Uh, so tell me again how close the pond is to the house? In my mind anything within shoutin through a loud bullhorns distance of visible from the house is closer than I’d like. Brings to mind lines of fire and gun placement and stuff like that from basic. I know its a bear and not some enemy army but bears are damn sneeky and creepy (in the ninja sense not pervy)when they wanna be
Do a Google search for bears taken with handguns. Look at YouTube. People shoot bears with handguns all the time.
There is a lot of good data there. The first thing they stress is shot placement: you must shoot exactly half way along the line between the eye on the bear and its ear hole, as that is the weakest part of the skull. Second, If you shoot, if the bear goes down, to make sure that it is not just stunned, you must empty the gun at that same spot as ‘insurance rounds’. Evidently, some bears can play dead and will track/hunt/maul you afterward (they show a pic of a guy who thought he got away and thought it was safe to live-stream. After the live stream ended, the bear caught up with him again).
One link says that the bare minimum is 357 loaded with a hard cast round (no soft lead, no HP) and 180 gr to get past the armor-plated bone of a bear’s skull; some say that’s risky. Some say use a 454 Casull, but those things weigh a TON and it seems foolish to me to tote around something like a 20 lb barbell weight in your purse. The YouTuber says that in Alaska, the 44 mag is the standard. Just be aware that ammo for those things, even on sale, is never cheap.
They didn’t even discuss 9s or 40s out of plastic guns, but maybe that’s discussed in a follow up video, “Sometimes The Bear Eats You”… 
I hope to never find out. Mr.Wrekker told me to empty the gun on the bear coming toward me.
He shot both his pelts in the spot behind the left arm into the heart. But he was safely in a blind and could wait for the bear to bleed out.
I’m a good shot. Saying that, being surprised snd scared there’s no telling how I’ll react. I’ve shot many, many times. Guns are just a part of my life out here in the jungles of South Arkansas. I believe I’m prepared.
Up from my nap me and 5 dogs on leashes went out. I stuck to the driveway. Had the 30.06. Airhorn and lots of noise. On the way back I heard leaves cruching and twigs breaking on my left. The drive curves (almost turns) to the left. I was afraid I’d meet something in the bend. I stopped. Put the Yorkie in my pocket. The other 4 were barking their heads off. I dropped the leashes and stood on them. Un-shouldered the gun and pushed the safety off. We stood 10min. Dogs barking like crazy. Son-of-a-wrek was on the deck smoking and heard the commotion. He’s always got his big pistol under his arm. He walked down to meet me. He said he heard noises in the trees too. There’s a low spot right in that place. He took my airhorn and told me to get them dogs to the house. I did just that.
He walked a big circle and came up behind the house. He said he kept hearing something heavy walking. He never saw what it was. He told his Dad it was a big hog or the bear. Jeez:smack:
BECK!!!quit makin me old dammit!
I only react this way out of concern and my own non-encounter with a bear that to this day still heebyjeebies me out
Dang!
Years ago a friend of mine was hiking with her kids and husband. She was slightly ahead with her daughter, and her husband was going slower with their son, who was just a toddler. All of a sudden, she hears her daughter say “Hi, Mr. Bear!”
Oh, my friend is blind. :eek:
Fortunately, the bear ran away from them, and they hurried back in the direction they’d come from.
Beck - In regards to the game warden, there’s a philosophy you might want to adopt - SSS.
Shoot, shovel and shut up.
StG
We know of that in these here parts. I don’t mind wildlife. (Well, except deer, they’ve tried to kill me a few times)
I just wanna take a dang walk. Is that too much to ask, Mother Nature?
Walk! Walk freely and rule your kingdom! The Wreck Ranch is your turf.
It’s their turf. But, you have your bear spray, and your .300 Weatherby Magnum rifle, right? If that’s not enough, just invite along a “friend”, because, worst case, you don’t need to outrun the bear…
A week or so ago you were in the hospital, clinging to life. A week later you are stalking your grounds, looking for a bear whose ass you can light up with your .30-06.
Life is good, yes?
Yep. Hear me Roar!!
(Hack, cough, cough)
This actually supports my position on asking our friend Beck not to try shooting her bear with a handgun. Doc Holiday may have been able to hit a charging bear in that exact spot with a pistol but the average shooter should not bet their life on it.
On a gun related message board some years ago an Alaskan hunting guide talked about this. He said the caliber didn’t matter much. his recommendation was to file the front sight of your handgun until it is flush with the barrel. When he was asked what this would accomplish he responded “Then the barrel will not hurt quite so much when the bear sticks your handgun up your ass just before he eats you.”
I doubt I’m equal to a wildwest sharpshooter, but I am a good shot. Fear and surprise make for poor marksperson abilities, though.
I’ve pondered this for a few days now. Even as I was out this morning with the dogs. We stayed close to house, I didn’t wanna tempt fate. I’ve decided I’d prefer to never see the bear again. I don’t wanna kill the bear. He’s has a right to live his life. I’m no member of PETA, but I care for animals domestic and wild. I wanna be able walk my property and live through it. What a conundrum. I’ve googled and it said normally black bears hibernate about 100 days in the cold months. We’ve had a warm spell. I think the bear should be asleep in some den near here.
I think I’m gonna look for this den and then I can avoid running into a half asleep bear.
I am not even sure those types of bears normally attack people. So all the advice about how you should upgrade to an elephant gun and murder the bear is probably coming from people’s wild imaginations. Indeed, Wikipedia seems to corroborate what I have heard, that American black bears are not known to be particularly aggressive or dangerous, and conflict with humans is rare and has mainly been in places where people had been feeding them.
If the bear is stressed or has cubs I think all bets are off. Avoidance is the best policy. I think.
What you say is all true DPRK. The problem is the fish pond. While that may not constitute “feeding the bear” directly, until the pond is completely or sufficiently depleted, it is an amazingly rich and easy food source for the bear, one which it will not abandon. This particular bear may or may not already have some habituation to humans, but it will develop quickly either way, and pretty soon it will start looking for other easy food sources and will start venturing closer and closer to the home place and…well you should have an idea how that goes. It’s much easier to have Fish and Game either capture and relocate the animal very (meaning hundreds of miles) far away or, in some cases, especially if the animal is identified as one they’ve encountered in similiar circumstances before, destroy it as a “problem” animal
I think the idea was that sometimes, before the full-on charge, the bear might hear or smell something to the right or to the left of them… turning its head and giving you a shot at the side of their skull.
But yeah, with what that web site and YouTube video explained about the hardness and thickness of a bear’s skull in the front and how thick bones cover most of their vital organs from the front, I’m not sure what would bring one down at full charge (certainly not a hand gun). Rifled slug? 300 Magnum? Elephant gun rounds? Barrett 50? Again, I’m just relaying what the site and the video indicated.
The video had a portion narrated by an Alaskan hunting guide. < sigh >
(Look, I don’t know either of them personally. Me arguing “my Alaskan guide is better than your Alaskan guide” sounds like playground kids bragging “my Dad can beat up your Dad”. I’m just not going there.
I’m only relaying what I saw/read. If you’re right, you’re right and I’m happy to stand corrected. It’s Thanksgiving and HTG I’ve got enough angry bears showing up to my house in cars.)
My “Alaskan hunting guide” was just a poster on a message board. I am willing to admit that he may or may not have been an actual “Alaskan hunting guide.”
Also, If I was attacked by a bear, I would shoot at it with my 1911 until it clicked empty and then try to kill it with my pocket knife. If I am going down, I will go down hard.