he forgot his barrel was a few inches below his line of sight.
That’s quite a story. I probably wouldn’t have lived to tell about it.
Three years ago while hunting from a 6'X6' pop-up blind, I was in the woods on a "walk about", my son shot and blew out one of the "fiber glass ribs" that held the tent in place.
He got the deer and I used an old golf club shaft to fix the blind.
We shot two more does this year, because years ago, we stopped shooting for antlers and chose tender female young meat.
The difference between a young doe and an old 8 point rutting buck is prime rib to an old horse's back leg.
The line of sight of a Lee-Enfield rifle is about 3/4 of an inch above the center of the bore.
So the bullet impact at 3 yards would only be about .64 of an inch low, and the bullet is .312 inches in diameter. The top of the bullet would only be less than 3/8 an inch below the line of sight.
The guy has honed his story down over the years. Not doubting, just appreciating a true story well told.
I see, so there are actually two places where the arc of the bullet and the line of sight converge - one very near and one at 100 yards or wherever you have it sighted. Got it.
What illegal possession? Haven’t you ever heard of the right to arm bears? Try reading up on the constitution.
Precisely correct.
He’s making a joke about the bear having a rifle. No need to get snippy.
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