Posted on 10/26/2021 7:12:16 AM PDT by george76
A man was riding his bicycle along a riverbed in Alaska on Tuesday, when police said he was mauled by a brown bear.
As he was riding his bike in Cantwell, Alaska, the man, who police didn't identify, said he saw the bear running towards him from 10-15 yards away. He got off of his bicycle and started yelling at the bear.
"Just prior to the bear making contact, the victim fell to the ground and onto his back, covered his head and believes he kicked at the bear,
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The victim estimated that the bear weighed 500 pounds and said he didn't "notice anything out of the ordinary prior to the mauling but did say he noticed bear tracks in the snow."
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Troopers said that the man was carrying a firearm at the time of the attack but didn't use it.
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On October 16, a hunter in Wisconsin was bitten by a black bear while perched in a tree nearly 20 feet above the ground. The bear climbed up the tree and bit the man on the right side of his back before retreating.
In September, a couple was attacked by a black bear while picnicking in North Carolina.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
You need penetration on a bear. Lots of penetration. Hard to find, but a jacketed soft point wound be ideal. Otherwise, a slow opening hollow point in a +P+ .
“I did, he didn’t.”
He didn’t have time to think. You, on the other hand have failed to properly think.
Means situational awareness and reaching for your weapon as you ditch your bike, and yell, and role into a ball....
Get it?
“Lots of penetration. Hard to find, but a jacketed soft point wound be ideal.”
9mm Luger +P+ PENETRATOR Ammo
https://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=225
Read the story.
Saw the bear 15 yards away.
Bears can run 35 MPH. He did not have time to draw.
There is the 7 ft. rule in dealing with a human. The average human can run 12 to 17 MPH, so the bear is three times as fast.
If my math is correct, he had 2.05 seconds to draw and shoot. A very fast shooter can draw and shoot in 1.5 seconds or less but that is with both feed on the ground, at the ready knowing the buzzer will sound and drawing and shooting at the sound of the buzzer....very different from being surprised while riding a bicycle on rough ground.
Plus to be effective with the pistol he would need to get off the bike. He had zero chance against that bear under those circumstances.
“Means situational awareness and reaching for your weapon as you ditch your bike, and yell, and role into a ball....”
Sounds goog, coming off a keyboard.
“If my math is correct, he had 2.05 seconds to draw and shoot.”
20 mph = 30 fps. 15 yard = 45 feet. That is 1.5 seconds.
Stated 10-15 yards. Speed probably 15-25 mph.
One to two seconds to react.
No argument there.
No argument there. The real point is that even Jerry Miculek, the world’s fastest, would more than likely not been able to shoot a bear under the same circumstances.
Jerry is fantastic and I am a great admirer of his, but there is a big difference in knowing the buzzer will sound in a second and getting surprised while riding a bike in the woods.
By the way, one of the lessons of this encounter might be that riding a bike alone in bear country is not a good idea. At the very least, leave the bike at home and walk cautiously and on the alert. Even better, walk with someone who is also armed and capable.
“Just prior to the bear making contact, the victim fell to the ground and onto his back, covered his head and believes he kicked at the bear”
Guess he was too busy shittin’ his pants at that point to pull his weapon.
“Guess he was too busy (pooping) his pants at that point to pull his weapon.”
Good thinking
I love cycling, but have wondered about the safety of doing it in places like that.
We do know he had time to stop the bike, get off it so it was between him and the bear, then yell at the bear and get on the ground on his back with his hands covering his head and neck.
We do not know how much time this took.
We do not know how fast the bear was moving. Maybe as fast as 35 mph. Maybe this bear was moving that fast, maybe not. Bears can move anywhere form 0 to 35 mph. Not all of them move at top speed all the time.
From the actions he took, it appears he could have drawn and shot a pistol in the same amount of time.
As many have pointed out, we were not there. We do not know.
However, the experts point out playing dead before the bear makes contact, is a bad strategy. It makes you appear to be weak and or prey.
“We do know he had time to stop the bike,”
You make it sound so casual! Think! A running bear comes out of nowhere 10-15 yards away. Even at 20 mph that is just over a second before the bear hits you!
Get real!
“From the actions he took, it appears he could have drawn and shot a pistol in the same amount of time.
Yea. If he was already in a shooting stance facing the bear ...
Heavy +p FMJ loads will work better than hollow points. Hollow points are for people. Not enough penetration for most animals and certainly not bears. A nine is kinda wimpy for bears but have proven effective against black bears. I wouldn't rely on a nine for our local Coastal Brownies though.
Yea. If he was already in a shooting stance facing the bear ...
We simply do not know, we were not there.
We are all simply speculating.
Too bad he did not have a go-pro or similar on.
Then we would have real data.
I would not argue with you on that.
But I would point out that it is my understanding that when bears attack, it is a violent charge at the target...not the slow shuffle they would use when going to the fishing hole.
But as you say it could have gone several ways.
And some guys have been knocked down, bitten and pawed and still drew and shot. I believe in one of your reports under your name, you wrote about a guy who drew and shot a bear that had a hold on his leg. Not every one is born with that kind of fighting instinct.
But his real mistake was riding a bike in bear country. When you are riding a bike off the pavement, you are concentrating on where that front wheel is going because a slight mistake and you go over the handle bars and that really is not a lot of fun. Also your head is not on a swivel It is hard to cover the right and the left and behind is even more difficult.
He would have been much more safe and able to shoot without the distraction of the bike.
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