Father and daughter's hike ended suddenly by grizzly

Seattle Post-intelligencer via HoustonChronicle.com ^ | Sept. 10, 2005 | CAROL SMITH

[HolgerDansk]

Actually, there's a special breed just for this purpose -- the Karelian Bear Dog. For some bizarre reason, this product of Finland has no fear of bears.

[trisham]

The real question is this: How well can you keep from flinching while squeezing off full-power .454 Casull rounds from a 2" snubby revolver?

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Good question. So far, so good with what I've got.

If it came to facing a bear, I'd give it my best.

[HolgerDansk]

Speaking of noisemakers, do not rely on those cute little "bear bells" that are about 1" in diameter. Recent research has shown that bears can't hear sounds that high in frequency! Use a cowbell instead.

[HolgerDansk]

This stuff is better than a pistol of any caliber

This is true as long as 1) the bear is downwind, 2) wind isn't in excess of about 10 kts and 3) bear hasn't had a pepper spray before. Conditions 1 & 2 are ifs depending on local weather -- about 25% failure rate for the area around Glacier Park. As for the third condition, my neighbors went through two full bottles of bear spray trying to get a 2 year old black bear away from their porch. As soon as they'd stop spraying, the bear would turn around and come back.

[midnightson]

S&W makes a .50 caliber revolver- weighs something on the order of 5lbs empty- it's so large it only holds 5 rounds- I live in bear country- only take a Winchester Defender- 3" inch magnum loads- much more likely to hit what you're aiming at unless you're an accomplished marksman with the pistol- a charging bear is no time for practice!

[TC Rider]

Sweet.

I would consider taking my S&W Mdl 24 w/3"barrel into the woods. It's only a .44 special, but should work well with some 'Keith' loads' (precursor to the .44 mag)

[Archidamus]

"Admittedly, there may be some drawbacks (he might decide to go jump in a tree or something), but it's food for thought."

I like the way you think outside of the box.

[Archidamus]

"For some reason the bears really want to eat them!"

There is no accounting for taste.

[marktwain]

From Bear Attacks the Deadly Truth, p. 13:

PREDATORY AGGRESSION: Both black bears and grizzlies have a degree of predacious instinct, but this instinct is manifest in somewhat different ways. Bear Biologist Stephen Herroro's research into bear attacks brought out an important point in relation to attack categories: Most serious injuries and deaths caused by black bears are predatory in nature - that is, the bear is trying to kill the person for food.

Statistics indicate that black bears are more predacious towards humans than are grizzlies. Grizzly bears do occasionally kill people for food, but most serious injuries and deaths caused by grizzlies (excluding park attacks) are defensive-aggressive in nature.

[OKSooner]

Ping for later reference.

[PzLdr]

The Ruger's hefty, but fairly small. Personally, I'd rather rely on a 45-70 Marlin with heavy bullets, or a 12 gage - but I don't think they'd do good in a backpack [Although one of my Marlins is a takedown]. And if they did, I'm not sure you'd get it together in time for Br'er Bear if he came a callin'.

[ALASKA]

See post 217. :)

Didn't need to, sometimes you have to make decisions and thus the meaning of my post........

[VeniVidiVici]

I'm good with the Alaskan out to about 10yds in the 10ring. That's with .454 Casull.

.45 Long Colt are a piece of cake.

[185JHP]

Ursus horribilis can run 100 yd. in 6 seconds. A bullet of 325 grains in the CNS is the solution.

[higgmeister]

smell like pepper

I knew somebody was going to do it!
I just didn't know it would be so close to home! LOL

[A Texan]

More COWBELL!!!!

[Spktyr]

Sounds about right - their top sprint speed is supposed to be about 35-40mph, and they get there in a hurry.

[trisham]

.45 Long Colt are a piece of cake.

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That's good to know. We almost made plans to visit Maine during bear hunting season this year, but our usual camp was booked. After an experience of having our dogs run off into the woods a few years ago and having to look for them in a wilderness area, we decided that having a gun might be a good thing in the event that we encountered one of those bears.