Alaska bear attack: A shot too late

Alaska Dispatch ^ | 11/4/2010 | Craig Medred

[Saije]

Even as Scott Oberlitner squeezed the trigger on the .375-caliber H&H Magnum rifle and sent a massive slug flying toward the hulk of the charging Afognak Island grizzly bear, he sensed it was too late. This was like trying to stop a freight train with a bullet. A miracle was going to be necessary to halt this madness, and there was no miracle. The bullet hit the bear, but did nothing to slow it. There was no time for a second shot. There was no time for anything except the fleeting thought that what was happening couldn't be happening. Then the bear was on Oberlitner.

"I thought it was all over," the 40-year-old Anchorage man says now, just over a week later.

About the last thing he remember doing in the split second before the bear hit him was trying to make a bullfighter pivot out of the way of the charge. It didn't work. The bear hit Oberlitner, and he went down.

From then on, he was powerless. His life was in the hands of fate.

"She bit me on the leg. She bit me on the butt," he said, "and then she threw me on a log and cracked some ribs."

[kwikrnu]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/05/31/2010-05-31_hiker_shoots_kills_grizzly_bear_with_handgun_in_alaskas_denali_national_park.html

[Halgr]

One word sums it up for me.

OUCH!!!

[Mariner]

"It is all about displacing energy in the bear. If the bullet passes through the bear much of that energy is lost."

No, it's all about hitting the shoulder, spine or penetrating the skull.

In a rage, it take 1-3 minutes for them to bleed out if you hit them ANYWHERE else with ...anything.

[ottbmare]

Good Lord, that looks like some kind of prehistoric creature. I just lost interest in visiting Alaska.

[Inyo-Mono]

I never thought about it but it makes sense. If you’re shooting at a bear to end an attack pray that you hit bone and not a vital organ.

And bone splinters all through the body causing more damage. That's why African big game hunters aim for the shoulder of lions, etc.

[Georgia Girl 2]

454 Casull is a nice accessory in bear country.

[oldenuff2no]

You are right and wrong. Hitting those things with a pop gun will just cause you more problems. It is all about terminal energy in the target. You have to hit a big bone with a 375 to expend all the energy inside the bear. You want the bullet to shed all of its kinetic energy in the body of the bear. That round has about 4500 lbs of energy. If that bear or any other bear absorbed that much energy it would be stopped. It is all about the math of terminal energy.

[AFreeBird]

Sounds like what the Dems tried to do to a certain Momma Grizzly.

They lost!

[marktwain]

“I have heard, don't know if it's true, that there is no confirmed record of a grizzly bear charge successfully being stopped with any handgun, ever.”

Simply and completely false. I have posted several stories on freerepublic of charging grizzly bears being stopped with a number of common pistol calibers, including 9mm, .40 Smith and Wesson, and .45 ACP and .44 magnum.

The last was of a couple in Denali park that stopped a charging Grizzly with a .45. Here is the link:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2528614/posts

[applpie]

nothing like the fury of a mama bear trying to protect HER senate seat and steady stream of special interest money.

[Salamander]

Kanawa is the famous FReeper who was first saved from a bear by his Pit Bull and then killed it with nothing but a pocket knife.

He’s a legend and bears tremble at the mention of his name...:)

[Gilbo_3]

that part struck my nerves too...

2 rounds of .375 point blank basically, and both were 'mortal' wounds, and she was still playin rag doll until the third round knocked her down...unreal...

[skeptoid]

. . . . click on the dropdown for "Bear Encounter. . . . .

That's the 'Tell the CEO'/Message from Mike/"More Stories" box (found at the link)

[West Texas Chuck]

“She bit me on the leg. She bit me on the butt,” he said, “and then she threw me on a log and cracked some ribs.”

I don't know, that sounds like Friday night around my place ;)

[oneolcop]

Chuck Norris once killed a Kodiak with his tooth brush...and the bear thanked him before he died.

[Gilbo_3]

Kanawa can kick chuck norris’ bears ass...

[JSteff]

The .375 H&H is a way oversized for deer.

Not if you want it to explode.....

[NVDave]

In bear country, you don’t hunt with a deer rifle. You hunt deer with a bear rifle.

A bear rifle will kill deer quite nicely, thank you, but if you need a bear round and all you have is a deer-sized round, you’re in deep doo-doo.

[William Tell]

From the linked article: "Grizzly bears chased by trucks have been clocked doing 35 mph. That's 3,080 feet per minute or 102 feet per second. At that speed, it would take a bear about a fifth of second -- 200 milliseconds -- to cover 20 feet. "

For the record: 35 mph = 3,080 ft/min = 51 ft/sec
So, it would take two fifths of a second to cover 20 feet. Still not a lot of time to take careful aim. But plenty of time to consider taking up a different hobby.

[BigCinBigD]

“She bit me on the leg. She bit me on the butt,”

I usually have to pay extra for that!