Montana man survives grizzly attack

Casper Star Tribune ^ | June 28, 2003 | n/a

[decimon]

LIVINGSTON, Mont. (AP) -- A retired Montana railroader turned mountain man knew the odds were good he'd have a close encounter with a grizzly bear someday while alone in the back country.

"It finally happened," Bob Johnson said Thursday from his hospital bed in Livingston. "She tried to kill me."

Johnson said he was attacked by the grizzly Wednesday in the Tom Miner Basin, north of Yellowstone National Park.

He said he couldn't remember how big the bear was. "How can you tell, when the SOB is trying to give you dental work?" he said.

Johnson, 55, remembers grabbing the bear by the nose with both hands as it tried to bite his face and throat. And he remembers taking an incredibly hard blow to the head. Doctors used 75 staples to reattach his scalp to his skull.

He also has a deep gash under his right arm, claw marks on his chest and back, bruises all over his body and some deep teeth punctures on his left forearm.

Johnson still hobbled several miles to his truck and drove to the B Bar Guest Ranch for help.

"He was not a pretty sight," said Aaron Davis, the chef at the ranch. "That scalp wound was downright gruesome."

Johnson said he was moving quietly through the woods, looking for petrified rock and believes he probably awakened the napping female grizzly with a cub.

He said he heard a sound, looked up and the bear was coming at him in full charge. The bear knocked him on his back and went for his face.

"I thought, I'm gonna fight until I die," he said.

Johnson, who lives in Clyde Park when he isn't in the backcountry, said family members want him to stay out of the mountains, but "I'll never do that.

"This was just bad luck."

[Cobra64]

A .454 Casule would have evened the odds.

[Neanderthal]

I didn't know there were tigers in Africa.

[microgood]

I didn't know there were tigers in Africa.

India perhaps? It was yellow with black stripes on it. And it was big.

[riverrunner]

I think that you should do a little research on hand guns and as bear protection. I know you well find lots of cases where a hand gun not only stops but kills the bear. Wasn't that long ago in AK. A fellow shot and dropped a brown with one shot of a 9mm

. For those who follow your advice might as well just stay out of the woods. Personal I rather shove the thing into the bear and touch her off a few times. Fighting is better then letting yourself become bear food.

Yes I have hunted and kill a few bears and know lots of people who have also. Have You.

[LibWhacker]

[microgood]

Never shoot a bear with a hand gun. You'll make it mad.

A .357 properly positioned would not drop a grizzly?

[Alas Babylon!]

There was an article in Field & Stream a few years back that went over what you needed for self defense in big bear country. They made a point about making noise so the bear knew you were near and would back off. Still, they acknowledged you may be hunting, so you wouldn't want to spook your game. In that case, and especially when a bear can be upon you in an instant (no time for a rifle shot), they recommended a large caliber revolver with a short barrel. If a bear is on you you really don't need to aim at distance, just fire for effect. If the bear is far enough away, just discharging the weapon should be enough to keep it away. But at the critical time, when the bear is trying to take your face off, you don't want any jams, stove-pipes, or have to charge a weapon when split seconds count.

I'll see if I can find the article.

[decimon]

Yes I have hunted and kill a few bears and know lots of people who have also.

I'd assume that those were side shots that killed the bears but maybe not. What would you aim for in a charging grizzly?

[Re-electNobody]

"Johnson lives in Clyde Park, when not in the back country." My wife and I have been to a great guest ranch, the G Bar M, 4 times. It is a few miles from Clyde Park. That is some beautiful country around there. The Leffingwell family has run the ranch for decades. If you want a low-key, relaxing week with horseback riding, good meals, and good conversation, check out the G Bar M.

[riverrunner]

No most likely you will have a very dead bear. I know several people who use their hand guns to take bears. I good bullet at a decent vel. results one dead bear. I talked to a hound hunter two years ago they shot a 600lb plus black bear the hounds had caught in a corn feild one shot from a 44 mag one very dead bear.

[decimon]

If you want a low-key, relaxing week with horseback riding, good meals, and good conversation, check out the G Bar M.

So long as I'm not the meal.

[hoosierskypilot]

More back-country bear medicine.

[D Rider]

I used to live in that area. Every single year you would read about at least one hunter that was killed while gutting a Deer or Elk alone. It seems that we have trained the bears to come at the sound of a shot, (they are Federally protected.) Shoot one and your on the way to the Federal pen. Dogs do a pretty good job of watching your back.

If you have to shoot, shoot for one of the front shoulders. They move fast, and thats the only way to slow them down.

[HairOfTheDog]

Johnson, who lives in Clyde Park when he isn't in the backcountry, said family members want him to stay out of the mountains, but "I'll never do that. "This was just bad luck."

What a cool guy.

[StatesEnemy]

Never go out in the back country without a gun.

Better advice: Never go out in the back country without making noise. A 'jingle bell' at the top of a walking staff works fine for scooting bears from your approach...

[Alas Babylon!]

Not the one I was looking for, but Click this: "Being Bear Aware" , Field & Stream magazine.

[riverrunner]

Some side some quartering towards me. Some head shots. I kinda like that quartering towards me shot gives you a good chance on not only takeing the heart and lungs out but of breaking the spine or shoulder.

On charging bears Head shots work well if you can make them. Breaking them down with spine and shoulder shots also work. More then one hunter has been save from a severe mauling by breaking the jaw.

The trouble is most people panic when they see the bear coming and just start shooting with out taking the extra split second to make sure they are hitting. Much better to get one good soild hit in then Have four or five misses.

For you going out in harms way practice practice practice.

[HairOfTheDog]

Very good attitude.... I ride horses in bear country.... just little black bears mind you, but a little un-nerving to see one suddenly when on a 1,200 pound animal whose first and only idea is to suddenly run very fast!

We make sure to make a lot of noise coming, and they will slip away if given a choice.

[decimon]

Thanks. I've asked that question elsewhere and yours is the best reply I've seen. Usually don't get a reply and that's probably because the guys I asked were talking through their hats in the first place.

I doubt that I'll ever face the situation of a charging grizzly but I have wondered what I could realistically do in that situation.

[TalBlack]

Talk about that blow from a bear: In readers digest, years ago, was a story of two campers attacked by a Griz. One guy was knocked away and the bear turned to his buddy. As the first guy tumbled away he heard what he thought was a shotgun blast and said to himself: 'good, so and so got off a shot.' It turned out that what he thought was a gun report was the sound of his buddy's head separating from the body when the poor guy was SLAPPED by the bear! No pun intended, a grisly story.