Charging Bear Test! (Grayling: safe area, buy, camp)

[Arcticthaw]

Disclaimer: Author Not Responsible for anything. This is for entertainment purposes only! You assume all responsiblity, liability and risk if your attempt any ideas or suggestions in this and or subsequent posts.


If you hunt in Alaska long enough you will eventually encounter bears. Most hunters carry a handgun for close quarter or surprise protection. You know those times when your rifle is not in your hands, like a short trip from camp to the boat or back. You get the idea. Lets even say you have kept in practice by going to the range and are competent with good groopings in a nice calm controlled setting.

A couple of years ago I had the privilage to be out in the woods with several guys I know for some spring time boat rides and a bit of gun practice. We did the normal bust some clay pigeons and such. Un beknowned to the others I had devised the following test to see just how well we shoot under pressure.

Here is what you need.
2 fishing poles with reels and some 12 lb test.
1 spring type binder clip.
12 9" paper plates.
3 participants or more, 2 may suffice if your really energetic.

The set up.
Find a nice safe area miles into the woods with some brush around 2 to 3 feet tall. Remember a charging bear as quoted by someone I was with at the time: " Take a basket ball cover it in fur! All lots of claws and teeth! Roll over the ground at about 30 mph or as fast as you can possiblly roll it. That is what a charging bear looks like"!
So the test is an attempt to simulate the previous description.
Now take the binder clip and thread one fishing pole line through one of the clips loops. Then tie the line off to a bush about 20 yards away. Plant the handle of the pole in the ground to make a tram line. Allow some sag in the line. Attatch the second fishing pole line to the same loop on the clip. leave lots of slack and place this pole behind the frist pole. Attatch a pie plate with the clip. Have the first shooter Normally the guy that thinks he is the best shot or has the biggest mouth, stand just to one side and infromt of the poles facing the pie plate. Gun in holster or at side in safe position. The other two assistants stand behind at a reasonbly safe position. Assistant # 1 holds second pole and prepares to Reel in the plate. Assistant #2 stands a bit closer normally about 5 feet behind and out of sight of the shooter. Assistant #1 asks if shooter is ready, When he says ready Assistant #1 and # 2 imediatly do the following! #2 Screams BEAR! BEAR! BEAR! several times in a very excited voice. Startling and throwing shooter off ballance just enough for assistant #1 to start reeling as fast as possible! Shooter must draw their gun, shoot and hit the target as many times as possible before the target gets to them!

Now this sound kind of easy, but in actuallity the pie plate really doesn't want to get shot and is bouncing and swinging around unpredictablly! The tram line is bouncing up and down and maybe even swinging a bit as the target hits brush and such.

20 yards is not very far at 30 mph. or as fast as someone can reel! Chances are you might get 6 shots off but how many will hit the "charging bear"?

All I will say about my performance during this test is.... I now carry a short barrelled shotgun with 3" magnum Berneke slugs!


The holes are much bigger!!!!!

[warptman]

That sounds like a bit too much work. Think i'd just go out and try and find a bear....less work.

[Arcticthaw]

Originally Posted by warptman

That sounds like a bit too much work. Think i'd just go out and try and find a bear....less work.

Less work, but not as entertaining!!!!

[warptman]

This doesn't involve beer, does it?

[Arcticthaw]

Absolutly NOT!
Two reasons!
I don't drink beer!
I don't mix alcohol and ammo!

[Woof]

Well, it's great if you're totin' a shotgun around everywhere you go, but most of us like to go pee in the bush or get a drink of water without a long gun. And if your shotgun barrel is even a half inch shorter than 18", if the feds find out you will spend many years in a dungeon with your wrists shackled to the wall, being fed slop occasionally by a mutant ogre.

Now I've been wondering, never having been in Alaska nor having been charged by a brown bear, polar bear, or even a puny little black bear .... if my el cheapo handgun is adequate. I have an old surplus CZ52 .... it takes 7.62 x 25 or something thereabouts, which is about equivalent to a .357 magnum in diameter and penetration.

Is that enough for a bear gun if you don't have a shotgun or rifle at hand? Eight shots.

[Arcticthaw]

Originally Posted by Woof

Well, it's great if you're totin' a shotgun around everywhere you go, but most of us like to go pee in the bush or get a drink of water without a long gun. And if your shotgun barrel is even a half inch shorter than 18", if the feds find out you will spend many years in a dungeon with your wrists shackled to the wall, being fed slop occasionally by a mutant ogre.

Now I've been wondering, never having been in Alaska nor having been charged by a brown bear, polar bear, or even a puny little black bear .... if my el cheapo handgun is adequate. I have an old surplus CZ52 .... it takes 7.62 x 25 or something thereabouts, which is about equivalent to a .357 magnum in diameter and penetration.

Is that enough for a bear gun if you don't have a shotgun or rifle at hand? Eight shots.

If you stick it in the bears eye right before he eats you! I happen to carry a 357 with a 4 in. barrel. Strickly for if I fall out of the river boat or become standed for some reason. Rivers are shallow here and if you have to step out to push off and loose your grip, you could have a long wait for help. So I always carry a few things for that situation.

12 gauge has a sling and hangs on a nail in camp with in easy access. great for a short jaunt around. We normally leave a rifle in the boat and another in camp. So if you do wander to the boat and see a moose during season then you can do something about it but be sad and the but of jokes.


In reality the bear saftey class I took years ago said I could kill a bear with a 38 or 357 if the shot was well placed. The main drawback is not enough stopping power at mid pistol range. A 44 mag can hit at 100 yards. Not that lucky with a 357.

[Woof]

Thanks! Geez, I couldn't hit a blue whale with a handgun at 100 yards.

[Marty Van Diest]

The 357 is better than a knife but the shotgun with slugs is the best.

I have been charged once by a black bear in Grayling and false-charged once by a brown bear at Becherof Lake. I didn't have a gun in Grayling and the 44 mag felt mighty small with that Brown Bear running at me. I didn't have to shoot, the bear stopped about 20 yards away.

In the first instance, the bear had to swim across about a 20 yard wide creek. The last time I saw him he was 1/2 way across looking me right in the eye. My best friend and I were 13 and we broke some speed records running through the woods and over stumps and logs.

[itdincor]

..."I now carry a short barrelled shotgun with 3" magnum Berneke slugs!"

Me, too. And that's Brenneke slugs. An ounce of lead moving at, say, 1,500 fps may not impress a brownie all that much, but six of 'em will!

I carry a Mossberg 500 Mariner at all times I'm in Bear Land. Even when I pee! Never without it. Ever. I have seen photos of bear maulings, spoken to survivors and seen their scars, and when in bear country, am NEVER without that Mossberg.

As for hand guns and bears: years ago, an old-timer told me the following.

Never buy any hand gun smaller than .44 magnum. And the first thing you do is file off the front sight.

That way, it won't hurt so much when the bear shoves it up your butt.

As for me, it's a 20", 12 gauge pump shotgun with slugs. Maybe #4 duck or so first round, or a cracker round, in hopes you can scare it off, but otherwise, slugs for sure. Even 00 Buck may not penetrate that mat of thick hair, and thick hide.

Brenneke slugs will.