Wind River Peak from Wikipedia, Chiffre01, 1 August 2010 CC BY-SA 4.0, Cropped and scaled by Dean Weingarten Posted on 05/26/2021 5:24:50 AM PDT by marktwain
On the East Fork of the Wind River, near Lander, Wyoming, three bow hunters were walking to their hunting grounds, bows in hand. An old boar grizzly suddenly charged them from a few yards left of their approach.
The bow hunters had set up base camp the day before at the East Fork trailhead. The next morning, they rode horses six miles up the trail, turned west, and rode uphill until the terrain was too steep for the horses. At about 7:30, they dismounted and continued up the steep slope of the trail on foot, in line.
Wind River Peak from Wikipedia, Chiffre01, 1 August 2010 CC BY-SA 4.0, Cropped and scaled by Dean Weingarten
The three men had covered about 500 yards from the horses when it happened. They heard loud crashing noises above them to their front left. The lead hunter started to reach for an arrow, thinking it might be an elk. He saw the grizzly coming at them. He dropped the arrow and bow and drew his Taurus .45 1911 semi-auto. He yelled at the bear and started backing away. As the bear saw the two other hunters behind the lead, it momentarily paused, giving him time to rack the slide and chamber a round. The Taurus had eight rounds in its magazine.
The pause was momentary; not a full stop of the charge. The lead hunter was able to start shooting from a range of six feet. The grizzly grabbed the lead hunter by the left thigh and the hunter went down with the bear on top of him.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
Hmmm. That actually might be a good idea. One less social worker pension to pay.
This occurred in 2014 and was only discovered after a FOIA request.
Great story ...
Good story.
Watch Grizzly Man. This whole thing could have been prevented with a little more understanding of how bears behave.
“…As the bear saw the two other hunters behind the lead, it momentarily paused, giving him time to rack the slide and chamber a round. The Taurus had eight rounds in its magazine….”
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Hmmm… in grizzly country and you don’t keep your sole defensive weapon configured to be ready to fire without extra steps? No bueno.
9mm just isn’t gonna save the day in bear country.
Even with heavier guns, several going at once is preferred.
Bear makes decision for suicide by hunter? Now the mantra should be that the 21 foot distance of possible attack is lengthened out to 24 feet. The story emphasizes that a person should never bring a bow to a gunfight.
Mark Twain, thanks for posting this.
Gwjack
No! Three S's. Shoot Shovel and Shutup.
Stopped reading right there....1911 not chambered? Really?
When my dad and his friends were young men, they would go bow hunting.
The 3 of them were set up in a line about 40 yards apart, when a pair of black bear cubs came wandering into the opening they were hunting. Bad news.
Then mama came in charged them a little, then got up on her hind legs and started walking toward John. John had a .357 revolver.
He shot mama right between the eyes. Dropped her at about 10 feet away. They hauled the bear out and loaded it onto a pickup truck and took it to the local dnr office.
Another bad move.
All 3 of them took crap from the state for months over that bear.
3 s is the way to go.
Exactly what were they bowhunting? Elk season....in May? Really?
Now, the guy with the 44. That's adequate. But barely so IMO. Depends upon the load.
Larry Kelly (of magnaport fame) went into griz country and a bear broke into his cabin. Kelly shot the bear six times with a 44 mag loaded with hollow points. Didn't stop the attack. Kelly bailed out a window but managed to reload with solid points. That allowed the bullets to penetrate to the bear's vitals.
Too many variables in the OP. If I'm going into griz country, I'm going sufficiently armed or I'm not going. These guys just got lucky.
Didn’t he get eaten?
This is one dumb hunter. Hell I carry with a round chambered in Walmart! In this kind of country with both real and perceived threats I would never have an empty chamber. For those worried about a round ready to go, pistols do have safeties. This guy is lucky he was not alone.
Not far enough. Grizzlies can run at 35 mph. Needs to be at least 50 feet.
That surprised me too. If you are carrying a side arm as protection for bears, why would you not have a round in the chamber?
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