Hi
i have heard that a shotgun with birdshot is very effective to stop a charging bear .. one told me a bear shot in the face with a good no 5 shot is out of buisness, because a blind bear becomes desoriented and stop charging, then you can finnish him with more rounds slug or buckshot.
true or fals?.
cheers
yes

Not on a regular bases. If one was bird hunting and had to shoot a bear with ones bird shot loads. I would shoot the bear with it.

To be efective it would have to be very close.

Would not be my first choice by any means.

I have chased bears out of the yard with 7.5 shot but I get them out past 40 yards and shoot them in the butt.

But a shotgun loaded with bird shot would beat your hands,rock,stick ect.

quote:

Originally posted by yes:
Hi
i have heard that a shotgun with birdshot is very effective to stop a charging bear .. one told me a bear shot in the face with a good no 5 shot is out of buisness, because a blind bear becomes desoriented and stop charging, then you can finnish him with more rounds slug or buckshot.
true or fals?.
cheers
yes

Yes:
Years ago, the man I occasionally assistant guided for told me about an old timer up here named Red Adney. Red was a miner up on Chandalar Lake in the Brooks Range and he did some guiding in the late '40's & into the 50's & early '60's. My acquaintance worked for him before getting his registered guides license.
My acquaintance told me that Red hated bears and shot every one he came across. I was told that he often carried a pump shotgun such as an Ithaca Deerslayer. It was loaded with about #3 or 4 shot and slugs. The slugs being loaded into the magazine first then the birdshot. Red's attitude (especially with a dude) was that if you waited until the last minute and peppered his face, the bear would then turn. You could then go after him later when it was safer. Understand, Red was cool and steady under pressure and could wait for the bear to get very close. I don't know firsthand if this is fact or not but I do believe it.
It just happens that I vaguely remember an article in Outdoor Life (I think) years ago about old Red - sometime in the '60's.
I don't doubt for a minute that someone very cool & collected would be well served by such a setup. With a shotgun there would be no real need for pinpiont accuracy then follow up at your leisure. How many today would be calm enough to allow a large, charging bear to come within 25-30 yds.? Not I, for sure. I can't prove what I just wrote, I'm just passing on what I was told. Now for the nay-sayers comments.
Bear in Fairbanks

All I will say is if you shoot a bear with birdshot you better be ready to have one pissed off bear that can easily kill you continue the charge. It may not be able to see but it's sense of smell and hearing will still be at least 5X better than yours.

if it's what you have when he charges---it's what you have. To go out looking for one to shoot with birdshot is crazy. I would prefer copper solid slugs IF I HAD TO USE A SHOTGUN. If not, give me a rifle every time.

i have heard about a guy who was bird hunting with a combo gun like 12/222 and usually in scandinavia cappercailles are hunted with barking dog. suddenly he found himself facing an enraged bear chassing his dog and when the bear saw him then came directy to him . he shot the bear with the shot at very short range bear turned around and around and was totaly confused .then he finished him with a bullet from 222 barrel at the head. it sounds very credible, because a shot i the face which is near brain if dosen't kill the beast surely can stun or confuse him for a while.

quote:

Originally posted by Bear in Fairbanks:
Yes:
Years ago, the man I occasionally assistant guided for told me about an old timer up here named Red Adney. Red was a miner up on Chandalar Lake in the Brooks Range and he did some guiding in the late '40's & into the 50's & early '60's. My acquaintance worked for him before getting his registered guides license.
My acquaintance told me that Red hated bears and shot every one he came across. Understand, Red was cool and steady under pressure and could wait for the bear to get very close. I don't know firsthand if this is fact or not but I do believe it.
It just happens that I vaguely remember an article in Outdoor Life (I think) years ago about old Red - sometime in the '60's.
I don't doubt for a minute that someone very cool & collected would be well served by such a setup.. How many today would be calm enough to allow a large, charging bear to come within 25-30 yds.? Not I, for sure. I can't prove what I just wrote, I'm just passing on what I was told. Now for the nay-sayers comments.
Bear in Fairbanks

.
.
. That Red sounds like my kind of a guy !!!!!!!! Depends on the rifle I don,t want to follow up a wounded bear . And I don,t want to cause undue pain , suffering and trauma ....... A 416 or 458 in the chest works very well .. 25 yards is a good long ways , 10 yards is getting kinda close , and 4 yards is getting carried away , but if thats the first time you can see the bear you have to make the most of it ..........But in the 40 s there wasn,t a 458 Win Mag.invented yet , nor alot of the technology we have today so I would say Red was doing the best he could with what he had ...... I knew an oldtimer in Ketchikan who said he was a registered or Master Guide ( I can,t remember which ) but he said they only used a Browning Auto 5 to follow up a wounded bear because it was the only auto shotgun he had seen that never jammed ...... I think a 405 Winchester would be LOADS better. But they wern,t all that common ....Thats why guys like Ben Forbes went to the 450 Watts .... Alot of other things hadn,t been invented or become common yet ......... . I would prefer a heavy loaded 44 Mag to a shotgun with birdshot .. And I,m not too keen on the 44 ..........

gentlemen
i am talking about self defens while bird hunting and not huting bear with birdshot. if i have bear huting in my mind i will certainly use my brno 602 in 375 H&H with good bullets or at least my 3006 with 200 gr nosler or better. the question is if an ounce of bird shot in the face can stop a bear making burger of you

yes, my guess is that in that scenario, the birdshot would not usually make any difference, but use it anyway.

Bird shot at 5 yards is still in a tight bunch and quite devastating but I would imagine penetration would leave a lot to be desired. The only way to see if it would work is to take your shotgun pepper the grizz in the ass with bird shot and when he charges wait until he gets close enough to smell what he had for breakfast and bust him in the head and see what happens. It would be a interesting experiment to witness.

I remember years ago an article in Outdoor Life about two bird hunters who ran into a sow grizzly and two mostly grown cubs. The bears mauled one of the hunters, and his partner ended up killing one of them with a 3 inch load of BB shot to the head at really close range. I would think that if the range you're shooting at is measured in feet, not yards, that a load of bird shot would pretty turn a bears head into a canoe.

Pete

it's for damn sure that a load of bird shot at 5-10 yards is going to blind him and i would lot rather take my chances evading a blind bear than one with normal eyesight.and i have feeling that a load of birdshot in his face is going to f--k up his sense of smell and hearing too!!