Posted on 04/27/2026 5:53:56 AM PDT by marktwain
In the ongoing study of the effectiveness of handguns as a defense against bears, there are over 200 documented cases. Of those, 184 involve only handguns. The others are combination situations where other deadly force was used in addition to handguns. Of the 184 cases, 161 include information about the number of shots fired. In 23 cases, the number of shots is not known.
The data is likely skewed by unavoidable selection bias. The data is limited to cases that are documented. There is a strong selection bias against cases that do not involve dramatic outcomes or human injury, or that happen far from any civil authority. Those cases are not likely to be reported or recorded in a way that is accessible. Consider a hypothetical:
A bear acts aggressively toward a person who is hiking. Not wanting to kill the bear, for whatever reason, they fire a warning shot or shots. The bear runs off. There is very little drama, almost no news value, and virtually no reason to report the incident to any authority. There is a strong selection bias against successful uses of warning shots.
One way to guard against selection bias is to include every documented case where a handgun was fired in defense against a bear. This policy was formulated at the beginning of this study and is in effect.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
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Now just correlate it to number of shooters mauled and we have useful info.
I’d like to hear the story behind the incidents where 18 and 19 and 21 shots were fired.
I'm suspect of this. The bear does not know what a warning shot is. It doesn't know what a gun is. It knows what a loud noise is. If a human makes a loud noise from any source and the bear is not in a mood to attack, it will run because it was not expecting the human. But if it is in the mood to attack for any reason, the warning shot isn't going to stop it. Getting injured by a shot from a gun might if the shot is powerful enough. If not, then kiss your ass goodbye.
“Why’d you shoot him 21 times?”
“Ran outta ammo.”
My bet small handgun like .22 or .25 auto, maybe .38.
Or bad aim.
I’m not 100% opposed to warning shots in some cases, such as to discourage a curious bear getting too close. But one should consider that in some areas, and with some bear species, they have learned that is the sound of a hunter and they head that way, looking for looking for the downed kill they can take over.
Polar bears are horrific about that. Canadian F-18 pilots who eject notify every polar bear for 15 miles, and they start walking that way.
Rescue is in a death race to get there.
They were holding their 9mm sideways “gangsta-style” and missed a lot.
/s (maybe)
Humans are injured in about 23% of the cases. About 17% of the total were injured before shots were fired.
There was one death for 175 cases.
There were no injuries in cases where more than six shots were fired.
Of the 6% which were injured after shots were fired, I recall about 3 out of 7 were injured where it took time in the hospital and surgeries to recover. So “major” injuries about 2% of the time when injuries happened after shots were fired.
The one fatality occurred when using a .22 pistol in defense against a hungry polar bear.
As I recall, most of the injuries were
As I recall, most of the injuries were (happened) because the people were not willing to shoot, were not armed, or were attacked in their tents or while sleeping.
A significant number of cases happened where people who were armed saved people who were not armed.
In 80% of the cases, “I only had a .44 Magnum with six shots. I’ll carry two next time!”
18 shots -
1971, Idaho: From Guides tales of Adventure,.22 rimfire page 62 black bear
Walt Earl was a government trapper and hunter who also guided hunters. He had to kill a black bear and cubs in a depredation hunt. The hunter forgot his ammunition for the hunter’s .44 magnum. Walt took refuge on the trunk of a huge pine that had blown down. The sow came after him.
She climbed up and walked straight down the trunk toward me and my pea shooter.
Her head swaying and teeth popping, I held my shot. From behind the flimsy barracade of twigs, I took aim for her throat, and yelled for the dogs to take her. They moved by didn’t answer the challenge.
She stood 20 feet away, with all her attention focused on my throat. I had, in a way, brought a knife to a gunfight.
With eight rounds left in my 10 round clip, I pulled the trigger with my sights on the swaying bruin’s throat.
One. Two. Three. Four. If anything, these rounds just angered her more.
Five. Six. Seven. Eight.
Click…
On the eight shot, something happened. Rocket, that old redbone hound, charged up into the bear, sinking his teeth into the sow’s side. They both went flying. from the log, claws flying and teeth snapping in midair.
As the dogs fought the sow, Earl reloaded. Then, as the sow came at him again, he fired 10 more shots from his Ruger .22 pistol. The dogs distracted the sow once more. The fight moved into a thicket. The sow was found there, dead from two .22 rounds that had reached her vitals. There were 14 .22 caliber holes in her. A bio of Walt Earl is included at the end of the book.
19 shots -
*123 September 20, 2014, pistols .45, .44 mag, 9mm East Fork of Wind River, Lander, Wyoming Page 84 FOIA (GYE)
20 September, 2014 Steamboat Point, East Fork of Wind River. Lander, Wyoming. Three men archery hunting all three had pistols from FOIA
8 yards charge, one man slightly bitten on thigh before the bear was killed. Bow Hunting elk with two others;heard crashing through brush, saw bear charging, Bear paused, and he chambered a round in his Taurus .45 acp 1911. Started firing at two yards. Bear grabbed him around the hips and bit his thigh. He emptied his pistol into the bear’s head, and the bear went limp. His freinds were also firing at this time. His two companions saw the bear move, so they emptied their pistols into the bear to make sure it would not attack again. 8 rounds from a .45, six rounds from a .44 magnum, 5 rounds from a 9 mm. Warden says two round fired from side, rest from front. Old bear, worn teeth. Pictures on facebook! Necropsy showed 7 bullet wounds with at least one from each caliber.
31 shots -
https://www.ammoland.com/2022/01/wyoming-bear-attack-on-elk-hunters-september-2021/#axzz7KJqKnwOO
Crows know where every crow ever died in their area. They hold a “wake” and hundreds will come. Then, none of those crows will visit that spot ever again. It has been documented that they pass this knowledge on to their as yet unborn offspring, and the kids of the crows never visit that spot either. The institutional knowledge of where a crow died disappears only in the third generation. All this has been documented by researchers at the University of Washington.
My neighbor in Seattle, and old Eastern European woman, kept a dead crow in a plastic bag in her freezer. When the crows started bothering her crops, especially her beloved grapes, she would throw the dead crow on the roof, and within an hour, hundreds of crows would show up for the funeral and she’d be left alone for another 5 years or so.
When grandma bear was shot for attacking a human, do you think those cubs who lost their mother learned to stay away from humans? Did they teach that to their offspring?
You bet they did.
I think a Polar Bear is a lot different than a Brown Bear.
“In 80% of the cases six shots or fewer are sufficient.”
If you have ever been involved with bears, especially blacks or browns in most cases, depending on where you are at the time, has a direct effect on how many shots are sufficient, if at all. In more civilized areas, bears are a little more reactive to shots as loud noises can cause them to recoil and many times run away. They are more “respectful” with human presence as a predator.
In the forests like in Alaska, they don’t have as much contact and are more aggressive to what they want to do and the loud noise, while having a small effect, doesn’t stop the charge if it is under certain situations like a sow with cubs. So using more than one shot to protect oneself is a given there. And if the shot is coming from a handgun, it better be a good one as there are not many vulnerable spots on a half ton bear. When outside the compound, I carried no less than a .44 handgun and preferred a rifle and someone with me that was armed also. And yes, I had some confrontations with both types. Never had to cap one, but I backed off real well and tried to stay out of getting into a bad situation.
wy69
If bear are hunted in a region, the bears learn to avoid people, this is common across most species. I live in town and had more deer in my backyard during hunting season than I saw in the woods. Some how deer learned they will not be hunted in town. No longer feared going into the yards. Not a lot of food but a lot of cover and safety.
I read a study about how bears that are protected lose their fear of humans. Also, the study pointed out, pressure from hunting tends to keep bears outside areas where humans are abundant. They understand we are also predators. If hunting occurs in an area I could see a bear reacting to the sound of a gun discharging. If bears are protected or not hunted in a region, the loud noise may just piss them off. Bears are like pit bulls. Unpredictable. Once the attack switch is flipped they will attack nothing else matters. Had a Black bear come out of the woods 50 yards in front of me. I have seen it before I suspect it is a boar. It caught my scent and was meandering towards me. I meandered back to the truck. I had sufficient fire power to drop it, but there were not going to be any deer near that stand after the bear hung around so I just drove to another stand. They are the apex predators in the woods. I never heard him in the brush.
I recall a family dinner where he talked about the .44 Mag hand gun he carried any time he walked around outside his cabin.
I cannot recall any details about his side arm, which would be a really interesting conversation fifty years later.
I think that was the first time I ever heard about a .44 Mag hand gun.
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