[marktwain]

Old Boar Grizzly attacks bowhunters. They have pistols. The bear attack is stopped before significant damage is done, just barely.

[17th Miss Regt]

Couldn't they have shot the claws out of his paw? Or shot the bear in the leg? Or had a social worker talk the bear down?

Hmmm. That actually might be a good idea. One less social worker pension to pay.

[struggle]

This occurred in 2014 and was only discovered after a FOIA request.

[11th_VA]

Great story ...

[ConservativeMind]

Good story.

[Sawdring]

Watch Grizzly Man. This whole thing could have been prevented with a little more understanding of how bears behave.

[House Atreides]

“…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….”
************************************************************
Hmmm… in grizzly country and you don’t keep your sole defensive weapon configured to be ready to fire without extra steps? No bueno.

[ArtDodger]

9mm just isn’t gonna save the day in bear country.
Even with heavier guns, several going at once is preferred.

[gwjack]

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

[Vaquero]

Readers are encouraged to report any incidents of defensive uses of pistols against bears that are not recorded in the latest update of the database of known and documented incidents. Send the information to Dean Weingarten, via AmmoLand.

No! Three S's. Shoot Shovel and Shutup.

[COBOL2Java]

Grizzly Bear Attacks Three Bowhunters Armed with Pistols

Wow, the bears had pistols?

[Envisioning]

...it momentarily paused, giving him time to rack the slide and chamber a round

Stopped reading right there....1911 not chambered? Really?

[LouAvul]

Yeah, I read about this some time ago. The calibers were, 2 out of 3, anemic for hunting in griz country. 9 mil and 45 ACP might work in the hands of Jeff Cooper and Skeeter Skelton, but compared to them, those guys were nimrods.

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.

[ConservativeInPA]

How does a grizzly use a pistol? I guess the trigger guard was removed.

[fruser1]

You can kill a grizzly with a .22.

"https://www.ammoland.com/2014/11/what-22-rifle-did-bella-twin-use-to-kill-a-world-record-grizzly-in-1953

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Beau is an avid black bear hunter. He uses what I call his, ‘Hand Cannon.’ Not sure what it is, but it is a revolver, has an extra long barrel, holds 6 bullets and I can hardly LIFT the thing, let alone aim and fire it properly.

He’s had some close calls in the nearly 40 years he’s hunted bear, but that gun has saved himself, dogs and others.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I read years ago that bowman Fred Bear always carried a .44 mag under his jacket when hunting record animals.

One bowman, it may have been Fred, while hunting record size animals in Africa actually had a rifleman standing ready, off camera “just in case.”

[SJackson]

Outdoors/Rural/wildlife/hunting/hiking/backpacking/National Parks/animals list please FR mail me to be on or off . And ping me is you see articles of interest.

[Socon-Econ]

Why didn’t he have a round already in the chamber?

[Beagle8U]

“the middle and last hunters had seen the bear, dropped their bows, and drew their pistols, a .44 magnum and a 9mm.”

The guy with the 44 mag better hurry!

[wardaddy]

I used to back country hike that area in the 70s

Beautiful....we knew there were bear...we carried a 45 Colt commander

Man....tough bear...