Man survives bear attack, but not without scars

Missoulian (Montana) ^ | 10/29/03 | AP

[BullDog108]

Man survives bear attack, but not without scars

LIVINGSTON, Mont. (AP) - Facing a charging bear he described as "the size of a washing machine," Enar Rosen had time to get off one shot from his deer rifle. When that didn't stop the animal, the Bozeman man knew he was in trouble.

"He was just so powerful, there wasn't much to do but let him chew on me," said Rosen, who spent one night in a Livingston hospital for observation after the Sunday attack. "I was out of options, except to play dead."

When the attack was over, Rosen had puncture wounds in his shoulder and a gash in his neck.

Rosen was deer hunting with his wife along Mill Creek, south of Livingston, when he startled the bear, which apparently had been sleeping. Rosen had just crossed a small stream when the bear charged.

Rosen retreated across the creek, then turned and fired one shot as the bear continued charging.

"I'm not sure where I hit him, but it didn't even slow him down," Rosen said.

That's when Rosen tripped and fell, and the bear was on him immediately.

"I was in his mouth and I was bouncing around, off the ground at a couple points," he said. "At first, it felt like a big vise. Then, when he shook me, I could feel things start to tear."

Out of options, Rosen went limp and played dead. The bear finally released him and walked away.

With the help of his wife, Cielia, Rosen made it back to his pickup truck and to the hospital.

The attack left Rosen with a 3-inch gash in his neck that exposed his collarbone. He also has deep puncture wounds and the bear "tore a bunch of meat away from the bone" on the back of his arm, he said.

Rosen said he didn't have time to tell if bear that attacked him was a black bear or a grizzly.

Jim Miller, a state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks warden who investigated the attack, said he found a blood trail indicating Rosen's shot hit the animal, but the extent of injury couldn't be determined.

"It's hard to say," he said. "They're tough animals."

[CholeraJoe]

Happens a couple of times per year. Some doofus gets ambushed by a grizzly.

One of my neighbors who lives a mile or so away spotted two wolves on his property the other day and has heard them howling at night. I'm much more wary of wolves than I am bears. A bear might get in my garbage but a wolf would be looking for a labrador snack.

[Cobra64]

16. Have a boom box playing Rap music turned up to full volume.

[CholeraJoe]

I heard on the local radio that this hunter was carrying a 30-06. Unless you hit a bear with a brain shot, nothing will kill them instantly. Very little will slow them down.

As recounted in the journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition, the Corps of Discovery put 9 .50cal musket balls through a grizzly's lungs and didn't slow him down at all. The 10th round was a brain shot that finally stopped him.

[smalltown]

Or he could have tried this.

http://www.landbigfish.com/jokes/showcase.cfm?ID=42

[PoorMuttly]

Wow...an '06 !

Well...he lived, anyway. I have been told that brain shots often do not work, because a bear's brain is very low in his skull, and most people just blow a bunch of scalp and stuff off their heads, to no real effect. The only good way to get in there is through the mouth. Nerves of steel, anyone ?

Ruger, I think used to advertise their .22 Autopistol with a story of a fellow who went out to his garbage cans at night, fortunately habitually carrying the little plinker in the waistband of his jeans...turned around, and found himself between the outstretched arms of a standing bear. Thinking fast, he pulled the pistol, put it under the bear's chin, emptied the 13 rounds into its head...dropping the bear right there.

Not much to learn here, in a practical sense...except that brain shots may work. DOES speak to the advisability of having a handgun on you, in case the rifle doesn't do it.

Paco Kelly reports that he was pinned by a wild dog, and was able to get off a good shot with his double action handgun...claiming he would not have been able to operate a single action in this situation.

[Shooter 2.5]

http://www.sixguns.com/tests/tt45lc.htm

[Centurion2000]

bump

[Skywalk]

Would a shotgun work? I mean, yeah, you don't want to be that close to a bear for it to be effective, but let's say your rifle shot did not work, would a shotgun be effective at all?

[CholeraJoe]

Although I have no experience with any kind of weapon against a grizzly, I would presume that a 12 ga slug or a load of buckshot to the bear's face would slow him (or her) down considerably. Body shot would probably be less effective.