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Nunaga: Ten Years of Eskimo Life by Duncan Pryde 285 pages, 1971, Walker Publishing Company, Inc. New York, 1972 American edition. Available at Amazon from about $10 used. Nunaga is extremely well written, a riveting story of a young man from Scotland who goes to Canada in 1955, seeking fortune and adventure. He answers an ad for fur traders by the Hudson Bay Company.In 1955, eighteen-year-old Duncan Pryde answered the Hudson Bay Company ad. “Fur traders wanted for the far north,…single, ambitious, self-reliant young men wanted…” Pryde lived the Eskimo life for years, becoming adept at survival in the Arctic...

On May 20, 2022, Chad and Lacey Liske were getting ready for bed in their home near Medford, Wisconsin.Part of their routine was to take down their bird feeder to prevent damage by bears. Their house was invaded, and they were attacked by a 250 lb black bear. The incident was initially reported on AmmoLand on May 23, 2022. The Liske’s contacted AmmoLand with a detailed account this year. Their account is consistent with the AmmoLand report but includes many interesting details that were not available at the time. The Liskes had three children at home during the fight. Their...

The Musk-Deranged and DOGE-Deranged media appear to have stumbled on a new genre of coverage: the horrendous fate that will befall Americans due to DOGE cuts across multiple federal agencies. Reaching a new height of absurdity, CBS’s Ian Lee leads viewers to infer that DOGE cuts will lead people to be eaten by bears. Watch as Lee walks viewers to an empty ranger station at Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming: .. LEE: I spoke with several senior Forest Service officials across the country, and they told me the future leadership of the agency has been wiped out, and it could...

In the summer of 1991, Alan Yates was working in the forested mountains near Bozeman, Montana. Two black bears charged him at the same time. He successfully defended himself against the bears with two shots fired from his .357 magnum Smith & Wesson 65 revolver. He was 21 years old.Here are Alan’s words, lightly edited for space and clarity:In the summer of 1991 I worked on a logging operation in the mountains of Montana.There was a large bear that lived in the hills and mountains around our community. He was very aggressive. His favorite mode of attack was to charge...

The Year-Long Day is a factual account of an overwinter in the Svalbard Archipelago, trapping foxes and hunting polar bears. It was published in 1976 and is a fascinating true story of survival and adventure. In the Arctic winter of 1970 to 1971, a trapper/hunter in the Svalbard Archipelago had to protect himself several times with gunfire from polar bears.This is not particularly unusual. It was unusual for Ivar Ruud to keep a detailed diary, make a movie, and have a book published about his experiences. Most arctic trappers and hunters do not keep detailed diaries, make movies, and...

Restrictions on semi-automatic rifles, pistols, and shotguns have been ruled unconstitutional under the Second Amendment in the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The order is a permanent injunction against enforcement of the state legislation in the case of Harrel v Raoul on 8 November 2024. It is commonly known as an “assault weapon” and magazine ban.Judge Stephen P. McGlynn addressed two basic arguments in his order. The first is whether semi-automatic rifles and magazines for them are “arms” as covered by the Second Amendment. Part of this argument is...

On the evening of September 6, 2024, Owen Beierman, 12, and his father, Ryan, 43, were hunting bears near Siren, Wisconsin. Siren is about 50 miles north and 50 miles east of Minneapolis, in northwest Wisconsin.Owen shot a 200 lb black bear with his .350 Legend rifle. The bear ran off, leaving a strong blood trail. Even mortally wounded bears often run for some distance. The Beiermans borrowed a Labrador retriever from their neighbors and started tracking the bear about 20 minutes after it was shot. It was already getting dark. Game is often shot just after sunrise or shortly...

Here are all the cases that have been documented where calibers beyond .44 Magnum were used. There are 4 incidents where .454 Casull revolvers were fired. There was 1 incident where a .460 S&W Magnum revolver was fired. there were 2 incidents where a .500 S&W Magnum revolver was fired. These cases do not include incidents where handguns were used with other lethal means or a mix of handgun calibers were used. The incident is included if more than one handgun of the same caliber was used. Six incidents were against brown bears and one against a polar bear. All...

On August 20, 2024, Tyler Johnson, 32, and his father, Chris, were backpacking and hunting on the Resurrection Trail in Alaska. The trail is in the Chugach National Forest South of Anchorage, across the Turnagain arm of Cook’s Inlet. The north end is just South of Hope, Alaska. The trail is about 38 miles long. On the first day, the Johnsons had hiked in about 15 miles. The weather was great; it was about 64 degrees, and it was mostly sunny. Both men were in excellent physical shape. Hiking 15 miles in the mountains with heavy packs in a day...

A flurry of black bear attacks has been covered in the media in the summer of 2024. Five people were injured in the attacks. The first occurred in Alaska at a campground near Anchorage, by a male bear. The bear injured a woman’s face after scratching and biting its way into the couple’s tent. She was treated at a hospital. There was no food or other items that usually attract bears inside the tent and it’s not clear what prompted the rare encounter, Wardlow said. “These folks who were involved did everything right and this is just a very unusual...

Here are all the cases that have been documented where .44 Magnum caliber revolvers and one semi-automatic handgun were fired in defense against bears. The .44 Magnum has been used far more than any other caliber in defense against bears.These cases do not include incidents where handguns were used with other lethal means or a mix of handgun calibers were used. If more than one handgun of the same caliber was used, the incident is included. There are 44 incidents with a .44 Magnum caliber handgun was fired (9 black, 30 brown, 5 polar bears).One incident was a failure with...

In the last week of May 2024, Bowhunter Tyce Erickson used his 10mm S&W 2.0 handgun to defend against a large Kodiak brown bear. The 10mm handgun was loaded with Underwood ammunition utilizing 220-grain hardcast bullets. The hunt was on Kodiak Island in Alaska. Tyce had wounded a large Kodiak bear in the last two days of the hunt in a shot at a moving bear from 200 yards with a borrowed rifle. The bear was tracked for two miles when it decided to ambush the hunters. The guide was about 10 feet in front of Tyce with a .375...

On July 10, 2024, a 19-year-old tourist woman and her boyfriend hiking in Romania were attacked by a European brown bear. The couple was on the emergency phone line with authorities as the woman and man followed directions on how to handle a bear. The woman was attacked, dragged off, killed, and partially eaten. The bear attacked authorities attempting to recover the body and was shot and killed.The European brown bear in Romania is a sub-species of the worldwide population of brown bears. The species includes the North American Grizzly, the Japanese Ussuri brown bear, the Kodiak bear, and the...

Chris Baker at Lucky Gunner has produced a very good video summation of the use of handguns to defend against bears published on AmmoLand. The graphics in the video are well done. There were over 95 thousand views in five days, with 748 comments. The vast majority of comments were favorable. This is a well-made video worth watching if you prefer to obtain your information via video instead of print. The video is 11:48 minutes long. Chris has obviously studied the data collected and analyzed it from the long-running series at AmmoLand. He has created a good narrative and visual...

While visiting my daughter, her husband, and their children, my five-year-old granddaughter, Elizabeth, presented Grandpa with the picture of defense against a bear. She had created it just for Grandpa on the morning of the day after I arrived. The picture is on ordinary 8 1/2 x 11-inch paper. The bear in the picture, with fearsome teeth and claws, appears to be about fourteen feet tall, as compared to the human figures in the lower right corner. The humans consist of one man and two women shooting handguns at the bear.Elizabeth informed me that the woman on the far right...

Here are all the cases which have been documented where 10mm, .41 Magnum, .45 Super caliber handguns were fired in defense against bears. This grouping includes the three calibers to provide enough incidents to be illuminating. These cases do not include incidents where handguns were use with other lethal means, or a mix of handgun calibers were used. There are 7 incidents with a 10mm caliber handgun (1 black bear, 6 brown), 4 incidents with .41 Magnum revolvers (1 black, 3 brown), and 1 incident with a .45 super handgun (brown bear). All were successful. The incidents are listed by...

Here are all the cases which have been documented where .45 acp handguns were fired in defense against bears. These cases do not include incidents where handguns were use with other lethal means, or a mix of handgun calibers were used. If more than one handgun of the same caliber was used, the incident is included. There are 9 incidents with a .45 acp caliber handgun was fired in defense against bears (6 black, 3 brown). The incidents are listed chronologically.We have found 9 cases where .45 acp pistols were used to defend against bears. 6 against black bears, 3...

In 2008, bear spray received a large boost with the publication of the paper on the “Efficacy of Bear Deterrent Spray” by Smith and Herrero. The paper considered 83 incidents, of which 72 incidents were scored for effect where bears were sprayed. The eleven other incidents did not involve bears being sprayed. The authors judged bear spray to be 92% effective. 25(35%) of the scored incidents involved aggressive bears. 10 of the aggressive bears charged (14% of the incidents). 21(29%) of the 72 incidents involved park personnel targeting bears. The percentage of aggressive bears that were deterred was not mentioned....

Many readers are interested in how various handgun calibers have performed in defense against bears. This is a complicated subject. Sometimes, any caliber will do. Sometimes, a level of power may be required. Sometimes, a level of accuracy or speed may be required. Many permutations exist. The most important aspect, if a confrontation occurs, is to have a firearm available, easily and quickly accessible. The specific caliber is less important. These updates include all the incidents we have been able to document to the date of the update, after several years of intense searches. We have always asked for examples...

The most important aspect, if a confrontation occurs, is to have a firearm available, easily and quickly accessible. The specific caliber is less important. These updates include all the incidents we have been able to document to the date of the update after several years of intense searches. We have always sought examples of failures. We appreciate readers who help us document more cases. Here are all the cases that have been documented where .357 Magnum caliber revolvers were fired in defense against bears. These cases do not include incidents where handguns were used with other lethal means or a...