Was just wondering if anyone here has ever had to. I'm sure most encounters don't come to that but was curious if anyone has ever found their self in such a predicament. What firearm were you using,what the circumstances were(hunting,fishing,hiking).

Close <>< But after 15+ Brown bear hunts under my belt, never 1 true charge, but I been afraid and breathless a few times . I am shocked at some of the stories that I hear, I am sure most are fabracated. I know many of the best guides in Alaska, and only 2 have real life/death stories. And have proof ( one on film ). I think many people take close encounter stories, and by the time they get to the campfire it is now a full blown charg and life and death story. Well i said enough thanks. Maddog/ Alaskan guide
ps Take a look at some of the bears on the web site below..

One of our members here claim..."In the past twenty years I have been charged four to eight times every year."
So, after a minimum of eighty charges and a maximu m of 160 charges, maybe we need to ask him.

TJ, did he have all of those 160 stuffed and mounted ? where did he put them ??....Here we have only blacks but many people are terrified at just the sight of one ! After hearing those types it was frustrating to meet a black bear face to face ,10 feet away, and be TOTALLY ignored !!

quote:

Originally posted by raybass:
Was just wondering if anyone here has ever had to. I'm sure most encounters don't come to that but was curious if anyone has ever found their self in such a predicament. What firearm were you using,what the circumstances were(hunting,fishing,hiking).

Well, I don't hunt bears myself, but do read every book on the subject of bear attacks in Alaska, and save avery newspaper article relating to bear/human confrontations I can get my hands on.

It seems that most bears are not stopped during a charge, simply because bears rely on ambush; so by the time the person realizes what is happening, it's too late to react in time to shoot the firearm. This is specially true during a charge at close range. This type of charge on hunters is very possible when tracking an injured bear. Last year, an Alaska guide was mauled in such type of condition.

However, every now and then a hunter kills a bear during a charge, and one of these cases happened to a moose hunter last year. He decided to look for moose, but it was very windy that day. If I well remember he passed some large rocks or outcropping, and a grizzly charged him at close range. It's possible the grizzly didn't know what the hunter was; maybe he could not hear the hunter approaching, because of wind noise, but it charged and toppled the guy, and then ran a few feet farther. The guy was on the ground, still holding his .338WM rifle, when the bear turned and charged again, so he fired his rifle one time-from the hip-killing the bear instantly. Maybe the rifle was not fired from "the hip," but he had no time to bring the rifle to his shoulder, aim, and fire. Anyways, it probably was a lucky shot that saved his life.

There are times when a bear hunter or hunters shoot a bear, and then the bear runs toward them and charges. In this type of situation maybe there is a better chance to stop the bear, because the hunter (s) are full aware of what is happening, unlike during an ambush.

Looking at the following site, you will notice that bear/hunter confrontations are not that numerous when compared to the total human activities, but the number indicate that most bears are not stopped during a close charge:
http://www.absc.usgs.gov/research/brownbears/attacks/bear-human_conflicts.htm

Three friends of mine have.The first was a 7'2" blond griz that jumped them on a 4 wheeler they had to shoot it 6 times weith a 338 win mag.The Other was a friend who an assistant guide .He was guiding a gerrman weho had a 358 norma mag this bear was 9'6" .The guy shot it three time with the 358 Norma them my friend shot it three times with a 416 taylor with 400 gr barnes x bullets.It died at their feet.Then a friend a few years back shot one on the Kenai 10'4" with one shot through the chin from under it with a 270 winchester.I wouldnt do that.I haf an old friend who use to farm here.He shot alot of grizzleys in the ear with his 243 winchester all in the ear.One knocked on his door and he opened it then ran and got the gun.They use to chase him on his tractor when he plowed.

A friend of mines brother was hunting sheds in the Tom Minor drainage a couple of years ago and walked up on a sow with a cub.She charged him mauled him really good and left.But she returned to finish him and by then he had pulled his 41magnum out of his holster and managed to kill her.It was not pretty she practically tore his scalp off and disfigured him pretty good.w/regards

quote:

Originally posted by dgr416:
Three friends of mine have.The first was a 7'2" blond griz that jumped them on a 4 wheeler they had to shoot it 6 times weith a 338 win mag.The Other was a friend who an assistant guide .He was guiding a gerrman weho had a 358 norma mag this bear was 9'6" .The guy shot it three time with the 358 Norma them my friend shot it three times with a 416 taylor with 400 gr barnes x bullets.It died at their feet.Then a friend a few years back shot one on the Kenai 10'4" with one shot through the chin from under it with a 270 winchester.I wouldnt do that.I haf an old friend who use to farm here.He shot alot of grizzleys in the ear with his 243 winchester all in the ear.One knocked on his door and he opened it then ran and got the gun.They use to chase him on his tractor when he plowed.

Well, now that you have told those stories, i remember seeing the picture of a large grizzly killed by a women with one of the Europen, 7mm rifle "mechanic's socket numbers" on it . The picture was posted at the Glennallen gas station on the Richardson Highway years ago. According to the story, the guide, the lady and her husband were walking side by side, and this bear charged them at close range. She was a little ahead and saw it first, so she shot the bear one time on the head killing it instantly. Supposedly, this bear is the largest grizzly killed by a woman, and so it made the records book.

quote:

Originally posted by gophershooter:
A friend of mines brother was hunting sheds in the Tom Minor drainage a couple of years ago and walked up on a sow with a cub.She charged him mauled him really good and left.But she returned to finish him and by then he had pulled his 41magnum out of his holster and managed to kill her.It was not pretty she practically tore his scalp off and disfigured him pretty good.w/regards

A revolver was used, eh? About 12 or more years ago, a bow hunter and his friend from Valdez, Alaska were hunting bears in the Copper Valley. These are very large bears that eat lots of salmon. His friend was supposed to be his backup, and was carrying a Defender shotgun loaded with slugs. The bow hunter shot a grizzly with an arrow, and then later had to track it through the brush. Both were following the blood trail, when the bow hunter came upon another bear (I don't remember if this bear was a saw, but it may have been).

The bear jumped him pretty fast, toppled him and started chewing him to pieces, and that's when his hunting partner, who was a few feet behind, realized that this was a huge and mean bear. Instead of sneaking-up closer and shooting the bear with the shotgun, he ran like hell.

Meanwhile the bear was tearing the hunter apart, but he managed to draw a .44 magnum he had in a holster, and shot the bear on the neck. He was lucky, because the bear bleed to death when the bullet blew the jugular vein on the bears neck. The bear pretty much died on top of him, but he was badly mauled, and bleeding profusely.

Somehow he patched his scalp the best way he could, and almost died walking to safety several miles. As for his "backup," i have no idea if they are still friends.

Some folks in this forum know the story with more details, and they can add to mine if they wish.

I seemed to average 2-3 "too close for comfort" (inside 50yd) brown bear encounters per year, but almost all are very uneventful. I even managed to sneak by about 20 yds between a fishing bear and cliff (w/44 in hand) a couple years back without him noticing me.

The one charging bear I've killed I think never knew I was there. My girlfirend and I had been stalking a group of moose for a couple of hours trying to see if there was a legal bull in the group, and were walking just inside a patch of brush. We'd kept an eye on a berry eating bear all the while, when a cow moose stood up about 30 FEET away and scared the bejezus out of me. The moose looked at me, the bear (200yds) looked up, she grunted and walked past, then a spike bull (we saw earlier)grunted. She came back, looked at us 20 feet away, turned and walked behinfd us. All the while I'm looking moose, bear, moose, bear, etc as they grunt and snort. Finally the bear bolts at a dead run and my heart literally skipped a beat. I was in front of my GF and said he coming, get ready. At 100yds I dropped the binos and aimed center of bear. I shot at 40yds and it was bang-flop. I don't think she ever saw us. After I worked the bolt of my 375 I remarked to my gf that I didn't remember hearing my rifle go off.

The only other bear to show interest (while moose hunting) I chased away by yelling at him (while aiming!)and backing away from 35yds as he stood on hind legs and tried to figure out what I was. We repeated this an hour and a mile later and he ran off, but that spooked me.
The next day I saw the same bear on the same trail and shot him, even though that meant foregoing my kodiak permit for the next spring. It turns out he had been shot thru the lower jaw at some point in the past, and his lower front teeth were black/green. He even had bone growth over part of the bullet, but I'm glad to put him down. I guess my point is that of 20-25 bears/year, even the close ones don't seem to problematic unless other issues are involved, at least in my small experience. My 2 cents, and would love to hear others share their experience to learn from.

Bob

Good stories. I've read about this subject alot in magazines and was wondering if anyone here had this happen to them. Living in east texas the only times I've ever been charged was by what we call piney wood rooters(feral hogs). They can be dangerous but I'll take them on any day between the two. On average how many bears do you see during a season? Curious.

quote:

Originally posted by raybass:
Good stories. I've read about this subject alot in magazines and was wondering if anyone here had this happen to them. Living in east texas the only times I've ever been charged was by what we call piney wood rooters(feral hogs). They can be dangerous but I'll take them on any day between the two. On average how many bears do you see during a season? Curious.

During the moose season in September, i see black bears almost every year. Grizzly bears seem to stay away from the trail and the noise from hunters' ATV's, but I have seen some within 150 yards or so. I also see their tracks not too far from my tent when the ground is wet from rain, but so far I haven't had a grizzly coming into the campsite. Black bears? Yes. They have raided my campsite in the past.

Good stories, but there are some amazing spelling and grammar errors in this thread. Whew!

hey 3584--i'll bet if you were confronted with a committed bear, there would be more than correct grammer coming from your diction.

Yep, sometimes I can be a horse's ass.